Making an Army

With the Communists held in check in north Indo-China, the main problem facing General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is the building of a native Viet Nam army. His aim is a force of 120,000 to take over the main burden of defense.

Last week, in the four military regions of Viet Nam (pop. 22,600,000), training was in progress. Each region has undertaken to raise one full division--a total of 34 battalions. Equipment is mostly French and Japanese; only eight battalions have

U.S. arms, transport and communications equipment. In the ancient walled city of Hue in central Viet Nam, a TIME correspondent last week watched barefooted Vietnamese peasants standing in the General Issue line with mouldy rifle straps, long underwear and heavy shoes dangling from their arms. Across the square, twelve-week recruits drilled with precision, their slouch hats at a jaunty angle.

Says De Lattre: "The whole business is a matter of officers." From France's St. Cyr come 16 to 20 high-grade Vietnamese officers each year. The new Vietnamese Ecole Inter Armes last week graduated its first class of 150 Vietnamese second lieutenants of infantry. There are still far from enough Vietnamese officers for a full-size army. Tentative suggestions that U.S. officers might help in the training have been rejected by De Lattre.

Behind the lack of officers lies the central, still-unsolved problem of Indo-China. Many competent Vietnamese refuse to join either army or government because they do not know whether the Communists or the French will win the civil war. The French call them Attentistes (literally, those who wait, or fence sitters). Says De Lattre: "To have a strong army, you must have a strong government."

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