In the extensive Da Nang TAOR, the early morning hours of 31 January were almost a repeat of the events of the 30th. "[1]:163, During the Tet Offensive in Da Nang, both sides experienced heavy casualties. In I Corps, the Allies learned from a defector that the enemy planned an attack against Qung Ngi City. 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. Just 19 when he arrived, the horrors he witnessed would forever shape him. A warning order and plan prepared by the VC Da Nang City Committee called for a preliminary attack on the city by sappers and VC troops. To the south of the Air Base, other PAVN/VC main force units attacked the District Town of in Bn and the provincial capital of Qung Nam, Hi An, on Route 4. CMSgt (Ret) Gary Chaffin, who was at Da Nang with the 366th Civil Engineering Squadron, recalls this attack much as Dick does. 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. The Flightline, Funny Money, Rocket shrapnel. 180 Da Nang Air Base Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 180 Da Nang Air Base Premium High Res Photos Browse 180 da nang air base stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Additional intelligence tended to confirm the enemy was about to initiate something big. [1]:159, On the night of 5/6 February, the PAVN/VC forces began the second phase of their Da Nang offensive. On 11 February, Cushman observed the 2nd Division "appeared to be withdrawing from contact southward" and ordered his subordinate commanders to continue to press the attack. One battalion was to deploy immediately, with the other to deploy the next day. It was decided that two battalions from the Americal Division code-named Task Force Miracle would be moved into the northern sector of the 3/5 Marines near Route 1 south of the Cau Do. 00:00 00:00 What the Captain Means Unless otherwise noted all videos on this site appear on, and are posted here via embedded links to, You Tube. Within the city itself, VC cadre were to force the "inhabitants into the street for demonstrations and prepare the people for continuing political struggle against the government as well as kill GVN and ARVN cadre. The artillery fired another salvo, which caused a large secondary explosion. The crowd scattered only to gather on the fringes of Red Beach Base Area. Glasgow, Steve: YN3: Mar 20, 1969 - Mar 20, 1970: US Navy Post Office @ China Beach: . # Not in AF records, submitted by members, # Not in AF records, submitted by members, Air Base Defense in the Republic of Vietnam, 1960-1973. The attack started at 12:25 AM and an estimated 50 rounds of 122mm rockets were fired at the installation. DaNang Air Base was known as "rocket city" for the number of attacks that occurred there between 1965 and 1973. 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. Scheduled to last eight weeks, Rolling Thunder will instead go on for three years. In the Hi Vn Pass area in the north, PAVN troops attempted to cut Highway 1. Considering the amount of ordnance that the enemy expended, casualties were relatively small. While making for a loud and colorful pyrotechnic display, the explosions caused no casualties and no damage to any of the aircraft. The area was around 200 square miles, and the 140mm rockets had a range of over 6 miles. The combined force then swept the general area where they found two PAVN bodies and took three prisoners. Newsreel story showing the aftermath of the shelling of an . The RF/PF suffered 1 PF killed and 10 wounded. The task force headquarters and its two battalions returned to Chu Lai Base Area the following day. [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. The Koreans kept one company at the MACV compound for security and prepared for a sweep to clear out the city in the morning. 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 Sequence number refers to the sequence number assigned to all attacks on ten primary US Air Force operating bases in Vietnam. Nng AB: 366th TFW: Rocket Attack! 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." 17. Two members of a VC engineering company, also in the Da Nang area, later recounted that nearly 80 percent of their unit was from North Vietnam. 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. Surprised by the initial assault, the engineers fell back, giving up half the camp to the attackers. He seems to think there was only one rocket attack at Da Nang in 1972. Approximately 16 rounds impacted in the Marine Aircraft Group 16 sector and another four in the Army aviation company area. [1]:163 I was assigned to the 1st Marine Division and sent to Marble Mountain Airfield to Join Marine Air Group 16 and VMO2. [1]:1523, The rest of the enemy efforts in the Da Nang area and TAOR were about as haphazard and relatively ineffective as the fight on the unnamed island. Another platoon from the Marine company also reinforced the engaged troops about an hour later. Total Marine casualties of this incident on the 30th were 10 Marines killed and 15 wounded, most from the platoon of Company G that was initially ambushed. He and Randall agreed that they would deploy one of the battalion's two reserve provisional Quick Reaction platoons composed of headquarters personnel. 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. At first light, a Marine reaction force found enemy blood trails. 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. The U.S Marine Corps Fighter Squadron VMF (AW) 232, also based here, lost some of its F-8E Crusader aircraft in this attack. 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. Marine and Army reconnaissance flights using infrared technology and XM-3 "People Sniffer" airborne personnel detectors (APD) mounted on UH-1 helicopters indicated strong enemy concentrations in the hills near Hiu c west of the 7th Marines. 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. Large numbers of flares shot high into the air and burst into . [1]:1502, On the morning of the 31st, the Marines of Company I, now reinforced by the ARVN and the AmTrac Marines, surveyed the results of the fighting and continued to mop up the remnants of the VC force. At 08:30 a CAP saw a number of VC attempting to swim across the Cu to the island. Apparently the forces were a mixed group from several different units interspersed together. 07-18 488 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Muskogee, Doc, as his friends called him, was one of 58,200 Americans that died during the Vietnam War. While successfully beating back the PAVN attack, the CAP leader called for help. In the northeast, near the Force Logistic Command sector, villagers from Nam (160654N 1080744E / 16.115N 108.129E / 16.115; 108.129) just south of the strategic Nam Bridge, told PF troops, members of the CAP Q-4 platoon, that the VC planned to attack the CAP compound. Below the Marine battalions, the ROKMC 2nd Marine Brigade secured the Hi An sector and the southeastern approaches above the Ky Lam River to Da Nang Air Base. At the meeting Westmoreland ordered Americal Division commander General Samuel W. Koster to reinforce Danang. 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. Later that night, the 1/7 Marines reported 15 secondary explosions from Marine counter-mortar artillery fire. On 2 February, the Marines received a report that the PAVN 2nd Division had moved its headquarters 4 miles (6.4km) north, to a position above Route 4, from its previous location on Go Noi Island. With the PAVN too close to call in artillery or fixed-wing air, the Marines radioed for reinforcements. [1]:157, In other sectors of the Da Nang TAOR, the PAVN/VC also maintained the pressure on the Allied forces. An alert ARVN sentry took the VC under fire near the flagpole. The VC attacked the compound from two directions, from the south and the east. Stationed with 1882n Comm Gp., 1969-1970, worked in the Base Comm Center. After calling in helicopter gunships, the ROKMC, at 13:20, reached the MACV compound and linked up with U.S. advisors there. The rocket attacks resulted in the deaths of three Marines and the wounding of another 11. Company L, 3/5 Marines set up blocking positions on the east bank of the Yen. An American advisor within the MACV compound reported at 11:45 that the VC were digging in the engineer compound. [1]:142, While activity in the Army's 23rd Infantry (Americal) Divisions areas of operations in Qung Ngi and Qung Tn Provinces was somewhat diminished, there was enough enemy in northern and central I Corps to cause concern for both the American and South Vietnamese commands. I called all the regiments and battalions and the same was happening to them. 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. The Marines and PF troops killed 22 VC and took another 23 prisoner. [Peter Halferty photo]. [1]:163, The official PAVN history records the attack as follows:[3]. 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. Vietcong rocket attack on the U.S. Da Nang Airbase in Vietnam HD Stock Footage CriticalPast 308K subscribers Subscribe 56K views 8 years ago CriticalPast is an archive of historic footage.. at Bien Hoa Air Base, those in II Corps were consolidated at Tuy Hoa Air Base, and those in I Corps were consolidated at Da Nang Air Base [Carmichael 1972; Cecil 1986; Hull 2002; Young 2006]. You comrades should act as heroes of Vietnam and with the spirit and pride of combatants of the Liberation Army. [1]:143, PAVN/VC forces throughout South Vietnam were about to strike. The area the rockets were fired from was called the "Rocket Belt". On the ground a patrol from Company A, 1/7 Marines, operating below the battalion's command post on Hill 10, saw about 10 PAVN soldiers just south of the Ty Loan River preparing positions. The two PAVN prisoners identified themselves as members of the H-2 Engineering Company, part of the 2nd Sapper Battalion. 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. The PAVN obviously were bringing the local VC main force units up to strength, even if to do so they had to bring in replacements from the north. Joining up with the squad from the 1/7 Marines and some newly arrived ARVN troops, the tanks then relieved the CAP garrison. A detachment of four LVTP-5s from the 3rd AmTrac Battalion quickly arrived, but the enemy had already departed. During the night, VC resistance dwindled to sniper fire on the ROKMC positions. The Front announced that the 1968 Tt greeting of "Chairman Ho [Chi Minh] is actually a combat order for our entire Army and population. by Edward H. Phillips 2/1/2017. 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