Company 4 of
the 2nd Marine Battalion
Recovery of the Quang Tri Town Hall, 14.9.1972
Major Le Quang Lien
Contributor:
1st Lieutenant Nguyen Huu Hao
After finishing a Company Commander Course at the end of 1971, I returned to Marine Division Headquarters and received papers ordering me to present myself to the 2nd Marine Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Xuan Phuc. He would then assign me to the position of Company 4 Commander. The battalion executive officer was Major Tran Van Hop, of Class 19 Dalat Military Academy. We endured the winter chill of Central Vietnam at Holcomb, Sarge and Ba Ho firebases for several weeks. Then our unit was rested in Saigon. Not many days after, a full scale North Vietnamese invasion began, with the Communists brazenly violating the Geneva Accords, and sending its troops across the 17th parallel and the DMZ on the 30.3.1972. Their invading forces included:
- Divisions 304, 308.
- 4 Independent regiments 31, 246, 276 and 126 (Sapper) of Front B5 supported by about 200 tanks of tank regiments 203 and 204.
- 2 Artillery regiments, the 38th and 68th, supported by Surface-to air missile regiment 84.
During the opening four days of the renewed North Vietnamese aggression, 11 bases in the DMZ were under immense pressure from enemy artillery and troops. Mai Loc Base of Marine Brigade 147 was forced to evacuate. Battalions 4 and 8 were also facing accurate enemy artillery and superior numbers, and were forced to leave Sarge, Ba Ho and Holcomb firebases. Brigade 369 with Battalions 2, 5, 9 was airlifted to Phu Bai Airport and reinforced the western flank of Quang Tri City. The 2nd Battalion advanced to the furthest base, named Dong Ong Do (Barbara). Company 4 showed its solid moral during those tough opening periods of fighting in this area.
Despite the efforts, the fleeing columns of refugees running before a communist advance, hindered an effective defence, and Quang Tri City fell to the Communists. The South Vietnamese Army was forced to retreat on the southern side of the river My Chanh and regroup, before planning a counter attack to thrust back north and retake the captured territory. It was hearting rendering to see the fleeing civilians still trapped in Quang Tri City being massacred by the NVA on the Avenue of Terror stretching from Ben Da Bridge to Mai Linh Sub district. Marine Brigade 369 Commander, Colonel Pham Van Chung was determined to protect the southern bank of the My Chanh River, and not allow a single NVA cross it alive. He would protect this defensive line and thwart the North Vietnamese Plan of pushing the invasion further south, whilst allowing the retreating ARVN and Marine units to reorganize. Three battalions, the 2nd, 5th and 9th, were deployed on a rather large defensive line extending from Tran Van Ly Hill in the west to Van Trinh village in the east where many battles would occur later on in the conflict.
Company 4 of the 2nd Battalion was in charge of defending the My Chanh Bridge, which was a very important position on the axis of NVA movements at that time. The Marine Division succeeded in keeping the My Chanh line, but fighting by no means stopped here. The was a swapping of personnel in the 2nd Marine Battalion. Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Xuan Phuc transferred the position of Commanding Officer of the Battalion to Major Tran Van Hop and then became the executive officer of Brigade 147 of Colonel Nguyen Nang Bao. Captain Pham Van Tien became Executive Officer of the 2nd Battalion after having transferred Company 5 to 1st Lieutenant Huynh Van Tron just coming back from US Marine Basic School.
On 28.6.1972 the two general reserve forces, Airborne and Marine Divisions started to cross the My Chanh River and advanced towards Quang Tri City, to fight a heavily entrenched enemy. On the 11.7.1972 the 1st Marine Battalion was airlifted by helicopter into Trieu Phong district to sever NVA arterial logistics line, id inter-village Route 560. The 6th and the 2nd Battalions served as reinforcements in this operation. The 2nd Battalion departed from Route 555 to move westwards through Ngo Xa Dong, Ngo Xa Tay, Tham Trieu, Bich La Hau and advanced to the eastern bank of the Vinh Dinh river to protect the Marine Engineers. The latter was to build a field pontoon so Tank Regiment 20 could send M48 tanks to encounter NVA tanks at Cho Sai, in Trieu Phong district. The movements were not easy, as the NVA had time after the taking of Quang Tri to prepare defences. Now with the approaching Marine units, they had their infantry and tanks waiting there.
The 2nd Battalion then took the areas of responsibility from the 1st Battalion. Company 4 received the position previously occupied by Company 2 (of the 1st Battalion) of 1st Lieutenant Duong Van Tuoi. From this position, Company 4 had a mission to occupy the steel bridge that traversed the Vinh Dinh River, on the Inter-village route 560, and from there the Company would advance northwards to occupy Cho Sai and the arterial routes to Quang Tri City. The 2nd after 15 days of continuous fighting, occupied and defended Cho Sai of Trieu Phong District, an area which was considered as the enemy pharynx. They also managed to sever 3 logistics lines which the NVA had been using not only to transport supplies but also for reinforcements from Cua Viet, Dong Ha to Quang Tri.
Company 4 of Captain Le Quang Lien and Company 5 of 1st Lieutenant Huynh Van Tron were under Group B's orders, which was in the Command of Captain Pham Van Tien, the Executive Officer of the Battalion. The Marines had also foiled an enemy plan to retake Cho Sai by NVA Regiment 101. The enemy had used 3 Battalions, supported by strong artillery in a rotating wheel movement, with fresh Battalions replacing tiring ones in a circular movement. This attempt to repulse the Marines out of inter-village route 560 failed. Company 4 alone had 23 killed (among them 2 Platoon leaders, 3rd Lieutenant Duong and 3rd Lieutenant Hoi) and another 62 wounded in the action. The enemy suffered very heavy losses. Civilian reports said that NVA had carried a large number of wounded back towards their rear. Due to intense fires from both sides and to tend to our wounded, Company 4 ordered NVA prisoners (under guard) to collect weapons abandoned by their comrades. Intelligence sources also let us know later that the NVA Regiment 101 Commander lost this position due to this severe defeat. He was said to have pleaded for another day of Command, to fight and to retake Cho Sai, but it was flatly denied.
After having accomplished the mission of occupying Cho Sai, the 2nd Marine Battalion was replaced by the 1st Battalion, and was to return for a rest, to resupply and to protect Marine Division Forward Headquarters at Huong Dien. Having fought for 15 continuous days without or very little sleep, all of us just wanted a bath and some peaceful sleep.
In a briefing with the 2nd Marine Battalion Commander and its Company Commander at the beginning of September 1972, Brigadier General Bui The Lan spoke to the Officers.
“Marine Division presently has a very strong fire support given by ARVN and US. Recently, the Commander of US Pacific Air Forces visited Marine Division Headquarters and promised to increase B52 arc light missions for us. I need you all to reoccupy Quang Tri City and the Old Citadel in 2 weeks time, because these targets have both political as well as military importance. The 2nd Battalion was one of the units given this honour, so do your best men!”
We were very proud of being selected to recapture our sovereign land, and being sent back to Quang Tri, in cooperation with Marine Battalions 3, 6, 8 in this glorious final assault. In the last period of the assault, it was planned that 2 Marine Brigades would complete the following tasks.
- Brigade 147 with 2 main forces, the 3rd and the 7th Battalions were to fight from the North-East.
- Brigade 258 with 2 main forces, the 2nd and the 6th Battalions were to fight from the South-West.
The 2nd Battalion Headquarters were positioned at Long Hung T-junction, at the corner of Le Huan Street and National Route 1. Company 4 of the 2nd Battalion was to advance along Ho Dach Hanh Street to occupy Teresa Phuoc Mon Girls High School and from there to move along the South West wall of The Citadel to reoccupy Quang Tri Town hall. This was the primary target for the 6th Battalion, which would use it as a springboard to enter the old citadel. Company 5 of the 2nd Battalion was to be on left flank of Company 4, and the 6th Marine Battalion would to be on its right flank.
Early in the morning of 14.9.1972 Companies 4 and 5 had NVA serving them a breakfast 130mm artillery rounds. Company 4 headquarters positioned in a ruined house that had once been Cafeù Sanh on Ho Dac Hanh Street, was hit by a 130mm shell. Fortunately for me and my 2 radio telephone operators (Corporal Hoang and Corporal Chinh) only suffered from a mild tightness in the chest caused by dyspnea and minor scratches thanks to a pre-existing shell proof bunker inside the house. Company 2 had some wounded and needed medical evacuations.
The 1st target of my company was Phuoc Mon Girls High School, 300m away. Platoon 43 of 3rd Lieutenant Thu was welcomed by NVA with violent gun fire. They tried at all costs to block our advances. I had to radio adjustments for each 105mm Howitzer down to the dangerous 10m. This was a widely used method within the Marines in 1972 to deal with the enemy A-shaped bunkers. Finally in a final push, I used a M48 tank 90mm Artillery gun to fire at point blank range to destroy a NVA blocking post inside the school.
At 14:30, we had mastered the situation. Through interrogation of prisoners, we knew that they belonged to Division 320 B which had crossed the Thach Han River the night before at 3:00am and entered the Town Hall area. Their means of crossing the river was through a system of ropes stretched between the Town Hall and a point on the opposite bank of the river. A prisoner from the village of Quynh Luu, Nghe An province revealed that the unit which had crossed the river was commanded by 2nd Lieutenant Dung and that he had been killed in the fighting. He also admitted that the NVA were very afraid of the South Vietnamese Marines' blitz-tactics, and precise artillery adjustments. In several diaries captured, some read “I hate those hellish ARVN Artillery guns”ê or “The squad leader called and ordered me to go to receive supplies. I feigned that I had not heard him, because to go meant facing that damned artillery”.ê However, not all NVA units were so fearful of the Marines. NVA snipers were still hidden and operating on highpoints in the Thach Han River area. In fact I was once targeted whilst discussing with old classmate, Captain Nguyen Van Loan and 1st Lieutenant Nguyen Huu Hao, about a plan of troop positioning, when we were targeted. The sniper bullet whizzed past my head, with a perturbing 20cm wall of air between me and the bullet. The shot caused bricks and cement fragments from a window frame to fly across my face. Snipers would remain a constant problem throughout the retaking of Quang Tri City.
In preparation for the final assault on the Town Hall next morning on the 15.9.1972, I discussed thoroughly all details of what would have to be done this evening with my Company executive officer, 1st Lieutenant Nguyen Huu Hao. He was nick-named the “72 year old man” due to his exceptional skill in firing the M72 LAW rocket. The topography of Quang Tri City had become flat, as most of the tall buildings and houses had been erased by the fierce artillery from both sides. We set the plan as follows:
* Provoking the enemy and making them return fire to reveal their positions. We would then be able to eliminate them easily.
* We would shell surrounding areas of Tran Hung Dao Street, the River Banks, and into the water to impede their movements across the river.
* Group B of 2nd Battalion would be requested to fire on NVA approaching routes, on the other side of the river opposite the Town Hall. The enemy command post had probably moved to the Town Hall and bunkered down in the wine cellar (built by the French) after the heavy air strikes and artillery on the Old Citadel.
* Our Company would then cooperate with Company 5 of 1st Lieutenant Huynh Van Tron to simultaneously attack at 6:30am on the 15th, uncover of the dark cloud cover of Storm Elsie. The summer of 1972 proved that Company 4 and Company 5 could act like a pair of Aces, coordinating and attacking with each other perfectly.
* Platoons 41 and 43 would travel light for mobility and be armed only with personal firearms and one day's rations. Rucksacks would have to be left behind in the care of Platoon 44 of 3rd Lieutenant Hieu and by the Company Warrant Officer Dao Chu.
* Ammunition for the next day's offensive would have to be transported to all units tonight.
* 15.9.1972
Quang Tri was in the middle of the rainy season and the Thach Han River water level rose frighteningly. The cloud cover still loomed ominously over the city, but there was good news, as the 3rd and 6th Marine Battalion took control of the Old Citadel. Company 4 of the 2nd was thus finally free from the enemy bullets from the citadel. The Quang Tri Town Hall (Target 28) though was still in enemy hands, and hence still on the operational map. As well as very effective artillery support from Marine Artillery Batteries, Company 4 was reinforced by 2 M48 tanks and 2 M113 APC armed with flame throwers. Platoon 41 of 3rd Lieutenant Duc and Platoon 43 of 3rd Lieutenant Thu would serve as the main combat forces. The instructions were then given to the men.
* The attack would commence when the M48 tanks and M113 APC fired high above Target 92.
* At this signal 1st Lieutenant Nguyen Huu Hao would Command Group B consisting of Platoon 41 on the left and Platoon 43 on the right flank, to work with the APC to storm the enemy position as quickly as possible.
* My Group A and Platoon 42 of 3rd Lieutenant Huyen would serve as the reinforcing units. In the case of a prolonged and difficult fight, Company 4 would cling to positions or reinforce the front line.
Looking at my boys in their helmets, flak jackets and arms, I was very proud of them and felt extremely confident, but slightly anxious. The stretch of road ahead of us was short, but full of NVA, and I knew that some of us would not make it out of there alive.
Companies 4 and 5 had just crossed the departure line (around 20m) when the enemy started to fire AK47 assault rifles and B40 rockets. Luckily in their haste, they were unable to aim properly. All their rockets flew too high and missed our tanks. It seemed as though the fierce reputation of our units, nick named the Crazy Buffaloes, had perturbed them somewhat, as most of their weaponry was fired with little precision. The Marines charged at the enemy lines, in the process I saw 3 Marines wounded by gunfire. The enemy agained fired B40 rockets at the charging line, but missed, the two rockets instead exploded near reserve force, Platoon 42. In reply M113 APC had machine gun fire sweeping across enemy positions, ploughing the way for the Marines to charge further. M16 rifles, M79 grenade launchers and M60 machine guns fired relentlessly. The sound of exploding weaponry, concrete fragments hitting the ground, and shaking earth due to the rolling M48 Tanks all mixed in the frenzied yells of Marines.
“Charge!!! Charge!!!”
As Company 4's 60mm mortars began to rain down accurately, the enemy response to our attack steadily grew weaker and weaker, with fewer NVA able to pop up over their trenches to fire back without the certainty of death from our tank, machine gun and grenade fire. In the fighting Company 4 and M113 quickly took the opportunity to occupy all positions around the Town Hall, but in the process another 4 Marines were wounded. All NVA positions were faltering, but one NVA blocking position was still putting up a fight. It was discovered later that it was commanded by NVA 2nd Lieutenant Le Viet Thang of Quang Binh province. It was also found that he had only married 20 days before. However his resistance proved futile, with a squad under 1st Corporal Cao annihilating the post with no casualties, killing 4 NVA, seizing one AK47, one K54 pistol, one 12.7mm machine gun and one B40 rocket launcher and rockets. 1st Corporal Cao and 1st Lieutenant Hao were later awarded the title, “Best in Combat” for the year 1972, and then award the “Heroic Deeds in Action” Medal awarded by Vice President Tran Van Huong. As a reward for their actions, the men not only received these medals, but were also given a “Reward Holiday” to Taiwan, a neighbouring friend who was also resisting Communist autocracy.
As Marines continued to take enemy positions, 10 NVA of Division 320 B surrendered to them to avoid being killed. Due to countless enemy blocking positions along the front, it took more than an hour for, Company 2 of Captain Bui Phuc Loc of the 8th Battalion, to advance far enough to reach our right flank, which up till then was still exposed. But thanks to the support of Company 2, we were above to search the newly occupied positions without fear of a surprise attack on our right.
After several hours of hard fighting, the whole Town Hall area was under our control. We recovered the Government Seal of the Town Hall at 8:30am 15.9.1972. Company 4 captured a number of weapons.
* 412 personal firearms.
* 102 collective weapons.
* 40 boxes of dried rations made in Red China.
* 23 radios also made in Red China.
* 18 captured NVA.
Upon capturing the Town Hall, we discovered mass graves belonging to killed NVA who were hastily buried together with no identification by their comrades. Thirty fresh NVA corpses from the fighting were also found in the Town Hall and its wine cellar. It took the battalion 6 times to transfer all captured units and weaponry to 2nd Battalion Headquarters. Through the captured radios, we were able to listen to enemy conversations, which consisted mainly of panicking subordinates and obscenities from their commanders. We knew now that the enemy were in utter chaos, with the enemy commanders unable to conduct constructive responses to our offensive. Yet the commanders weren't only ones in a state of confusion. One captured NVA was continually shouting incoherently whilst holding his head. 1st Lieutenant Nguyen Huu Hao told me that this was an extreme reaction to our artillery, and that this NVA's sanity had probably been made unsound by the fear of our continuous shelling on his positions. The Communists who were killed, mostly stayed inside the major buildings to escape the shelling, and so doing had allowed the Marines to penetrate further into their territory and easily defeat them. In the aftermath of the fighting, we found that Quang Tri Town Hall was severely damaged. In the area next to the main stairs, I couldn't even keep upright due to the amount of broken bricks and tiles littering the foyer. To improve hygiene in the area, all the mass graves dug by NVA were sprayed with DDT insecticide, and the enemy corpses were also cleared away and buried. After the complete reoccupation of Quang Tri City, civilians who had been blocked on the other side of the Thach Han River exploited the NVA general retreat and moved to areas controlled by the ARVN. They informed us that the NVA units were in utter chaos and fleeing back to Dong Ha and Cam Lo further north. Laughably, the NVA were attempting to save face by spreading rumours among the population that Thailand and South Korea had sent troops to help the South Vietnamese recapture Quang Tri. They also spread rumours that the pullback was a strategic and temporary move, and that they would return.
Epilogue
More than thirty years have passed. I have written my experiences in the hope that later generations will come to appreciate the sacrifices of the Marine Battalions. Yet this is not the only reason. I owe a great sentimental debt towards Company 4 and the 2nd Battalion. They served the Marine Corps and their Nation with all their heart, giving their all to defend the last vestiges of freedom in Vietnam. In the process, many sacrificed their lives or were permanently incapacitated. After the fall of South Vietnam on 30.4.1975, a large number of those not killed during the fighting were rounded up by the Communists and sent to Re-education and Concentration Camps set up in the remotest parts of the country. Many Marines did not return from these, and the whereabouts of their graves are a mystery today.
There were many heros in my Company, all of whom gave their lives to save their people from autocracy. I would like to acknowledge and thank them for their courage and contribution to the Company. Private 2nd Class Hoi, Privates 1st Class Danh, Chinh, Corporals Hoang, My, Hoi, Rit, Trai, Ba Ga, Khan, 1st Corporal Cao, Sergeants Trong, Tran Son (brother of Major Tran Ve), 1st Sergeants Canh, Sergeant Major Dao Chu, 3rd Lieutenants Duong, Hoi Huyen, Hieu, Thu, Duc, 2nd Lieutenants Loc, Tai (Artillery), 1st Lieutenant Nguyen Huu Hao. I must say with most regret that the stress of that period and the many years between the conflict and the present, have taken a toll on memory and for that reason there a many others who I have not been able to name.
The Marines were carrying on their shoulders the heavy responsibility of a National them. They always felt attached to their unit until either being killed or until their Nation was sold out. They were the greatest fighters of the fatherland, but for all their deeds they were betrayed by those above. A US ally was always a good friend during the conflict but suddenly their aid stopped, which made the defense of South Vietnam impossible considering the North still had full support from its Alliance of Communist States. South Vietnam in the end was destroyed by her friends within. The Americans whom we befriended and several South Vietnamese Politicians all thought that the North could keep their word. However the North had a doubtful record of keeping promises, and many knew that the North could never commit to “peaceful negociations”.
I remembered when my Company first landed in Quang Tri Province on 30.3.1972. There were 170 Marines in Company 4 of the 2nd Marine Battalion, jumping into the action and fighting a Communist War Machine. By the time I was transferred to become chief of S3 and Executive Officer of the 2nd Battalion, there were only 30 of those courageous familiar faces left. I write this piece of history for all those fallen brothers.
Major Le Quang Lien
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