Results of a rocket attack on Da Nang air base: revetment area building Location: Da Nang Vietnam. in foreground gives perspective. In the pursuit, which amounted to a rout, the VC lost nearly 100 dead. The MPs shot one of the swimmers, took the other man prisoner and drove off the boats with a fusillade of bullets. Covered revetments to protect F-4s from rocket attacks -1969 [ Bob Kaatman photo ] American down as Marines arrive on scene just outside perimeter of DaNang AFB. 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. "[1]:1545, By this time, the Tet Offensive was in full bloom, not only at Da Nang, but throughout South Vietnam. Even at Marble Mountain the damage was relatively contained. 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. The ROKMC Marine Brigade deployed six companies around the city and the ARVN 51st Regiment prepared a reaction force. Da Nang Air Base was one of the major air bases used for offensive air operations within South Vietnam and for the support of USMC and ARVN forces. Although most of the enemy activity was restricted to small-unit contacts, on the night of 2/3 February, PAVN/VC gunners again rocketed the Air Base. Shortly after 01:00 on the 6th, PAVN gunners opened up on the hamlet with intermittent mortar rounds and small-arms fire. NASM.2018.0025 The National Police arrested 25 of the crowd and quickly dispersed the would-be demonstrators. 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. During one attack I was writing a letter home and thought my guys were injured because of the rocket attack and I remember the no smoking sigh flapping in the wind because of the scrapnel. [1]:159, On the ground in the 7th Marines sector, PAVN units hit several of the CAPs, especially in the 3rd and 1st Battalion areas. "[1]:142, On the evening of 28 January, just west of Hiu c, a Marine squad from Company C, 1/7 Marines ambushed a three-man VC reconnaissance patrol. 366th AMS, Mystery SP, Bob Hope. The III MAF Command Center later that evening radioed MACV in Saigon: "Although the enemy has suffered heavy losses within his local and main force VC units during the past two days, he still possesses a formidable threat utilizing [PAVN] troops poised on the periphery of the Da Nang TAOR. Some viewers may find some scenes or audio in this archival material to be unsettling or distressing. At Da Nang city the Military Region's main force 2nd Division, sapper battalions, the Quang Da province local force battalions and mass forces participating in the political struggle had been preparing since October 1967. Employing small arms fire, satchel charges, Rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and Bangalore torpedoes, the sappers thrust through blown gaps in the Marine wire. As the defector from the 401st later revealed, his unit lacked "weapons, experienced soldiers, and transportation manpower." They were ordered to the area to bolster defenses around the air base at Da Nang against possible VietCong attacks. 45 USAF/USMC KIA, 10 aircraft destroyed , 41 aircraft damaged, and 13 barracks destroyed. At 20:00 on the night of the 5th, a Marine platoon ambush from Company C, 1/7 Marines intercepted about 60 PAVN troops about 4,000 meters south of the Ty Loan River in the western sector of the area of operations moving northeast towards the river and the base with mortars and automatic weapons. They fired, killing one of the enemy underwater demolition team, while the other member surrendered to the Marines. In addition to the VC R-20th Battalion, south of Da Nang, the VC 1st and PAVN 3rd Regiments both part of the 2nd Division started to deploy toward G Ni Island. [1]:154, South of Da Nang, in Hi An, on the 30th, the ROKMC, reinforced by elements of the ARVN 51st Regiment, tried to tighten the loop and began preparations to retake the city. 17 apr 1966: arab 511, an a-1h (buno 135398), lt (jg) william l. tromp, va-115, went down following a night attack on coastal targets, near approximately 1818 . Next Photo. Citation Nr: 1224394 Decision Date: 07/13/12 Archive Date: 07/18/12 DOCKET NO. 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. [1]:159, On the night of 5/6 February, the PAVN/VC forces began the second phase of their Da Nang offensive. Still photo images extracted from the vintage footage are also available for immediate download. West runway cratered, east runway open. The main body advanced in column maintaining about three to four feet space between each man. The Truong Son and the Mekong River are moving. Missiles launched from nearby mountains have caused eight deaths, many injuries and. The ROKMC, while not finding any sizeable forces, continued to encounter small enemy units and boobytraps which took their toll. Considering the amount of ordnance that the enemy expended, casualties were relatively small. Another sapper squad, about the same size as the one that carried out the earlier attack, penetrated the 1st Marine Division Subsector Bravo combat operations center and communications facility on Hill 200, less than 1,000 meters from the main command post on Hill 327. CriticalPast is your source for imagery of worldwide events, people, and B-roll spanning the 20th century. After their breaching of the outer defenses, the VC squad fired B-40 rockets at the headquarters building, but then fought a delaying action, waiting for reinforcements which never came. While the Marine battalions successfully kept these initial assaults on the night of 5/6 February in check, Robertson was not sure how much longer they could. Click here to view those.. Update: 12 December 2020. Marine losses were 14 killed, Army losses were 18 killed, while PAVN/VC losses were in excess of 286. We had played cards the night before and he was so happy he had survived his year in . According to the Marine after-action report, 3/5 Marines and the attached two companies from the 2/3rd Marines accounted for more than 320 PAVN/VC dead in less than 36 hours. During the day, the division had positioned 11 reconnaissance Stingray patrols along likely enemy avenues of approach. [Peter Halferty photo]. 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. 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. Freedom Hill 327 can be seen beneath the left flare, with convoy lights winding up the perimeter road. I was in Danang less than a month when the Vietcong used rockets to attack the Danang Air Base for the first time in the war, on the morning of February 27. The VC continued to hold the hospital, however, and part of the engineer compound. Newsreel story showing the aftermath of the shelling of an . In Vietnam this rocket comprised one of the primary means of inflicting standoff attacks against airfields and other . Still PAVN/VC gunners just before 01:00 launched 12 122mm rockets aimed at the Da Nang base and blew up two ammunition dumps, one for napalm and the other for flares. Entering the town from the southwest, the VC fired about 70 RPGs at the local forces, but never penetrated the defender's perimeter. According to Marine sources, the heavy action on this small island resulted in 102 VC killed, 88 prisoners of war, 13 VC suspects and 70 laborers. [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. Open to all Vietnam Veterans that served at DA NANG Air Base of ROCKET CITY from 1971-1972. It wrapped around the base and city. Da Nang Vietnam January 30, 1968 - Rocket attack on the Da Nang Air Base. The PAVN then attacked forcing the Marine platoons to fall back to more defendable positions. A detachment of four LVTP-5s from the 3rd AmTrac Battalion quickly arrived, but the enemy had already departed. As the Marine platoon patrolled along the banks of the Yn, a heavy machine gun suddenly opened up. He nevertheless released Task Force Miracle from the operational control of the 1st Marine Division and returned it to the Americal Division. The skirmishing south of the headquarters near Ha Vang, however, continued. Of the prisoners, the South Vietnamese identified six as military, 109 as workers, and the remaining 80 as VC cadre. 149 likes. 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. Countermortar fire quickly silenced the enemy tubes. 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. Although the PAVN troops fled, the Marines found five unexpended 122mm rockets on the site. Suspected excavations camouflaged with tree branches were seen on a peninsula 6 miles southwest of Da Nang. In I Corps, the Allies learned from a defector that the enemy planned an attack against Qung Ngi City. 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. Liked the Oriental rock bands came to the Club: Surprised by the initial assault, the engineers fell back, giving up half the camp to the attackers. 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. Immediately after the artillery shelling, an AC47 Spooky arrived on station and worked over the same area with its Gatling guns. The attacks on Da Nang (29 January 11 February 1968), were a series of attacks in the Tet Offensive launched by the North Vietnamese Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong (VC) during the Vietnam War. Both battalions would be under the operational control of the 1st Marine Division. Company M advanced toward a hamlet to the south of the ARVN. PAVN/VC gunners then replied with a mortar barrage, which resulted in two Marine dead and two wounded. "We carried bullet clips in our pockets, but no weapons, because the rifle boxes were nailed shut in their shipping crates. CriticalPast is an archive of historic footage. I called all the regiments and battalions and the same was happening to them. 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. 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. Finally, according to Marine intelligence officers, another "very reliable source" flatly stated "that the time of attack throughout MR (Military Region) 5 would be" at 01:30 and no later than 02:00 on 30 January. With the departure of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines in mid-January for Phu Bai Combat Base, the 3/7 Marines extended its area of operations to include An Hoa Combat Base to the south. After counting 500 men pass their position, Rummage called in the artillery. About 09:00, Lieutenant Colonel Rockey, the 3/5 Marines commander, ordered a small command group and two companies, Company M of his battalion and Company F, 2/3 Marines attached to his command, to the relief of the ARVN camp. One of the rockets damaged one of the missile launchers and wounded three of the Marines. DaNang Air Base was known as "rocket city" for the number of attacks that occurred there between 1965 and 1973. About 03:30, two more Marine tanks from the district town of Hieu Duc arrived at the northern fringes of the hamlet. In the initial fighting for Ha Vang, the South Vietnamese and Americans accounted for 25 VC dead. Da Nang AB was nicknamed "Rocket City" due to the large number of attacks by 122mm and 140mm rockets. It was a helicopter facility that was constructed in August 1965 and served as home to Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16), the 5th Special Forces Group and an assortment of other squadrons until May 1971. 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. In the ensuing firefight fought at a range as close as five meters from one another with the Marines achieving the upper hand. Robertson observed that the delay of the 2nd Division into the picture may have been because the PAVN forces "got their signals mixed " The VC were supposed to be inside "when the [PAVN] division came marching down main street. Again the artillery responded with "excellent effect on target." Soon reports came in that the base was under attack and a Marine helicopter flew the general from his quarters to III MAF headquarters. "[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. # Not in AF records, submitted by members, # Not in AF records, submitted by members, Air Base Defense in the Republic of Vietnam, 1960-1973. Da Nang air base in the mid- to late-60s was the busiest (and possibly the largest) airport in the world. [1]:158, Robertson began to refine his defensive dispositions at Da Nang so as to counter any further incursions on the part of the PAVN/VC main force units pressing on the Marine TAOR. [ Bob Kaatman photo ] One of the first caches of bombs to explode. According to Davis, a few hours later, Robertson called a division briefing for all battalion commanders. The Marines evacuated the survivor to the Naval Support Activity hospital where he died of his wounds. ARVN intelligence officers speculated that the battalion from the PAVN 4th Regiment was supposed to have spearheaded the attack on the city of Da Nang the previous day, but arrived too late to influence the battle. 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. Because of an air observer on station, the Marine gunners checked their fire. Both the 2/3 Marines to the east of the Army task force and the 3/5 Marines to the south, also reported relatively little enemy activity in their sectors. CAP Q-4 there continued to hold out. [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. According to Marine pilot reports, the PAVN/VC had approximately 250 men in the area equipped with automatic weapons, including at least one .51-caliber machine gun. [1]:1534, On the night of the 30th, elements of a battalion of the PAVN 4th Regiment attacked an ARVN outpost at the foot of the Hi Vn Pass. 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. Doc, as his friends called him, was one of 58,200 Americans that died during the Vietnam War. In the engagement, the Marines lost 5 killed and 12 wounded. 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. Milantoni. The PAVN/VC attacked a Marine bunker and ran through the Communications Support Company area throwing grenades and Satchel charges in the living quarters. The battle for Da Nang was largely over. During the Cuban missile crisis, the U.S. Marine Corps deployed a Hawk air defense missile battery from the 3d Light Antiaircraft Missile (LAAM) Battalion to Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, to protect the U.S. naval base from a surprise low-level air attack by Soviet and Cuban aircraft. The area was around 200 square miles, and the 140mm rockets had a range of over 6 miles. As various outposts reported their sightings to the Division FSCC, the artillerymen then shifted these fires to actual sites. With the PAVN too close to call in artillery or fixed-wing air, the Marines radioed for reinforcements. * The first attack was made by both mortars and sappers. Went to Danang to help EOD with the munitions storage facility mishap just outside Danang Air Base. General Walt's staff received word on 27 October that a VC main force battalion was moving out of its base in "Happy Valley," 10 miles southwest of Da Nang, and heading towards the base. [1]:1612, In the ensuing battle of Lo Giang the Marine and Army forces successfully repulsed the PAVN 2nd Division attack. Under pressure from the South Vietnamese relief forces and the Marine MP platoon, the VC retreated with the allies in pursuit. The Koreans kept one company at the MACV compound for security and prepared for a sweep to clear out the city in the morning. The Flightline, Funny Money, Rocket shrapnel. 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. In the northern sector of Da Nang, PAVN/VC main force troops entered Nam O once again and killed the hamlet chief. [1]:141, A conglomeration of Marine support units, ARVN, ROKMC and two Marine infantry battalions attempted to secure the remaining area. Pictures of Danang 11. (AP) AP [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. Darkness prevented any accurate bomb assessment. This platoon under First Lieutenant John E. Manning departed the airbase about 04:15 and arrived in the blocking positions about 05:15. [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. Lieutenant Colonel William K . Rockey then ordered a platoon from his Company K to reinforce Company G. By the end of the day, the elements of the four Marine companies had established their night positions. Elements of the PAVN 368B Rocket Artillery Regiment were in firing positions to the west and northwest of the 7th Marines. "The soldiers and cadre of the "South Vietnam Liberation Army" were to move forward in the attack: 1969. [1]:153, The Marines now counterattacked supported by artillery and Marine gunships and fixed-wing air. While making for a loud and colorful pyrotechnic display, the explosions caused no casualties and no damage to any of the aircraft. At Da Nang, III MAF knew that the PAVN/VC were on the move. Remains of 45-1102; sandbag detail later. PAVN/VC gunners, however, continued to be active and shot down a Marine CH-46 attempting to insert a reconnaissance team into a landing zone in the hill mass in the western sector of Da Nang below the Ty Loan River. While Marine fixed-wing aircraft flew strike missions against the gun emplacements, another helicopter evacuated the survivors. The RF/PF suffered 1 PF killed and 10 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. About an hour later, PAVN troops who had infiltrated Duong Lam rushed the CAP compound. Although authorizing the ceasefire, he warned all American commanders to be unusually alert because of "enemy increased capabilities ." 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. 1970, 1st Marines, AFVN, Armed Forces Vietnam Network, Assassination . The battalion's Company B, however, in an operation with a CAP in two hamlets on the Tiensha Peninsula or Da Nang East, surprised a VC force in two hamlets north of Marble Mountain. The struggle for Hi An would continue into the following day. DA NANG A.B. 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. A high number of casualties were Vietnamese civilians living in a village just east of Da Nang Air Base. After calling in artillery which resulted in three secondary explosions, the reconnaissance Marines reported seven enemy killed. The Marines and PF troops killed 22 VC and took another 23 prisoner. [1]:156, The Da Nang Northern Sector Defense Command dispatched a provisional company to assist the CAP Marines as well as the security detachment. + Casualty figures reflect all casualties, i.e., USAF, other military and civilians. [1]:143, PAVN/VC forces throughout South Vietnam were about to strike. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [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. Both Marine companies encountered heavy small-arms fire and RPGs as they approached their objectives. At that point, three fixed-wing aircraft and four helicopter gunships then bombed and strafed the enemy column. The first half of my year in Vietnam (1967) I was stationed at the large U. S. base in Danang. At 08:30 a CAP saw a number of VC attempting to swim across the Cu to the island. According to III MAF figures, from 29 January through 14 February at Da Nang, Marines sustained 124 killed and more than 480 wounded. [1]:143, While the PAVN/VC concentrated their forces for the large offensive, many of these units suffered from too many rapid replacements and in some cases from poor morale. mms, from May of 69 to May of 70. Material and equipment losses, however, were much more extensive. March 2, 1965 - Operation Rolling Thunder begins as over 100 American fighter-bombers attack targets in North Vietnam. Marine counter-rocket fire from the 11th Marines and 1st Tank Battalion resulted in five secondary explosions. Battle in Vietnam involving the United States in early 1968, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tet_offensive_attacks_on_Da_Nang&oldid=1098267255, Battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1968, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War, Articles needing additional references from August 2021, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 July 2022, at 01:30. Da Nang Under Heavy Rocketing. [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. Cam Ranh Bay AB: US Army 6th Convalescent Hospital debris by Sapper Attack! Reinforced by another squad, the Company G Marines killed three and captured two. Four died there. 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. The lead column consisted of about 100 to 150 men, followed by the main body. 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 . By the afternoon of the 31st, the Marines and Rangers had completed their sweep. 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. Rockey, the 3/5 Marines commander, commented on the "increasing frequency and ferocity" of enemy contacts. 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. An American advisor within the MACV compound reported at 11:45 that the VC were digging in the engineer compound. In one operation near Dien Ban, the ARVN 51st Regiment sustained losses of 40 men killed, six missing, and 140 wounded while accounting for about 80 enemy dead and 13 prisoners. . Lm arrived at the headquarters compound shortly after dawn. [ Bob Kaatman photo ] Only the 7th Marines to the west experienced an increase in incidents as PAVN/VC troops moved through the western TAOR to return to their mountain strongholds in Base Area 114 and through Charlie Ridge into Happy Valley. Mortar and rocket attacks followed by ground assaults were made all along the perimeter of the base. 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. 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.. Firing 290 105mm shells, the tractor artillery reportedly killed about 80 of the PAVN attackers caught in the open. 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. Date: July 15, 1967.Visit us at www.CriticalPast.com:57,000+ broadcast-quality historic clips for immediate download.Fully digitized and searchable, the CriticalPast collection is one of the largest archival footage collections in the world. Heavy explosions and fires on the base. It was damaged by the fire of the adjacent aircraft (BuNo 152588) on the night of 29-30 January 1968. 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. The AC-47 then called in Marine fixed-wing attack aircraft which dropped Napalm with "outstanding coverage of target." The Marine squad lost one killed. "[1]:144, By evening on the 29th, the 1st Marine Division at Da Nang was on 100-percent alert. I was assigned to the 1st Marine Division and sent to Marble Mountain Airfield to Join Marine Air Group 16 and VMO2. from Vice: That day, Mr. Trump hosted a ceremony to honor law enforcement officials who had provided security for the inauguration. Manning defensive positions, the Marine communicators and engineers repelled the attacking force, killing four VC. [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. Battery A, 1st Light Antiaircraft Missile Battalion armed with MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air missiles, in the mountainous Hi Vn Pass sector north of Da Nang, reported about 01:40 coming under 82mm mortar fire. 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. The Marine staff speculated that the enemy launched the mortar attacks largely as a cover for the rocket attacks against Marble Mountain. If we went a week without a few rockets coming we knew something was in the works. A third C-123 squadron was stationed at Da Nang Air Base in 1963 and a fourth at Tan Son Nhut in October 1964 following the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August. [1]:160, The fighting continued during the night and into the next day. 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