Word: arvn
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...where South Vietnamese forces waited for the long expected Communist assault, ARVN soldiers casually siphoned gasoline out of their trucks and Jeeps in broad daylight. They knew that they could sell the gas to civilians for 40 piasters (33?) a liter. In some areas of South Viet Nam, the word was out that the North Vietnamese, short of fuel for their thirsty trucks and Soviet-made tanks, were paying up to 80 piasters...
...expected push on Hué, the former imperial capital 24 miles south of Quang Tri, which is believed by allied strategists to be the main target of Giap's offensive. The four North Vietnamese divisions known to be in the area have made themselves so scarce that ARVN units have recently been dropping pajamaclad scouts into the countryside. Their assignment: find the evasive, ominously quiet enemy troops and call in the fighter bombers...
BACK in the 1950s and early 1960s, when the fledgling South Vietnamese army was largely relegated to the task of guarding roads and villages, American "advisers" not only taught their inexperienced charges but frequently led them into combat as well -on the rare occasions that ARVN was allowed to "liberate" a Viet Cong hamlet. Nowadays advisers barely even advise. In fact, says Major Jerry G. Williamson, a veteran of three tours in Viet Nam, "these guys don't really need advising. We're mostly out here to talk to FAC [forward air control] pilots and coordinate air strikes...
...similar episode occurred early in the Communist offensive. An ARVN force of 20 or 30 troops found itself surrounded by the North Vietnamese near An Loc. As the South Vietnamese fought the Communists oft, the three American advisers with the ARVN unit radioed for an evacuation helicopter. When the tiny chopper arrived, it was rushed by desperate South Vietnamese troops; some of them grabbed the American crew chief and tried to throw him off. The overloaded machine finally got airborne after several hard bounces along the ground; one ARVN soldier aboard was swinging from the legs of an American adviser...
Gaping Holes. What are the North Vietnamese after? Ultimately, they would like to wreck ARVN and bring down Thieu. Short of that, their maximum goal could be to seize Hué and the entire top third of the country and use them as a bargaining chip in any peace negotiations. If the battle for Hué occurs, it is universally agreed, it could prove to be crucial-to the shape of a settlement, if there is one, and to the future of Thieu and the Nixon policy in any case. Strategically, the fall of Hué would put Communist artillery...