Hell in An Loc
Page 28
It was no coincidence that the American speaker, who represented the U.S. Viet Nam veterans at the unveiling, was retired Lt. Gen. Walter Ulmer, former senior advisor to the 5th ARVN Division during the last stage of the siege of An Loc. Nor was it a coincidence that the main member of the joint organizing committee was retired Lt. Col. Mandela Craig, former advisor to the 15th Regimental Task Force—which was one of the first units to link up with the besieged city.
In his speech, General Ulmer recalled the victory of An Loc and expressed his belief that the war could have been won had South Viet Nam continued to receive U.S. support. An Loc obviously was on everybody’s mind and remained a lasting source of pride and inspiration for Vietnamese veterans and their former U.S advisors.
As one of the guest speakers at the unveiling, I expressed my hope that similar monuments would someday be built in the cities of a free and democratic Viet Nam. I also expressed my conviction that the fallen Vietnamese and American heroes had not died in vain because I believe that the Viet Nam War had bought time for the Free World to win the Cold War and to liberate hundreds of millions of people of Eastern Europe from Communist oppression. I further believe that the sacrifices of the U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers had allowed the people of Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia to live today under democratic regimes.
In retrospect, I believe that the battle of An Loc—by saving the former Republic of Viet Nam in 1972—had bought three precious additional years for the Free World to muster other assets to bring the former USSR to its knees and to ultimately prevail in the Cold War. I also like to believe that An Loc had bought time for President Nixon to go to Beijing in February 1972 to seek China’s cooperation in containing Russian influence in Asia. This diplomatic breakthrough and the resulting U.S.-China rapprochement, combined with Moscow’s excessive cost of military assistance to Hanoi during the Viet Nam War, the disaster of its 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, its inability to compete with the U.S. in the field of military space technology, and the failure of its obsolete economic system to compete with the Western World in the new global economy, in turn, had ultimately brought about the dismantlement of the Soviet Empire and the collapse of the antiquated Marxist ideology.
In assessing the battle of An Loc, General Hollingsworth declared: “I think it will go down in history as the greatest victory in the history of warfare.”2 This may be an exaggeration, but, somehow from the bottom of my heart, I tend to agree.
Appendix
SENIOR ARVN COMMANDERS AND U.S. COUNTERPARTS
III Corps
Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Minh Maj. Gen. James F. Hollingsworth
Battle of Loc Ninh (April 4–April 7, 1972)
Col. Nguyen Cong Vinh Lt. Col. Richard S. Schott
9th Regiment commander
Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu Duong
Task Force 1-5 commander
Lt. Col. Nguyen Ba Thinh Lt. Col. Walter D. Ginger
Task Force 52 commander
Major Nguyen Van Thinh Capt. George Wanat (Acting)
Loc Ninh District Chief
Battle of An Loc (April 13–June 8, 1972)
Brig. Gen. Le Van Hung Col. William Miller (April 13–May 10)
5th Division commander
Col. Walter Ulmer (May 10–June 8)
Lt. Col. Ly Duc Quan
7th Regiment commander
Col. Mach Van Truong
8th Regiment commander
Col. Le Quang Luong Lt. Col. Art Taylor
1st Airborne Brigade commander
Lt. Col. Pham Van Huan Capt. Charles Huggins
81st Airborne commander
Lt. Col. Nguyen Van Biet Lt. Col. Richard J. McManus
3rd Ranger Group commander
Col. Tran Van Nhut Lt. Col. Robert Corley
Binh Long province chief
Relief Operation (April 12–July 15 1972)
Maj. Gen. Nguyen Vinh Nghi Col. J. Ross Franklin
21st Division commander (April 12–May 3 1972)
Brig. Gen. Ho Trung Hau
21st Division commander (May 3–July 15)
Col. Nguyen Huu Kiem Lt. Col. Edward J. Stein
31st Regiment commander
Col. Nguyen Van Biet Lt. Col. Burr M. Willey (KIA)
32nd Regiment commander
Lt. Col. Nguyen Viet Can (KIA) Lt. Col. Charles Butler (KIA)
33rd Regiment commander
18th Division at An Loc (July 11–November 28)
Col. Le Minh Dao Col. John Evans
18th Division commander
Lt. Col. Le Xuan Hieu
43rd Regiment commander
Lt. Col. Tran Ba Thanh
48th Regiment commander
Lt. Col. Ngo Ky Dung
52nd Regiment commander
Notes
Introduction
1. Reader’s Digest, March 1973, p. 151.
2. James H. Willbanks, The Battle of An Loc (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005), 164.
3. Lam Quang Thi, The Twenty-Five Year Century. A South Vietnamese General Remembers the Indochina War to the Fall of Saigon (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2002).
4. Robert G. Kaiser, “The Arrogance of Power Revisited,” San Jose Mercury News, January 21, 2007.
5. William M. Hammond, Reporting Viet Nam: Media and Military at War (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998), 269, 270.
6. Hammond, 115.
7. Tran Van Nhut, Cuoc Chien Dang Do (Unfinished War) (Santa Ana, CA: An Loc Publishing, 2003.)
8. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Chien Thang An Loc (The Victory of An Loc) (Austin, TX: Self-published, 2007).
Chapter 1
1. John Prados and Ray W. Stubbe, Valley of Decision: The Siege of Khe Sanh (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991).
2. “Quan Luc Viet Nam Cong Hoa.” Quan Su 4, 1972 (ARVN, Military History 4, 1972), p. 124.
3. ARVN, Military History 4, p. 125.
4. Ibid., 128.
5. Martin Windrow, cont., Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land, ed. Andrew Weist (Oxford UK: Osprey Publishing, 2006), 43.
6. ARVN, Military History 4, 147.
7. Ibid.,151.
8. ARVN, Military History 4, 152, 153.
9. Ibid., 154, 155.
10. Ibid., 155.
11. Ibid., 160.
12. Ibid., 172.
13. Ibid., 209.
14. Ibid., 109.
15. “Battle of Khe Sanh,” Wikipedia, accessed October 21, 2007.
16. Ibid., 4.
17. Ibid., 5.
18. Ibid., 8.
19. Ibid., 9.
20. Ibid., 10.
21. Prados and Stubbe, 297.
22. “Battle of Khe Sanh,” Wikipedia.
Chapter 2
1. There is a Vietnamese proverb: Phep vua thua le lang (Royal decrees are worth less than the village’s customs).
2. Lewis Sorley, cont., Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land, 185.
3. Willbanks, 62.
4. Dale Andradé, America’s Last Vietnam Battle (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001), 389.
5. Ibid.
6. Andradé, 391.
7. Willbanks, 67.
8. Frances FitzGerald, Fire in the Lake (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1972), 369.
9. Edward Metzner, More than a Soldier’s War (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1995), 193.
10. Willbanks, 10.
11. Andradé, 373.
12. Ibid.
13. Mach Van Truong, “Trung Doan 8 Bo Binh va Tran Chien An Loc” (8th Regiment and the Battle of An Loc) unpublished memoir; copy in author’s possession, p. 6.
14. By naming their offensive in honor of a national hero who routed the Chinese invaders in the nineteenth century, the North Vietnamese showed a remarkable lack of political savvy as they needed massive Chinese military assistance for their planned invasion.
15. Andradé, 384.
16. Ngo Quang Truong, The 1972 Easter Offensive (Reprinted in Vietnamese in Ranger Magazine 21, Sept. 2007), p. 137.
17. Ibid., 136.
18. Andradé, 384, 385.
19. Nguyen Duc Phuong, Chien Tranh Viet Nam Toan Tap (Comprehensive Narrative of the Viet Nam War) (Toronto, Canada: Lang Van, 2001), 568.
20. Lewis Sorley, “Reassessing ARVN,” A Lecture Delivered at the Viet Nam Center, Texas Tech University, March 17, 2006, p. 23.
21. Ibid., 22.
Chapter 3
1. Ngo Quang Truong, The 1972 Easter Offensive, 140.
2. Tran Van Nhut, 118.
3. Colonel Nhut was later elevated to brigadier general and assumed command of the 2nd Division in I Corps after the Easter Offensive.
4. Lt. Col. Nguyen Thong Thanh was one of my best battalion commanders when I commanded the 9th Division in the Mekong Delta.
5. Tran Van Nhut, 118.
6. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 24, 25. The details of the demise of TF 1-5 were based on an interview of the author with Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu Duong., the former task force commander. Colonel Duong currently lives in Australia.
7. Willbanks, 47.
8. FAS Military Analysis Network, CBU-87/B Combined Effects Munitions (Website: 66.218.69.11).
9. Willbanks, 47.
10. Ibid.
11. Tran Van Nhut, 120.
12. Andradé, 399.
13. Willbanks, 46.
14. Nguyen Cong Vinh, Letter dated June 16, 2006; copy in author’s possession.
15. Tran Van Nhut, 120.
16. Ibid., 121.
17. Mach Van Truong, 5.
18. Ibid., 6.
19. Willbanks, 41.
20. Ibid.
21. Ly Tong Ba, 25 Nam Khoi Lua (25 Years of War) (np: Self-published, 1995), 162, 163.
22. Willbanks, 58.
23. Mach Van Truong, 5.
24. Conversation with Maj. Gen. Le Minh Dao, former 18th ARVN Division.
25. Willbanks, 51.
26. Ibid., 52.
27. Willbanks revealed that most of the description of the “Battle of Loc Ninh” comes from Captain Smith’s Battle of Loc Ninh, RVN 5-7 April 1972, unpublished narrative (Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 21 October 1976). See the Battle of An Loc, 193 n15.
28. Willbanks, 193 n 24.
29. Nguyen Cong Vinh, Cau Chuyen Suy Tu Cua Mot Cuu Tu Nhan Chinh Tri (Reflections of a Political Prisoner) (San Jose, CA: Mekong-Ty Nan, 1996), 122.
30. Ibid.
31. Colonel Vinh spent thirteen years in Communist re-education camps. He currently lives in California.
32. Tran Van Nhut, 122.
33. Ngo Quang Truong, The 1972 Easter Offensive, 146.
34. Colonel Bui Duc Diem now lives in Oregon.
35. Willbanks, 54.
36. In his letter, Colonel Vinh alleged that the district had evacuated before the NVA attack on Loc Ninh. This contradicts Nhut’s statement that he still had radio contact with Major Thinh, the district chief, on April 7.
37. Willbanks, 42.
38. Ibid., 53, 54.
39. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 29.
40. Nguyen Quoc Khue, 3rd Ranger Group and the Battle of An Loc (reprinted in Ranger Magazine 7, Feb. 2003), 89.
41. Willbanks, 81.
Chapter 4
1. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 55.
2. Ngo Quang Truong, The 1972 Easter Offensive, 143.
3. General Truong replaced Gen. Hoang Xuan Lam as I Corps commander after the fall of Quang Tri on May 1, 1972.
4. Ngo Quang Truong, The 1972 Easter Offensive, 143.
5. Tran Van Nhut, 123.
6. Ibid.
7. Nguyen Quoc Khue, 78.
8. Ibid., 2.
9. Ibid., 3.
10. Ibid., 5, 6.
11. Tran Van Nhut, 124.
12. Ibid., 181.
13. Conversation with General Mach Van Truong, former 8th Regiment commander in An Loc.
14. Nguyen Duc Phuong, 571.
15. “Muoi Chin Ngay Trong An Loc (Nineteen Days in An Loc),” KBC Army Magazine 12 (Nov. 1994): 12.
16. Ngo Quang Truong, The 1972 Easter Offensive, 144.
17. Mach Van Truong, 5.
18. Tran Van Nhut, 124.
19. Willbanks, 70.
20. Mach Van Truong, 7.
21. Ibid., 8.
22. Ibid., 9.
23. KBC Army Magazine 12 (Nov. 1994): 13.
24. Nguyen Quoc Khue, 95.
25. Ibid., 89.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid., 92.
28. Tran Van Nhut, 132.
29. Willbanks, 65.
30. Ibid., 72.
Chapter 5
1. Nguyen Huu Chinh, Phi Doan 237 Tham Du Mat Tran An Loc (237th Squadron in the Battle of An Loc) Unpublished report, October 2006, copy in author’s possession.
2. Tran Van Nhut, 133.
3. Mach Van Truong, 9.
4. Ibid., 10.
5. Tran Van Nhut, 134.
6. Mach Van Truong, 10.
7. Willbanks, 72.
8. Ngo Quang Truong, The 1972 Easter Offensive, 145.
9. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 71.
10. Mach Van Truong, 10.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid., 11.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Telephone conversation with Nguyen Cau, who currently lives in San Jose, California.
16. Mach Van Truong, 11.
17. Nguyen Quoc Khue, 97.
18. Tran Van Nhut, 135.
19. Willbanks, 76.
20. 81st Ranger Magazine, July 1998, p. 72.
21. Willbanks, 78.
22. Philip C. Clarke, “The Battle that Saved Saigon,” Reader’s Digest, March 1973.
23. Tran Van Nhut, 136.
24. Clarke, Reader’s Digest.
25. Phan Nhat Nam, Mua He Do Lua (Red Burning Summer) June 1972 (Reprinted in Tieu Lun Online Library), p. 12.
26. Ibid., 9.
27. Ibid., 11.
28. The Phoenix program was a national campaign aimed at the elimination of the VC political and administrative infrastructure.
29. Tran Van Nhut, 136.
30. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 121.
31. Nguyen Quoc Khue, 100.
32. Ibid., 103.
33. Willbanks, 78.
34. Mach Van Truong, 13.
35. ARVN, Tran Binh Long (The Battle of Binh Long), 109.
36. Willbanks, 83, 84.
37. Mach Van Truong, 13.
Chapter 6
1. ARVN, Tran Binh Long (The Battle of Binh Long), 112.
2. Mach Van Truong, 14.
3. Tran Van Nhut, 154.
4. ARVN, Tran Binh Long (The Battle of Binh Long), 112.
5. The VC’s B3 Front encompassed the provinces of the Central Highlands.
6. Le Khac Anh Dao, Nhung Tran Danh Khong Ten (The Nameless Battles) January 2003, pp. 186, 187.
7. Ibid., 193.
8. Tran Chien An Loc (The Battle of An Loc), online Tieu Lun Library (Website: tieulun.hopto.org), p. 7.
9. Nguyen Quoc Khue, pp. 98, 99.
10. KBC Army Magazine 12 (Nov. 1994): 13.
11. Willbanks, 80.
12. Nguyen Quoc Khue, 108.
13. Ibid., 109.
14. Nguyen Van Quy, Hoi Ky An Loc: 86 Ngay cua mot Bac Si Giai Phau tai Mat Tran (Memoirs of An Loc: 86 Days of a Surgeon in Battle) (Westminster, CA: Van Nghe Pub., 2002).
15. Phan Nhat Nam, Red Burning Summer, Tieu Lun online library (Website: tieulun.hopto.org), p. 3.
16. Telephone conversation with Col. Bui Duc Diem.
17. Andradé, 458.
18. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 206.
19. Ibid., 207.
20. Andradé, 453.
21. Ibid., 454.
22. Willbanks, 106.
23. Andradé, 457.
24. Ibid., 456.
25. Ibid., 462.
Chapter 7
1. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 151, 152.
2. Nguyen Duc Phuong, Chien Tranh Viet Nam Toan Tap (Comprehensive Narrative of the Viet Nam War), 571.
3. Dac San Hoa Du (Airborne Magazine, 2003), p. 125
/> 4. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, 89.
5. Ibid., 91.
6. M202A1 Flame Assault Shoulder Weapon: Gary’s U.S. Infantry Weapons Reference Guide (Website: inetres.com).
7. Truong Duong, Mot Canh Hoa Du (One Parachute Flower) (Np: Tu Huynh Publishing, 1999), 235.
8. 81st Airborne Commando Group Magazine, July 1998, p.84.
9. KBC Army Magazine 12 (Nov. 1994): 27.
10. Tran Van Nhut, 160.
11. Vu Van Hoi, Viet Ve An Loc (Narrative on An Loc), Nov. 2006; unpublished essay in author’s possession , p. 4.
12. ARVN, Tran Binh Long (The Battle of Binh Long), 115.
13. Ibid., 116.
14. Vu Van Hoi, 5.
15. Ibid.
16. Truong Duong, 235.
17. Tran Van Nhut, 161.
18. 81st Airborne Commando Group Magazine, May 2006, p. 11.
19. 81st Airborne Commando Group Magazine, July 1998, p. 83.
20. Ibid., 74.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid., 84.
23. ARVN, Tran Binh Long (The Battle of Binh Long), 117.
24. Mach Van Truong, Trung Doan 8 Bo Binh va Tran Chien An Loc (The 8th Infantry Regiment and the Battle of An Loc, May 2007), p. 16.
25. Dac San Hoa Du (Airborne Magazine), 2003, p. 126.
26. Tran Van Nhut, 164.
27. Willbanks, 97.
28. 81st Airborne Commando Group Magazine, July 1998, p. 89.
29. Telephone conversation with Brig. Gen. Mach Van Truong.
30. Hoang Khoi Phong, Cay Tung Truoc Bao (The Pine Tree Facing the Storm), Reprinted in the 81st Airborne Commando Group Magazine, July 2007, p. 14.
31. Ngo Quang Truong, 148.
32. Tran Van Nhut, 169.
33. Ibid., 170.
34. Vu Van Hoi, 4.
35. Tran Van Nhut, 171.
36. Andradé, 441.
37. Dac San Hoa Du (Airborne Magazine), 2003, p. 126.
38. Vu Van Hoi, 6.
39. Mach Van Truong, 18.
40. Willbanks, 107.
41. Tran Van Nhut, 143.
42. Bui Duc Diem, unpublished account of the battle of An Loc, Aug. 2006; copy in author’s possession.
43. Nguyen Quoc Khue, 120.
44. Willbanks, 109.
45. Ibid.
46. Tran Van Nhut, 171.
Chapter 8
1. 81st Airborne Commando Magazine, July 1998, p.77.
2. Tran Van Nhut, 181.
3. Ngo Quang Truong, 155.
4. Andradé, 472.
5. In his memoir, Nhut reported that he and General Hollingsworth continued using their own code names to talk on the telephone after 1975, in the United States.
6. The Battle of An Loc, Tieulun Online Library (Website: tieulun.hopto.org), p. 9.