There was little ground fighting in South Viet Nam last week, and bad weather cut down air action over the North. Yet, ironically, what combat there was reflected an escalation of sorts —by the Viet Cong. In one early-morning raid, the Communists sent 14 Russian-made 140-mm. rockets slamming into the U.S. airbase at Danang, damaging two planes and injuring 16 troops. Northwest of Saigon, Viet Cong mortars and recoilless rifles opened up on the 25th Infantry Division base at Cu Chi, wounding another seven Americans. Elsewhere around the country, enemy mortar shells and rockets were whistling through the air. Quietly but unmistakably, the quality, quantity and firepower of Viet Cong weapons have risen in recent months until in many cases they constitute a fresh and bothersome threat to U.S. units.
Zip Guns & Water Pipes. In the early years of the war, the Viet Cong relied on whatever they could get—ancient weapons left over from other Asian wars, captured American or South Vietnamese arms, even crude homemade zip guns. Rifles were fashioned out of old bicycle parts; a water pipe frequently became a mortar. Then Soviet and Red Chinese arms began trickling down the Ho Chi Minh trail, and the gradual buildup began. Lately, the buildup has intensified, bringing the Viet Cong an abundance of modern weapons and ammunition. "There is no longer anything ragtag, bobtail or worn out about their main-force weapons," says Major General Joseph A. McChristian, senior American intelligence officer in Viet Nam. "They are first rate." What is more, says McChristian, "we rarely receive reports now of any Viet Cong shortages of small-arms ammunition—or any kind of ammunition."
Thanks mainly to Red China, which supplies 80% of their weapons, the Viet Cong are now equipped with flamethrowers, rifle grenades, 12.7-mm. antiaircraft machine guns and 120-mm. mortars, in addition to the Russian rockets. The Viet Cong have nothing approaching big U.S. artillery. But they know that no American commander has enough troops to man a defense perimeter extending out to the range of a rocket (five miles) or even of a mortar (3.5 miles). Furthermore, a flak vest—the only real protection against mortar fragments, short of a deep trench—is an intolerable burden for U.S. troops in Viet Nam's stifling heat.
The Viet Cong mortars have so far not really hurt U.S. troops, but they are an effective harassment and, because they put the troops on the unaccustomed receiving line of heavy fire, a psychological advantage for the V.C. The Viet Cong cannot use aerial spotters to adjust their fire, of course, and are handicapped by American radar operators, who are quick to get a fix on their positions. Less than two minutes after last week's shelling of Danang, American batteries were blasting the Viet
Cong. They put the enemy to flight so quickly that eleven rockets were left behind without being fired.