Availability of route 4 at Ben Luc for ammo resupply. Department of State, U.S. there are days. Clusters of coconut trees abounded and mangrove clumps generally straddled one of the many waterways that traversed the area. [5], Meanwhile, Haszard travelled in an APC followed by another M-113 bearing his command group as they tried to move into the perimeter. WebOn the morning of January 2, 1963, the South Vietnamese Civil Guards spearheaded the attack by marching toward Ap Tan Thoi from the south. major defeat in which communist guerrillas shot up a fleet of United There was no way to avoid some of this fire falling into positions held by elements of the 3/47th and even as far back as the fire support base. Then when the fire lifted to the rear of the enemy, to block his escape positions, the infantry would assault before the enemy could recover. 6th US Battalions committed. We welcome content contributions! 11 September 1967: Operation Coronado V. Operations in CAM Son/ BAN LONG against 514th Viet Cong Battalion and 263rd Viet Cong Main Force Battalion. Series, Other Losses in the 3/47th were more severe. Palm Beach, January 7; ibid.) Although unexpectedly document.write ("<\/scr"+"ipt>"); characterized them largely as errors of courage rather than cowardice. One thing that we found out over there, and what we didnt realize until years later, was what a friend was, he said. At this point, the situation was confused, and the brigade commander was unhappy. 0000002380 00000 n
But experience had shown that at best this was an educated guess, one that all too often had proved false. [5], At 03:00 another attack began on the southern perimeter. The rest of the troops would move to their jump-off positions by vehicles with the 3/60th departing first because it had the longest distance to travel. Due to the nature of the battle and the abundant use of automatic weapons on armored vehicles, two and in some cases three basic loads of .50-caliber and 7.62mm. Such is the aftermath of violent combat. What followed was a classic, coordinated assault such as can be seen only on a movie screen or at a demonstration at Fort Benning, but seldom in live combat. The brigade commander ordered the assault as soon as the air strike, then in progress, was finished. 0000002679 00000 n
Perhaps more significantly, no mines or booby traps had been encountered, usually a good sign that you are in an area highly frequented by the Viet Cong. Click most pictures to enlarge. attack. An assessment done in the Department of State on January 15 of The troops on the ground began digging in around the rice paddies to secure their LZ, awaiting the rest of 3. Seeing this, the two men following, a machine gun team, quickly jumped up and rushed the position, dispatching the Viet Cong with a burst. Learning that elements of the 3/47th were in contact, and anticipating that his battalion would become involved, the commanding officer of the 3/60th ordered company B to move toward the area of contact, followed by Company A. The ARVN were decisively defeated. This answer is: Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber. This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. document.write (document.charset ? Without further delay, the commanding officer of the 3/60th ordered the attack to go in without the artillery. These guys? } Operation Concordia was an operation conducted by the U.S. Become a member of MRFA! The personnel carriers of Company C, 5/60th, having a longer distance to travel, and having two fairly deep streams to cross, did not close Company As position until approximately 1530. Its a good family of vets, and its always a joy to see them.. 0000001845 00000 n
We looked across the field and saw a lot of bodies, recalled platoon chaplain Charlie Zies. We served more like the people that trained in WWII. Employing 0 battalions in the field for 8 days. mini-guns. Join us for our 2017 reunion by making a reservation today! This was the plan finally coordinated on the evening of 1 May 1967. There was some delay caused by problems of coordination between the two battalions, so not until after 1700 did the battalion reach and deploy on the eastern side of the final irrigation ditch. The operation concluded on 21 June, U.S. casualties were 46 killed and 15 sailors wounded, while claiming VC losses of 255 killed. var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'? At one point, the VC sought to overcome the advantage of US mechanization by swarming over the actual vehicles. Alpha Company didnt; they walked right into an ambush that was prepared for the entire battalion, not just one company, Heller explained. [4] Within 20 minutes of the start of the mortar attack, the Viet Cong ground assault began. Meanwhile, the battalion commander of the 3/47th had committed his company B to the right of Company A; but Company B was soon stopped by a heavy fire from along the same streamline. In short, a nice, tidy plan had gone awry. This last wave of firepower ended the offensive. [5], At the same time, the 2nd Platoon returned along Route 13 from its ambush site, the men firing intermittently as they came. Click most pictures to enlarge. Considered small-scale action, Ap Bac was fought on January 2, 1963, in the hamlet (ap in Vietnamese) of Bac. morale-building victory. Ive never had a bond like I have with these people.. Early April 1967: TF-117 Sends one RAD (with 10 boats initially) to Dong Tam to commence local riverine operations in Dong Tam area. L. Harkins, General Paul Although more infantry than usual were killed by small arms fire, they were attacking cavalry and armored units, most Viet Cong deaths in this battle still resulted from artillery and air strikes. The dead lay along a small dike extending perpendicular to their front. Moving aggressively, the company closed on the enemy, killed several and forced the others to flee to the north. [5], Captain Alcala advised his superiors at 00:50 that he felt able to repel the attack, but he asked for a ready reaction force to be put in place. '&charset='+document.charset : (document.characterSet ? Report. WebThe Battle of p Bc was a major battle fought on January 3, 1963, during the Vietnam War. Reason, increase in Viet Cong attacks on commercial shipping in Long Tau channel in early February. It was a terrible day for the 4th of the 47th.. By now, time had become the vital consideration, for darkness was approaching rapidly. It was as hoped that in this manner the tracked vehicles could compensate for the lack of a blocking force. The concern of fire falling in the fire support base was so great that it was decided briefly not to attack. I yelled for a medic and one ran across the field.. The ceremony at the memorial was highlighted by the recitation of names by platoon chaplain Charlie Zies of the Tornados killed in action during the war, as well as a stirring recollection of Chili Saizs bravery on his final day. military problems and report on future prospects for the war. (SACSA Briefing, April 24; Department of are occurring more frequently. (National Defense University, Taylor Papers, T-182-67). Ap Bau Bang II was the heaviest clash of Operation Junction City. 5-September 1967: Relocate to Dong Tam. The probe was spearheaded by a herd of fifteen belled cattle being driven across Route 13 at a point 150 meters northeast of the perimeter. Several personnel carriers were hit and several troops killed and wounded. 2 June 1967: 2nd Brigade embarks aboard MRB, thus formally constituting MRF. Cong battalion inflicted heavy casualties on the government forces and [3] One tank operator trained his searchlight on the Viet Cong machine gun position and returned fire along with three APCs for around three minutes. Inspired by the performance of these two men (who have been recommended for the Medal of Honor), the rest of the platoon jumped up and attacked, destroying the other enemy troops in close combat. WebOn January 2, 1963, regular army and civil guard forces of the Republic of Vietnam engaged a Viet Cong battalion at the village of Ap Bac in Dinh Tuong province, 35 miles southwest [7], Following the battle, General Hay wrote a propaganda letter to the 9th Vietcong Division commander, taunting him about the communist defeat. [7] The South Vietnamese forces enjoyed a 4-1 numerical advantage in the Alcala requested artillery support from the battalion he was securing and further away in Lai Khe. On January 7, the Joint Chiefs of Staff authorized Army Chief of Staff [5] Several Viet Cong who attempted to remove the .50-caliber machine gun from one of the burning tracks of Festa's unit were killed, as were others trying to storm the foxholes containing the wounded. 0000004946 00000 n
4-6 July: Operations in GO GONG Province. A full archive of past and present "River Currents" newsletters from your friends at MRFA. ammunition were expended. The rest of the company dug in on the south side of the stream and continued to blast the area with fire from artillery and small arms. Persson said their platoon was unique in that they had been together since the beginning of boot camp, so the absence of another member of the tight-knit group was always felt. 0000005303 00000 n
[5], The communists troops on the southwest portion of the base perimeter were mobbing some of the APCs. Not the animal, physical fear that had possessed them as they threw themselves, yelling and screaming, at the dug-in enemy a short time before, but fear for the safety of comrades who had fallen in the vicious assault. In the background could be heard the steady beat of helicopter blades as the choppers brought in supplies and took out casualties. Refresher training period. Get the recipe! After fighting its way through the houses along the stream, it arrived at a position just short of the enemys main defense line. var width = jQuery(window).width(); In half an hour they had advanced to within 100 meters of the main enemy line, but were held up by intense fire from small arms and mortars. If we were going to win, the enemy must soon begin to break and run. Initially, they swarmed over the American armored vehicles, but were dispersed by the vehicles shooting on one another, although some of the vehicles were destroyed. September 1966: 2nd Bde designated Army Component of (MDAF- Mekong Delta Mobile Afloat Base). Company A, 3/60th, which had been behind but south of Company B, continued to advance along the stream and the road which formed the line of contact farther to the east. Early on 2 May, elements of the Wild Ones composed of Company B and Company C, 3/60th, plus the battalion command post and combat support company (less elements), moved out and arrived at the attack position with out incident. Explore gatherings, speakers and events. At the direction of Alcala, the platoon swept 1.5km south of the defenders along the rubber tree line. At the same time, he recalled the personnel carrier company (Company C, 5/60th) from its barren search farther to the west and began moving it toward the point of contact. Sheehan, Current Even though all the enemy in the immediate vicinitymore than 100 of themwere dead, there was no assurance that others might not be around, and prudence demanded being prepared for any eventuality. 24-June 26 July 1967: Operations in eastern Long An Province, principally in CAN GIOUC and CAN DUOC Districts. a. at the White House to General Godfrey T. McHugh with the President at fighting and five helicopters were shot down. By mid May this builds to full RAS at Dong Tam, while continuing operations in RSSZ, from base at Vung Tau. Viet-Nam: Current American Concern and Misunderstanding; National of State, World War I and the WebThis was the plan finally coordinated on the evening of 1 May 1967. 0000000939 00000 n
Timeline, Biographies In front of the platoon was the small pasture where the lead squad of Company A, 3/47th, had been destroyed earlier. telegram 100910Z to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on January 10. Shortly after it moved into position, a six-man Viet Cong force was engaged. The break we were looking for finally came on the right (southern) flank, where the platoon was coming along the stream line. On the north, the mechanized company moved forward at about ten miles an hour in a general line, while hosing down the countryside with .50 caliber-fire. Lieutenant Heller and his fellow soldiers in Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, were the closest to Alpha Companys position and scrambled to provide support. [5] At the same time the 1st Platoon of B Troop moved down Route 13 from its position eight kilometers north. Explore our catalog and purchase official MRFA gear here. Then we went back to Dong Tam and then in an incredible operation the MRF moved The Battle of p Bc was a major battle fought on January 2, 1963, during the Vietnam War.It was fought in nh Tng Province (now part of Tin Giang Province), South Vietnam.On December 28, 1962, US intelligence detected the presence of a radio transmitter along with a sizable force of National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF/Viet Cong) soldiers, The 3d Platoon of C Troop, moved up Route 13 from their position five kilometers to the south, driving through a barrage of fire before reaching the base perimeter at 01:27. startxref
Sheehan in which he wrote that angry United States Fortunately, the initial reports of the personnel carrier company proved to be exaggerated, and while one man had been killed and several wounded, all the tracked vehicles, including the damaged ones, were able to move forward in the assault. [4], At 00:30, 20 March 1967, the Viet Cong resumed their attack, hitting Fire Support Base 20 with mortar rounds, rifle grenades, rockets, and recoilless rifle fire. They captured a youth riding a water buffalo who admitted that he belonged to the Viet Congs 514th Battalion (a provincial main force unit of excellent reputation), and had been sent to observe the Americans approaching from the west. Came to the rice paddies of Dien Thoung Province in the hamlet ( ap in ). Small-Scale action, ap Bac was fought on January 10 took out casualties the heaviest clash of operation Junction.. Report on future prospects for the night the north commander ordered the assault as soon as the air,... 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