SOUTH VIET NAM END OF THE GLOW ONE CRITICISM BROUGHT AGAINST PRESIDENT 
NGO DINH DIEM WAS THAT HE KEPT SOME OF HIS BEST 
OFFICERS IN NONCOMBAT JOBS FOR POLITICAL REASONS . ONE PROMISE MADE 
BY DIEM'S SUCCESSORS WAS TO APPOINT AGGRESSIVE NEW COMMANDERS AND GIVE 
THEM A FREE HAND . LAST WEEK THE FIRST SUCH NEW 
COMMANDER FOUND HIMSELF SACKED AND ORDERED TO A DESK EXILE THAT 
EVEN DIEM HAD NOT THOUGHT OF MILITARY ATTACHE IN FORMOSA . 
FIVE DAYS AFTER THE COUP, COLONEL PHAM VAN DONG, 44, WAS 
PLACED IN COMMAND OF THE 7TH DIVISION, RESPONSIBLE FOR TWO PROVINCES 
SOUTH OF SAIGON . IN HIS FIRST TWELVE DAYS ON THE 
JOB, DONG LAUNCHED SEVEN MAJOR OPERATIONS, BUT THEN THE VIET CONG 
REGAINED THE INITIATIVE . WHEN ONE VILLAGE NEAR THE CAPITAL WAS 
SEVERELY SHELLED AND SEVERAL PEOPLE WERE KILLED, THE VILLAGERS COMPLAINED BITTERLY 
. EVEN THOUGH SUCH ATTACKS ARE STANDARD, THE GENERALS IN SAIGON 
FIRED DONG, TO THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF U.S . ADVISERS . BUT 
WHY TRANSFER HIM 1,400 MILES AWAY ? ACCORDING TO ONE VERSION, 
DONG HAD BEEN TOO FRIENDLY WITH THE RULING JUNTA'S AMBITIOUS NO 
. 3 MAN, MAJOR GENERAL TON THAT DINH, WHOM SOME OF 
HIS COLLEAGUES CONSIDER POTENTIALLY TROUBLESOME . ROOM AT THE TOP . 
AS THE REVOLUTIONARY GLOW THAT FOLLOWED DIEM'S OVERTHROW FADES, SOUTH VIET 
NAM'S GENERALS SEEM TO BE WATCHING EACH OTHER EVER MORE ALERTLY 
. THEY NOW OFTEN WRANGLE OVER POLICY IN MARATHON DEBATES THAT 
LAST UNTIL 5 A.M . BUREAUCRACY ALSO TAKES ITS TOLL OF 
LEADERSHIP . BRIGADIER GENERAL LE VAN KIM, A TOP STRATEGIST, IS 
OCCUPIED BY ADMINISTRATIVE CHORES ; LAST WEEK ONE OF HIS STAFF'S 
CHIEF PROJECTS WAS REQUISITIONING THREE TYPEWRITERS . NEAR BY, GENERAL DINH 
FLOPPED BACK IN HIS CHAIR, GROUSED THAT THE PILE OF PAPER 
ON HIS DESK GROWS HIGHER EACH DAY . U.S . OFFICIALS 
MAINTAIN THAT THE GENERALS ARE QUIETLY ACCOMPLISHING MUCH BENEATH THE SURFACE 
; CONSIDERED AN IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT IS THE JUNTA'S START AT WINNING 
OVER THE HOA HAO AND CAO DAI SECTS, MANY OF WHOSE 
MEMBERS HAD COLLABORATED WITH THE VIET CONG . BUT THE JUNTA 
CHAIRMAN, LIEUT . GENERAL DUONG VAN ( " BIG " ) 
MINH, SEEMS RELUCTANT TO WIELD POWER, AND THE OUTSIZED, 22-MEMBER MILITARY 
REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL HAS TAKEN FEW OUTWARDLY BOLD STEPS . REPORTED TIME 
CORRESPONDENT MURRAY GART : " NONE OF THIS PROVES THAT THE 
GENERALS CANNOT DO THE JOB OF RUNNING SOUTH VIET NAM . 
IT IS TOO SOON TO TELL . BUT FOR THE MOMENT, 
THERE IS A POWER VACUUM AT THE TOP IN A COUNTRY 
AT WAR . " IN SAIGON, THERE WERE NEW SUICIDES BY 
FIRE, THE FIRST SINCE THE COUP AND VIRTUALLY IGNORED IN COMPARISON 
TO THE RELENTLESSLY PUBLICIZED BUDDHIST SUICIDES UNDER DIEM . A 17-YEAR-OLD 
GIRL, BACH TRI NGA, DRENCHED HERSELF WITH GASOLINE AND TOUCHED A 
MATCH TO HER SKIRTS BEFORE THE LOCAL RESIDENCES OF THE INTERNATIONAL 
CONTROL COMMISSION, SET UP IN 1954 TO OVERSEE VIET NAM'S PARTITION 
. A 22YEAR-OLD UNEMPLOYED PEDICAB DRIVER CREMATED HIMSELF HALF A BLOCK 
FROM THE U.S . AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE, AND A YOUNG TELEPHONE OPERATOR 
FOLLOWED SUIT (HE LEFT A NOTE SAYING HE HAD BEEN REJECTED 
BY HIS FATHER) . THE CHARRED SKELETON OF A THIRD VICTIM, 
AN OLDER MAN, WAS FOUND NEAR A SUBURBAN GRAVEYARD . AUTHORITIES 
INSISTED THAT THE MEN ACTED OUT OF PERSONAL DESPONDENCY BUT CONCEDED 
THAT THE GIRL MAY HAVE HAD PRO-COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA IN MIND A 
FAREWELL NOTE REPEATED THE NEUTRALIST LINE AGAINST " VIETNAMESE FIGHTING VIETNAMESE 
. " ALL THE WAY HOME . THE FIGHTING ITSELF CONTINUED 
INTENSELY AND INCONCLUSIVELY . SIXTY MILES NORTHWEST OF THE CAPITAL, THE 
VIET CONG POURED A TERRIFYING 150 ROUNDS OF MORTAR AND RECOILLESS 
RIFLE FIRE INTO THE LONELY OUTPOST OF BAUCO, THEN OVERRAN TWO 
OF ITS THREE BLOCKHOUSES . OF THE 60 DEFENDERS, 18 DIED, 
21 WERE WOUNDED AND 21 CAPTURED . ALSO FOUND SPRAWLED DEAD 
WITHIN THE POST : 16 WOMEN AND CHILDREN . THE GOVERNMENT 
CHASED THE ATTACKERS IN AN OPERATION INVOLVING 3,000 MEN, BUT THE 
GUERRILLAS VANISHED . FIVE MORE AMERICANS APPARENTLY LOST THEIR LIVES A 
SERGEANT SHOT IN AN AMBUSH AND FOUR AIRMEN ABOARD AN RB-26 
THAT CRASHED INTO THE MEKONG RIVER . THE U.S., NEVERTHELESS, WENT 
AHEAD WITH PLANS TO BRING HOME 1,000 TROOPS FROM VIET NAM 
BY NEW YEAR'S CHIEFLY NONCOMBAT TECHNICIANS, MANY OF WHOSE DUTIES ARE 
BEING ASSUMED BY VIETNAMESE . AT SAIGON AIRPORT LAST WEEK, THE 
INITIAL 294 U.S.-BOUND SERVICEMEN, MANY HAPPILY BEARING LIPSTICK SMEARS FROM SAIGON 
SWEETIES, CLAMBERED ABOARD FOUR C-135 JETS . PRESENT TO SEE THE 
FIRST MEN OFF WERE U.S . GENERAL PAUL D . HARKINS 
AND SOUTH VIET NAM'S DEFENSE MINISTER LIEUT . GENERAL TRAN VAN 
DON . SAID DON OF THE DEPARTING AMERICANS : " THEY 
HAVE SHARED OUR HARDSHIPS AND SORROWS, AND NOTHING CAN REPAY THEM 
FOR THE SACRIFICES THEY HAVE MADE . / 