Battle of Thượng Đức (1968)
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The Battle of Thượng Ðức was a battle of the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
where North Vietnamese forces attempted to overrun the
Civilian Irregular Defense Group The Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG, pronounced "sid-gee") was a military program developed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Vietnam War, which was intended to develop South Vietnamese irregular military units from indig ...
(CIDG) Thường Ðức Camp between 28 and 30 September 1968.


Battle

One month after the
Battle of Duc Lap The Battle of Duc Lap was a battle of the Vietnam War where North Vietnamese forces attempted to overrun the Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) Duc Lap Camp between 24 and 27 August 1968. Background In late July 1968 in developing their pla ...
the
People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the ...
(PAVN) began a similar attempt to overrun Thường Ðức Camp southwest of
Da Nang Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is one ...
in Quảng Nam Province, 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 ...
. The camp came under attack in the early morning darkness of 28 September, with the PAVN overrunning the outposts manned by CIDG troops, firing into the camp itself, and seizing the airfield and most of the nearby village. The battle remained deadlocked until 13:00, when a forward air controller (FAC) directed four sorties against the captured outposts, in preparation for a successful counterattack. The force that advanced from the main camp found grisly proof of the effectiveness of the air strikes. Scattered about one outpost were parts of 8-10 PAVN bodies, while similar remains indicated that about 20 PAVN died at another. By dusk, some 40 fighter-bombers had hit targets in PAVN-held territory. Night found the PAVN in control of most of the high ground around the camp. To help keep the PAVN at bay, a Marine airborne controller flying an airplane fitted with a radar transponder established an aerial checkpoint over the battlefield. Marine A–6 Intruders, normally flown on night-time armed reconnaissance missions over Laos or southern North Vietnam, homed on this beacon and then followed instructions from Marine radar operators on the ground to bomb the PAVN without endangering friendly forces. Along with the Marine A–6s,
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
(USAF) AC-47 ''Spooky'' gunships also took part in the nighttime defense of Thuong Duc. Air strikes proved essential in expelling the PAVN holding out in the village, fighting from new concrete-walled houses, many of them built by the families of Thuong Duc's defenders. On 28 September, after the South Vietnamese district chief reported that all noncombatants had departed, a CIDG force attacked the village, but became pinned down in the marketplace because their supporting 106-mm recoilless rifles could not penetrate the sturdy buildings nearby. A 5th Special Forces Group Detachment A-109 officer called for air strikes that annihilated both the structures and the troops that had fortified them. In the vicinity of the marketplace, the advancing CIDGs found 40 to 50 bodies, with other corpses half-buried in collapsed trenches or houses. Shortly afterward, a FAC called in F–4 Phantoms against a suspected mortar position across a river from the camp. Dust from the first rounds had barely settled when yellow smoke billowed upward, a signal sometimes used to indicate the presence of friendly troops. The ruse failed, however, since the FAC had received word that neither Americans nor South Vietnamese had crossed the stream. Fighter-bombers repeatedly swept low over the target, and frantic messages crackled over a captured PAVN radio being monitored by members of the Thuong Duc Special Forces detachment. The radio traffic indicated that American bombs had fallen squarely upon a PAVN unit, wounding a high-ranking officer and causing momentary panic. The struggle for Thuong Duc lasted until the morning of 30 September, when a
MIKE Force The Mobile Strike Force Command, or MIKE Force, was a key component of United States Army Special Forces in the Vietnam War. They served with indigenous soldiers selected and trained through the largely minority Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CI ...
, landed from Army helicopters the previous day, helped drive off the PAVN. The aerial firepower unleashed in close proximity to the camp had proved overwhelming. Besides the nighttime activity of the slowly circling AC–47s and the more modern AC–130A, the PAVN had to contend each night with as many as ten radar-directed A–6 strikes. In addition, B–52s bombed suspected troop concentrations some distance from the battlefield.


Aftermath

On 6 October a combined U.S. Marine-South Vietnamese operation,
Operation Maui Peak Operation Maui Peak was a US Marine Corps operation that took place near the Thường Ðức Camp southwest of Danang, lasting from 1 to 19 October 1968. Background In late September 1968 1st Marine Division intelligence detected the presence ...
was launched to clear the hills around the base. The forces involved included the
1st Battalion, 1st Marines 1st Battalion 1st Marines (1/1st Marines) is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Camp Pendleton, California, consisting of anywhere from 800 to 2,000 Marines and Sailors, but the number fluctuates depending on th ...
,
2nd Battalion, 5th Marines 2d Battalion 5th Marines (2/5 or "Two Five") is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps consisting of approximately 800 Marines and Sailors. They are based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California and fall under the comm ...
,
3rd Battalion, 5th Marines 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5, nicknamed Dark Horse) is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps. The battalion is based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California and consists of approximately 1,000 Marines and Fleet Marine ...
,
2nd Battalion, 7th Marines The 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines (2/7) is a light infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. They are based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms and consist of approximately 800 Marines and Sailors. The battali ...
and
3rd Battalion, 7th Marines The 3rd Battalion 7th Marine Regiment (3/7) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. They are based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms and consist of approximately 800 Marines. The battalion falls u ...
and resulted in an estimated 353 PAVN killed for the loss of 28 Marines.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Thuong Duc 1968 Conflicts in 1968 1968 in Vietnam Thuong Duc History of South Vietnam