battle of khe sanh casualties

The PAVN claimed that Khe Sanh was "a stinging defeat from both the military and political points of view." In the US, the media following the battle drew comparisons with the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which proved disastrous for the French. By late January 1967, the 1/3 returned to Japan and was relieved by Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines (1/9 Marines). While climbing, the C-123 was struck by several bursts of heavy machine gun and recoilless rifle fire. The pallet slid to a halt on the airstrip while the aircraft never had to actually land. As a result, "B-52 Arc Light strikes originating in Guam, Okinawa, and Thailand bombed the jungles surrounding Khe Sanh into stubble fields" and Khe Sanh became the major news headline coming out of Vietnam in late March 1968. [59], Making matters worse for the defenders, any aircraft that braved the weather and attempted to land was subject to PAVN antiaircraft fire on its way in for a landing. Hill Fights: The First Battle of Khe Sanh, 1967 The Operation Scotland tactical area of responsibility (TAOR) was limited to the area around Khe Sanh along Route 9 in western Quang Tri province. An additional 413 Marines were killed during Scotland II as of the end of June 1968. The Siege of Khe Sanh. The base was officially closed on July 5. Gordan L Rottman, Osprey Campaign 150: The Khe Sanh 1967-68, p. 51. [26] From there, reconnaissance teams were launched into Laos to explore and gather intelligence on the PAVN logistical system known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, also known as "Truong Son Strategic Supply Route" to the North Vietnamese soldiers. He has published over 20 books including: How to Survive Anything, Anywhere. It is difficult to support the claim of an overwhelming American victory at Khe Sanh based solely on the ratios derived from the official casualty count. One headquarters would allocate and coordinate all air assets, distributing them wherever they were considered most necessary, and then transferring them as the situation required. [57][58] They were assisted in their emplacement efforts by the continuing bad weather of the winter monsoon. Since late in 1967, Khe Sanh had depended on airlift for its survival. [96], The Marines at Khe Sanh had a plan in place for providing a ground relief force in just such a contingency, but Lownds, fearing a PAVN ambush, refused to implement it. Khe Sanh - Location, Vietnam War & Who Won - HISTORY This fighting was heavy, involving South Vietnamese militia as well as U.S. Army MACV advisers and Marines attached to a Combined Action Company platoon. Two days later, the PAVN 273rd Regiment attacked a Special Forces camp near the border town of Loc Ninh, in Bnh Long Province. The withdrawal of the last Marines under the cover of darkness was hampered by the shelling of a bridge along Route 9, which had to be repaired before the withdrawal could be completed. [164] He cited the fact that it would have taken longer to dislodge the North Vietnamese at Hue if the PAVN had committed the three divisions at Khe Sanh to the battle there instead of dividing its forces. Construction on the line was ultimately abandoned and resources were later diverted towards implementing a more mobile strategy. Rod Andrew, Jr., a history professor at Clemson University and colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, has written an easily read and thoroughly . With Khe Sanh facing a full-scale. Battlefield:Vietnam | History The NVA continued shelling the base, and on July 1 launched a company-sized infantry attack against its perimeter. Marine Corps aviators had flown 7,098 missions and released 17,015tons. [61] To cover a defilade near the Rao Quan River, four companies from 2/26 were immediately sent out to occupy Hill 558, with another manning Hill 861A. [120], On 23 February, KSCB received its worst bombardment of the entire battle. Stubbe examined the command chronologies of the 1st and 2nd battalions, 26th Marines, plus the after-action reports of the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines; 1st Battalion, 9th Marines; 1st Battalion, 13th Marines; and more than one dozen other units, all present at Khe Sanh under 26th Marine operational control. Where were the major battles of the Vietnam War? Battlefield:Vietnam | Timeline - PBS Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. The Marines fought long, hard and well at Khe Sanh, but they sacrificed in much greater numbers than has been acknowledged by official sources. "[24] In November 1964, the Special Forces moved their camp to the Xom Cham Plateau, the future site of Khe Sanh Combat Base. After its adoption, Marine helicopters flew in 465 tons of supplies during February. [85] Westmoreland had given his deputy commander for air operations, Air Force General William W. Momyer, the responsibility for coordinating all air assets during the operation to support KSCB. After failing to respond to a challenge, they were fired upon and five were killed outright while the sixth, although wounded, escaped. [9], The precise nature of Hanoi's strategic goal at Khe Sanh is regarded as one of the most intriguing unanswered questions of the Vietnam War. The Hill Fights - Wikipedia [25], In the winter of 1964, Khe Sanh became the location of a launch site for the highly-classified Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group. Historian Ronald Spector, in the book After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam, noted that American casualties in the 10 weeks after the start of Operation Pegasus were more than twice those officially reported during the siege. Operation Pegasus casualties included 59 U.S. Army and 51 Marine Corps dead. That was accomplished, but the casualties absorbed by the North Vietnamese seemed to negate any direct gains they might have obtained. [131], Planning for the overland relief of Khe Sanh had begun as early as 25 January 1968, when Westmoreland ordered General John J. Tolson, commander, First Cavalry Division, to prepare a contingency plan. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. A single company replaced an entire battalion. The Marines, whose aircraft and doctrine were integral to their operations, were under no such centralized control. The Battle of Khe Sanh took place between January 21 and July 9, 1968; however, most of the official statistics provided pertain only to Operation Scotland, which ended on March 31, or to the 77-day period beginning what is classified as the Siege of Khe Sanh, where the 26th Marines were pinned down until Operations Niagara, and Pegasus freed [105] At 07:40, a relief force from Company A, 2nd Platoon set out from the main base and attacked through the PAVN, pushing them into supporting tank and artillery fire. Several rounds also landed on Hill 881. Battle of Khe Sanh : American Casualties - Honor States The Battle of Khe Sanh began Jan. 21, 1968, with inconclusive ground activity by US and North Vietnamese patrols. [10] Once the news of the closure of KSCB was announced, the American media immediately raised questions about the reasoning behind its abandonment. [74], During January, the recently installed electronic sensors of Operation Muscle Shoals (later renamed "Igloo White"), which were undergoing test and evaluation in southeastern Laos, were alerted by a flurry of PAVN activity along the Ho Chi Minh Trail opposite the northwestern corner of South Vietnam. Two days later, US troops detected PAVN trenches running due north to within 25 m of the base perimeter. The explanations given out by the Saigon command were that "the enemy had changed his tactics and reduced his forces; that PAVN had carved out new infiltration routes; that the Marines now had enough troops and helicopters to carry out mobile operations; that a fixed base was no longer necessary. The Marine Corps casualty reporting system was based on named operations and not geographic location. A group of 12 A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bombers provided flak suppression for massed flights of 1216 helicopters, which would resupply the hills simultaneously. The NVA 304th Divisions history notes that on 9 July 1968, the liberation flag was waving from the flag pole at Ta Con [Khe Sanh] airfield. On July 13, 1968, Ho Chi Minh sent a message to the soldiers of the Route 9Khe Sanh Front affirming our victory at Khe Sanh.. The battle of Khe Sanh is one of the most well-known battles of the Vietnam War. Telfer, Rogers, and Fleming, pp. [170][140], One argument that was then leveled by Westmoreland and has since often quoted by historians of the battle is that only two Marine regiments were tied down at Khe Sanh, compared with the several PAVN divisions. Casualties were heavy among the attacking PAVN, who lost over 200 killed, while the defending Marines lost two men. Beginning in October 1967, the Communists greatly increased their forces in the Khe Sanh area to total two infantry divisions, two artillery regiments and an armored regiment. SOG Reconnaissance teams also reported finding tank tracks in the area surrounding Co Roc mountain. Over 100,000 tons of bombs were dropped by US aircraft and over 158,000 artillery rounds were fired in defense of the base. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Among the dead Marines was 18-year-old Pfc Curtis Bugger. For most of the battle, low-lying clouds and fog enclosed the area from early morning until around noon, and poor visibility severely hampered aerial resupply. MN: 05-12-1968: Vietnam: Army: 2: [Note 5] This event prompted Cushman to reinforce Lownds with the rest of the 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines. Westmoreland planned on Khe Sanh being relieved and then used as the jump-off point for a "hot pursuit" of enemy forces into Laos. [93] At 18:10 hours, the PAVN followed up their morning mortar attack with an artillery strike from 152mm howitzers, firing 60 rounds into the camp. During aerial resupply:1 KC-130, 3 C-123 ARVN losses: 229 killed, 436 wounded (not including CIDG, RF/PF and SOG losses)CIDG losses: 1,000 1,500 killed or missing, at least 250 captured (in Lang Vei), wounded unknown[16] Kingdom of Laos: Unknown. The aircrew then had to contend with antiaircraft fire on the way out. On June 19, 1968, another operation began at Khe Sanh, Operation Charlie, the final evacuation and destruction of the Khe Sanh Combat Base. [138], On the following day, the 2nd Brigade captured the old French fort near Khe Sanh village after a three-day battle. [128] Also, Marine Lieutenant General Victor Krulak seconded the notion that there was never a serious intention to take the base by arguing that neither the water supply nor the telephone land lines were ever cut by the PAVN. The Khe Sanh battlefield was considerably more extensive from the North Vietnamese perspective than from that of the U.S. Marine Corps, both geographically and chronologically. [21], The fighting at Khe Sanh was so volatile that the Joint Chiefs and MACV commanders were uncertain that the base could be held by the Marines. On the first day of battle, a big Communist rocket scored a direct hit on the main Marine ammunition dump, destroying 1,500 tons of high explosives, 98 percent of available ammunition. For them, the battle started when the North Vietnamese attacks began in January. While suffering less significant casualties (around 10,000 dead), ARVN units had only turned back the attacking PAVN forces with massive American air support. Army deaths at FOB-3, however, were not included in the official statistics either. The relief of Khe Sanh, called Operation Pegasus, began . A historian, General Dave Palmer, accepted that rationale: "General Giap never had any intention of capturing Khe Sanh [it] was a feint, a diversionary effort. The attack on Khe Sanh, however, proved to be a diversionary tactic for the larger Tet Offensive. [39], On 24 April 1967, a patrol from Bravo Company became engaged with a PAVN force of an unknown size north of Hill 861. 528 of them include images. It was a two-part battle which took place from November 14 to 18, 1965 at the la Drang Valley, South Vietnam. Battle of Khe Sanh: Greatest U.S. Victory in Vietnam - HistoryNet Five more attacks against their sector were launched during March. For example, I served with a Marine heavy mortar battery at Khe Sanh during the siege. I suspect he is also trying to draw everyone's attention away from the greatest area of threat, the northern part of I Corps. Home > Features > Battle of Khe Sanh > View All. All of the attacks were conducted by regimental-size PAVN/VC units, but unlike most of the previous usual hit-and-run tactics, they were sustained and bloody affairs. Officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. Name State Date War Branch; 1: Steven Glenn Abbott . On Easter Sunday, April 14, the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines (3/26), assaulted Hill 881 North in order to clear the enemy firing positions. [69] Due to the arrival of the 304th Division, KSCB was further reinforced by the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment on 22 January. [79] On an average day, 350 tactical fighter-bombers, 60 B-52s, and 30 light observation or reconnaissance aircraft operated in the skies near the base. The Marines claimed 115 PAVN killed, while their own casualties amounted to 10 dead, 100 wounded, and two missing. The attack was to have been supported by armor and artillery. By the end of January 1968, he had moved half of all US combat troops, nearly 50 maneuver battalions, to I Corps. Additionally, Shore argued that the "weather was another critical factor because the poor visibility and low overcasts attendant to the monsoon season made such operations hazardous. Air Power in the Siege of Khe Sanh - HistoryNet [83] Westmoreland later wrote, "Washington so feared that some word of it might reach the press that I was told to desist, ironically answering what those consequences could be: a political disaster. [38], Westmoreland won out, however, and the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment (1/3 Marines) was dispatched to occupy the camp and airstrip on 29 September. Making the prospect even more enticing was that the base was in an unpopulated area in which American firepower could be fully employed without civilian casualties. WALKI NA WZGRZU: PIERWSZA BITWA KHE SANH Edwarda F. Murphy'ego - twarda okadka w bardzo dobrym stanie | Books & Magazines, Books | eBay! At 00:30 on 21 January, Hill 861 was attacked by about 300 PAVN troops, the Marines, however, were prepared. It was not sufficient to simply be an American military person killed in the fighting there during the winter and spring of 1967-68. server. Armies and Commanders Allies General William Westmoreland Colonel David Lownds Approx. Khe Sanh is a village located near the Laotian border and just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separated North and South Vietnam. [122] The majority of these were around the southern and southeastern corners of the perimeter, and formed part of a system that would be developed throughout the end of February and into March until they were ready to be used to launch an attack, providing cover for troops to advance to jumping-off points close to the perimeter. [137] Opposition from the North Vietnamese was light and the primary problem that hampered the advance was continual heavy morning cloud cover that slowed the pace of helicopter operations. According to Ray Stubbe, a U.S. Navy chaplain during the siege and since then the most significant Khe Sanh historian, the 205 figure is taken only from the records of the 26th Marine Regiment. The deaths of U.S. Air Force personnel, estimated between five and 20, are also omitted. Sporadic actions were taken in the vicinity during the late summer and early fall, the most serious of which was the ambush of a supply convoy on Route 9. The Battle of Khe Sanh: The Vietnam War - WorldAtlas [151] From 12 June to 6 July 1969, Task Force Guadalcanal comprising 1/9 Marines, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment and 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 2nd ARVN Regiment occupied the Khe Sanh area in Operation Utah Mesa. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Taking a larger but more realistic view, the Khe Sanh campaign resulted in a death toll of American military personnel that approached 1,000. It was a bad beginning to a long 77-day siege. The First Battle of Khe Sahn - HistoryNet [25], Marino stated that "by 1966, Westmoreland had begun to consider Khe Sanh as part of a larger strategy." The PAVN would try to take Khe Sanh, but if could not, it would occupy the attention of as many American and South Vietnamese forces in I Corps as it could, which would facilitate the Tet Offensive. [108] The most dramatic supply delivery system used at Khe Sanh was the Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System, in which palletized supplies were pulled out of the cargo bay of a low-flying transport aircraft by means of an attached parachute. [163] Other theories argued that the forces around Khe Sanh were simply a localized defensive measure in the DMZ area or that they were serving as a reserve in case of an offensive American end run in the mode of the American invasion at Inchon during the Korean War. Further information on the bombing campaign: Further information on the electronic sensor system: Westmoreland's plan to use nuclear weapons, President Johnson orders that the base be held at all costs, Operation Charlie: evacuation of the base. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Only nine US battalions were available from Hue/Phu Bai northward. [47][Note 3] Westmoreland regarded the choice as quite simple. [125], By mid-March, Marine intelligence began to note an exodus of PAVN units from the Khe Sanh sector. He gave the order for US Marines to take up positions around Khe Sanh. The legendary siege at Khe Sanh occurred in 1968, but during the spring of 1967, the United States Marines fought in northwestern Quang Tri Province in what became the first stage of the Khe Sanh battles. On March 6, two U.S. Air Force C-123 cargo airplanes departed Da Nang Air Base en route to Khe Sanh. The village, 3km south of the base, was defended by 160 local Bru troops, plus 15 American advisers. The Marine garrison was also reinforced, and on November 1, 1967, Operation Scotland began. [121] Casualties from the bombardment were 10 killed and 51 wounded. today! MACV therefore initiated an operation to open Route 9 to vehicle traffic. Throughout the campaign, US forces used the latest technology to locate PAVN forces for targeting. The ground troops had been specially equipped for the attack with satchel charges, tear gas, and flame throwers. The Marines and their allies at Khe Sanh engaged tens of thousands, and killed thousands, of NVA over a period of many weeks. The assault began on 10 May 1969 w ith the 101st Airborne Division and troops of the 9th M arine Regiment, the 5 th Cavalry Regiment, and the 3 rd ARVN Regiment. Click to View Online Archive The Battle of Khe Sanh was conducted northwestern Quaag Tri Province, South Vietnam, between January 21 and July 9, 1968 during the Vietnam War. [109], The resupply of the numerous, isolated hill outposts was fraught with the same difficulties and dangers. However, even if Westmoreland believed his statement, his argument never moved on to the next logical level. Known as the McNamara Line, it was initially codenamed "Project Nine". [126], On 30 March, Bravo Company, 26th Marines, launched an attack toward the location of the ambush that had claimed so many of their comrades on 25 February. Ho Chi Minhs oft-quoted admonition to the French applied equally to the Americans: You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win. The calculation by Stubbe that approximately 1,000 Americans died on the Khe Sanh battlefield is especially compelling, given that Stubbes numbers are accompanied by names and dates of death. Five days later, the final reinforcements arrived in the form of the 37th ARVN Ranger Battalion, which was deployed more for political than tactical reasons. [70] The Marines and ARVN dug in and hoped that the approaching Tt truce (scheduled for 2931 January) would provide some respite. Indeed, had enemy forces not been at Khe Sanh, they could have joined the NVA and VC who occupied Hue, a much more important strategic target. The PAVN claim that during the entire battle they "eliminated" 17,000 enemy troops, including 13,000 Americans and destroyed 480 aircraft. . Besieged, Khe Sanh could only be resupplied by air. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. [145], Author Peter Brush details that an "additional 413 Marines were killed during Scotland II through the end of June 1968". [171] When Hanoi made the decision to move in around the base, Khe Sanh was held by only one or two American battalions. These were pitted against two to three divisional-size elements of the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). [138] At 08:00 on 15 April, Operation Pegasus was officially terminated. [123][124], Nevertheless, the same day that the trenches were detected, 25 February, 3rd Platoon from Bravo Company 1st Battalion, 26th Marines was ambushed on a short patrol outside the base's perimeter to test the PAVN strength. The 324th Division was located in the DMZ area 1015 miles (1624km) north of Khe Sanh while the 320th Division was within easy reinforcing distance to the northeast. But only by checking my service record while writing this article did it become evident that I had participated in all three operations. Cushman was appalled by the "implication of a rescue or breaking of the siege by outside forces. When the weather later cleared in March, the amount was increased to 40 tons per day. In the aftermath, the North Vietnamese proclaimed a victory at Khe Sanh, while US forces claimed that they had withdrawn, as the base was no longer required. Background [ edit] The Battle of la Drang was considered essential because it sets up a change of tactics for both troops during the conflict. Just days before, as the Army of the . The US command in Saigon initially believed that combat operations around KSCB during 1967 were part of a series of minor PAVN offensives in the border regions. Later, the 1/1 Marines and 3rd ARVN Airborne Task Force (the 3rd, 6th, and 8th Airborne Battalions) would join the operation. [157], Commencing in 1966, the US had attempted to establish a barrier system across the DMZ to prevent infiltration by North Vietnamese troops. At dawn on 21 January, it was attacked by a roughly 300-strong PAVN battalion. The September bombardments ranged from 100 to 150 rounds per day, with a maximum on 25 September of 1,190 rounds. [12] With the abandonment of the base, according to Thomas Ricks, "Khe Sanh became etched in the minds of many Americans as a symbol of the pointless sacrifice and muddled tactics that permeated a doomed U.S. war effort in Vietnam". The Battle of Khe Sanh (21 January 9 July 1968) was conducted in the Khe Sanh area of northwestern Qung Tr Province, Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), during the Vietnam War. The new anchor base was established at Ca Lu, a few miles down Route 9 to the east. There are still debates about the true number of casualties, but estimates range that 1,000 to 3,500 US soldiers died, and a secret report from the US Military Assistance Command, Vietnam,. [148], Regardless, the PAVN had gained control of a strategically important area, and its lines of communication extended further into South Vietnam. In fact, neither side won a resounding victory. The fighting was heavy. [1], The evacuation of Khe Sanh began on 19 June 1968 as Operation Charlie. Throughout the battle, Marine artillerymen fired 158,891 mixed rounds. They produced a body count ratio in the range between 50:1 and 75:1. [33], On 27 October, a PAVN regiment attacked an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) battalion at Song Be, capital of Phc Long Province. After a ten-day battle, the attackers were pushed back into Cambodia. The PAVN infantry, though bracketed by artillery fire, still managed to penetrate the perimeter of the defenses and were only driven back after severe close-quarters combat. If that failed, and it did, they hoped to attack American reinforcements along Route 9 between Khe Sanh and Laos. [112][113][114] In addition, over 100,000 tons of bombs were dropped until mid-April by aircraft of the USAF, US Navy and Marines onto the area surrounding Khe Sanh. He made his final appearance in the story of Khe Sanh on 23 May, when his regimental sergeant major and he stood before President Johnson and were presented with a Presidential Unit Citation on behalf of the 26th Marines.