battle of khe sanh
Lt. Crenshaw wrote that by the eight day of the siege, “Our hill reminds me of pictures that I have seen of trenches used by French, English, and German troops during World War I. After the late February fighting, the 3rd Marine Division bolstered units in the Khe Sanh area. By any measure, the battle for Khe Sanh was finally over and this is the end date from the North Vietnamese perspective. Two platoons from Foxtrot Company in Delong’s battalion tangled with rearguard outfits of the Communist division on May 9, while scouting Hill 776 a few miles northwest of Hill 881 North. © 2020 All rights reserved. One argument leveled by Westmoreland at the time (and often quoted by historians of the battle) was that only two Marine regiments were tied down at Khe Sanh compared with several NVA divisions. For the next 77 days, U.S. Marines and their South Vietnamese allies fought off an intense siege of the garrison, one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. A fierce firefight broke out between Hotel Company of Delong’s battalion and two NVA platoons holed up in a bunker complex near the summit. There had not been much activity (with the exception of patrolling) thus far during the battle for the Green Berets of Detachment A-101 and their four companies of Bru CIDGs stationed at Lang Vei. Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, PhD, Missouri University of Science and Technology. Five NVA were known dead. When the survivors gathered around their fallen comrades, the Marines shoved aside their defensive parapets, depressed their gun tubes for a downhill shot, and fired off about a dozen rounds, killing all the enemy troops. The logistical effort to support KSCB, once it was isolated overland, demanded the implementation of other tactical innovations in order to keep the Marines supplied. The NVA continued shelling the base, and on 1 July launched a company-sized infantry attack against the base perimeter. "[6] The record reached number four in the band's home town of Adelaide but peaked on the national sales charts at a modest number 41. It was the first time since Iwo Jima that all three battalions of the regiment were together for a combat operation. This time the casualty count was six killed, four wounded and one missing. 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. [102] The base could also depend on fire support from U.S. Army 175mm guns located at Camp Carrol, east of Khe Sanh. [67] Hills 881 South, 861, and the main base itself would be simultaneously attacked that same evening. This, however, did not prevent the Marine tanks within the perimeter from training their guns on the SOG camp. Purchase your copy of Hill Fights today! In a letter home, Crenshaw noted, “The bunker next to mine took a direct hit with a 120 mm mortar yesterday which went about three feet of overhead protection and wounded two Marines in there.”, Enemy artillery fire was immediately answered by either counterbattery fire or air strikes or a combination of both. During the morning of May 4, Delong’s men captured NVA-occupied bunkers after savage close-in fighting that resulted in the deaths of 27 Marines and the wounding of 84 more. [13], In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest" 100, the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Khe Sanh" was ranked number 1, ahead of Men at Work's "Down Under" and Jimmy Barnes's "Working Class Man". [35], The village of Khe Sanh was the seat of government of Huong Hoa district, an area of Bru Montagnard villages and coffee plantations, situated about seven miles from the Laotian frontier on Route 9, the northernmost transverse road in South Vietnam. In a letter home he wrote, “At about 10:00 our battalion fire control center called and needed support for another Marine recon unit that was surrounded. Wendy Wasserstein, playwright (The Heidi Chronicles). [21], Cumulative friendly casualties for Operation Scotland, which began on 1 November 1967, were: 205 killed in action, 1,668 wounded, and 25 missing and presumed dead. Khe Sanh, one of the major battles in the Vietnam War, was just one little piece of a huge malignant disaster in a war that was criminal from its inception, and that had no purpose beyond perpetuating the neocolonialist control by the US of a long-subjugated people who were fighting to be free, just as our own ancestors had done. Despite incoming barrages and anti-aircraft fire, six C-130 cargo transports successfully landed later that day on the still-damaged air strip and discharged 24 tons of cargo, mostly artillery shells. [104] A relief force set out from the main base and attacked through the North Vietnamese, pushing them into supporting tank and artillery fire.
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