Whereas a company might be made up of 80-250 soldiers, an Army battalion can consist of between 300 to 1,200 soldiers. Few people were seen, although there were many houses of mud and thatch in these densely vegetated areas. Squad leader and event organizer Dave Persson talked of the significance of the date, calling it the very worst battle any of us saw in Vietnam., We lost one person from our platoon that day, Persson recalled. No doubt, some escaped in the fading light. at the White House to General Godfrey T. McHugh with the President at I yelled for a medic and one ran across the field.. Become a member of MRFA! Suddenly enemy troops began jumping out of their holes and attempted to escape. [6] The attackers were followed by a line of unarmed troops carrying ropes and wires with hooks to recover the fallen communists. Thank you for stopping by. The entire crew was wounded and evacuated. WebThe Battle of Ap Bac was to have been a routine heliborne operation into the rice rich Mekong Delta. They received their orders in December 66 and departed in January 1967. Thanks to Tornado Jones, these guys were ready, Heller said. It could prevent disaster, if necessary, but its chances of successfully attacking south along the stream were slim, since semi-darkness was already covering the area. At 07:00 the final air strike and artillery rounds were fired. 226 0 obj<>stream
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escaped with minor losses. He fell and I said, Crawl back to me. He said, Charlie, Charlie, hold my hand. I held his hand, his body started quivering and then he died. To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a subscription. Neil Losses in the 3/47th were more severe. As Chili went through the other end of the tree line, he was shot, Zies recalled. If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free web account by clicking here. We served more like the people that trained in WWII. Wolfe's men fired and the Viet Cong stopped, having struck one American vehicle's gun. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, For he today that sheds his blood with me, shall be my brother." Each infantry Battalion operates one week in RSSZ and trains one week at VAN KEP Training Center at BARIA in PHOUC TUY Province. Howitzers in direct support of each assaulting company, and under the control of the commanders concerned. - William Shakespeare, Henry V, Navy Cross recipients, Distinguished Service Cross recipients, and Medal of Honor recipients from the Navy Mobile Riverine Force and Army 9th Infantry Division. In a short time, all of those forward were dead from multiple bullet wounds, and the platoon was temporarily wrecked as a fighting force. Palm Beach, January 7; ibid.) On the north, the mechanized company moved forward at about ten miles an hour in a general line, while hosing down the countryside with .50 caliber-fire. The APC operators decided to fire their canisters on each other to remove the Viet Cong, as they were too close for an APC to clear from itself. The ambush was to be in position by 18:00. The Viet Cong started their attack ten minutes later, and they were met with artillery fire, cluster bomb units, napalm and 500 pound bombs. d. 7th ARVN took all area North of route 4. The MRFA is launching our Historical Data Project (HDP), featuring as much MRF TF-117 data as possible. Due to a misunderstanding, the artillery battalion commander refused to relinquish control of his batteries to the forward observers on the ground. Memorials and museums dedicated to the Mobile Riverine Force. On 20 June 4/47th Infantry searched south of the ambush area locating a VC force north of the Rach Gion Ong stream at Ap Nam and assisted by a Company from the 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry, wiped out a VC Platoon. Unit awards, medals and ribbons, and information on applying for and obtaining your medals and ribbons. Most of the Tornados were drafted in May 1966 and went through basic training in Ft. Riley, Kansas. Employing 0 battalions in the field for 8 days. In the zone of the 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry, the attached mechanized company (Company C, 5th Battalion, 60th Infantry) was given the deeper objectives because its mobility and speed would allow it to quickly search out those objectives. if (document.context) document.write ("&context=" + escape(document.context)); 3rd and 4th Battalions, 47th Infantry Regiment, United States Army Center of Military History, "U.S. The main attack came from the south and southwest, accompanied by a secondary attack from the north. [4], The communists increased their intensity and two M113s were hit directly, wounding several Americans and destroying the vehicle. 0000007973 00000 n
The first true battle of the Vietnam War was Ap Bac. Web19-20 June 1967: Operation CONCORDIA. January 1967: Key Officers & NCOs of 2nd Bde receive special amphibious training from PHIBTRAPAC, Coronado, CA. [2] It was the first major U.S. battle of the Vietnam War using armored vehicles. Many of their large haystacks concealed bunkers. Country Series, 1/63) On January 7, President Kennedy expressed concern about the Due to the nature of the battle and the abundant use of automatic weapons on armored vehicles, two and in some cases three basic loads of .50-caliber and 7.62mm. Suddenly, a concealed automatic weapon opened fire at a range of 50 meters, completely enfilading the line of troops. Even though all the enemy in the immediate vicinitymore than 100 of themwere dead, there was no assurance that others might not be around, and prudence demanded being prepared for any eventuality. e. GVN Committed a 2nd Battalion Brigade of VN Marines in US Zone. 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 a. MACV MDMAF concept postulated a maximum radius of 50 KM from MRB. On January 7, the Joint Chiefs of Staff authorized Army Chief of Staff inability to take effective advantage of air superiority, and a lack of the President, Visits by Foreign Heads 11-12 June 1967: Relocate to NHA Be. It was apparent that the climax was rapidly approaching. Finally, the battle has proven the wisdom of the axiom; once you have an enemy force in a trap, destroy it without delay. Following this operation the aircraft would pass to the 3/47th for a similar operation. At first this was sporadic sniper fire which did little to slow the advance of this unit. In front of the platoon was the small pasture where the lead squad of Company A, 3/47th, had been destroyed earlier. Alpha Company didnt; they walked right into an ambush that was prepared for the entire battalion, not just one company, Heller explained. 7th ARVN Division, on own initiative, started on 26 July the most ambitious campaign for years. if (document.referrer) document.write ("&referer=" + escape(document.referrer)); By 20:00 darkness and enemy fire stopped the assault with Companies B and C, 3/47th Infantry, still some 600 meters west of the ambush site. 3. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. However, for the Tigers of the 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry, and especially for Company A of that unit, what had started out as a routine walk in the sun was rapidly becoming a grim one. As they took their positions, they were hit with recoilless rifle fire and grenades. Customarily, when major events occurred in Vietnam, there was nothing to indicate that the days operation would be other than routine. Availability of route 4 at Ben Luc for ammo resupply. As soon as the woods were reached the infantrymen jumped out and began destroying the enemy troops in their position, where they had been trapped and pinned down by the heavy volume of fire. in misleading colors: It appears that the initial press reports have In short, a nice, tidy plan had gone awry. trailer
Learn about the battle, including the cause, the tactics and its impact on the Vietnam War in this lesson. Learn about the association, Board Members, Officers, and download a membership application form! Even though the general location of the enemy was known, the excellent camouflage and small holes customarily used by the Viet Cong made it impossible to spot exact fire positions until very close to them. mini-guns. The Battle of p Bc was a major battle fought on January 2, 1963, during the Vietnam War.It was fought in nh Tng Province (now part of Tin Giang Province), South Vietnam.On December 28, 1962, US intelligence detected the presence of a radio transmitter along with a sizable force of National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF/Viet Cong) soldiers, A unit of the 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry, attached to the 1st Infantry Division, A Troop had 129 men, six M48 tanks, twenty M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs), and three 4.2-inch mortar carriers. WebOn January 2, 1963, regular army and civil guard forces of the Republic of Vietnam engaged a Viet Cong battalion at the village of Ap Bac in Dinh Tuong province, 35 miles southwest