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. In the engagement, the Marines lost 5 killed and 12 wounded. At the meeting Westmoreland ordered Americal Division commander General Samuel W. Koster to reinforce Danang. Base orientation brochure, Perimeter, Tent City. [1]:147, After a lull of about an hour to an hour and a half, the enemy gunners renewed their assault on the Air Base and Marble Mountain Air Facility. 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. [Peter Halferty photo]. Captured 122mm Tripod Launcher. During the day's fighting, the Marines killed 107 PAVN and took two prisoners for losses of 11 killed and 53 wounded. The ROKMC, while not finding any sizeable forces, continued to encounter small enemy units and boobytraps which took their toll. The struggle for Hi An would continue into the following day. According to this former member of the VC 401st Regimental Security Guard, local VC cadre stated that "the war had lasted too long and the Front had to seek a good opportunity to stage a great offensive that would bring the war to an early end." Another PAVN soldier, who infiltrated from North Vietnam after receiving a year's training as a radioman in Hanoi, was thrust into one of the attacking battalions south of Da Nang so hastily that he never learned the name of his unit let alone those of his officers. Since you were there, Colonel, you can verify that there were no fewer than 26 rocket attacks on the Da Nang. Both battalions would be under the operational control of the 1st Marine Division. 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. [1]:1445, About 02:30, the PAVN/VC struck the perimeters of the Da Nang base itself. Note: Dick previously sent us some Stars and Stripes clippings mentioning rocket attacks and other "newsworthy items" of the day. The Marines lost one helicopter and sustained damage to 29 others. In addition, the 1st Marine Division alerted one company to participate in the relief of Hi An, if needed. At about 07:40, a crowd of 400 Vietnamese civilians made up mostly of women and children and carrying PAVN and VC flags approached the CAP compound. They counted 34 PAVN dead. [1]:160, The fighting continued during the night and into the next day. (AP) AP [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. You get your timing off and you've got problems. Robertson remembered that "the ceasefire was to be in effect and the regimental commanders reported intense fire from the enemy and requested authority to continue artillery fire, if necessary" Robertson granted the request and then "about 18:40 we got the word from III MAF that the ceasefire had been called off.[1]:142, For some time, the American forces had been aware that the PAVN/VC was about to launch some type of major offensive. # Not in AF records, submitted by members, # Not in AF records, submitted by members, Air Base Defense in the Republic of Vietnam, 1960-1973. Some of the VC in the hamlet fled south, but encountered a platoon from Company E, 2/7 Marines coming up to reinforce the Allied forces in the Nam O area. [1]:153, The Marines now counterattacked supported by artillery and Marine gunships and fixed-wing air. 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. About the same time, from their firing positions on the western fringes of the Da Nang TAOR, PAVN rocketeers launched a fusillade of 122mm rockets aimed at the Air Base. NMCB-7 sends a Disaster. Vietnam Rocket City 1971-1972, Palm Bay, FL. Heavy explosions and fires on the base. The Marines called in artillery and mortar missions . A 19-year-old sentry assigned to a listening post at a U.S. air base gets caught in the crossfire during a Viet Cong attack. He moved Company M, 3/7 Marines from its fairly remote position on Hill 52 in the far western reaches of the Vu Gia River Valley above the An Hoa Basin to the more centrally located Hill 65. At the briefing, the division G-2 or intelligence officer, told the assembled officers that "they are finally going to come out and fight. Company G repulsed a number of probes throughout the night until the PAVN broke contact at dawn. The only Marine casualties were two men who failed to vacate their "hootches" in time. Flight line VMO-2 after mortar / rocket attack "Tet Offensive" 1968. . Freedom Hill 327 can be seen beneath the left flare, with convoy lights winding up the perimeter road. "[1]:143, Throughout the Da Nang area of operations, the PAVN/VC began to move into attack positions. As the Marine platoon patrolled along the banks of the Yn, a heavy machine gun suddenly opened up. 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 . In the 7th Marines sector, the Marines described the same type of activity as well as increased enemy infiltration. The enemy had also planned to hit the main airfield at Da Nang. According to Davis, a few hours later, Robertson called a division briefing for all battalion commanders. Fourteen aircraft, six pieces of ground support equipment , five buildings, and another two vehicles sustained damage of one sort or another. These included Hills 65 and 52 manned by companies of the 3/7 Marines in the southwestern part of the TAOR and Hill 41 defended by Company D, 1/7 Marines in the central western sector. Some viewers may find some scenes or audio in this archival material to be unsettling or distressing. [1]:153, South of the Hi Vn Pass, in the northern portion of the Da Nang TAOR, in the 2/7 Marines sector, the PAVN were able to close Highway 1 temporarily, but failed to penetrate Allied defenses. I was assigned to the 1st Marine Division and sent to Marble Mountain Airfield to Join Marine Air Group 16 and VMO2. In the morning when searching the battle area, the Marines would find "ample evidence of enemy casualties, but only two enemy bodies." Newsreel reporting on a rocket attack on the Da Nang military base being used for US Marine Corps operations. Rocket attacks in 1972 Da Nang Vietnam a425couple Aug 29, 2017, 4:51:30 PM to Rocket attack 72 redhorse compound DaNang on: August 24, 2009, 08:06:45 pm Does anyone remember the date of. Lm arrived at the headquarters compound shortly after dawn. The Marines failed to determine whether this mixed force had a specific mission or consisted of remnants from units that had participated in the earlier attack on the I Corps headquarters. Company M advanced toward a hamlet to the south of the ARVN. *** The first time that rockets were used in the Republic of Vietnam by the Viet Cong/North Vietnamese Army. Flares light up the Da Nang area to make it easier to spot infiltrating guerrillas. Da Nang Under Heavy Rocketing. In I Corps, the Allies learned from a defector that the enemy planned an attack against Qung Ngi City. Click here to view those.. Update: 12 December 2020. Da Nang AB was nicknamed "Rocket City" due to the large number of attacks by 122mm and 140mm rockets. 1969. Throughout the day, however, Marine units throughout the TAOR reported incidents. By dark the Korean had captured the hospital and were in position to relieve the engineer compound. At Da Nang, III MAF knew that the PAVN/VC were on the move. By 11:00, Marine helicopters evacuated the most seriously wounded and brought in the rest of Company G into blocking positions on the western bank of the Yn. [1]:163, The official PAVN history records the attack as follows:[3]. The helicopter burned upon crashing, but the crew and most of the patrol were able to get out. 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. From the south, about a dozen VC used boards to cross the outer wire and ladders and boards to clamber over the compound wall into the courtyard below. At 16:00, one of the Stingray units, using the codename Saddle Bag, situated in the mountains just south of a bend in the Thu Bn River below An Ha Combat Base, about 20 miles (32km) southwest of the Da Nang, reported observing about 75 enemy soldiers wearing helmets and some carrying mortars. The VC attacked the compound from two directions, from the south and the east. With covering fire provided by 81mm and 82mm mortars, about a reinforced company reached the I Corps headquarters compound actually located within the city of Da Nang just outside the northern perimeter of the Air Base. by Edward H. Phillips 2/1/2017. More like this Camp Friendship Korat Cat Air Force Special Operations Vietnam War Photos May Bay North Vietnam Air Force Bases Vietnam Veterans The most eastern of the battalions, the 2nd, shared its area with the 3rd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, which was responsible for the coastal sand flats south of Marble Mountain. [1]:1445, At 03:30 PAVN/VC forces launched an assault against General Hong Xun Lm's I Corps headquarters. The skirmishing south of the headquarters near Ha Vang, however, continued. [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. 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. At 08:30 a CAP saw a number of VC attempting to swim across the Cu to the island. [1]:147, Major General Raymond Murray, the III MAF deputy commander, remembered that he heard a "hell of a lot of racket" and "woke up [to] the airfield at Da Nang being rocketed." According to a VC after-action report early in the offensive, the writer complained that the "commander did not know [the) situation accurately and that orders were not strictly obeyed ." Major General Donn J. Robertson, the 1st Marine Division commanding general, kept under his direct control the 3/5 Marines and the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines. 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. 1st MAW ComdC. Under pressure from the South Vietnamese relief forces and the Marine MP platoon, the VC retreated with the allies in pursuit. In the attack, the PAVN/VC fired 122mm rockets at Marine artillery positions at An Hoa, Hill 55 and Hill 10. Immediately after the artillery shelling, an AC47 Spooky arrived on station and worked over the same area with its Gatling guns. One rocket struck this barracks, but the man in this room survived by . ** The first two attacks on DaNang were by mortars. After calling in artillery which resulted in three secondary explosions, the reconnaissance Marines reported seven enemy killed. konstantin guericke net worth; xaverian brothers high school nfl players; how is the correct gene added to the cells; hong kong supermarket flyer calgary; ben fogle: new lives in the wild do they get paid; In the northern sector of Da Nang, PAVN/VC main force troops entered Nam O once again and killed the hamlet chief. A second platoon from Company G arrived at the site and attempted to maneuver to the PAVN flank. Survived many Rocket Attacks. Marine counter-rocket fire from the 11th Marines and 1st Tank Battalion resulted in five secondary explosions. 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. The air base at Da Nang was, therefore, a particularly enticing target. CriticalPast is your source for imagery of worldwide events, people, and B-roll spanning the 20th century. It also served to block one of the principal avenues of approach to Da Nang from the south. Two of the mortar attacks hit the 1st Cavalry Division helipad near the Force Logistic Command area in the Red Beach Base Area destroying two helicopters and damaging eight others and killing one U.S . The Marine squad lost one killed. VC gunners from Ha Vang, nevertheless, maintained an intermittent mortar bombardment upon the I Corps tactical operations center. . This fighting would continue in a desultory fashion throughout the night. Four died there. According to III MAF figures, from 29 January through 14 February at Da Nang, Marines sustained 124 killed and more than 480 wounded. Missiles launched from nearby mountains have caused eight deaths, many injuries and. Although agent reports and other intelligence indicated continued assaults north of the Cau Do River against Ha Vang and Da Nang City, most of these came to naught. 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. They collected some 200 people that they detained for further questioning. 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]. "[1]:163, Another possible explanation was that the Da Nang attack may have been a secondary assault, to cause as much damage as possible and divert Allied forces from the almost successful effort of the PAVN/VC forces to capture Hu. The PAVN/VC attacked a Marine bunker and ran through the Communications Support Company area throwing grenades and Satchel charges in the living quarters. On my second combat hop on the 14th I flew below 500 feet for 30 minutes 5 to 10 miles south of Da Nang searching for rocket launching sites. DaNang Air Base was known as "rocket city" for the number of attacks that occurred there between 1965 and 1973. A conglomeration of internal security forces threw back the VC force from the east that tried to use similar tactics to get inside the compound from that direction. This should include information pertaining to the rocket and mortar attacks at the Da Nang Air base from April 1967 to May 1968, to include any attacks occurring on or about July 14, 1967. On Jan. 30, a 15-man commando squad penetrated Da Nang Air Base and another squad blew up the "Sector Bravo Combat Operations Center," just 1,000 meters from I Corps headquarters. 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. In a 1st Marine Division analyses, the author commented that the PAVN 2nd Division's approach was "along a single axis of advance so that his eventual target was easily identifiable." The Marines and PF troops killed 22 VC and took another 23 prisoner. Although the PAVN troops fled, the Marines found five unexpended 122mm rockets on the site. 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. [1]:143, PAVN/VC forces throughout South Vietnam were about to strike. Shortly after midnight on July 15, 1967, Da Nang Air Base in Quang Nam Province, RVN, came under a heavy rocket attack. [1]:157, There were two serious incidents in the 7th Marines sector. 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 The vintage footage in this video has been uploaded for research purposes, and is presented in unedited form. 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. a-~_ -~ ijsafss 0 w 86 i jun !17 history of 6994th security squadron The crowd scattered only to gather on the fringes of Red Beach Base Area. During the night, VC resistance dwindled to sniper fire on the ROKMC positions. Americal Division artillery operating in the Qu Sn sector took the PAVN/VC forces under fire, but did not shell Duy Xuyn town because of the civilian population there. DaNang earned the nickname Rocket City during the Vietnam war, having been attacked over 900 times in 10 years. The Allies claimed 343 PAVN/VC killed and 195 prisoners. Just 19 when he arrived, the horrors he witnessed would forever shape him. The Koreans kept one company at the MACV compound for security and prepared for a sweep to clear out the city in the morning. Finally the PAVN broke contact at 20:00 and disappeared. Pictures of Danang 8. According to Marine intelligence sources, Rummage may well "have rendered a reinforced battalion combat ineffective, forcing the enemy to modify his plans at a critical time." In a sweep of the area, the defenders found ammunition clips and bloodstains. Supported by U .S . "We carried bullet clips in our pockets, but no weapons, because the rifle boxes were nailed shut in their shipping crates. Two other platoons took up positions around nearby hills 244 and 200. In the resulting engagement, Company E killed about 13 VC from the Q-55th Local Force Company, which normally operated in the area. South Vietnamese and Korean casualties probably equalled or slightly exceeded the U.S. losses. 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. 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