Page 153 of Cry Havoc

“He’s right. What do we know about this new general—Abrams?” Lavrinenko asked.

“General Creighton Abrams. He is a graduate of their military academy—West Point—a classmate of Westmoreland. Graduated in 1936. Something of a hero of the Great Patriotic War. Battle of the Bulge. A tank commander. He recently took over from Westmoreland, and all indications are that he will continue the search-and-destroy strategy. Though their media says otherwise, those policies are working.”

“Westmoreland long advocated for ground incursions into the North, Laos, and Cambodia. Cut off the logistics and the Americans will win. Thank goodness McNamara and Rusk have thus far advised against it. I wonder if Abrams will have more sway than his predecessor?”

“He will have an ally when Westmoreland becomes Army Chief of Staff in July,” Penkovsky offered.

“They fail to see the North’s impatience. The NVA was decimated during Tet and again in the May offensives.”

“We understand they have additional offensives planned for August.”

“Maybe they are playing to the U.S. media, academia, and protestors.”

“If so, it’s working,” Penkovsky said. “Opposition to the war in those segments is increasing, while support for the war among the American populace as a whole is holding, possibly increasing, in response to the protests.”

“Why?”

“The protestors are at odds with the majority of the American public, which views them as communists and the antithesis of American society and culture writ large.”

“You are saying it would be a mistake for us to only focus on the media and their coverage and what appears to be support of the antiwar movement?”

“Yes, Director. The American public has not forgotten they are still in a Cold War, that we—that is to say, international communism—threatens their very way of life. More than that, they support the troops. Remember, their fathers fought in Europe and the Pacific not long ago.”

“A war we won for them.”

“Ultimately true.”

“I do not understand Johnson’s order to discontinue bombing north of the twentieth parallel. Are these the first steps toward a withdrawal?”

“I don’t think so, Director. Their Democratic Party is still on war footing. They see it as a winning issue in their November elections. The North Vietnamese see it as weakness.”

“It seems our most prudent course of action is to stay the course and do what we can to keep the Americans engaged in Vietnam.”

“Before they learn that the era of imperial colonization is over,” Penkovsky opined.

“Is it?”

“Time will tell. Regardless, they can’t possibly stay in Southeast Asia forever. If the Americans see no progress, pressure will mount to get out of Vietnam as more bodies return home in flag-draped caskets.”

“That means we are on the clock as well.”

“It does. We have six Americans at separate camps in Siberia—four Army Special Forces soldiers and two Navy pilots.”

“Dvornikov’s plan is working,” Lavrinenko acknowledged.

“It is, but we have had a complication. The Americans almost discovered Sergeant Voronin last month in Laos.”

“But they did not.”

“Only because our asset in MACV took the initiative to meet with his cutout and impress upon her the information’s importance. She in turn broke protocol and called Dr. Brémaud at his home. He then used the excuse of a patient having a medical emergency as a pretext to get to his office and make an emergency radio transmission to Hanoi. The NVA was able to extract Voronin, the NVA soldiers, and our American prisoners before the raid.”

“How did the Americans know the precise location of the camp?” Lavrinenko asked.

“Our source in Saigon tells us that a SOG man survived an ambush days earlier and tracked the NVA to the depot.”

“There is more, isn’t there?”

“Apparently, he initiated an assault on the compound and then evaded capture, making his way back to South Vietnam by way of the Sepon River.”