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The hardest-hit province in the Delta is Chuong Thien, near the U Minh Forest, which was cleared of enemy forces by the 21st Division last year but is now a Communist stronghold once more. Four villages and 23 hamlets have been lost in Chuong Thien during the past month, though many were later retaken. The village of Hoa Thuan was held by the Communists for only a short time, but it was long enough for them to murder as many as 20 local officials. "We've lost roughly 25,000 people from such areas," says Colonel John Meese, the senior U.S. adviser in the province. "They have simply dispersed. They'll come back because it's planting time, and they'll come back regardless of who controls them. We have to get back before they do."
When we visited one village in Chuong Thien last week, a young woman told us: "If you journalists from Saigon would bring us peace, I would prostrate myself for a month. In fact, I would kill a pig and give you a feast." The interpreter raised his right hand and said, "Brothers, I wish peace for you all." Immediately two other hands went up, the first clenched, and everybody said it: "Hoa binh. Peace."
In some overrun hamlets, the Communists are imposing a tax of two-thirds on this year's rice crop—up from. 50% a year ago, a trend that apparently indicates growing confidence. "They are trying to reoccupy villages and hamlets where they used to work," says Colonel Duong Hieu Nghia, the Vinh Long province chief. "They are preparing for a ceasefire. They want to be in place if it comes, and ready if it does not."