battle of khe sanh casualtieswhat happened to mark reilly strong island
Nevertheless, the US commander during the battle, General William Westmoreland, maintained that the true intention of Tet was to distract forces from Khe Sanh. The main US forces defending Khe Sanh Combat Base (KSCB) were two regiments of the United States Marine Corps supported by elements from the United States Army and the United States Air Force (USAF), as well as a small number of Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) troops. Additionally, Shore argued that the "weather was another critical factor because the poor visibility and low overcasts attendant to the monsoon season made such operations hazardous. 50 Years Ago, US Troops Fought the Battle of Khe Sanh - Business Insider Westmoreland echoed this judgment in his memoirs, and, using exactly the same figures, concluded that the North Vietnamese had suffered a most damaging and one-sided defeat. Five Marines were killed on January 19 and 20, while on reconnaissance patrols. The Marines, fearing an ambush, did not attempt a relief, and after heavy fighting the camp was overrun. The Tet Offensive was about to begin. [153][154] The gradual withdrawal of US forces began during 1969 and the adoption of Vietnamization meant that, by 1969, "although limited tactical offensives abounded, US military participation in the war would soon be relegated to a defensive stance. In 1966, the regular Special Forces troops had moved off the plateau and built a smaller camp down Route 9 at Lang Vei, about half the distance to the Laotian border. On April 20, Operation Prairie IV began, with heavy fighting between the Marines and NVA forces. The deaths of U.S. Air Force personnel, estimated between five and 20, are also omitted. "[97], Ladd and the commander of the SOG compound (whose men and camp had been incorporated into the defenses of KSCB) proposed that, if the Marines would provide the helicopters, the SOG reconnaissance men would go in themselves to pick up any survivors. [119] By 11:00, the battle was over, Company A had lost 24 dead and 27 wounded, while 150 PAVN bodies were found around the position, which was then abandoned. The fighting was heavy. Murphy 2003, pp. [87], Heated debate arose among Westmoreland, Commandant of the Marine Corps Leonard F. Chapman Jr., and Army Chief of Staff Harold K. Johnson. Battle of Hamburger Hill The 29 th North Vietnam Army had entrenched themselves on Hamburger Hill in South Vietnam; a joint US-South Vietnamese force was ordered to remove them. The 1968 Battle of Khe Sanh was the longest, deadliest and most controversial of the Vietnam War, pitting the U.S. Marines and their allies against the North Vietnamese Army. He gave the order for US Marines to take up positions around Khe Sanh. To support the Marine base, a massive aerial bombardment campaign (Operation Niagara) was launched by the USAF. [131], Planning for the overland relief of Khe Sanh had begun as early as 25 January 1968, when Westmoreland ordered General John J. Tolson, commander, First Cavalry Division, to prepare a contingency plan. Military History Institute of Vietnam, p. 222. [104] Ladd, back on the scene, reported that the Marines stated, "they couldn't trust any gooks in their damn camp. If only it had contaminated the stream, the airlift would not have provided enough water to the Marines. Throughout the campaign, US forces used the latest technology to locate PAVN forces for targeting. The Battle of la Drang was considered essential because it sets up a change of tactics for both troops during the conflict. Dien Bien Phu would loom large for the rest of the war, especially during the Battle of Khe Sanh. [23][Note 2], James Marino wrote that in 1964, General William Westmoreland, the US commander in Vietnam, had determined, "Khe Sanh could serve as a patrol base blocking enemy infiltration from Laos; a base for operations to harass the enemy in Laos; an airstrip for reconnaissance to survey the Ho Chi Minh Trail; a western anchor for the defenses south of the DMZ; and an eventual jumping-off point for ground operations to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Those 10 deaths were also left out of the official statistics. As a result of this intelligence, KSCB was reinforced on 22 January 1968 by the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment. The Hill Fights - Wikipedia Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the start of the war's most famous siege, a 77-day struggle for a rain-swept plateau in central Vietnam that riveted the U.S. in 1968, and opened a year of . [20] These figures do not include casualties among Special Forces troops at Lang Vei, aircrews killed or missing in the area, or Marine replacements killed or wounded while entering or exiting the base aboard aircraft. The Marine Corps casualty reporting system was based on named operations and not geographic location. The strike wounded two more Strike Force soldiers and damaged two bunkers. [82], By the end of the battle, USAF assets had flown 9,691 tactical sorties and dropped 14,223tons of bombs on targets within the Khe Sanh area. Name State Date War Branch; 1: Steven Glenn Abbott . The Battle of Khe Sanh: The Vietnam War - WorldAtlas According to the official Marine Corps history of the battle, total fatalities for Operation Scotland were 205 friendly KIA. The Marines recorded an actual body count of 1,602 NVA killed but estimated the total NVA dead at between 10,000 and 15,000. This base was to serve as the western anchor of Marine Corps forces, which had tactical responsibility for the five northernmost provinces of South Vietnam known as I Corps. [54] In attempting to determine PAVN intentions Marine intelligence confirmed that, within a period of just over a week, the 325th Division had moved into the vicinity of the base and two more divisions were within supporting distance. Taking a larger but more realistic view, the Khe Sanh campaign resulted in a death toll of American military personnel that approached 1,000. Several rounds also landed on Hill 881. Battle of la Drang Valley (26 October - 27 . The village of Khe Sanh was the seat of government of Hng Hoa district, an area of Bru Montagnard villages and coffee plantations about 7 miles (11km) from the Laotian frontier on Route 9, the northernmost transverse road in South Vietnam. Battle of Khe Sanh: American Casualties : Showing All Results. In fact, neither side won a resounding victory. SOG Reconnaissance teams also reported finding tank tracks in the area surrounding Co Roc mountain. [148], Regardless, the PAVN had gained control of a strategically important area, and its lines of communication extended further into South Vietnam. "[24] In November 1964, the Special Forces moved their camp to the Xom Cham Plateau, the future site of Khe Sanh Combat Base. On March 6, two U.S. Air Force C-123 cargo airplanes departed Da Nang Air Base en route to Khe Sanh. In the US, the media following the battle drew comparisons with the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which proved disastrous for the French. Less likely to be mentioned is the final high-casualty engagement between units of the U.S. infantry and the North Vietnamese Army. However, the PAVN committed three regiments to the fighting from the Khe Sanh sector. Hernandez was killed. [166] This view was supported by a captured North Vietnamese study of the battle in 1974 that stated that the PAVN would have taken Khe Sanh if it could have done so, but there was a limit to the price that it would pay. [138], On the following day, the 2nd Brigade captured the old French fort near Khe Sanh village after a three-day battle. About two hours later, an NVA artillery barrage scored a hit on the main ammunition dump at Khe Sanh Combat Base, killing Lance Corp. Jerry Stenberg and other Marines. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. "[105] There had been a history of distrust between the Special Forces personnel and the Marines, and General Rathvon M. Tompkins, commander of the 3rd Marine Division, described the Special Forces soldiers as "hopped up wretches [who] were a law unto themselves. According to this history, originally classified as secret, the battle deaths for all major NVA units participating in the entire Highway 9Khe Sanh Front from January 20 until July 20, 1968, totaled 2,469. The NVAs main command post was located in Laos, at Sar Lit. [137] Opposition from the North Vietnamese was light and the primary problem that hampered the advance was continual heavy morning cloud cover that slowed the pace of helicopter operations. Marines stayed in the area, conducting operations to recover the bodies of Marines killed previously. After failing to respond to a challenge, they were fired upon and five were killed outright while the sixth, although wounded, escaped. [75], Niagara I was completed during the third week of January, and the next phase, Niagara II, was launched on the 21st,[76] the day of the first PAVN artillery barrage. [129][130] Nevertheless, according to Tom Johnson, President Johnson was "determined that Khe Sanh [would not] be an 'American Dien Bien Phu'". [25], In the winter of 1964, Khe Sanh became the location of a launch site for the highly-classified Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group. In 1970, the Office of Air Force History published a then "top secret", but now declassified, 106-page report, titled The Air Force in Southeast Asia: Toward a Bombing Halt, 1968. [33] The PAVN fought for several days, took casualties, and fell back. 535 Results : page 1 of 54. The advance would be supported by 102 pieces of artillery. As a result, 65% of all supplies were delivered by paradrops delivered by C-130 aircraft, mostly by the USAF, whose crews had significantly more experience in airdrop tactics than Marine air crews. 6,000 men North Vietnamese Vo Nguyen Giap Tran Quy Hai Approx. In the 43-day . Five days later, the final reinforcements arrived in the form of the 37th ARVN Ranger Battalion, which was deployed more for political than tactical reasons. [121] Casualties from the bombardment were 10 killed and 51 wounded. First had been Operation Full Cry, the original three-division invasion plan. A platoon from Company D, 1/26 Marines was sent from the base but was withdrawn in the face of the superior PAVN forces. The Marines, whose aircraft and doctrine were integral to their operations, were under no such centralized control. Battlefield:Vietnam | History Armies and Commanders Allies General William Westmoreland Colonel David Lownds Approx. The Battle of Khe Sanh began on January 21, 1968, when forces from the People's Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) carried out a massive artillery bombardment on the U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh, located in South Vietnam near the border with Laos. Many of the artillery and mortar rounds stored in the dump were thrown into the air and detonated on impact within the base. [1], The evacuation of Khe Sanh began on 19 June 1968 as Operation Charlie. The Marine garrison was also reinforced, and on November 1, 1967, Operation Scotland began. The aircrew then had to contend with antiaircraft fire on the way out. On 19 June 1968, the evacuation and destruction of KSCB began. The Battle of Khe Sanh began 50 years ago this week when roughly 20,000 North Vietnamese troops surrounded an isolated combat base . By early January, the defenders could count on fire support from 46 artillery pieces of various calibers, five tanks armed with 90-mm guns, and 92 single or Ontos-mounted 106-mm recoilless rifles. I suspect he is also trying to draw everyone's attention away from the greatest area of threat, the northern part of I Corps. The link-up between the relief force and the Marines at KSCB took place at 08:00 on 8 April, when the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment entered the camp. The Marines claimed 115 PAVN killed, while their own casualties amounted to 10 dead, 100 wounded, and two missing. [33] Troops of the US 1st Infantry Division were able to respond quickly. [15], Unknown (1,602 bodies were counted, US official public estimated 10,00015,000 KIA,[19][20] but MACV's secret report estimated 5,550 killed as of 31 March 1968)[1]. It was a bad beginning to a long 77-day siege. Had the plane been shot down departing Khe Sanh, the casualties would have been counted. The official assessment of the North Vietnamese Army dead is just over 1,600 killed, with two . Battlefield boundaries extended from eastern Laos eastward along both sides of Route 9 in Quang Tri province, Vietnam, to the coast. Site will be misbehaving during our migration to new (better!) On April 6, a front-page story in The New York Times declared that the siege of Khe Sanh had been lifted. . [43] Lieutenant General Robert E. Cushman Jr. relieved Walt as commander of III MAF in June. Ray Stubbe has published a translation of the North Vietnamese history of the siege at Khe Sanh. What is the 25th Infantry known for? [161], Whether the PAVN actually planned to capture Khe Sanh or the battle was an attempt to replicate the Vit Minh triumph against the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu has long been a point of contention. Westmoreland was replaced two months after the end of the battle, and his successor explained the retreat in different ways. The dead men have been described as wearing Marine uniforms; that they were a regimental commander and his staff on a reconnaissance; and that they were all identified, by name, by American intelligence. [78], Thus began what was described by John Morocco as "the most concentrated application of aerial firepower in the history of warfare". Sporadic actions were taken in the vicinity during the late summer and early fall, the most serious of which was the ambush of a supply convoy on Route 9. On June 19, 1968, another operation began at Khe Sanh, Operation Charlie, the final evacuation and destruction of the Khe Sanh Combat Base. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, as many as 30,000 Communist Vietnamese forces surrounded roughly 6,000 U.S. marines defending a combat base on .. Week of February 21 [117], Communications with military command outside of Khe Sanh was maintained by an U.S. Army Signal Corps team, the 544th Signal Detachment from the 337th Signal Company, 37th Signal Brigade in Danang. "[91][92], Not much activity (with the exception of patrolling) had occurred thus far during the battle for the Special Forces Detachment A-101 and their four companies of Bru CIDGs stationed at Lang Vei. [9], The precise nature of Hanoi's strategic goal at Khe Sanh is regarded as one of the most intriguing unanswered questions of the Vietnam War. server. Journalist Richard Ehrlich writes that according to the report, "in late January, General Westmoreland had warned that if the situation near the DMZ and at Khe Sanh worsened drastically, nuclear or chemical weapons might have to be used." Unlike the official figures, Stubbes database of Khe Sanh casualties includes verifiable names and dates of death. These Are Some of the Most Iconic Battles the US Marines Ever Fought [25], Marino stated that "by 1966, Westmoreland had begun to consider Khe Sanh as part of a larger strategy." The Marines pursued three enemy scouts, who led them into an ambush. After a ten-day battle, the attackers were pushed back into Cambodia. During this time, KSCB and the hilltop outposts around it were subjected to constant PAVN artillery, mortar, and rocket attacks, and several infantry assaults. Hundreds of mortar rounds and 122-mm rockets slammed into the base, levelling most of the above-ground structures. Khe Sanh had long been responsible for the defense of Lang Vei. Consequently, and unknown at the time, Operation Scotland became the starting point of the Battle of Khe Sanh in terms of Marine casualty reporting. They fixed the attention of the American command on the border regions, and they drew American and ARVN forces away from the coastal lowlands and cities in preparation for the Tet Offensive. Of the 500 CIDG troops at Lang Vei, 200 had been killed or were missing and 75 more were wounded. However, North Vietnamese sources claim that the Americans did not win a victory at Khe Sanh but were forced to retreat to avoid destruction. American commanders considered the defense of Khe Sanh a success, but shortly after the siege was lifted, the decision was made to dismantle the base rather than risk similar battles in the future. [10] Once the news of the closure of KSCB was announced, the American media immediately raised questions about the reasoning behind its abandonment. Early in the war US forces had established a garrison at Khe Sanh in Quang Tri province, in the . [139] The 11th Engineers proclaimed Route 9 open to traffic on 11 April. Khe Sanh - Location, Vietnam War & Who Won - HISTORY Among the dead Marines was 18-year-old Pfc Curtis Bugger. At about 0640 hours the NVA 7th Battalion, 66th Regiment, 304th Division, attacked the Huong Hoa District headquarters in Khe Sanh village. The NVA 304th Divisions history notes that on 9 July 1968, the liberation flag was waving from the flag pole at Ta Con [Khe Sanh] airfield. On July 13, 1968, Ho Chi Minh sent a message to the soldiers of the Route 9Khe Sanh Front affirming our victory at Khe Sanh.. Let me caution everyone not to be confused. wikipedia.en/Rathvon_M._Tompkins.md at main chinapedia/wikipedia.en Dr. Chris McNab is the editor of AMERICAN BATTLES & CAMPAIGNS: A Chronicle, from 1622-Present and is an experienced specialist in wilderness and urban survival techniques. The fact that the North Vietnamese committed only about half of their available forces to the offensive (6070,000), most of whom were Viet Cong, is cited in favor of Westmoreland's argument. But only by checking my service record while writing this article did it become evident that I had participated in all three operations. [75] On 22 January, the first sensor drops took place, and by the end of the month, 316 acoustic and seismic sensors had been dropped in 44 strings. [170][140], One argument that was then leveled by Westmoreland and has since often quoted by historians of the battle is that only two Marine regiments were tied down at Khe Sanh, compared with the several PAVN divisions. From the Hu site the communication signal was sent to Danang headquarters where it could be sent anywhere in the world. According to Gordon Rottman, even the North Vietnamese official history, Victory in Vietnam, is largely silent on the issue.
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