World Notes VIET NAM

After a year of training in secret camps in Thailand, 200 exiled Vietnamese last summer launched a quixotic campaign. Part of a movement calling itself the National United Front for the Liberation of Viet Nam, they stealthily crossed the jungles of Laos last July, making for the Central Highlands of their homeland. There they hoped to link up with mountain tribesmen opposed to the Communist government and begin a guerrilla war to overthrow Hanoi. Each commando carried an automatic rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition. Beyond that, the battalion had only some rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns. In August, a day's march from their goal, they were attacked by 2,000 soldiers of the Vietnamese army. More than 100 of the intruders were killed, 77 taken prisoner.

Last week the Communists put 18 of the captives on trial in Ho Chi Minh City. Seventeen were given three years to life in prison. Another was sentenced to five years of house arrest and "re-education." Hanoi has accused the U.S. of supporting the subversives, a charge Washington denies. Despite its spectacular failure, the front continues to raise funds from overseas Vietnamese. Said a spokesman in Thailand: "It took Ho Chi Minh 60 years to win. We've got plenty of time."