more at http://news.quickfound.net/intl/vietnam_news.html "From January 21 to April 8, 1968, the Battle of Khe Sanh raged as elements of the III Marine Amphibious Force were surrounded on the jungle hilltop known as Khe Sanh Combat Base. Close air support and aerial resupply were critical factors enabling the Marines to survive the 77 day encirclement by enemy forces." see also Battle of Khe Sanh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok0cm5dPFUg USAF film FR1009 Public domain film from the US Air Force, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khe_Sanh The Battle of Khe Sanh was conducted in northwestern Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), between 21 January and 9 July 1968 during the Vietnam War. The belligerent parties were elements of the United States (U.S.) III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF), 1st Cavalry Division (United States), the U.S. Seventh Air Force, minor elements of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) against two to three division-size elements of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The American command in Saigon initially believed that combat operations around the Khe Sanh Combat Base during the summer of 1967 were just part of a series of minor North Vietnamese offensives in the border regions. That appraisal was altered when it was discovered that NVA was moving major forces into the area during the fall and winter. A build-up of Marine forces took place and actions around Khe Sanh commenced when the Marine base was isolated. During a series of desperate actions that lasted 5 months and 18 days, Khe Sanh Combat Base (KSCB) and the hilltop outposts around it were under constant North Vietnamese ground, artillery, mortar, and rocket attacks. During the battle, a massive aerial bombardment campaign (Operation Niagara) was launched by the U.S. Air Force to support the Marine base. Over 100.000 tons of bombs (equivalent in destructive force to five Hiroshima-size atomic bombs) were dropped until mid April by aircraft of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marines onto the surrounding areas of Khe Sanh. That was almost 1,300 tons of bombs dropped daily--five tons for every one of the 20,000 NVA soldiers initially estimated to have been committed to the fighting at Khe Sanh. In addition, 158.000 large-caliber shells were delivered on the hills surrounding the base. This expenditure of aerial munitions dwarfs the amount of munitions delivered by artillery, which totals eight shells per NVA soldier believed to have been on the battlefield. This campaign used the latest technological advances in order to locate NVA forces for targeting. The logistical effort to support KSCB, once it was isolated overland, demanded the implementation of other tactical innovations in order to keep the Marines supplied. In March 1968, an overland relief expedition (Operation Pegasus) was launched by a combined Marine--Army/South Vietnamese task force that eventually broke through to the Marines at Khe Sanh. Though presented as a victory for American and South Vietnamese forces, the NVA did force a complete retreat of U.S. servicemen and materiel from the combat base of Khe Sanh afterwards. Historians have observed that the Battle of Khe Sanh may have successfully distracted American and GVN attention from the buildup of Viet Cong forces in the south prior to the early 1968 Tet Offensive. Even at the height of the Tet Offensive, General Westmoreland maintained that the true intentions of the offensive was to distract forces from Khe Sanh. On June 19, 1968, another operation began at Khe Sanh, Operation Charlie, the final evacuation and destruction of the Khe Sanh Combat Base. The Marines withdrew all salvageable material and destroyed everything else. The NVA continued shelling the base, and on July 1 launched a company-sized infantry attack against its perimeter. On July 9, 1968, the flag of the National Liberation Front was set up at Ta Con (Khe Sanh) airfield. On July 13, 1968, Ho Chi Minh sent a message to the soldiers of the Route 9--Khe Sanh Front affirming their victory at Khe Sanh. It was the first time Americans abandoned a major combat base because of enemy pressure. It followed a clear American defeat and disorderly retreat just two months before at the Battle of Kham Duc...

• published: 02 May 2013
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