Battle of Saigon

Except for Hue, the most serious city fighting was in Saigon. Once a gracious, languid island in the midst of war, Saigon last week was a city rimmed by fear. Every half-hour the radio grimly warned: "The Saigon-Cholon area is not considered secure. Firefights and sniper fire are expected to continue. Do not travel on foot. All vehicles must have an armed escort." Flak-jacketed American MPs, weapons at the ready, roared along the tree-shaded boulevards. Trigger-happy police fired frantically in the air to halt vehicles approaching checkpoints and barricades strung about the city. Tough ARVN marines and paratroopers blasted their way through narrow alleys in running gun battles with the Viet Cong, 700 to 1,000 of whom were believed still mingling with the city's population.

Vietnamese Skyraiders rent the air with ferocious whines as they dive-bombed sections of the city, notably the Chinese quarter of Cholon, which was honeycombed with Viet Cong. The planes sent refugees scattering in all directions and plumes of smoke shooting into sunny skies that mocked the city's agony. In six of Saigon's nine districts, 24-hour curfews were still in effect, meaning that those districts harbored at least small bands of guerrillas still operating as units. Electricity and telephone service was sporadic, most restaurants and shops remained closed, and Saigon was cut off by air from the rest of the world.

The only large-size enemy unit still fighting, some 400 men, held its ground near the Saigon race track. Although General Westmoreland had at first acceded to South Vietnamese wishes to clear the city with ARVN troops, by week's end U.S. help was clearly needed; soldiers of the U.S. 199th Infantry Brigade were helilifted onto the racetrack turf to join the battle.

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