In the Da Nang Vital Area, the artillery regiment, the 11th Marine Regiment, continued to oversee the Northern Sector Defense Command and the 1st Tank Battalion, the Southern Sector Defense Command. Flares light up the Da Nang area to make it easier to spot infiltrating guerrillas. The struggle for Hi An would continue into the following day. The vintage footage in this video has been uploaded for research purposes, and is presented in unedited form. More like this Camp Friendship Korat Cat Air Force Special Operations Vietnam War Photos May Bay North Vietnam Air Force Bases Vietnam Veterans Later that night, the 1/7 Marines reported 15 secondary explosions from Marine counter-mortar artillery fire. This apparently broke the back of the VC resistance. The remaining rocket attacks were ineffective. According to Marine sources, the heavy action on this small island resulted in 102 VC killed, 88 prisoners of war, 13 VC suspects and 70 laborers. . 16. [1]:159, On the ground in the 7th Marines sector, PAVN units hit several of the CAPs, especially in the 3rd and 1st Battalion areas. *** The first time that rockets were used in the Republic of Vietnam by the Viet Cong/North Vietnamese Army. Although the Koreans and ARVN in a combined operation finally cleared Hi An, PAVN/VC units to the west south, and north of the city continued to press the attack. In the town itself, 10 civilians caught in the crossfire, sustained wounds, but no civilians died as a result of the battle. As Company G began its redeployment along the river route it ran into PAVN forces attempting to retreat in that direction. Lm arrived at the headquarters compound shortly after dawn. Captured 122mm Tripod Launcher. Despite the thinness of the Marine lines and the ability of the PAVN/VC to infiltrate, they never capitalized on these advantages. The artillery fired another salvo, which caused a large secondary explosion. Nng AB: 366th TFW: Rocket Attack! Further, the National Police reported that VC local leaders from Qung Tn, Qung Nam and Qung Ngi Provinces met in a base area in the hills of northern Qung Ngi to plan attacks on Chu Lai and on Qung Ngi City. The III MAF Command Center later that evening radioed MACV in Saigon: "Although the enemy has suffered heavy losses within his local and main force VC units during the past two days, he still possesses a formidable threat utilizing [PAVN] troops poised on the periphery of the Da Nang TAOR. The National Police arrested 25 of the crowd and quickly dispersed the would-be demonstrators. During the Cuban missile crisis, the U.S. Marine Corps deployed a Hawk air defense missile battery from the 3d Light Antiaircraft Missile (LAAM) Battalion to Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, to protect the U.S. naval base from a surprise low-level air attack by Soviet and Cuban aircraft. Some 36 of the large missiles landed on the main base, including the airfield. On my second combat hop on the 14th I flew below 500 feet for 30 minutes 5 to 10 miles south of Da Nang searching for rocket launching sites. Other units included the 402nd Sapper Battalion, the VC V-25th Battalion and other VC local forces. Da Nang was a major base area for United States and South Vietnamese military forces supporting operations throughout I Corps. U.S. air policemen take cover and leave their jeep as they come under sniper fire near Da Nang Airbase in Vietnam on January 30, 1968, after it was hit by a rocket barrage. The Marines and PF troops fired at armed members of the crowd who appeared to be directing the march. Because of an air observer on station, the Marine gunners checked their fire. West runway cratered, east runway open. As the Marine platoon patrolled along the banks of the Yn, a heavy machine gun suddenly opened up. On January 29, 1968, the night sky above the sprawling Bien Hoa Air Base, where I was on sentry patrol, appeared to be on fire. [1]:143, While the PAVN/VC concentrated their forces for the large offensive, many of these units suffered from too many rapid replacements and in some cases from poor morale. They collected some 200 people that they detained for further questioning. Battle in Vietnam involving the United States in early 1968, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tet_offensive_attacks_on_Da_Nang&oldid=1098267255, Battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1968, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War, Articles needing additional references from August 2021, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 July 2022, at 01:30. . Pictures of Danang 11. Two other platoons took up positions around nearby hills 244 and 200. I was in Danang less than a month when the Vietcong used rockets to attack the Danang Air Base for the first time in the war, on the morning of February 27. At about the same time, approximately 15 enemy 122mm rockets struck an artillery complex in the 11th Marines Northern Sector Defense Command which included a detachment from the 1st Armored Amphibian Company, the 155mm Gun and 8-inch Gun Batteries, as well as Batteries H, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines and M, 4th Battalion, 11th Marines. On 29 January, Marine intelligence officers received a reliable report that the PAVN 2nd Division also had established its command post in western G Ni. One of the rockets damaged one of the missile launchers and wounded three of the Marines. Mar 3, 2021. [1]:160, By this time, Robertson was worried about the ability to contain the PAVN/VC offensive south of Da Nang. 149 likes. A reluctance to cause undue damage to the historic town and avoid civilian casualties was suggested as a reason for the slow ROKMC advance. Army forces in the Da Nang area including the troops from Task Force Miracle suffered 18 dead and 59 wounded. PAVN battalions from the 2nd Division had eluded the Korean and ARVN defenses in the southern sector and had penetrated the defensive perimeter of the 2/3 Marines and 3/5 Marines just below the Air Base. I was assigned to the 1st Marine Division and sent to Marble Mountain Airfield to Join Marine Air Group 16 and VMO2. Located between the Cu and Thanh Qut Rivers and on either side of Highway 1, the two battalions provided the last line of defense before the so-called "Vital Area." Although authorizing the ceasefire, he warned all American commanders to be unusually alert because of "enemy increased capabilities ." Moreover, once the PAVN units arrived south of Da Nang they "made no further attempts at maneuver even while being hunted by Marine and Army units, and when engaged, seldom maneuvered, except to withdraw." PAVN/VC gunners then replied with a mortar barrage, which resulted in two Marine dead and two wounded. 45 USAF/USMC KIA, 10 aircraft destroyed , 41 aircraft damaged, and 13 barracks destroyed. About 50 minutes later, another recon team, Air Hose, about 2,000 meters to the northeast of Saddle Bag, saw more than 50 enemy troops moving eastward. "[1]:158, While the PAVN/VC forces continued to harass allied positions on the night of 31 January/1 February, the intensity of combat did not match that of the previous two nights. The artillerymen sustained two wounded and some equipment damage, but escaped relatively unscathed. While the 1st MP Battalion supported by the 1st Tank Battalion established blocking positions north of the Cu River, the ARVN 3rd Battalion, 51st Regiment swept the sector south of the river. A detachment of four LVTP-5s from the 3rd AmTrac Battalion quickly arrived, but the enemy had already departed. On 29 January, a local village chief told the security officer of the Naval Support Activity at Camp Tiensha that about 300 VC would attack the Marble Mountain transmitter that night. Americal Division artillery operating in the Qu Sn sector took the PAVN/VC forces under fire, but did not shell Duy Xuyn town because of the civilian population there. The attack force would consist of two groups, one to move by land and the other by water to knock out the bridge separating the city from Tiensha Peninsula and to capture the I Corps headquarters. About 03:30, two more Marine tanks from the district town of Hieu Duc arrived at the northern fringes of the hamlet. Another sapper squad, about the same size as the one that carried out the earlier attack, penetrated the 1st Marine Division Subsector Bravo combat operations center and communications facility on Hill 200, less than 1,000 meters from the main command post on Hill 327. Next Photo. 366th Security Police K-9. For the most part, the PAVN/VC limited their attacks on the Marines to mortar bombardments and harassing small arms fire. Fourteen aircraft, six pieces of ground support equipment , five buildings, and another two vehicles sustained damage of one sort or another. Darkness prevented Sailfish from observing the number of casualties that the artillery and air inflicted upon the enemy. As the defector from the 401st later revealed, his unit lacked "weapons, experienced soldiers, and transportation manpower." The C-123's ability to land on short, unimproved fields proved invaluable and the four units served in Vietnam until the end of the war. The Marines evacuated the survivor to the Naval Support Activity hospital where he died of his wounds. soldier and wounding two. It didn't take long to get out of bed when the first rocket struck nearby. [1]:1612, In the ensuing battle of Lo Giang the Marine and Army forces successfully repulsed the PAVN 2nd Division attack. In the pursuit, which amounted to a rout, the VC lost nearly 100 dead. The Marine squad was about to establish a night ambush site when a PAVN force of about 100 fired upon them. "[1]:1545, By this time, the Tet Offensive was in full bloom, not only at Da Nang, but throughout South Vietnam. He nevertheless released Task Force Miracle from the operational control of the 1st Marine Division and returned it to the Americal Division. 366th AMS, Mystery SP, Bob Hope. One sapper was captured. Marine counter-rocket fire from the 11th Marines and 1st Tank Battalion resulted in five secondary explosions. In the morning, the Marines discovered blood trails and three PAVN bodies in the vicinity of the explosions. The ARVN 51st Regiment operating in the southern sector of the Da Nang area of operations came across evidence including documents pointing to a buildup of PAVN/VC strength together with probes of Allied defenses. During the day, the division had positioned 11 reconnaissance Stingray patrols along likely enemy avenues of approach. Rockey then directed Company G of the 3rd Marines, also attached to him, to move up along the banks of the Bau Xau River toward a blocking position southwest of the ARVN base to seal any escape route in that direction. Those infiltrations prepared the way for NVA ground attacks in the surrounding areas. Would like to get in touch w/anyone attached to Security. 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines was in the north, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines was in the center and 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines was in the south. 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