The Battle of Quang Tri
April 1972 - September 1972
Dr Tran Xuan Dung, M.D. Major
The day before Easter
The demilitarized zone erupted with explosions.
From the north came long range artillery
Which pounded the ARVN's position day and night.
The south of the Ben Hai River shook
As the NVA pushed forwards.
Two hundred heavy tanks were deployed,
Three Infantry Divisions simultaneously advanced.
The ARVN was in trouble,
The newly formed third Infantry Division had
Two of its regiments exchanging positions
Under the heavy torrential rain of shells.
So newly created, they were not battle hardened,
And at the close of the second day, their spirits were worn thin.
Several units abandoned their arms,
And without orders, fled.
They retreated in disarray,
With the NVA hot on their heels.
National Route One was flooded with vehicles, with people,
And they rushed to Dong Ha, knowing that the slow would die.
The enemy tanks rolled on,
Their noisy engines screeched.
It was impossible to stop the Communists
So numerous were they.
But the Marines were absolutely fearless,
And their communist-hating blood was stirred.
The 258th Marine Brigade confronted
The enemy tanks which stopped rolling forwards.
Audacity rose in their eyes,
Their “tiger striped” uniforms, hardened by warfare.
As the enemy tanks tried to cross the Dong Ha bridge,
The Marines fired; the first tank retreated, its turret destroyed.
They retreated but temporarily.
In Dong Ha the sky billowed with smoke.
Vietnamese aircrafts dove down to bombard,
One was hit in the tail by anti-aircraft fire.
The 20th Armour Brigade,
Firing their cannons and machine guns
Stopped the enemy advance on Route One,
As friendly forces attempted to destroy the bridge.
There was a loud explosion,
And fragments of bridge rained down on the river.
The ARVN's position strengthened,
The NVA column stood stunned.
A new defensive line was drawn
South of the Cam Lo river.
The third Infantry Division calmed slightly,
Then, near the Laotian border, one of its regiments surrendered.
The ARVN held out for three weeks,
Then suddenly their defensive line broke down.
Though it was not communicated to the others,
The Armour Brigade was ordered to move down south.
The Infantry did not know what was happening,
And thought that the Armour had lost and withdrawn.
So feeling insecure, they too withdrew,
Consequently inviting disaster.
Military vehicles, bicycles,
Buses, vans, in dusty chaos.
The roads were jammed with people, cars, and cannons,
Blocked tightly, they inched along.
The NVA followed the fleeing mass,
Firing at them from both flanks,
Hammering them with artillery shells,
Actually killing more innocent civilians than soldiers.
Though abandoned and alone, the Marines stood firm as always.
They blocked, they stopped, they fought the enemy.
The NVA hesitated,
Wary of the “Sea Tigers” as they would have been of tidal waves.
The NVA tightened its pressure,
The Marines were told to change positions.
Moving in formation,
They had to cross the Thach Han river
.
Having established the My Chanh defensive line,
Two weeks later the Marines attacked northwards.
Commencing with an airlift operation,
They backed this up with an amphibious attack.
They urgently needed to recapture Quang Tri,
Our land in enemy hands hurt,
The elite troops - the Airbourne Brigade, came in to reinforce
The demilitarized zone in June.
The Marines crossed the My Chanh river at night,
They reached the northern bank,
The NVA were killed: their nightmares had materialised.
Those who survived, ran, not awaiting orders.
For 10 kilometres along Route One,
The NVA had left behind their weapons, corpses,
Tanks, brand new vehicles.
Their artillery still pointing skywards, but stained by their own blood.
The Airborne could not be matched,
Though the fighting was heavy, their losses were light.
Beside the Thach Han river,
The enemy previously stationed in the citadel, battled to keep it,
Now it was time for the Marines to perform,
They attacked the far north of the citadel. Their goal:
To block enemy supplies, the sooner the better.
The enemy tanks did not flee,
Instead they stayed to help their infantry.
But they were beaten by the Marines,
Whose firearms and bullets screeched revenge.
Aircrafts bored a hole in the wall,
Through which our heroes charged.
Several Airborne Companies also fought
And an unexpected victory was nearly gained.
An aircraft committed an error, its bombing was misplaced
And a great number of the Airbornes were killed.
Their loss weakened the Battalion,
Which stopped advancing, to the joy of the Communists.
More than a month passed,
And it was up to the Marines to recapture Quang Tri.
Although it was a heavy responsability,
The Marines did not want in morale.
At night, crawling flat on their bellies,
They advanced towards the ruins.
Aiming to confront the enemy in their stronghold.
Bullets parted their hair and skimmed their skin.
The wall was now only100m away.
Floating flares, flickering lights.
Enemy shadows on the rampart,
Elongated, it seemed they surveyed the crawling Marines.
The Marine Artillery shells were wide off mark,
Thus on the ramparts, the enemy seemed unconcerned
But after the coordinates had been rectified,
Salvos hit the ramparts - the enemy rushed into bunkers, crying.
The Marines traversed the moat with the rapidity of a hurricane,
And stormed the ramparts like a tidal wave,
The “Sea Tigers” ripped into the Citadel:
The enemy annihilated in the storm of fury.
The 3rd Marine Battalion was present,
Some hundreds of NVA were killed, their bodies torn.
The south corner reverberated with the sounds
Of the 6th Marine Battalion's battle-cries.
The enemy scattered like ducks in a farmyard,
For their cruelty, many were wounded and many more killed.
And at daybreak on the 15th of September,
The recapture of Quang Tri citadel was complete.
Dr Tran Xuan Dung M.D. Major
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