battle of khe sanh casualties

The NVA surrounded Khe Sanh in an attempt to force the Marines to break out of their fighting positions, which would make it easier to engage and destroy them. Once the base came under siege, a series of actions were fought over a period of five months. The report continues to state, "this prompted Air Force chief of staff, General John McConnell, to press, although unsuccessfully, for JCS (Joint Chiefs of Staff) authority to request Pacific Command to prepare a plan for using low-yield nuclear weapons to prevent a catastrophic loss of the U.S. Marine base. All of the attacks were conducted by regimental-size PAVN/VC units, but unlike most of the previous usual hit-and-run tactics, they were sustained and bloody affairs. Westmoreland was replaced two months after the end of the battle, and his successor explained the retreat in different ways. [137] Opposition from the North Vietnamese was light and the primary problem that hampered the advance was continual heavy morning cloud cover that slowed the pace of helicopter operations. "[136], Regardless, on 1 April, Operation Pegasus began. [120], On 23 February, KSCB received its worst bombardment of the entire battle. By the middle of January 1968, some 6,000 Marines and Army troops occupied the Khe Sanh Combat Base and its surrounding positions. Its mission was to destroy the Special Forces and their Vietnamese allies and to ambush any reinforcements coming from Khe Sanh. The opportunity to engage and destroy a formerly elusive enemy that was moving toward a fixed position promised a victory of unprecedented proportions. The PAVN claimed that Khe Sanh was "a stinging defeat from both the military and political points of view." A historian, General Dave Palmer, accepted that rationale: "General Giap never had any intention of capturing Khe Sanh [it] was a feint, a diversionary effort. On April 15, Operation Pegasus ended and Operation Scotland II began. PAVN forces were driven out of the area around Khe Sanh after suffering 940 casualties. The First Battle of Khe Sahn - HistoryNet The official statistics yield a KIA ratio of between 50:1 and 75:1 of North Vietnamese to U.S. military deaths. Things heated up for the air cavalrymen on 6 April, when the 3rd Brigade encountered a PAVN blocking force and fought a day-long engagement. It was later renamed "Dye Marker" by MACV in September 1967, just as the PAVN began the first phase of their offensive by launching attacks against Marine-held positions across the DMZ. At the same time, the 304th Division withdrew to the southwest. To support the Marine base, a massive aerial bombardment campaign (Operation Niagara) was launched by the USAF. New material will be added to that page through the end of 2018. Casualties were heavy among the attacking PAVN, who lost over 200 killed, while the defending Marines lost two men. Further information on the bombing campaign: Further information on the electronic sensor system: Westmoreland's plan to use nuclear weapons, President Johnson orders that the base be held at all costs, Operation Charlie: evacuation of the base. Battle of Khe Sanh - Wikipedia [115] This equates to roughly 1,300 tons of bombs dropped daily 5 tons for every one of the 20,000 PAVN soldiers initially estimated to have been committed to the fighting at Khe Sanh. [87], Heated debate arose among Westmoreland, Commandant of the Marine Corps Leonard F. Chapman Jr., and Army Chief of Staff Harold K. Johnson. The official assessment of the North Vietnamese Army dead is just over 1,600 killed, with two . [44], On 14 August, Colonel David E. Lownds took over as commander of the 26th Marine Regiment. The next operations were named Crockett and Ardmore. After a ten-day battle, the attackers were pushed back into Cambodia. [22] The camp then became a Special Forces outpost of the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups, which were to keep watch on PAVN infiltration along the border and to protect the local population. [9], The precise nature of Hanoi's strategic goal at Khe Sanh is regarded as one of the most intriguing unanswered questions of the Vietnam War. Since late in 1967, Khe Sanh had depended on airlift for its survival. Historians have observed that the Battle of Khe Sanh may have distracted American and South Vietnamese attention from the buildup of Viet Cong (VC) forces in the south before the early 1968 Tet Offensive. The Twenty-fifth United States Infantry Regiment was one of the racially segregated units of the United States Army known as Buffalo Soldiers.The 25th served from 1866 to 1957, seeing action in the American Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War and World War II. By late January 1967, the 1/3 returned to Japan and was relieved by Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines (1/9 Marines). On Easter Sunday, April 14, the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines (3/26), assaulted Hill 881 North in order to clear the enemy firing positions. [43] Lieutenant General Robert E. Cushman Jr. relieved Walt as commander of III MAF in June. The presence of the PAVN 1st Division prompted a 22-day battle there and had some of the most intense close-quarters fighting of the entire conflict. Week of February 19, 2023 | Vietnam War Commemoration Battlefield boundaries extended from eastern Laos eastward along both sides of Route 9 in Quang Tri province, Vietnam, to the coast. The most controversial statistic in Vietnam was the number of killed in action (KIA) claimed by each side. [23][Note 2], James Marino wrote that in 1964, General William Westmoreland, the US commander in Vietnam, had determined, "Khe Sanh could serve as a patrol base blocking enemy infiltration from Laos; a base for operations to harass the enemy in Laos; an airstrip for reconnaissance to survey the Ho Chi Minh Trail; a western anchor for the defenses south of the DMZ; and an eventual jumping-off point for ground operations to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail. [99] The relief effort was not launched until 15:00, and it was successful. . At 21:30, the attack came on, but it was stifled by the small arms of the Rangers, who were supported by thousands of artillery rounds and air strikes. Making the prospect even more enticing was that the base was in an unpopulated area in which American firepower could be fully employed without civilian casualties. [12], General Creighton Abrams also suggested that the North Vietnamese may have been planning to emulate Dien Bien Phu. Of the 7877 officer casualties, 7595 or 96.4% were white, 147 or 1.8% were black; 24 or . [171] When Hanoi made the decision to move in around the base, Khe Sanh was held by only one or two American battalions. The Hill Fights - Wikipedia If firepower determined the outcome of the fight, it was airlift that allowed the defenders to hold their positions. He gave the order for US Marines to take up positions around Khe Sanh. According to this history, originally classified as secret, the battle deaths for all major NVA units participating in the entire Highway 9Khe Sanh Front from January 20 until July 20, 1968, totaled 2,469. A 77 day battle, Khe Sanh had been the biggest single battle of the Vietnam War to that point. The village, 3km south of the base, was defended by 160 local Bru troops, plus 15 American advisers. [89] As a result, on 7 March, for the first time during the Vietnam War, air operations were placed under the control of a single manager. [135] The Marines had constantly argued that technically, Khe Sanh had never been under siege, since it had never truly been isolated from resupply or reinforcement. [117][20] The PAVN acknowledged 2,500 men killed in action. Lima Company finally seized the hill after overcoming determined NVA resistance. The Marine defense of Khe Sanh, Operation Scotland, officially ended on March 31. [33] The PAVN fought for several days, took casualties, and fell back. The Battle of Khe Sanh began on January 21, 1968, when forces from the People's Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) carried out a massive artillery bombardment on the U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh, located in South Vietnam near the border with Laos. The Marine defense of Khe Sanh, Operation Scotland, officially ended on March 31. Site will be misbehaving during our migration to new (better!) The Battle of Khe Sanh took place between January 21 and July 9, 1968; however, most of the official statistics provided pertain only to Operation Scotland, which ended on March 31, or to the 77-day period beginning what is classified as the Siege of Khe Sanh, where the 26th Marines were pinned down until Operations Niagara, and Pegasus freed These were pitted against two to three divisional-size elements of the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The pallet slid to a halt on the airstrip while the aircraft never had to actually land. [157], Commencing in 1966, the US had attempted to establish a barrier system across the DMZ to prevent infiltration by North Vietnamese troops. Background [ edit] In the coming days, a campaign headquarters was established around Sap Lit. The Battle of Khe Sanh began 50 years ago this week when roughly 20,000 North Vietnamese troops surrounded an isolated combat base . [126], On 30 March, Bravo Company, 26th Marines, launched an attack toward the location of the ambush that had claimed so many of their comrades on 25 February. Vietnam 40 years later: 101st Airborne Division veteran recalls Ripcord Known as the McNamara Line, it was initially codenamed "Project Nine". Upon closer analysis, the official figure does not accurately portray even what it purports to represent. Operation Pegasus forces, however, were highly mobile and did not attack en masse down Route 9 far enough west of Khe Sanh for the NVA, by then dispersed, to implement their plan. About two hours later, an NVA artillery barrage scored a hit on the main ammunition dump at Khe Sanh Combat Base, killing Lance Corp. Jerry Stenberg and other Marines. The Marines claimed 115 PAVN killed, while their own casualties amounted to 10 dead, 100 wounded, and two missing. [69] Due to the arrival of the 304th Division, KSCB was further reinforced by the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment on 22 January. [77] When weather conditions precluded FAC-directed strikes, the bombers were directed to their targets by either a Marine AN/TPQ-10 radar installation at KSCB or by Air Force Combat Skyspot MSQ-77 stations. The Soviet-built PT-76 amphibious tanks of the 203rd Armored Regiment churned over the defenses, backed up by an infantry assault by the 7th Battalion, 66th Regiment and the 4th Battalion of the 24th Regiment, both elements of the 304th Division. On the afternoon of 29 January, however, the 3rd Marine Division notified Khe Sanh that the truce had been cancelled. For example, I served with a Marine heavy mortar battery at Khe Sanh during the siege. During the darkness of January 20-21, the NVA launched a series of coordinated attacks against American positions. [25], In the winter of 1964, Khe Sanh became the location of a launch site for the highly-classified Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group. [1], The evacuation of Khe Sanh began on 19 June 1968 as Operation Charlie. A press release prepared on the following day (but never issued), at the height of Tet, showed that he was not about to be distracted.

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