August 1966 November 1966 December 1966. Charlie Company reacted quickly to reinforce Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymore mines and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. As I walked around the front of a track, the .50-caliber gunner accidentally hit the trigger and pumped five rounds into the ground about three feet in front of me. They had been told that the population would rise up against the Americans and that there would be plenty of captured U.S. weapons to fight with. As the C-23 track Stormy, which was in the lead, turned into a side street, an RPG slammed into its front, smashing the radiator and wounding several soldiers. On the morning of 31 January 1968, the Bien Hoa Air Base, III Corps HQ, the Prisoner of War Compound, and other key installations around Bien Hoa--Long Binh area received enemy mortar and rocket fire. We had returned from a
The platoons attacked by successive bounds through the village as the companys tracks, forming the base of the T on the highway, provided fire support from the .50s and resupplied the troops with ammunition. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. When I pointed out that the 101st Battalion had more than 500 troops and I had only two line platoons and less than 90 troops, he said, Youre mechanized, youre very strong.. night on alert at the Birdcage, I was awakened (trying to sleep
Craven and another photographer, were both wounded in the engagement.) Toward dark, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. The 1st Platoon of Bravo Company was made the II Field Force reaction force and was placed in the PX parking lot at Long Binh. As dawn broke, everything was deathly quiet. At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. Attacking Long
A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. 10. At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. Charlie Company was ordered to a large open field across Highway 15 from the Long Thanh airfield. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. At the beginning of the Tet Offensive, one rifle company was ordered to to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. Seems like the fighting went on
[6]:36 In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon-Bien Hoa area to reduce attacks by fire. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. The Vietnamese general and the III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not very happy when we pulled out. Story Text: STOCKPILES OF BOMBS AND ARTILLERY SHELLS AT THE U.S. ARMY AMMUNITION DUMP AT LONG BINH, IN SOUTH VIETNAM, ERUPTED YESTERDAY (SATURDAY) WHEN TIME CHARGES, PLACED BY VIET CONG RAIDERS, DETONATED AMID TONS OF HIGH EXPLOSIVES. As I walked around the front of a track, the .50-caliber gunner accidentally hit the trigger and pumped five rounds into the ground about three feet in front of me. He manned the .50 and, with a Charlie Company driver, started off down Highway 1. After telling them to stop shooting
Mainly it is the story of some of the finest solders to ever wear the uniform of the U.S. Army and how they reacted not only to fierce combat, but also to the fog of war. "[3]:205, The Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa AB and Tan Son Nhut Air Base slowly led to an improvement in air base defense across South Vietnam, with improved bunkers and heavier defensive armament including 0.50 cal machine guns, M67 recoilless rifles and M29 mortars. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. In addition, we were tremendously flexible. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered dismounted. Bravo Company was sent to protect the Long Binh ammunition dump and Charlie Company was ordered into downtown Bien Hoa, where the ARVN III Corps headquarters was in danger of being overrun. and still no answer. 939939. Click Here. 1. Get under! As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. Ive just been told you work for me again.
Long Binh Ammo Dump Explosion, Tet, 1968 - YouTube At 4 a.m., Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move, and told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. An accurate body count could never be compiled since so many VC bodies were dragged away or were burned in the many fires in the towns and villages. carried on into that night with tracers flying everywhere. NEARER AIR V..SMOKE Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. Script is copyright Reuters Limited.
PDF Scanned Document - United States Army In Bin Ha itself the 3rd Ranger Task Force, consisting of the 35th and 36th Ranger Battalions, provided a rapid reaction force supported by 2 155-mm howitzer battalions located on the southeast of the city. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. The VC/PAVN attacked the position that night in a 6 hour long assault which was met initially by US mortar and artillery fire, then helicopter gunships and then napalm strikes. Widows Village made a perfect attack position, since it lay directly across Highway 316 from II Field Force headquarters. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. During the last week of January, the battalion patrolled the jungles east of Highway 15, near the Binh Son rubber plantation. However the ammunition storage bunkers prevented a chain reaction and the lost munitions were easily replaced with no impact on supply. An MP full colonel, along with a deputy sheriff from Los Angeles (dressed in his deputy uniform) and two jeeploads of Vietnamese National Police, drove up to my track. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. Back view of jeep with open doors. We use cookies on this website. Then things started falling out of the sky. [2]:347, The VC 275th Regiment had taken up positions in a residential area known at the Widows' Village (105731N 1065237E / 10.9587N 106.877E / 10.9587; 106.877), which housed the wives and families of dead ARVN soldiers and was located across Route 316 from the Plantation Compound. Relevant to these events; post recollections and descriptions, questions,. Since I was in an airborne unit, I was sure I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. Company E engaged the PAVN/VC supported by artillery fire killing 47 PAVN/VC. At 08:00 the VC south of the Plantation withdrew into the Widows Village. In fact, VC effectiveness was so degraded that, after 1968, they were mainly replaced on the battlefield by North Vietnamese regulars, and were never a viable force after that. The attacks on Bin Ha, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968 and continued until 2 February 1968. AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES [2]:3512 US losses in the fighting in the Widow's Village were three dead. officer around. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. [3]:220, When the Company F, 51st Infantry LRRP team reported VC/PAVN moving past their position a reaction force from Company C, 4/12th Infantry mounted on ACAVs was sent to investigate. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. [3]:2501, On the evening of 1 February 3 platoons from Company C, 4/12th Infantry and 2 platoons from Company D, 17th Cavalry Regiment were ordered 2km north of Ho Nai to establish an outer defense against any renewed VC/PAVN attack. The 2-47 was one of several units General Weyand pulled in from the jungles to guard the Long Binh headquarters and logistical complex 15 miles northeast of Saigon. Service Battery 6/27th
But no one would be leaving the country that day. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymores and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. Sergeant John Ax, squad leader of 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, recalls the fighting near III Corps: An RPG hit Shocker, the C-21 track, in the side; but it must have been a glancing blow, because it did not explode. I said again, "Who is there"? I was the DistrictSenior Advisor (Army) in Vinh Kim, Long Dinh District, right across the canal from Dong Tam in 1968-1969. Riflemen moving cautiously. Some VC crossed Route 316 and took up firing positions in bush at the southern perimeter of the Plantation. Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. Barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated through Longbinh ammunition camp. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! The churches were cleared in short order. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army used the base as a logistics and command center. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. The VC attacks on Bien Hoa and the Long Binh complex were abject failures, due in part to the fact that on January 31, 1968, they had run into the Panthers of the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry. There, Charlie Company soldiers joined ARVN and U.S. MACV soldiers manning the walls. A spokesman for the South Vietnamese command said that, according to unconfirmed re ports, satchel charges, of the type used by Vietcong sabotage squads were found near the dump. The explosions at Long Binh, 15 miles northeast of Sia gon rattled windows and shook doors here in the capital. When I arrived at the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry, nicknamed the Panthers, Lt. Col. Arthur Moreland, the commander, asked me what job I wanted. Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh, Tet Offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh, United States Army Center of Military History, "Tet Offensive: The Battles of Bien Hoa and Long Binh", Video of helicopter gunships and F-100s in action at Bien Hoa AB, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tet_offensive_attacks_on_Bien_Hoa_and_Long_Binh&oldid=1086914863, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1968, Battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States, Attacks on military installations in the 1960s, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the United States Army Center of Military History, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 9 May 2022, at 04:36. Unfortunately for them, the hapless VC had no weapons other than the RPG launcher, and Dames dispatched them with a burst from his M-16. However, Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could organize their attack. Of course you never
", "I then went to the CP and tried
We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. went off and all hell broke lose. I sounded off, "who is there"? I yelled at Lieutenant Casper and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles.
Remembering Tet 1968 Fifty Years Ago - quanloi.org 6. CU SIGN "NO SMOKING" I remember one
He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. LV DITTO A slightly wounded soldier, lying on the ground, smiles as he points to his leg as another soldier helps him. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered on foot. M-117 bombs explode near and on road on wooden slopes near river north of Pleiku near Dak To, on 18 August, 1968. Website Terms & Conditions |
to check-in and see what was going on, and found myself the only
As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. The Long Binh ammunition dump had exploded. ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. My
We began to pop hand-held flares so they could see we were there, but the shooting persisted, one round actually hitting my track. This is the airstrike on snipers at the 195th AHC perimeter and the Long Binh ammo dump explosion set off by sappers the morning of the 1968 Tet offensive with sound effects added. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. I had inherited the job
charred. We closed within a few hundred meters of the scout platoon and watched as helicopter gunships destroyed a large yellow house from which the VC were pinning down Barnes troops. Privacy Policy | Links
yelling Kortuem! One of the children in the Hope System of Care is Nguyen Thi Ly, born in 2001 with a deformed face, head and chest. unless they could see someone, I went to our Operations shack
Binh was a logistical mistake because the perimeter was so heavily armed
USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II bomber aircraft drop two Mk.84 HD bombs. Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. 13.
Photo Index At 7 a.m., as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. This is the story of one rifle company, and what it faced on that decisive day. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. Now the fight was on. License Agreement |
VC informants inside the base had provided detailed information as to the base layout and defenses. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. By the evening the 2/47th Infantry withdrew into the Long Binh perimeter. (Vietnam War period). We all knew these moves were more than precautionary. This article was written by John E. Gross and originally published in the February 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. According to the VC 5th Division official history, the 3rd Battalion, 5th VC Regiment was supported by the Bien Hoa Sapper Company; its mission was to overrun the compound, which was defended by about 15 ARVN soldiers and a smattering of MACV advisers. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, located on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. All night he stared at the body, which had one arm grotesquely sticking in the air, and wondered why nobody had taken the gold wristwatch off the arm. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scouts into Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. Dames killed them with a burst from his M-16 probably saving the lives of everyone on my track. Charlie Company quickly reinforced Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. As the ammo dump burst into flames, secondary explosions erupted in other storage areas, and . HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. [2]:347[3]:236 The rocket/mortar attack was the signal to start the ground assaults on Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh. Charlie Company soldiers, used to months of patrolling and fighting in the jungles, suddenly found themselves fighting house to house as their fathers had done in World War II. He ignored me and went to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company, and in a fight, the company had 22 .50-caliber machine guns, a 106mm and several 90mm recoilless rifles, and more radios and M-60 machine guns than a walking company could ever carry. It was the first such occurrence since the ceasefire of Jan. 28. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. No infantry school tactic fit the situation; improvisation became the order of the day. Charlie Company soldiers, used to months of patrolling and fighting in the jungles, suddenly found themselves fighting house to house as their fathers had done in World War II. In fact, the Communists had already infiltrated the city of Bien Hoa, suburban Ho Nai village and Widows Village, where pensioned families of deceased ARVN soldiers lived. Terms & Conditions |
I called battalion headquarters and was told to forget about them, which reinforced our sense that combat was imminent. Lookout tower in the background. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. In the week preceding the attack these LRRP patrols engaged 2 PAVN/VC reconnaissance teams north of Long Binh. He started
I asked one of the men
He said the first thing he could remember was the
When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. II Field Force commander LG Frederick C. Weyand had also ordered the 9th Infantry Division to be prepared to send its 1st Brigade from Bearcat Base 16km south of Long Binh to Bien Hoa-Long Binh in the event of an attack. happened to hit him just over the forehead. (Long Binh) ammunition dump. He stated that Bien Hoa airbase, the Long Binh facility, the II Field Force headquarters and the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (LIB) base camp were under heavy mortar and rocket attack. Bringing that volatile convoy through the city, which had not been totally cleared and was still burning in many places, was a tremendously heroic act. forever the big pieces stopped. That was 90th Replacement Battalion, situated on the road to Saigon between the village of Bien Hoa and the huge base at Long Binh. To ensure you can use all the features please enable it. 0.08 14. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. This was no surprise to us, since we could plainly hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. Ammo Dump Exlosion Sapper Attack! After commanding 180 paratroopers, taking on four APCs and 40 troops seemed like a dreamexcept that now I was responsible for troops in combat, not training. GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. Tom Allaback. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West
The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. Several tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. danger and the probable best course of action. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. The G3 adviser told me that they had received intelligence that Vo Nguyen Giap, the North Vietnamese commanding general (the enemy equivalent of General William Westmoreland), had his command post in a Catholic church about a kilometer east of III Corps. The North Vietnamese Army had circled
After the battles for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre incidents of the day. LONG BINH, South Viet Nam (UPII A thunderous explosion that shook the heart of Saigon 11 miles away ripped through a U.S. ammunition depot tonight and wounded a handful of Americans. Fred Casper, one of the bravest of the brave, was killed during the May offensive at the Y Bridge in Saigon, leading from the front as was his custom. The unit left their position at Firebase Concord north of Bin Ha and moved east proceeding along trails north of Ho Nai towards the LRRP position. [3]:2305 By dawn the VC/PAVN were retreating northwards pursued by helicopter gunships and at 06:15 Company C, 4/12th Infantry began moving north in pursuit, intending to pin the VC/PAVN against a force from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment which was moving south. Early on January 30, we were told the Tet cease-fire was canceled, and our unit was deployed into a defensive line along the road that ran around the east side of the Long Binh base. October continued with construction efforts. He
The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted minimal damage on the bases. Several of his tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. To get to the church, we had to run a gantlet of fire, through the VC 238th Regiment and into the flank of the 275th, which was fighting the 2-47s scout platoon in Widows Village. This fire was observed by the helicopter gunships that had been circling the area north of Long Binh and they quickly moved to attack the launch sites and were soon joined by an AC-47 Spooky gunship and their combined fire soon stopped the rocket/mortar fire. Then things started falling out of the sky. At about 6 a.m., Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. [2]:346, The US 199th LIB was responsible for security in the towns and countryside around Long Binh, while the 720th Military Police Battalion was responsible for security within the base perimeter. the wrecker operator had to know how to weld. Refine Your Search Long Binh Vietnam 1968 stock footage and images - Showing 1 to 6 of 5537 results Sort by: All All Search Results Decade 1890 - 1899 (3) 1900 - 1909 (18) 1910 - 1919 (136) 1920 - 1929 (83) more Location Aalen Germany (1) Aberdeen Proving Ground Maryland USA (1) Afghanistan (2) Africa (3) more Akron Ohio USA (3) Soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry (Mechanized) and 4th Battalion 39th Infantry clearing a hamlet during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Tower sent the battalion S3, Major Jones, to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. When I arrived at 9th Division in June, I was shocked to learn that I was going to a mechanized battalion. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. 0.13 FAQs - How to Order |
The first explosion was
We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters.
Bin Ha Air Base: Memories of Bin Ha, TET 1969, by Larry - VSPA The 2-47s scout platoon had just finished a brutal fight in Widows Village, and at 4 p.m., it was ordered to move to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, and to attack westward through the village of Ho Nai toward Charlie Company, in the hope of pinning the VC between us. The ammunition dump contained high explosives like: C-4, artillery rounds, mortar rounds, aerial flares, 50 caliber rounds, M-60 machine gun rounds, and aerial rockets for the Huey Cobra and gunships. 2. [3]:2515, A VC/PAVN attack on the prisoner of war camp in Bin Ha which held over 2000 prisoners was repulsed by a platoon from Company C, 4/12th Infantry and a platoon from Company D, 17th Cavalry and their ACAVs. Four men were killed and more than 20 wounded, including most of the officers. This was no surprise to us, since we could hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. The 1st Platoon of Bravo Company was made the II Field Force reaction force and was placed in the PX parking lot at Long Binh. Battalion policy was that we had to fill in all holes and empty our sandbags each time we left a position. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. As we turned around to head back west, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. The acting commander of the 199th LIB, Col. Frederic E. Davison, ordered three of his infantry companies operating north of Long Binh to attack the rocket launch site, while LG Weyand ordered the 9th Infantry Division to send the 1st Brigade from Bearcat Base.