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 main body advanced in column maintaining about three to four feet space between each man. Still photo images extracted from the vintage footage are also available for immediate download. Entering the town from the southwest, the VC fired about 70 RPGs at the local forces, but never penetrated the defender's perimeter. [1]:157, In other sectors of the Da Nang TAOR, the PAVN/VC also maintained the pressure on the Allied forces. The following day, the same sources indicated that both the VC 1st and the PAVN 3rd Regiments had also withdrawn to the Go Noi. At the same time, the 1st Division had sent out several reconnaissance elements. Milantoni relayed the request to the air support center. Doc, as his friends called him, was one of 58,200 Americans that died during the Vietnam War. They counted 34 PAVN dead. He remembered that because of the number of casualties his battalion sustained, "it was necessary to employ administrative personnel on patrols" with "clerks, cooks, and drivers" on line. The MPs shot one of the swimmers, took the other man prisoner and drove off the boats with a fusillade of bullets. At first, the general and his steward confused the rockets with the traditional fireworks shot off in honor of Tt. The rockets destroyed five aircraft, nine items of ground equipment, two vehicles, and one warehouse outright. Rummage soon determined that the total number of PAVN approximated 500 or more men, moving in two columns. Cam Ranh Bay AB: US Army 6th Convalescent Hospital damaged by Rocket Attack! The Marines and PF troops fired at armed members of the crowd who appeared to be directing the march. DA NANG A.B. The U.S Marine Corps Fighter Squadron VMF (AW) 232, also based here, lost some of its F-8E Crusader aircraft in this attack. From the recovery of Lam's notebook and a detailed sketch map of Hill 10, the location of the 1/7 Marines' command post, the R-20 commander was obviously on an exploration mission to discover any vulnerability in the Marine battalion's defences. The 6252nd Tactical Fighter Wing was activated at Da Nang on 18 July, 1965, and was responsible as the host unit for operational squadrons assigned to Da Nang, including the 8th and 13th Bombardment Squadrons. The fighting within the compound continued until daylight. The mortar attacks resulted in only five wounded and none killed among the Marine defenders. 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. "The call for assault to achieve independence and liberty has sounded; In one contact about 16:45, Company M, 3/5 Marines met a force of 100 PAVN/VC troops. About an hour later, PAVN troops who had infiltrated Duong Lam rushed the CAP compound. At 09:20, PAVN/VC forces attacked the district towns of in Bn, just above the Ky Lam River and Duy Xuyn below the river. Heavy explosions and fires on the base. 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. 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. The USAF 620th Tactical Control Squadron established a control and reporting post (CRP) code-named Panama on the mountain in 1964 to support operations from Danang Air Base. After calling in helicopter gunships, the ROKMC, at 13:20, reached the MACV compound and linked up with U.S. advisors there. Even at Marble Mountain the damage was relatively contained. Reinforced by the remainder of Company L and two platoons from Company M together with two tanks and an LVTP-5, the Marines engaged the PAVN. "[1]:163, During the Tet Offensive in Da Nang, both sides experienced heavy casualties. Robertson later compared the enemy activity that night to a "10-ring circus." The NVA launched hundreds of rocket attacks on DaNang Airbase trying to hit the bomb dump. 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. CMSgt (Ret) Gary Chaffin, who was at Da Nang with the 366th Civil Engineering Squadron, recalls this attack much as Dick does. Photographer: Unknown Nng Air Base, AKA: Rocket City, often had more than six Silk-Moons of false dawn orbiting the base. Company M advanced toward a hamlet to the south of the ARVN. Some 36 of the large missiles landed on the main base, including the airfield. The only Marine casualties were two men who failed to vacate their "hootches" in time. After a quick appraisal of the situation, the I Corps commander turned to the senior U.S. advisor at the I Corps Tactical Operations Center, Army Major P.S. In both these sectors support troops doubled as infantry, manning fixed defensive positions and conducting patrols. I was assigned to the 1st Marine Division and sent to Marble Mountain Airfield to Join Marine Air Group 16 and VMO2. [1]:146, At 03:30, on the other side of the main Da Nang Bridge, MPs noticed two VC in the water and several sampans approaching. About 07:45 approximately two companies or a reinforced company from the PAVN 31st Regiment ambushed a Marine platoon from Company G, 2/3 Marines. *** The first time that rockets were used in RVN by the Viet Cong/North Vietnamese Army. Again the artillery responded with "excellent effect on target." The Marines assaulted the island and the fighting continued throughout the night and into the next morning. WASHINGTON The White House warned that the U.S. may consider a military response to the rocket attack that hit an air base in western Iraq where American and coalition troops are . The communications bunker bore the brunt of the attack where the sappers destroyed both the bunker and the equipment inside and put the division tactical net off the air until 04:00. Surprised by the initial assault, the engineers fell back, giving up half the camp to the attackers. Fourteen aircraft, six pieces of ground support equipment , five buildings, and another two vehicles sustained damage of one sort or another. Marine counter-rocket fire from the 11th Marines and 1st Tank Battalion resulted in five secondary explosions. The Stand Off Rocket attack of July 15, 1967 was the deadliest attack of the war at Nng Air Base. ** The first two attacks on DaNang were by mortars. 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. 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. Rising Storm 2: Vietnam - Check Out Chivalry 2https://store.steampowered.com/app/1824220/Chivalry_2/Green Army Thanksgiving!It is turkey time, so we have a Green Army . Built by the Colonial French government of Indochina in 1949, it became a training school for Vietnamese pilots. The Koreans kept one company at the MACV compound for security and prepared for a sweep to clear out the city in the morning. As various outposts reported their sightings to the Division FSCC, the artillerymen then shifted these fires to actual sites. Finally there were rumors that the other two regiments of the 2nd Division, the VC 1st and the PAVN 3rd, had infiltrated even further north. Nearly 11 million liters of Agent Orange were handled on the base. Shortly after 04:45, General Lm ordered the ARVN 4th Cavalry Regiment, a Ranger battalion and a detachment of National Police to augment the units in Ha Vang and the headquarters personnel forces in the compound. From May 1968 to July 1970, the Army sergeant came of age in the U.S. Army mortuary at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon. The battalion was alerted and airlifted from Twentynine Palms, California, to Cherry Point, North Carolina, with its . CAP Q-4 there continued to hold out. [1]:153, The attack on the western perimeter was probably the most serious thrust against Marine positions on the day and evening of 30 January. The 3/5 Marines were landed and immediately came under heavy automatic and small arms fire from the island. Da Nang Air Base : Sapper & Rocket Attacks During The Vietnam War militaryvideocom 40.6K subscribers Subscribe 566 Share Save 123K views 10 years ago This is a preview of our 78-minute. [1]:1612, In the ensuing battle of Lo Giang the Marine and Army forces successfully repulsed the PAVN 2nd Division attack. Caught east of the Cm L Bridge and Highway 1, on a small island formed by the convergence of the Cu , a small tributary of the river and the Vien Dien River, the VC turned to fight. Allied intelligence officers identified members from the V-25th, R-20th, C-130th Battalions and the Q-15th and Q-16th Local Force Companies. The air base at Da Nang was, therefore, a particularly enticing target. PAVN/VC gunners then replied with a mortar barrage, which resulted in two Marine dead and two wounded. With one of his companies on the Tiensha Peninsula and the other three protecting the Air Base perimeter, Hill argued that he could not spare three platoons. That same day, the 1st Marine Division notified III MAF that "usually reliable sources" told of staging areas south of Da Nang for an impending attack. . You get your timing off and you've got problems. As the Marine platoon patrolled along the banks of the Yn, a heavy machine gun suddenly opened up. Next Photo. Air Force rocket attacks in Vietnam Share 9 posts gleyhjr 44 Aug 30, 2010 #1 The following link is a list of all rocket attacks on Air Bases by date: Hope this helps someone needing a stressor of a rocket attack on a Air Base http://www.afhra.af.mil/timelines/index.asp George Binh Thuy AB RVN Sept 1968-Sept 1969 JimM44 683 Linking up, under artillery and air cover, the two Marine companies continued their advance until forced to halt because of darkness and then took up night defensive positions. [1]:144, Shortly after midnight, Marine sentries from the 1st MP Battalion, posted near the main I Corps Bridge connecting Da Nang to the Tiensha (Tin Sa) Peninsula, spotted two swimmers near the span. Pictures of Danang 9. VMO2, where I would spend the next thirteen months, was just south of DaNang. Noting the new web gear and weapons with the PAVN bodies left on the battlefield, Marine intelligence officers believed the PAVN unit to be from the 31st Regiment. According to a South Vietnamese account, the ARVN Rangers killed 150 of the enemy and captured another 18 in the battle for Nam O and in other fighting below the pass through 31 January. heros. Other disturbing intelligence tended to confirm this analysis. [1]:1445, In scattered and intermittent attacks beginning before 02:00 and lasting about one-half hour, PAVN/VC gunners fired both mortars and rockets that landed near positions of Marine artillery, antiair missiles, and the Force Logistic Command at Red Beach Base Area. 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. . This apparently broke the back of the VC resistance. Galand Kramer at the Danang Officers Open Mess, the DOOM Club, so appropriately named for those of us flying into the teeth of North Vietnams AAA, missile and MiG air defenses. In the 3/7 Marines area of operations, about 2,000 meters west of Hill 55 on the other side of a bend in the Yen River, a squad from Company L at 11:45 ran into what eventually turned out to be a fairly large-sized PAVN unit. Davis notified the division headquarters of his findings. The AC-47 then called in Marine fixed-wing attack aircraft which dropped Napalm with "outstanding coverage of target." Later intelligence and interrogation reports of prisoners of war would indicate that the unit that Rummage had intercepted was probably a battalion of the PAVN 2nd Division. It also served to block one of the principal avenues of approach to Da Nang from the south. Material and equipment losses, however, were much more extensive. 14 New Guns For 2022 by B. GIL HORMAN; A First-Year Magnum: Shooting The S&W "Pre-29" by JUSTIN DYAL; Contact; Donate; Eye Candy for the Gentlemen out there At 18:35, Recon team Ice Bound, positioned in the mountains about 8 miles (13km) northwest of Da Nang observed an enemy rocket unit prepare a firing position for their missiles. The National Police arrested 25 of the crowd and quickly dispersed the would-be demonstrators. [1]:160, By this time, Robertson was worried about the ability to contain the PAVN/VC offensive south of Da Nang. 29/30 January 1968 According to a Marine report, "it was evident that the enemy was prepared to masquerade as Vietnamese civilians in the process of infiltrating the TAOR and that he was attempting to infiltrate his forces in small units. Hill received a telephone call at 03:45 on the 30th from Colonel Thomas Randall, the III MAF G-3, who asked him "to send three platoons to blocking positions south of I Corps headquarters." With the departure of the 5th Marine Regiment to support operations further north in I Corps, there was only one Marine infantry regimental headquarters in the extensive Da Nang Tactical area of responsibility (TAOR). In the town itself, 10 civilians caught in the crossfire, sustained wounds, but no civilians died as a result of the battle. In the Southern Sector Defense Command, just north of the Cu River and west of Highway 1, a PAVN/VC 12-15-man sapper squad blew a hole in the defensive wire of the joint perimeter of the 7th Engineer and 7th Communication Battalion. Later that afternoon, the 1st Marine Division helilifted a "Bald Eagle" reaction force from Company E, 2/3 Marines east of the river in an attempt to encircle the PAVN. They were ordered to the area to bolster defenses around the air base at Da Nang against possible VietCong attacks. Under cover of darkness, elements of the VC R-20th and V-25th Battalions had crossed the Cu River and penetrated the Ha Vang village complex. At the meeting Westmoreland ordered Americal Division commander General Samuel W. Koster to reinforce Danang. Approximately 16 rounds impacted in the Marine Aircraft Group 16 sector and another four in the Army aviation company area. In the engagement, the Marines lost 5 killed and 12 wounded. Nha Trang Air Base is a military airfield in Vietnam, located 1.7 miles (2.7 km) northwest of Nha Trang in Khnh Ha Province. In the assault, the PAVN/VC killed four Marines and wounded another seven before withdrawing. The South Vietnamese quickly rushed the newly arrived ARVN 5th Ranger Battalion into the area. Again the crowd dispersed and this time did not recongregate. Their weapons included AK-47s and B-40 RPGs. After dark, both sides withdrew, the Marines to night defensive positions and the PAVN to the west. [1]:1589, For the next few days, there was a relative lull in the Da Nang sector, at least as compared to the last two days of January. Two other squad patrols from Company C in the vicinity quickly joined the first squad. [1]:154, At about 19:00 another reconnaissance patrol, Recon Team Rummage, about 30 kilometers south of Da Nang in the Qu Sn Mountains below An Ha, spotted a column of about 40 PAVN at the head of even a larger column moving east along a trail. In the pursuit, which amounted to a rout, the VC lost nearly 100 dead. [1]:1412, In the Da Nang sector, the tempo of operations had picked up during the last weeks of January. Headquarters Marines quickly manned their defenses and called in artillery illumination and a fire mission. 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. According to an NCO from the PAVN 31st Regiment captured in the fighting, the mission of his unit was to "attack Hi An, five times if necessary, and set up a liberation government. We don't know why, but we know they are!" The artillery fired another salvo, which caused a large secondary explosion. The nickname for DaNang was "Rocket City" garnering that appellation from the frequent attacks on it by means of the "Katyusha" which is the name given the Soviet BM-21 122mm artillery rocket. Throughout the day, however, Marine units throughout the TAOR reported incidents. Landing in large bursts, about 50 to 75 artillery rounds fell on the lead column. [1]:1601, On the morning of 7 February, Westmoreland called for a special meeting of the senior U.S. commanders in I Corps. On 14 February 1965 the Marine 1st LAAM Battalion established its anti-aircraft operations center colocated with the USAF CRP. According to the U.S. Other units included the 402nd Sapper Battalion, the VC V-25th Battalion and other VC local forces. Behind the Marine and Korean lines, the ARVN 51st Regiment deployed in support of the South Vietnamese Revolutionary Development program. CriticalPast is an archive of historic footage. Advisory Group at Da Nang, the PFs and RFs accounted for eight dead VC and captured one wounded VC. In the extensive Da Nang TAOR, the early morning hours of 31 January were almost a repeat of the events of the 30th. Although the Koreans and the ARVN surrounded most of the city, the VC still were able to keep their southern flank open. Additional intelligence tended to confirm the enemy was about to initiate something big. However, because we did not have a firm grasp on the situation, our preparations had been cursory, the movement of our forces forward to seize attack positions had not been well organized and because enemy forces were too numerous and responded fiercely when we attacked, the forces that attacked the city on the night of 29-30 January were unable to seize their assigned objectives. Immediately after the artillery shelling, an AC47 Spooky arrived on station and worked over the same area with its Gatling guns. [1]:159, While the Marines successfully thwarted this attempt, between 01:00 and 05:00 on the morning of the 6th, PAVN/VC gunners mortared or rocketed all of the command posts, fire bases and company combat bases in the 7th Marines sector. The RF/PF suffered 1 PF killed and 10 wounded. They later found four PAVN dead. In addition, the 1st Marine Division alerted one company to participate in the relief of Hi An, if needed. 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