Nation: Hard Months on the Ground

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On the Prowl. In the northernmost I Corps, 60,000 allied troops are tied down in static positions along the DMZ and in defense lines around Hué, Quang Tri and Danang. There is some sign that General Vo Nguyen Giap has withdrawn one of the two divisions that originally encircled the 6,000 Marines at Khe Sanh. One reason Giap may have chosen to shift a division out of the Khe Sanh vicinity is that U.S. air-power has turned the area into a distinctly inhospitable place.

In a single day, pilots have sometimes counted as many as 300 secondary explosions set off by bombing and strafing attacks, an indication that ammunition dumps or gasoline supply depots were hit. Marines in Khe Sanh sometimes see bodies of North Vietnamese troops flung into the air by the explosions when the bombs are dumped directly on the enemy trenches. As Major Billy F. Nunley, an observation pilot who directs the bombing of targets around Khe Sanh, describes the scene: "It looks like the world caught smallpox and died."