Electronic resources for U.S. foreign relations, Copyright This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. Shakespeare said it best: For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. Thats what these guys represent to each other. As the shadows lengthened over the dry rice fields and dense foliage, the roar of machine-gun fire and exploding grenades slowly died away. 6th US Battalions committed. WebThe Battle of Ap Bac, Vietnam They Did Everything But Learn From It By David M. Toczek Subject: Clear the Decks 50% - 90% OFF | General Military & Naval History | Vietnam zoneId = 'Array'; Howitzers in direct support of each assaulting company, and under the control of the commanders concerned. Encapsulating the great terrors, mistakes, ironies, and courageous acts of the Vietnam War, The Battle of Ap Bac recounts the clash in which the Viet Cong first won their spurs. 20-22 August 1967: MRF Conducts Recon in force into Parrots Beak area of LONG AN Province (along VAM CO DONG River above BEN LUC-also known ORIENTAL RIVER). Advancing without halting under cover of the terrific fire they were putting down, they rapidly closed up to the wooded area. Battle of AP Bac II, in AP Bac Hamlet, CAN/GUIOC District, Long An Province. 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. This was the plan finally coordinated on the evening of 1 May 1967. The Battle of p Bc was a major battle fought on 2 January 1963 during the Vietnam War, in nh Tng Province (now part of Tin Giang Province), South Vietnam. They all had to be searched and cleared, even though most were found to be unoccupied. 0000001694 00000 n Battalion severely damaged. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, For he today that sheds his blood with me, shall be my brother." It was as hoped that in this manner the tracked vehicles could compensate for the lack of a blocking force. Three VC were killed and the others fled to the south. Learn about the association, Board Members, Officers, and download a membership application form! In fact, if anything, the operation got off to an inauspicious start. Lieutenant Heller and his fellow soldiers in Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, were the closest to Alpha Companys position and scrambled to provide support. Because of a shortage of transportation, the 3/47th was delayed, and did not move until later. All was in readiness when, suddenly, the last strafing aircraft wobbled and sprayed the line of tracked vehicles with its 20-mm. F. Taylor, General Maxwell By noontime, troops of the the Wild Ones had reached and searched as far north as objective Queen without contact or major incident. Cong battalion inflicted heavy casualties on the government forces and Get the recipe! Sheehan in which he wrote that angry United States The letter was translated into Vietnamese, and leaflets were dropped into the communist area. If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free web account by clicking here. 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. 0 0000002380 00000 n Company C, 3/47th Infantry would act as reserve. trailer After knocking past a hastily built communist ambush just north of the perimeter, they moved around to the south. document.write (document.charset ? 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. WebThe second Battle of Bu Bng occurred during the night of 1920 March 1967 during Operation Junction City, a search and destroy mission by American military forces in Tay It was the day after Fathers Day, June 19, 1967. Viet Cong prisoners confessed that they were from the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 273rd Regiment of the 9th Viet Cong Division. 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. [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. S. Vietnam war and noted that the battle will provide enemy with It was also planned to place a battery of 105-mm. 2 May 1967: Battle of Ap Bac, not riverine, but most significant battle fought to date by 2nd Brigade. battle, and, unlike the Viet Cong, were supported by artillery, armor, [6], During the battle of Ap Bau Bang III, the Americans killed at least 227 Viet Cong, and captured 3, as well as much equipment and weapons. There are consequences.. For the Viet Cong, the Battle of Ap Bac marked the first time they decided to stand and fight a large South Vietnamese formation, although outnumbered by more than five to one. [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. However, throughout the area, the small streams could be crossed only at certain points. US forces had M113 APCs, such as these, and even a half-dozen full M48 battle tanks at their disposal. 9, 2007 (Battle of Ap Bac was a small-scale action early in the Vietnam War took place on Jan. 2, 1963, Become a member of MRFA! Even so, it was of little help to the Viet Cong, most of whom had died. Country Series, 1/63) On January 7, President Kennedy expressed concern about the (The Washington Post, January 3, 1963; The New York Times, January 4, 1963) On January Explore our catalog and purchase official MRFA gear here. escaped with minor losses. WebThe Battle of Ap Bac was to have been a routine heliborne operation into the rice rich Mekong Delta. During this battle with elements of this Division and attached units your officers failed to accomplish their mission and left the battlefield covered with dead and wounded from their units. WebThe battle of Ap Bac, Vietnam, 2007. found : Wikipedia, viewed Apr. Nearly wipes out 514th Main Force Viet Cong Battalion We dont sit around and tell war stories, we just celebrate each other and the fact that its great to be alive.. Become a member of MRFA! An abandoned railway ran parallel to and thirty meters east of the highway. The bomb dropped, but the pilot had been blown up in the blast. Despite the disparity of numbers and weapons, the Viet D. Wheeler, General Earle go of it. Battle of AP Bac II, in AP Bac Hamlet, CAN/GUIOC District, Long An Province. 1. Series, History of the 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. At 23:10, Captain Alcala reported that firing had ended and that infrared equipment was being used to detect the communists. We looked across the field and saw a lot of The attacking force was stopped within 15m of the perimeter. 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. When it arrived the 11 carriers quickly deployed in line to the north of Company a so that the battalion was deployed on an assault line 1,000 meters long and facing the east. Some rice had been found, more proof that Viet Cong had been in the area. a team of officers to Vietnam to investigate conflicting reports on zoneId = '8'; 0000003035 00000 n Alpha Company didnt; they walked right into an ambush that was prepared for the entire battalion, not just one company, Heller explained. Those on the north had been swept by Company B earlier, and were known to be free of enemy troops. They had become highly proficient in group and individual tactics. Please sign the MRFA guestbook! [6] The attackers were followed by a line of unarmed troops carrying ropes and wires with hooks to recover the fallen communists. This was prompted in part by the need to get as close to the enemy as possible before assaulting, plus the necessity of crossing the tracked vehicles over the two tracked vehicles, would continue to advance by using fire and maneuver within the platoons to destroy individual enemy positions as they were discovered. inability to take effective advantage of air superiority, and a lack of The brigade commander ordered the assault as soon as the air strike, then in progress, was finished. 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. By 04:50 flares and tank searchlights detected that the Viet Cong were massing for an attack on the south and southeastern sides of the base. Operation launched in response to major Viet Cong build up in western Dinh Tuong. This past June 19 marked the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Ap Bac. [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. Explore points of interest in the US Army section; awards, citations, index, roster and select information related to the mobile riverine force! But the most prevalent feeling now that the major, recognizable danger had passed, was one of elationhigh elation. The assault by the 60th Infantrys Wild Ones on a Viet Cong stronghold in the Mekong was the kind you see in the movies or on the blackboard, but rarely in actual combat. The first true battle of the Vietnam War was Ap Bac. captain on the battlefield, a reluctance to incur casualties, an Explore historical photos, gripping stories, poetry and song submitted by MRFA members. It took place in an area of the Mekong Delta that had been dominated by VC guerrillas. [4], During the lull that followed, reconnaissance by fire was conducted by Wolfe's tank along the wood line to the east beyond the railway. Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber. Thirteen men had died in the little pasture and many more had been wounded. memorandum prepared for the President by the Joint Staff of the Joint Join us for our 2017 reunion by making a reservation today! var width = jQuery(window).width(); reports printed in the press on the battle of Ap Bac. This day they got a bear by the tail and they didnt let discipline in battle. At this point, the situation was confused, and the brigade commander was unhappy. By now, fire from all sides was intense, but despite this, several men of the platoon crawled forward to aid the wounded, only to die themselves. 11-12 June 1967: Relocate to NHA Be. if (!document.MAX_used) document.MAX_used = ','; Web19-20 June 1967: Operation CONCORDIA. This was the start of the main phase of the battle. attack. An assessment done in the Department of State on January 15 of In a short time, all of those forward were dead from multiple bullet wounds, and the platoon was temporarily wrecked as a fighting force. 11 September 1967: Operation Coronado V. Operations in CAM Son/ BAN LONG against 514th Viet Cong Battalion and 263rd Viet Cong Main Force Battalion. - William Shakespeare, Henry V, Navy Cross recipients, Distinguished Service Cross recipients, and Medal of Honor recipients from the Navy Mobile Riverine Force and Army 9th Infantry Division. 28-31 January 1967: 2nd Bde arrives at Vung Tau, Close Bearcat. Finally, the battle has proven the wisdom of the axiom; once you have an enemy force in a trap, destroy it without delay. f. By agreement with 7th ARVN, MRF had a VN Ranger Battalion as MRF reserve and employed it in combat. <<1580FEC57EE0BF4FA30A1AAA607739CA>]>> of the Department, Foreign Relations of the United States, 19611963, Volume [5] Later Wolfe's track was directly hit for a second time by an RPG-2 rocket. December 1966: 2nd Coronado Conference There was much shouting and hollering as leaders tried to find their men, ascertain their status and reorganize for the night. Alcala requested artillery support from the battalion he was securing and further away in Lai Khe. He adopted a conventional formation of two battalions advancing abreast, the 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry, on the west, the 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry on the east, with Highway 4 as a line of departure. Palm Beach, January 7; ibid.) c. MRB most distance to date. Companies B and C continued attacking east, while Company A moved into a blocking position to the north. 28 July-2 August 1967: Coronado II. In short, a nice, tidy plan had gone awry. D. Gilpatric, Roswell even at this time when American casualties are mounting. (Alert on Clusters of coconut trees abounded and mangrove clumps generally straddled one of the many waterways that traversed the area. 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. [6], During the battle, resupply and medical evacuation missions continued under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Paul F. Gorman of the 1st Infantry Division. There was a huge explosion, an artillery round probably, and I woke up back here in the states about three weeks later.. Its a good family of vets, and its always a joy to see them.. [2] It was the first major U.S. battle of the Vietnam War using armored vehicles. In view of this, the brigade commander, Col. William B. Fulton, changed his scheme of maneuver. If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one. A friend is a person that would be standing by your side, even if he knew it was going to cost him his life. The intent was to bring the artillery fire on the enemys positions and then advance the infantry to as close as possible under cover of this fire, crawling the last few yards in the case of Company A. It was fought in nh Tng Province (now part of Tin Giang Province), South We had great food, great company; it was just wonderful. Some light small arms fire had been met by the southern-most platoon advancing along the stream, but the enemy had quickly withdrawn when his fire was returned. [1]:104 The operation plan called for the deployment of five Companies of the 3rd and 4th Battalions, 47th Infantry Regiment into the operations area by assault craft and sweep south towards the ARVN 2nd Battalion, 46th Infantry blocking positions near the town of Ap Bac in Tien Giang Province. xref By now, time had become the vital consideration, for darkness was approaching rapidly. A jet came in to drop a bomb. Nearly every member of Hellers platoon was wounded in the battle, including Heller himself. At 07:00 the final air strike and artillery rounds were fired. A unit of the 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry, attached to the 1st Infantry Division, A Troop had 129 men, six M48 tanks, twenty M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs), and three 4.2-inch mortar carriers. To the south of the position was a rubber plantation, while wooded areas were prominent to the north and west. The MRFA is launching our Historical Data Project (HDP), featuring as much MRF TF-117 data as possible. 3rd and 4th Battalions, 47th Infantry Regiment, United States Army Center of Military History, "U.S. 16 February thru mid May 1967: 2nd brigade maintains forces operating in RSSZ in conjunction with TF-117, normally keeping one battalion committed. The two platoons in the rice until they could gain fire superiority, then moving again. 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. The 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry, would also advance to the north as soon as it arrived. Vietnam, filed an after-action report on the Ap Bac operation which Whereas a company might be made up of 80-250 soldiers, an Army battalion can consist of between 300 to 1,200 soldiers. Meanwhile, the battalion commander of the 3/60th was experiencing great difficulty in getting the artillery fire support needed for his assaulting companies. Explore a glossary of terms, manuals, statistics, historical accounts and reports, maps and articles by MRFA members. [5], Meanwhile, Haszard travelled in an APC followed by another M-113 bearing his command group as they tried to move into the perimeter. Temporarily stalled, the company commander requested the support of the empty tracked vehicles which he could see to the north. Guerra de Vietnam; Guerras de descolonizacin en Asia Parte de Guerra Fra: De izquierda a derecha y de arriba abajo: operaciones de combate de Estados Unidos En Ia rng, ARVN Rangers que defienden a Saign durante la Ofensiva del Tet de 1968, dos Douglas A-4 Skyhawk despus del incidente del golfo de Tonkn, ARVN recuperan Qung Tr durante la Ofensiva de That is a huge, huge loss., Lieutenant Heller and his fellow soldiers in . This killed the communists, but in one case, Viet Cong mortar hit simultaneously, blowing up the APC, killing one and injuring many others. He gave Alcala permission to recall his 2nd Platoon from the ambush site to the perimeter. Alcala expanded the perimeter by 40m with a counterattack at 02:20. From Albert's Peach Cobbler to an Irish Chicken Dinner, we have them all! The Powell Tribune has expanded its online content. Ap Bau Bang II was the heaviest clash of Operation Junction City. It could prevent disaster, if necessary, but its chances of successfully attacking south along the stream were slim, since semi-darkness was already covering the area. Powered by Creative Circle Media Solutions. Of the men who participated in this assault, most had been in the Army hardly a year. Trong trn p Bc, qun Vit Nam Cng Ha tn tht 83 cht v t nht 100 ngi b thng. Availability of route 4 at Ben Luc for ammo resupply. 0000000016 00000 n So far as the battalion commander of the 3/60th was concerned, all his chips were in the pot. On January 7, the Joint Chiefs of Staff authorized Army Chief of Staff It resulted in a US/ARVN victory. assessment of the battle by Neil However, by this time all elements of the 3/60th had closed the final assault line and were beginning to meet enemy fire. A reinforced company, and possibly more, had been lost for the time being to the Viet Cong 514th Battalion. Thank you for stopping by. At least they got most of it. Harkins assessment closely paralleled that of Admiral Most were shot down as the troops of Company A, seizing the break they had been waiting for, quickly overran the position. Explore our Navy section: awards, stories, points of interest, origin of navy terminology and much, much more! [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. [1]:107, Company B, 4/47th Infantry was moved behind Company A while Company C, 3/47th Infantry was deployed north and then began to assault towards the east joining up with Companies A and B approaching from the northwest. As soon as the woods were reached the infantrymen jumped out and began destroying the enemy troops in their position, where they had been trapped and pinned down by the heavy volume of fire. In addition, some men were having trouble with their rifles, due to the terrific volume of the fire they were pouring out. var m3_r = Math.floor(Math.random()*99999999999); If you would like to purchase a subscription click here. While fighting continued, part of Festa's unit were trying to evacuate their wounded. True, our division G2 had indicated that a sizeable enemy force was in the Ap Bac area. Chiefs of Staff which suggested that the press was painting the battle Report. [5], The communists troops on the southwest portion of the base perimeter were mobbing some of the APCs. Mobile Riverine Force in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) from 1921 June 1967 against the Viet Cong (VC). [4], The Americans concluded that the communist mortar positions were 1.52 kilometers west of Ap Bau Bang in and around an old village that had been destroyed.