Hell in An Loc Page 21

  Lt. Col. Burr M. Willey, senior advisor to the 32nd Regiment, and Lt. Col. Charles Butler, senior advisor to the 33rd Regiment, were not so lucky. On June 19, as the 32nd Regiment, supported by thirteen tanks, launched a new attack on NVA positions, it was hit by rocket and mortar fire. One rocket landed in the middle of the regiment command group; as Colonel Willey ran over to provide assistance, he was hit by another rocket and was killed instantly. Willey was on his third tour in Viet Nam.9

  On June 21, Lieutenant Colonel Butler was killed while accompanying the 33rd Regiment during a fight along the highway.10 A week later, Lt. Col. Nguyen Viet Can, the 33rd Regiment commander, was killed by artillery fire when his regiment reached Dong Phat hamlet, southeast of An Loc.11

  It is true, in a final analysis, that the 21st Division had failed to carry out its mission of reopening Route 13, but its critics were quick to forget that the men from the 21st fought hard and incurred heavy casualties and that the NVA were forced to divert one entire division to cope with the new front, which would otherwise have been available to exert additional pressure on An Loc and, in all probability, capture the city. “At this time the enemy is more intent on preventing the 21st Division from reaching An Loc than they are on defeating friendly forces around the provincial capital,” General Hollingsworth correctly assessed. “I believe that the enemy is incapable of applying pressure to both An Loc and Hwy. 13 simultaneously.”12

  The good news for the exhausted defenders of An Loc was that the improved situation around the city had allowed the arrival of fresh troops to replace them. On June 13, General Minh, III Corps commander, ordered the 2nd Battalion of the 31st Regiment/21st Division to be heliborne into An Loc to reinforce the 5th Division. (General Minh chose that battalion possibly because it had been commanded by then-Capt. Le Van Hung in the mid-1960s.) Also on the same day, the 48th Regiment from ARVN 18th Division, was brought into An Loc to replace other exhausted units of the garrison. One week later, the 32nd Regiment/21st Division, which had suffered heavy casualties, was replaced by the 46th Regiment of ARVN’s 25th Division. But, according to Gen. Ngo Quang Truong, probably the best thing that happened to the defenders was that they were finally able to do what they could not do during the siege: take a bath and swim freely in the nearby creeks.13

  The transportation of new troops into An Loc and the extraction of old units defending the city at one time were carried out by helicopters from the U.S. 229th Aviation. One American pilot later recalled that the soldiers he saw on the ground in An Loc were “in very rough shape.” Another pilot observed, “Some of the South Vietnamese flown out were barefoot, some were dazed and some were too exhausted to do more than shuffle.”14

  Because the LZ for the helicopters involved in these troop movements was located south of the city within the 1st Airborne Brigade, it was secured by a unit of that brigade. Second Lt. Vu Van Hoi from the 5th Battalion—whose platoon was in charge of the security of the LZ—noticed that the new troops were somewhat nonchalant with regard to enemy indirect fire. Hoi advised Second Lt. Nguyen Van Xuan, his classmate at the Military Academy, and a platoon leader with the newly arrived 18th Division, about how to assemble his men under enemy artillery fire. Xuan took this opportunity to inform Hoi of the death of their common classmates: Huynh Huu Tri, 18th Division, and Truong Thanh Minh, 5th Division. Hoi bade farewell to his friend and wished him well. A few months later, he learned that Xuan had been killed in An Loc.15

  Traditionally, cadets graduating at the top of their classes at the Military Academy chose to serve in the Airborne and Marine Divisions and other combat units. In 1971, for example, Second Lt. Nguyen Duc Phong, valedictorian of Class 22B, was killed by a recoilless rifle shell just a few months after graduation, when he charged on enemy positions at the head of his armored unit during the Cambodian invasion. Phong, an exceptionally gifted student and destined for a brilliant career, was selected to attend graduate schools in the United States in order to become an instructor at the academy. He declined the offer and chose instead to serve in a combat unit. In times of war, exceptional men, sadly, often die young.

  The 1st Airborne Brigade left An Loc on June 18, but instead of being extracted from the city, it was ordered to attack and destroy enemy pockets of resistance between An Loc and Tan Khai. The paratroopers made heavy contact with the enemy in a few areas and suffered additional casualties, but succeeded in clearing that portion of Route 13. From Tan Khai, the paratroopers were transported by helicopters to their rear bases in Saigon, Bien Hoa, and Vung Tau for reorganization. Subsequently, they rejoined the Airborne Division north of Hue and participated in the counter-attack to retake the city of Quang Tri.

  Before leaving An Loc, Colonel Luong, the 1st Airborne Brigade commander, asked Tran Van Nhut to help find the remains of the paratroopers who had given their lives while defending An Loc and to build a cemetery south of the city so that, in the future, people who entered An Loc would remember the 1st Airborne Brigade that had given so much for the freedom of its residents. Colonel Nhut shook Luong’s hand and promised to do his best to satisfy his wishes. Alas, soon thereafter, Nhut had to leave An Loc to rejoin his new post in MRI.

  On the morning of June 24, the 81st Airborne Commando Group received orders to leave An Loc. After a brief but moving farewell ceremony at the commando cemetery attended by the grateful people of An Loc, the 81st troops moved toward the pickup point on Route 13 south of the city. The commandos noticed the remains of many dead civilians lying along the highway; they were An Loc residents killed by enemy artillery and rockets while fleeing the city. As the last helicopters were hovering over Route 13, the enemy started to fire artillery on the pick-up zone: one commando was seriously wounded, another was killed by shrapnel; he was the last commando killed in the battle of An Loc. After a short period of rest and reorganization in its rear base, the 81st Airborne Commando Group was also sent to MRI to reinforce the I Corp’s counter-attack to recapture Quang Tri.16

  The 81st Commando performed magnificently in An Loc, but it had also paid a heavy price: 68 KIA, and close to 300 WIA. These numbers were fortunately much lower than Colonel Huan’s prediction. The day before the commandos assaulted into the Doi Gio Hill area southeast of An Loc on April 16, Colonel Huan had assembled his men to give them a somewhat somber assessment of the situation in An Loc. He told them he intended to take 550 men with him and predicted that about 300 of them would not return. He then asked for volunteers; all 1000 men or so raised their hands.17

  On July 7, the 3rd Ranger Group left An Loc and was replaced by the 5th Ranger Group under Lt. Col. Ngo Minh Hang. On the same day, Lieutenant Colonel Corley, senior sector advisor, informed Colonel Nhut that he would receive a VIP’s visit. Nhut went to the helipad to meet the visitor. Suddently a column of helicopters landed while Cobra gunships circled the city to protect it from enemy artillery fire. Nhut was stunned when he saw President Thieu wearing his customary khaki safari suit and black baseball cap step out of one of the helicopters. Following President Thieu were Gen. Cao Van Vien, Chairman of the JGS, a French General named Vanuxem, General Hollingsworth, and a throng of Vietnamese and foreign reporters. (President Thieu originally had invited Prime Minister Khiem to come along, but decided at the last minute to let the latter stay in Saigon, in case “something happened” to him in An Loc.)18

  Gen. Paul Vanuxem, a retired French general, was a good friend and advisor to President Thieu. When the then-Colonel Vanuxem had opened the Cours d’Etat Major (General Staff Course) in Hanoi in the early 1950s, President Thieu, then a captain, was one of his students. During the Indochina War, Vanuxem was one of those promising colonels Gen. De Lattre de Tassigny, commander-in-chief of French Forces in Indochina, selected to command a Groupement Mobile in North Viet Nam. The French press at that time dubbed these Groupement Mobile commanders “De Lattre’s marshals,” in allusion to Napoleon’s field marshals during France’s First Empire.

  General Vanuxem was also a good friend of Viet Nam.
He came to the country every year to see President Thieu and to watch the progress of the war. All his children were born in Viet Nam, which they considered their second country. Once, General Vanuxem sent his son to Viet Nam during a summer break to practice parachute jumping and to train with the Vietnamese Airborne Division. His daughter also volunteered at Cong Hoa General Hospital. It was reported that President Thieu, at one point, had even approached the French government to appoint General Vanuxem French ambassador to Viet Nam. During the An Loc visit, Vanuxem was presented with a Vietnamese flag that had withstood the enemy attacks and artillery bombardments.19

  Colonel Nhut invited President Thieu and his party to visit 5th Division Headquarters. President Thieu was very moved when he saw General Hung, emaciated and haggard, emerging from his underground bunker to meet him. The President turned to one of his aides and jokingly asked: “Hung does not seem to see me. And why does he keep blinking his eyes?” The aide answered ceremoniously: “Mr. President, General Hung has not seen sunlight for a long time!”20

  At the 5th Division headquarters, President Thieu awarded General Hung, Colonel Truong, 8th Regiment commander, and Colonel Nhut the National Order, Third Degree, which was normally awarded to high-ranking generals (the second degree and first degree were typically reserved for foreign dignitaries and chiefs of state). President Thieu also elevated Lt. Col. Nguyen Thong Thanh, deputy sector commander, to the rank of colonel. On this occasion, President Thieu decreed that all defenders in An Loc would be promoted to the next higher rank.

  Afterward, General Hung invited President Thieu to visit the northern sector, which had received the brunt of the NVA attacks. President Thieu stopped at the charred carcasses of five T-54s lying around the command post of the 8th Regiment and had his picture taken with the soldiers of the regiment. When informed about Colonel Vy, 5th Division deputy commander, being slated to attend a staff course in a service school in the U.S, President Thieu nominated Colonel Truong as the new 5th Division deputy commander. While President Thieu was visiting the 8th Regiment, the NVA fired artillery into the city. The President turned toward French General Vanuxem and said: “Maybe they know I’m visiting, and they want to salute me.”21

  When the official party passed by “Hoang Hon” (Dawn) Boulevard, President Thieu stopped and knelt in prayer before the statue of Jesus Christ that had remained intact after two months of constant artillery barrage and encirclement. Afterward, the President visited the 81st Airborne Commando Group cemetery and knelt in front of its memorial monument to commemorate the fallen commandos as well as the residents who had lost their lives during the siege. The President then asked Gen. Cao Van Vien, Chief of JGS, to create a special medal for the Binh Long campaign.

  Concerned about the safety of President Thieu and his party, General Hung suggested to the President to visit the Binh Long Sector and its territorial units, because the fortified sector’s underground headquarters could provide protection against sporadic enemy artillery fire. While waiting for the helicopters for the trip back to Saigon at the Binh Long Sector headquarters, President Thieu grabbed a grease pencil and wrote on the sector’s operation map the four words “BINH LONG ANH DUNG” (GALLANT BINH LONG). The President then called Madame Thieu in Saigon to inform her that he was visiting An Loc and that she should not wait for him for dinner.

  At that time, General Hung presented to the President the helmet he wore during the siege of An Loc as a token of his appreciation for the presidential visit. Visibly moved, President Thieu tapped Hung on the shoulder and shook his hand, then boarded his departing helicopter. The President must have treasured General Hung’s gift because he kept it on his desk at the Independence Palace.22

  Although the siege had been officially lifted with the visit of President Thieu, An Loc still remained a dangerous place because the enemy still occasionally executed direct and indirect fire into the city from hidden locations. And tragically, the latest and highest ranking soldier killed in An Loc was a U.S. general. On July 9, Brig. Gen. Richard J. Tallman, Hollingsworth’s new deputy, landed in An Loc with several of his key staff officers to observe the progress of ARVN operations and assess their needs. When the general and his party left the helipad, they were hit by 75mm recoilless rifle fire. The helicopter took off and escaped possible destruction, but General Tallman was injured and some officers in his party died instantly.23

  Doctor Nguyen Phuc, the senior doctor at Binh Long sector hospital, recalled that the wounded American officers were rushed to his underground operating room, but General Tallman’s head injuries were very serious and all he could do was to temporarily bandage the wounds and administer saline solution infusion before the general was evacuated to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon, where he died on the operating table.24

  In early July, due to the improvement of the situation in An Loc, the units started to give permission to their men to visit their families and loved ones. Dr. Quy recalled his first impression of the outside world after three months in the inferno of An Loc. “It was really different from the scenes of bunkers, tanks, bombs in the battle,” wrote Quy. “In a very short period of time, I had left hell to return to the normal environment of a human being. I had discovered a very strange thing, and that was the air was so fragrant and so sweet. It was the first time in my life that I had felt the sweetness of the air.”25

  On July 11, the first units of the 18th ARVN Division under Col. Le Minh Dao were heliborne into An Loc. The following day, the entire division was in place and was ready to take over from the 5th Division.

  In mid-July, the entire 21st Division returned to the Mekong Delta and was wildly cheered by the local populace for its contribution to the final victory of An Loc. Notably absent from these celebrations was Brig. Gen. Ho Trung Hau, the division commander: Hau had been sacked earlier by President Thieu for failure of leadership as a division commander in combat. His arrogance and rudeness had antagonized the officers of the 21st Division and his lack of tactical initiative had caused unnecessary loss of life during the attacks to remove the chot south of Tau O. 26

  The following statistics on the Battle of Binh Long, including the link-up operations, were published by ARVN/JGS on August 15, 1973.27 (It should be noted that these statistics were only preliminary at the time of their publication and may not reflect the true losses on both sides.)

  1. Losses in Personnel

  2. Total Hospitalized and Dead while in Hospital (from 4/9 to 7/31/72)

  3. Losses in Weapons

  *1st Armored Squadron lost 60% and 9th Armored Squadron lost 30% of their armored vehicles.

  4. Losses in Aircraft

  5. Fire Support (from 4/7 to 8/3/72). Fighters*

  VNAF: 3,337 Sorties

  USAF: 8,778 Sorties

  Armed Helicopters: 6,473 Sorties

  B-52: 268 Missions**

  Artillery Support:***

  105mm: 678,000 Rounds

  155mm: 148,329 Rounds

  * In addition to VNAF’s 3rd Air Division based in Bien Hoa, the following units participated in providing air support to the Battle of Binh Long:

  - 1 Helicopter Squadron from VNAF’s 4th Air Division based in Can Tho.

  - 2 U.S. Fighter Squadrons

  - Fighters from two U.S aircraft carriers based in Vung Tau and Phu Quoc.

  ** One Mission consisted of 2 to 4 sorties. The total of B-52 sorties amounted to 865 broken down as follows: April: 361. May: 350 and June: 154.

  *** Artillery support was provided primarily to the relieving column moving on Highway 13.

  6. Supply by Parachutes to An Loc (from 4/11 to 7/12/72).

  C-130 305 Sorties

  C-123 123 Sorties

  Airdrops 3,336 Parachutes*

  * Including 3,868 tons of food, ammunition, and medicines, and 118,600 liters of POL. Of all parachutes dropped into An Loc, only 1,182 (or one third) were recovered. These included 1,138 tons and 35,500 liters of POL. The balance was lost to the enemy or damaged.

&nbs
p; 7. Average Daily Supply Rate to the Battle of Binh Long.

  Food 35 Tons

  Gasoline 23,700 Liters

  105mm Ammo 7,530 Shells

  155mm Ammo 1,550 Shells

  Other 91 tons

  Personnel Transported 55 Persons

  8. Average Daily Transportation Available.

  Tank Trucks 4

  Transport Trucks 35

  Corder Trucks 20

  Air Transportation:

  VNAF 9 CH-47s + 1 C-123

  USAF 5 C-130s

  9. Population Evacuated.

  From An Loc to Binh Duong 36,179 Persons

  From An Loc to Chon Thanh 7,723 Persons

  Eleven

  The ARVN 18th Division in An Loc

  Colonel (later General) Le Minh Dao had a rather unremarkable career. In the early 1960s, he served as an aide-de-camp for a French-trained general who was one of the masterminds of the coup d’etat against President Diem. Dao subsequently attracted the attention of the “Delta Clan,” which awarded him the position of province chief of Chuong Thien and Dinh Tuong provinces. Gen. Nguyen Van Minh, III Corps Commander, appointed Dao to the important position of 18th Division commander despite the fact that Dao had no combat experience.

  Dao surprisingly rose to the occasion. He succeeded in transforming a young and ineffective division into a good fighting force. Dao also had a high sense of theatrics and public relations. It was reported that one day, as he was visiting his wounded soldiers at the Cong Hoa General Hospital, one soldier complained about the poor quality of his wheelchair, compared to the German-made wheelchair of a fellow soldier in his room. As the latter was willing to trade his for 30,000 dong (or about forty U.S. dollars), Dao pulled out his wallet and gave the money to the other soldier in front of about thirty patients in the room. The soldier straightened himself up in an erect posture in his wheelchair, saluted his division commander and, overwhelmed by emotion, started to cry.1