Firebase Pedro (also known as Landing Zone Pedro) is a former U.S. Army and

Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April ...

(ARVN)

firebase Firebase is a set of hosting services for any type of application (Android, iOS, Javascript, Node.js, Java, Unity, PHP, C++ ...). It offers NoSQL and real-time hosting of databases, content, social authentication (Google, Facebook, Twitter an ...

southwest of

Quảng Trị Quảng Trị () is a district-level town in Quảng Trị Province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. It is second of two municipalities in the province after the provincial capital Đông Hà. History The Sino-Vietnamese name Quả ...

in central

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

History

The base was established on Route 557 approximately 5 km southwest of the Quảng Trị. Landing Zone Pedro was first established by the 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment in January 1968 for use during

Operation Pegasus Operation Pegasus was a military operation carried out on the Lower Rhine near the village of Renkum, close to Arnhem in the Netherlands. Overnight on 22–23 October 1944, the Allied military forces, MI9, the British intelligence organization, ...

1972

By January 1972 the ARVN 3rd Division had assumed responsibility for the area north of Highway 9. Pedro was occupied by the Vietnamese Marine Corps (VNMC) 1st Marine Battalion. The PAVN launched their Easter Offensive on 30 March 1972 and PAVN artillery fire hit all the ARVN and Marine positions along the DMZ. On 5 April the VNMC 1st Battalion was withdrawn to Ái Tử Combat Base and replaced with the VNMC 6th battalion. At dawn on 9 April the PAVN launched an attack, led by tanks, against Pedro. The PAVN tanks had outrun their infantry support and 9 tanks were lost in a minefield around Pedro. An armored task force of 8 M48s and 12 M113s from the ARVN 20th Tank Battalion were despatched from Ái Tử to support the Marines at Pedro. At the same time a flight of

Vietnamese Air Force The Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF, ), formally refers itself as the Air Defence - Air Force (ADAF, ) or the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF, ), is the aerial warfare service branch of Vietnam. It is the successor of the former North Vietnamese ...

Douglas A-1 Skyraiders arrived overhead and destroyed 5 tanks. When the ARVN armor arrived they destroyed five T-54s for no losses and drove one captured T-54 back to Ái Tử. On 10 and 11 April further PAVN attacks on Pedro were repulsed at a cost of over 200 PAVN estimated killed. At 02:00 on 29 April the PAVN attacked the ARVN positions north and south of Ái Tử and the ARVN defenses began to crumble. By midday on 30 April, the 3rd Division commander ordered a withdrawal from Ái Tử to a defensive line along the south of the

Thạch Hãn River The Thạch Hãn River is a river in Quảng Trị province, Vietnam. It rises in the Annamite Mountains, and enters the South China Sea east of Đông Hà. It is approximately long, with two main tributaries and with several branches to the sea. ...

and the withdrawal was completed late that day.

Current use

The base has reverted to jungle.

References

{{reflist Installations of the United States Army in South Vietnam Installations of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Buildings and structures in Quảng Trị province