SOUTH VIET NAM: Night of Despair

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The French officer told the Vietnamese commanders that they would be seized for insubordination if they continued to fight; since the French still control the rationing of arms and oil to the Vietnamese army, the commanders had to obey. French colonial infantry and tanks rumbled out into the streets of Saigon to tamp down the battle. Off to Freedom Palace went French Commissioner-General Paul Ely to caution the Premier: "You are trying to seek a decision by force. You must not do it. You must only seek a settlement by political means."

Next morning, wearied and frustrated, Ngo Dinh Diem went back to negotiation with the sects, while the Binh Xuyen resumed its arrogant patrolling and called up reinforcements. "Vietnamese anger is mounting," TIME Correspondent Dwight Martin cabled from Saigon, "and many foreign observers sympathize completely. It is probably too strong to say, as some are saying, that the French have a Machiavellian master plan to subvert the anti-French Nationalist Diem and with him the U.S. effort to save South Viet Nam from the Communists. But most Americans here conclude, nevertheless, that French actions and policies will have that effect unless they are soon and sharply confined. There are endless skeins of intrigue and sabotage being woven here by lower-echelon Frenchmen, many of whom will privately admit that they would like nothing better than to see the Diem government collapse. French colonialism may be fighting only a rearguard action, but so far it is surprisingly effective."