INDO-CHINA: Tightening the Lines

INDOCHINA

From besieged Dienbienphu one day last week came a three-letter message: "R.A.S." The letters stood for "Rien à signaler"—French army for "nothing to report"—and this was the first time GHQ had received such a message since the battle started five weeks before. Dienbienphu's tired but resting defenders still had to keep their heads down: Red artillery and mortar observers could note every movement along the shell-pocked valley. There was some heavy skirmishing: a Red commando detachment infiltrated the northern end of the airstrip disused since March 28, and the French could...

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