End of the Lull

While the nation rejoiced with the astronauts, the war in Viet Nam took a grim turn. For two months, a lull had hung over South Viet Nam's battlefields and U.S. diplomats and military men debated its meaning. Many of the diplomats argued that the decline in combat signaled a favorable response from Hanoi to U.S. troop withdrawals and meant that there would soon be progress in the deadlocked Paris peace talks. But the combat commanders contended that the enemy was using the pause only to prepare for a new offensive. Last week the Communists apparently settled the argument.

In one 24-hour period, the enemy launched coordinated attacks against 137 towns and U.S. installations across much of the country. In the sharpest fighting since last February's post-Tet offensive, Communist rockets and mortar shells rained down on Saigon, Hue and Danang. Rested and re-equipped North Vietnamese divisions assaulted American fortifications and important towns in South Viet Nam's central provinces. The most intense attacks were aimed at three vulnerable provinces some 75 miles above Saigon--Tay Ninh, Binh Long and Phuoc Long.

The new attacks caused a sharp rise in U.S. casualties. In the first day of fighting, 94 Americans were killed; by week's end, the toll-rose to about 200. But the Communists paid dearly; left behind on the battlefields were some 3,000 enemy bodies. U.S. military experts reckoned that the attacks represented the start of the Communists' "autumn campaign" and a new strategy of relative military inaction interspersed with "high points." The aim: to erode American will and to prevent Saigon from consolidating political power.

Though last week's high point will not interfere with the already scheduled withdrawal of 25,000 troops this month, it may upset President Nixon's plans to pull out a total of perhaps 100,000 by year's end. The Administration has said that further withdrawals will depend partly on a decrease in the level of fighting. Thus, Hanoi's decision to intensify the fighting may well prompt a slowdown in the U.S. reduction of forces.

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