Operation Deckhouse Five was a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

(USMC) and Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps operation that took place from 6–15 January 1967 in the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...

, during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. "The ten-day sweep," reported the AP from its daily military roundup from Saigon, "proved unproductive."

Background

For the USMC, the operation was notable for the following reasons: it was a sizable, combined USMC and Vietnamese Marine amphibious operation and it was the last Special Landing Force (SLF) amphibious landing to take place beyond the boundaries of I Corps. An SLF was the designation of the Marine battalion (1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment reinforced) and the medium helicopter squadron (HMM) assigned to the Seventh Fleet Amphibious Ready Group. The SLF regularly conducted amphibious operations across Vietnamese beaches into areas of suspected Viet Cong and

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...

(PAVN) activity. The intent of the operation was to secure ammunition dumps, ordnance and engineering workshops, hospitals, and indoctrination centers.

Operation

After 2 days of postponement due to bad weather, the operation began on 6 January with a sea and heliborne assault onto the beaches between the Co Chien and Ham Luong branches of the Mekong Delta which was suspected of being a Viet Cong stronghold.

Supporting units

* HMM-362 * VMO-3 * USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) * USS Canberra (CA-70)

Aftermath

The operation was a ‘disappointment’ resulting in ‘only’ 21 Vietcong killed, 2 small arms workshops destroyed and 44 weapons captured for the loss of 7 US and 1 Vietnamese Marines. It was believed that the Vietcong had been forewarned of the attack because intelligence learned that larger Vietcong units had recently left the area.

References

External links

Information from www.vietnam-war.info

Deckhouse Five Deckhouse Five United States Marine Corps in the Vietnam War January 1967 in Asia History of Bến Tre province {{USMC-stub