QUANG NGAI, South Viet Nam (UPI) -- A Communist offensive 70 miles south of the U.S. Da Nang Air Base killed or wounded 600 to 700 government troops, military authorities estimated Monday.
The losses, believed to be the worst of the war, included two Americans killed.
The Vietnamese commander in the area said the Communist onslaught,, which began Saturday, was strengthened by at least four battalions of regular troops from Communist North Viet Nam.
There was a lull in the fighting 10 miles from this provincial capital Monday but the government rushed in about 1,500 reinforcements to prepare for fresh waves of attacks.
It was feared the fighting here and in other areas heralded the start of the Communist rainy season offensive.
Three battalions of government troops were chopped up by the coordinated guerrilla attacks near here.
In areas to the north and west of Da Nang, other Communist attacks cost the government an estimated 235 casualties. There was no estimate of Communist losses.
U.S. planes and helicopters hammered the attacking guerrillas with rockets, napalm and bombs. But heavy overcasts restricted their activity.
I flew over part of the battle area aboard a helicopter Monday. The mangled bodies of the Vietnamese defenders could be seen on a hill where Communist mortar fire took a heavy toll.
This was the cost in casualties: One American captain and one American enlisted man, serving as advisers to the Vietnamese Rangers, were killed. Two other Americans were wounded. Doctors treating 39th Vietnamese Ranger casualties said at least 75 Rangers were dead and 164 wounded. Officials said the Ranger battalion was decimated and casualties may reach 400. The 3rd Vietnamese Marine Battalion had at least 60 men dead or wounded. An Army battalion, first to be hit by the Communists, lost about two of its four companies. Officials said its casualty toll was estimated at about 250 killed and wounded.
In Thua Thien Province, northwest of Da Nang, 80 government defenders were killed, wounded, or captured Friday in a Viet Cong attack on an outpost.
Another 155 casualties were reported the next day when a relief force came to the outpost's aid. They included 35 dead.
The most bitter fighting took Place on a small hill south of Dinh Hoa village and about 10 miles northwest of this provincial capital.
These were the positions of the 39th Rangers, and it was here that the two Americans were killed.
The Marines and Army troops were in fighting nearly as fierce, and the combined losses were believed to total the worst casualty toll of any single battle of the war.
The seven-day battle of Binh Gia, which ended in early January, set the previous record of 442 casualties,, including 19 Americans.
Brig. Gen. Nguyen Chanh Thi, commander of the Vietnamese 1st Army Corps, arrived here from his Da Nang headquarters to take charge of the fighting. He said he had requested that U.S. Marines be thrown into the fight, against the North Vietnamese regulars.
A spokesman in Saigon said no formal request had been received, and any such actionwould have to be approved by Washington.
Gen. Thi said the attacking force contained at least four battalions of North Vietnamese regulars, in addition to the Viet Cong guerrillas.
