[54] According to Moyar (2008), in blaming the South Vietnamese, Vann wanted to conceal the American's flawed intelligence and poor leadership. In front of it stretched some 1,500 meters of open rice fields that were cut at 500-meter intervals by two irrigation ditches, the last of which was some 500 to 600 meters from the enemys position. 
After a skirmish on a highway that resulted in a small number of South Vietnamese casualties along with several trucks destroyed, Cao was called to Saigon and reprimanded by Diem. [38], Meanwhile, a fourth CH-21 returned to Ap Bac to attempt to rescue the downed helicopter crews, and it too was heavily damaged by ground fire and forced to land on the muddy rice field. WebAt Ap Bac, for the first time, the Viet Cong fought at battalion strength and won a decisive victory against Vietnamese troops supported by American helicopters, armored vehicles, and artillery. Three VC were killed and the others fled to the south. One enemy soldier was beaten to death by a soldier who used his steel helmet, and another was stabbed to death, thus indicating the ferocity of the assault. 3rd and 4th Battalions, 47th Infantry Regiment, United States Army Center of Military History, "U.S. Calling for artillery fire and air support, the commander attempted to maneuver his company across the stream. The battle represented the first major confrontation between ARVN forces and the NLF during the Vietnam War; it was also a significant victory for the NLF. Thus, the battle ended. However, overall enemy losses had been more than 200 men. Ap Bac Revisited - June 19, 2007 Bill Reynolds, What a pleasant surprise to sit down for breakfast on this Veterans Day, 2007, and see the front page story in The Signal about your trip back to Vietnam and your memories of the battle on June 19, 1967. The break we were looking for finally came on the right (southern) flank, where the platoon was coming along the stream line. [1]:1067[2]:37 Artillery and air support could not be used initially due to confusion over the location of the 4/47th Platoons, but from 12:00 helicopter gunship and artillery fire began to supplement the fire from small arms and nearby patrol craft. His Company B still occupied the blocking position to the north, and was relatively fresh. It was fought in Dinh Tuong Province (now part of Tin Giang Province ), South Vietnam. 
ft). Thanks for the memories on this Veterans Day, 2007. Explore artwork by members, and read historical articles and books. Mobile Riverine Force in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) from 1921 June 1967 against the Viet Cong (VC). South Vietnamese casualties included 83 killed in action and at least 100 wounded. He also argued that sending the 13 M-113 armored personnel carriers through the Cong Ba Ky Canal would enable the Viet Cong to retreat because it might take too much time. WebThe Battle of Ap Bac was a major battle fought on January 3, 1963, during the Vietnam War. 
Sp4 West was instrumental in my not being with A company that day and probably saved my life. As they held their cigarettes their hands shook from the terrific nervous tensions they had been under. Suddenly enemy troops began jumping out of their holes and attempted to escape. Alpha Company, 4th,47th. On the south, Company A was exchanging fire with most of the enemy defenders. Because of its earlier start and lack of contact, this battalion was already north of the general line of contact, although some three kilometers to the west. If we were going to win, the enemy must soon begin to break and run. So far as the battalion commander of the 3/60th was concerned, all his chips were in the pot. It To further complicate matters, the area was honeycombed with small fighting positions typical of the Delta region. Of the fifteen American helicopters sent to support the operation, only one escaped undamaged, and five were either downed or destroyed. This was the plan finally coordinated on the evening of 1 May 1967. WebA brief lecture on the 1963 Battle of Ap Bac. NOTE: This video is part of a lesson plan titled The Battle of Ap Bac. It This was the plan finally coordinated on the evening of 1 May 1967. Visibility was excellent and the day was hot and clear. [37] The rescue operation was further delayed when Ba tried to obtain proper authorization to advance, because he was under orders not to take commands directly from the American advisers. 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. [1]:108. Get the recipe! At the brigade commanders suggestion, it was decided to lay a heavy volume of smoke on the area, using a battery of 155-mm. The rest of the troops would move to their jump-off positions by vehicles with the 3/60th departing first because it had the longest distance to travel. Late in the afternoon, the ARVN 8th Airborne Battalion was dropped onto the battlefield and in a scene that characterized much of the day's fighting; the paratroopers were pinned down and could not break the FNL's line of defense. Later, two AD-6 Skyraiders arrived over Ap Bac and attacked the thatched houses with conventional bombs and napalm. Not bad for a small neighborhood. For individual Viet Cong soldiers, the battle proved that they could defeat the superior South Vietnamese forces, equipped with modern military hardware and significant support and funding from the United States. Several personnel carriers were hit and several troops killed and wounded. [2] However, Diem's campaign was too successful to allow them to do nothing, and small-scale actions broke out across the country. Finally, Vann radioed Ziegler at the command post at Tan Hiep and told him to ask the commander of the ARVN 7th Infantry Division to order Ba to move toward Ap Bac immediately. [2], Large-scale American support began during the Kennedy Administration in the early 1960s, with the arrival of large numbers of the U.S. Special Forces to help out in the field. This behavior initially mystified Vann, who was attempting to build Cao into an aggressive commander. Ammunition was rapidly dwindling, for the effort to maintain fire superiority caused huge expenditures. [20] Most of the soldiers under Hoang's command were equipped with captured U.S.-made weaponry, such as the M1 carbine, BAR light machine guns, .30 caliber machine guns, and a single 60mm mortar. Mobile Riverine Force in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) from 1921 June 1967 against the Viet Cong (VC). WebThe Battle of July Two was a short engagement of the Vietnam War that took place along Route 561 between Gia Binh and An Kha, during Operation Buffalo. At the same time Company A, 4/47th Infantry moving south towards Company C, 4/47th Infantry walked into an L-shaped ambush from well-entrenched VC; exposed on open rice paddies the Company sustained heavy casualties. All was in readiness when, suddenly, the last strafing aircraft wobbled and sprayed the line of tracked vehicles with its 20-mm. Ziegler's plan, codenamed Operation Duc Thang I,[16] called for the South Vietnamese to assault Ap Tan Thoi from three different directions; three rifle companies from the 11th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, to move from the north; the Dinh Tuong Civil Guards Regiment[note 1] to march northward from the south in separate columns; and a company of 13 M-113 armored personnel carriers with an infantry company on board from the southwest. I knew he had been in Charlie Company. The Battle of Ap Bac was a major battle fought on January 3, 1963, during the Vietnam War. There is no question that, had the 2nd Brigade waited until dark, the enemy force, or most of it, would have slipped out. Two Viet Cong soldiers received North Vietnams highest military-exploit medal for winning this battle. 
Links to friends, affiliates and other sites you should visit! Just when the M-113 crews closed in on their objective, a Viet Cong squad leader and his men jumped out of their foxholes and tossed grenades at the lead formation of the attack force. The American pilots landed their helicopters within 200 meters (Bad rounding hereScript error: No such module "Math". By 1500, Company A had reached the restraining line designated by the brigade commander, and was deployed along it in assault formation with three platoons abreast. [50] The 1st Company, 261st Battalion, led the column, followed by litter carriers carrying the dead and wounded. Finally, the battle has proven the wisdom of the axiom; once you have an enemy force in a trap, destroy it without delay. An argument broke out between Vann and Ba. [45] Cao had also lost confidence in Vann, because Cao felt Vann had placed the lives of many South Vietnamese soldiers at risk to save the lives of a handful of Americans. The last battle for which two living service members received the Medal of Honor was the 1967 Battle of Ap Bac in Vietnam, a spokeswoman for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said. 
As it prepared to land, the main rotor was struck by enemy gunfire. !Roy Burns - November 12, 2007. He wanted to hit the Viet Cong with 500 rounds of artillery and destroy them as they retreated. In many other cases, operations were executed on paper only, in order to report an increasing tempo of operations that did not actually exist. As the shadows lengthened over the dry rice fields and dense foliage, the roar of machine-gun fire and exploding grenades slowly died away. I also lost my best friend from Alpha Company, SP4 Noel T. West who was a combat medic. Explore gatherings, speakers and events. mini-guns. One was the commander of the Communist forces. 
Then when the fire lifted to the rear of the enemy, to block his escape positions, the infantry would assault before the enemy could recover. Some rice had been found, more proof that Viet Cong had been in the area. [39], Scanlon, with the help of Bowers, ran forward to aid the wounded men and carry them back to the M-113 formation. WebOn Sept 10, 1967, the 3rd battalion of the 26th Marines ventured forward to secure Hill 88. Clusters of coconut trees abounded and mangrove clumps generally straddled one of the many waterways that traversed the area. [13] Between December 28 and 30, 1962, an American aircraft equipped with eavesdropping equipment located a Viet Cong radio transmitter. Although Vann was suspicious, he decided it was a better landing zone because the area was tranquil despite the heavy fighting elsewhere. Concurrently, the other companies of the battalion where dispersed to the east and north of the stream, with the mission of blocking any escaping enemy. I was with Echo Company on the day in question and was across the river at the French Fort with the four deuce mortor platoon firing support for you guys. Of the men who participated in this assault, most had been in the Army hardly a year. The last battle for which two living service members received the Medal of Honor was the 1967 Battle of Ap Bac in Vietnam, a spokeswoman for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said. [55], General Paul D. Harkins, commander of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), had a far more optimistic assessment of the battle. Vann then radioed Captain James B. Scanlonsenior adviser to the ARVN 2nd Armored Cavalry Regimentand told him that four U.S. helicopters had either been destroyed or immobilized about 1,500 meters (Bad rounding hereScript error: No such module "Math". for our troops. The combined companies were supported by approximately 30 local force soldiers from Chau Thanh District who served as scouts, ammunition bearers, litter carriers, and emergency replacements. 
Moving aggressively, the company closed on the enemy, killed several and forced the others to flee to the north. [1] The American participants, who included advisors and aircrews, counted three dead and eight wounded. [46], Believing it was useless to continue arguing with Cao, Vann climbed back into his L-19 reconnaissance aircraft and left Tan Hiep. Those paratroopers that reached the ground and survived tried to move forward, but the Viet Cong soldiers in defilade position fired on the paratroopers exposed in the open rice paddies. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [41], By that stage, Vann was frustrated by the Civil Guard soldiers of Task Force B, because they appeared to be in no hurry to reach Ap Bac, as they searched one house at a time while marching up from the south-western flank of the battlefield. For the 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry, it looked like another dry hole. At first this was sporadic sniper fire which did little to slow the advance of this unit. Almost form the moment it crossed the line of departure, it had begun to meet fire. Many of their large haystacks concealed bunkers. Background [ edit] Cn Giuc District in Long An Province was a VC stronghold in the Mekong Delta. The situation was such that no fire from air or artillery could be utilized due to the nearness of the opposing combatants. It was fought in Dinh Tuong Province (now part of Tin Giang Province), South Vietnam. WebThe Battle of Ap Bac was a major battle fought on January 3, 1963, during the Vietnam War. Background [ edit] Cn Giuc District in Long An Province was a VC stronghold in the Mekong Delta. The brigade commander quickly approved the action taken by the 3/60th, and at the same time directed that Company B, 3/60th, which was closest to the scene of combat, be placed under the operational control of the 3/47th and moved to a position to block the enemys escape to the north.
At 7:00 am on January 3, Hoang's men successfully reached their destination without being detected. [28] Vann relayed a message to the command pilot of the ten CH-21 helicopters, which were being escorted by a group of five recently deployed UH-1 Huey gunships, armed with 7.62mm machine guns and 2.75 inch rockets, and instructed him to land the reserve companies about 300 meters (Bad rounding hereScript error: No such module "Math". It was fought in Dinh Tuong Province (now part of Tin Giang Province ), South Vietnam. Then just before midday, further reinforcements were flown in from Tan Hiep, and the fifteen U.S. helicopters ferrying the troops were riddled by Viet Cong gunfire, and five helicopters were lost as a result. I also met John Sclimenti about twenty years ago when he lived in my neighborhood here in Canyon Country. The MRFA is launching our Historical Data Project (HDP), featuring as much MRF TF-117 data as possible. The eastern flank remained open, and he ordered both elements of the 261st and 514th Battalions, exhausted and low on ammunition, to assemble at the southern end of Ap Tan Thoi. In a short time, all of those forward were dead from multiple bullet wounds, and the platoon was temporarily wrecked as a fighting force. WebOn Sept 10, 1967, the 3rd battalion of the 26th Marines ventured forward to secure Hill 88. The paddies were mostly dry and easily supported the weight of an armored personnel carrier. Due to the delay in the arrival of the regular South Vietnamese army units, two Civil Guard battalions of Task Forces A and Bunder the command of Dinh Tuong provincial chief Major Lam Quang Thowere left to march against enemy positions by themselves. 
We welcome content contributions! One was the commander of the Communist forces. [19] At 1:30 pm, Ba's M-113 formation finally closed in on the downed helicopters on the western side of Ap Bac. Background [ edit] Cn Giuc District in Long An Province was a VC stronghold in the Mekong Delta. While these operations were being carried out, the gunship, which has been constantly circling the area, reported a Viet Cong force of company size moving across the fields to the northeast. A reinforced company, and possibly more, had been lost for the time being to the Viet Cong 514th Battalion. [12], In November 1962, the National Liberation Front's Military Region 2 ordered the Viet Cong 261st Battalion and the 514th Battalion, the home battalion of Dinh Tuong Province, to destroy the strategic hamlets in their region and at the same time to attack South Vietnamese sweeping operations. As the men worked their way toward the enemy, they were forced to crawl over the dead of the other unit.
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. Sorry for any of the incorrect pronunciations; I'm not Vietnamese. ft),[42] but when the operator fired the device, the flame died after only 30 meters (Bad rounding hereScript error: No such module "Math".
[17] Hoang knew the Civil Guard battalions were approaching, so he instructed his company commander in Ap Bac to be ready, as they would fire the first shots of the battle. WebHello and thank you for watching! True, our division G2 had indicated that a sizeable enemy force was in the Ap Bac area. Advancing without halting under cover of the terrific fire they were putting down, they rapidly closed up to the wooded area. Despite massive support from the US military, the ARVN lost the Battle of Ap Bac. Nearly wipes out 514th Main Force Viet Cong Battalion 15 May 1967: 1st CAM SON riverine operation, using TF-117 boats. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, For he today that sheds his blood with me, shall be my brother." Few people were seen, although there were many houses of mud and thatch in these densely vegetated areas. 
The South Vietnamese units that participated in the battle took heavy losses in their failed attempt to destroy the Viet Cong forces. WebOperation Concordia was an operation conducted by the U.S. [1] However, in 1963, the National Liberation Front had changed their policy, from avoiding the South Vietnamese army to standing and fighting. WebThe Battle of Ap Bac was on 2nd January, 1963. A hundred Viet Cong died in the area. [23] To the south and west of Ap Bac, the Viet Cong dug a series of foxholes in front of an irrigation dike, which afforded them an unobstructed field of fire in the surrounding rice fields. 
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Out 514th Main force Viet Cong, and the southern platoon of Company a attack.: ( 1963 sent to support the operation got off to an inauspicious start visibility was excellent and the commander! The ARVN lost the Battle of Ap Bac was honeycombed with small fighting positions typical the! 3Rd battalion of the terrific nervous tensions they had been in the Ap Bac located a Viet Cong had wounded... Others fled to the South were believed to harbor Viet Cong battalion 15 1967. And attacked the thatched houses with conventional bombs and napalm worked their way toward the enemy.! Sporadic sniper fire which did little to slow the advance of this, the roar machine-gun... Through that area more proof that Viet Cong had been more than 200 men rapidly closed up the!, more proof that Viet Cong radio transmitter was honeycombed with small fighting positions typical of 3/60th. Ventured forward to secure Hill 88 fighting positions typical of the battalions had arrived was in the world finally to. `` U.S of wanting to let the Viet Cong soldiers received north Vietnams highest military-exploit medal for this... Thirteen men had died in the Ap Bac heard over the dry rice and.
21 May 1967: 4th Bn 47th Infantry relieved RSSZ mission, proceeds to Dong Tam and OnCon 2nd Brigade. [1], 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. Fortunately, the initial reports of the personnel carrier company proved to be exaggerated, and while one man had been killed and several wounded, all the tracked vehicles, including the damaged ones, were able to move forward in the assault.
However, Cao argued that a surrounded and well-entrenched enemy would fight more fiercely than a retreating one, so he wanted the Viet Cong units inside the hamlets of Ap Bac and Ap Tan Thoi to expose themselves by retreating through the eastern side of the battlefield, where he could destroy them with artillery and airpower. Such is the aftermath of violent combat. 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. Company B, 3/60th, occupied its assigned blocking position without enemy contact and, in doing so, indicated the limits of the enemys position. 
[48] As night fell, Hoang knew that South Vietnamese forces were closing in from three directions. However, throughout the area, the small streams could be crossed only at certain points. Thirteen men had died in the little pasture and many more had been wounded. The enemy has demonstrated time and again that merely killing his troops does us little or no good, for he is able to quickly recruit more. The Viet Cong had set a new record: the battle was the first time they had either destroyed or downed five helicopters within a few hours. The last battle for which two living service members received the Medal of Honor was the 1967 Battle of Ap Bac in Vietnam, a spokeswoman for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said. The M-113s approached the landing zone in single file instead of in formation, and they were immediately fired upon by Viet Cong inside the hamlet who were able to concentrate their fire on one target at a time. The C-123 pilots changed course to avoid the ground fire, but either the South Vietnamese jumpmaster or the American flight leader did not compensate for the change. The South Vietnamese M-113 gun crews were exposed from the waist up, so they were easy targets for snipers; by the end of the day, fourteen South Vietnamese M-113 crewmen had been killed due to their exposure. In view of this, the brigade commander, Col. William B. Fulton, changed his scheme of maneuver. [4] The lightly armed Viet Cong had no weaponry capable of stopping the armored carriers and inevitably were forced to flee, taking heavy casualties. Upon his return, Vann and his group of advisers were forced to end the joint planning sessions that had been so successful earlier, and action essentially wound down in their region. 
In rapid succession they destroyed an automatic rifle position and light machine gun post, and then penetrated the enemys main line to destroy a mortar which had been causing some trouble for the rest of Company A. I knew several of your Company members including Steve Moede (sorry to hear of his passing) whom I went to high school with at Crespi. WebHello and thank you for watching! [27], Dam asked Vann, who was circling the battlefield aboard an L-19 reconnaissance aircraft, to reconnoiter possible landing zones on the east and west sides of Ap Bac, where additional reinforcements could be inserted to launch their attacks. [56] However, the Viet Cong were far more interested in exposing the weaknesses of Diem's regime and its military. Despite massive support from the US military, the ARVN lost the Battle of Ap Bac. Those on the south were believed to harbor Viet Cong, and the southern platoon of Company A would attack through that area. At this point, the situation was confused, and the brigade commander was unhappy. They had to hold their positions until the rest of the battalions had arrived. 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. It was surprised to encounter an entire NVA regiment, which counterattacked causing a bloody fight in which 3/26 suffered 300 casualties (40% including 37 KIA) and lost several tanks. by the way.A few years ago, I built my own web site just to try and keep in contact with others that served in Vietnam. Darkness finally came to the rice paddies of Dien Thoung Province in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, but it came slowly. The company commander reported that his unit was in a state of chaos and he was extremely pessimistic about its ability to attack. Farther to the north (about 30 meters) was another dike, parallel to the one behind which the dead lay. Men spoke in high-pitched, excited voices as though still trying to make themselves heard over the roar of gunfire. http://home.pacbell.net/jwgerb/
In front of the platoon was the small pasture where the lead squad of Company A, 3/47th, had been destroyed earlier. [40] Cohesion and morale among the crews of the armored formation quickly deteriorated as South Vietnamese sergeants, who served as both commanders and machine gunners of the carriers, were killed and were replaced by less-experienced, poorly trained men. At about this time, Company A succeeded in getting a squad across the stream under cover of supporting fire. Command of the 7th was given to Cao's chief of staff, Colonel Bui Dinh Dam. It truly is a small world!
By now, time had become the vital consideration, for darkness was approaching rapidly. Harkins' evaluation of the battle's success were based on U.S. military doctrine from World War II, in which two armies fought a conventional combined arms battle with the goal to control territory. It had proved once again that the American fighting man, when well trained and aggressive, is the finest in the world. Shortly afterwards, Ziegler returned with Dam's permission, and Ba was ordered to move his M-113 carriers in the direction of the white smoke that were rising from the burning hamlet. It truly is a small world! Howitzers to screen the battalions approach. Company C, 3/47th Infantry would act as reserve. [48] By the end of the day, the airborne battalion had lost 19 soldiers killed in action and another 33 wounded. Sergeant Arnold Bowers, who had ridden in the first crashed helicopter, raced back and forth to rescue injured American airmen. On the morning of January 2, 1963, the South Vietnamese Civil Guards spearheaded the attack by marching toward Ap Tan Thoi from the south. Their positions were well-concealed by trees and shrubs, which made them difficult to see from the air and provided good protection from heavy weaponry. The U.S. military had every advantage, yet mistakes were made and battles lost. [15], An operational plan suited for an attack on a small enemy formation was drafted by Ziegler, who was an adviser to Dam and the command staff of the 7th Infantry Division. In fact, if anything, the operation got off to an inauspicious start. It was surprised to encounter an entire NVA regiment, which counterattacked causing a bloody fight in which 3/26 suffered 300 casualties (40% including 37 KIA) and lost several tanks. American advisers Captain Fletcher Ware and Sergeant Russell Kopti, who had parachuted in with the South Vietnamese, were also wounded. Thus, Moyar (2008) argues that Harkins' optimistic and mis-directed doctrine negatively affected the long-term performance of the South Vietnamese military and the American advisers attached to them. 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. [44] Vann accused Cao of wanting to let the Viet Cong escape in order to avoid further South Vietnamese casualties. [1]:106, On the morning of 19 June 3 Companies of the 4/47th Infantry were landed 4km southeast of Cn Giuc, 2 Companies of the 3/47th Infantry were landed 1.6km south of Cn Giuc while the ARVN 2/46th Infantry was landed near Ap Bac.
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battle of ap bac 1967