101st Airborne Division Returns to A Shau Valley Vietnam War (1970)

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The A Shau Valley is a valley in Vietnam's, Thừa Thiên province, west of the city of Huế along the border with Laos. The valley was one of the key entry points into South Vietnam for men and matériel brought along the Ho Chi Minh Trail by the communist forces and was the scene of heavy fighting during the Vietnam War. The Battle of A Shau was waged in early 1966 during the Vietnam War between the North Vietnamese Army and the forces of the United States and South Vietnam. The battle began on March 9 and lasted until March 10 with the fall of the special forces camp of the same name. The battle was an outright victory for the North Vietnamese; it was nevertheless a costly battle that U.S. estimates suggest cost the attackers almost half of their force. On March 8, the camp was placed on general alert and the camp's defenders had taken up their positions. During the night an enemy assault was thrown back. Because of the presence of the Air Commandos, the North Vietnamese 325th Division decided to capitalize on the poor weather conditions that would hinder tactical air support and resupply efforts. The attack on the Special Forces Camp began during the early hours of March 9 with mortar bombardment, damaging the communication line and reducing defensive positions to rubble. Upon the request of the detachment commander, at 13:00 an AC-47D "Spooky 70" from the 4th Air Commando Squadron, circling the camp, managed to attack North Vietnamese formations but was shot down and crashed about five kilometers north of the camp. All six crewmen survived the crash, but were attacked by NVA troops. Three crewman were killed but the other three were eventually rescued by a USAF HH-43. Also present but never declared was a small detachment of Marines. 3 to 5 Marine Scout/Snipers from the 3rd Battalion 9th Marines. No reported casualties or recovered Marines. Between 16:30 and 17:00, supplies of ammunition were flown in by C-123 and CV-2 aircraft, but the resupply drops often landed outside of the camp and could not be retrieved. At the same time, helicopters were called in to evacuate the wounded. Additional reinforcements from Huế and Phu Bai could not be deployed because of the bad weather, so the camp's defenders repaired their defensive wall as well as they could and dug in for the night. On the morning of March 10, the North Vietnamese Army launched another attack with mortar and recoilless rifle fire. At 05:00 an assault team penetrated the east wall of the camp, where hand-to-hand combat took place for three hours. By 08:00 the defenders had withdrawn to the camp's north wall. Throughout the day USMC and VNAF bombers strafed North Vietnamese positions around the camp, but as fighting continued the situation deteriorated with ammunition supplies running short. As a result, a decision was made to evacuate all personnel. At 17:00 all communication equipment was destroyed. The survivors carried out their evacuation orders and destroyed all their weapons and withdrew further to the north wall of the camp. Leading the evacuation effort were fifteen H-34 helicopters from HMM-163 supported by four UH-1B gunships. Panic-stricken Vietnamese mobbed the evacuation helicopters and overwhelmed U.S. Special Forces troops as they abandoned the camp. The evacuation of the camp was complicated by heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire, and two H-34s were lost. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_A_Shau