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Coming to the end of the series, this is the last battle from the current Vietnam Battle Series. But by no mean I am not going to cover any Vietnam Battle anymore, just I am finishing up the 5th Battle from Vietnam.
Today's battle will bring you to the DMZ, where the North and South Vietnam divided. To a place called Khe Sanh, the Siege of Khe Sanh Combat Base (KSCB) Part of the bigger operation with the Tet offensive.
Background of the battle
As the battle stepped into 1968, the war was moving nowhere, and now the NVA and NLF is cooking up something. Spring of 68 would see perhaps one of the most complicated and massive attack from the Northerner, today knows as Tet Offensive.
Saying the Siege of Khe Sanh is a part of tet is actually an understatement, the engagement has been planned for months and it was started in November the previous year and lasted well into April of 68' and complete withdrawal from Khe Sanh is finally finished in July in 68
The plan for Khe Sanh is planned so the US/ARVN would draw their troop northward and pave the way of the actual tet, so when it hit the lunar new year, there are not as many troop stay behind. In effect, the Siege of Khe Sanh were used to draw troop and attention away from what's actually about to happened.
Deposition of force
The US main defending troop for KSCB is the 26th Marine Regiment, 3 full battalion with approximately 2000 men, other unit were also there to defend the KSCB and the surrounding hill
I Company 3/26 Occupied Hill 881S
K Company 3/26 Occupied Hill 861
E Company 2/26 Occupied Hill 861A
rest of the 2/26 Occupied Hill 558
2d Platoon, A/1/26 Occupied Hill 950
1/9 Occupied West of KSCB near Hill 689
USSF/ARVN CIDG occupied the Out post at Lang Vei
The KSCB was defended by rest of the 26th Regiment + 37th Battalion ARVN Ranger with 2 Battalion 13 Regiment artillery support the defence of KSCB
Total about 7000 men
North Vietnamese Force were deployed NW and SE of KSCB, the key Unit is 325C division NW of KSCB and 304 Division SW of KSCB, while element of 29th Battalion and 95C regiment were East North East Blocking the US Base from the East.
Total Vietnamese effort in this about 40,000 (25,000 assault force (325C and 304 Division), 15,000 blocking force)
Tactical Consideration
The ultimate goal for the US forces is simple, hold out for as long as the siege goes. The whole base survived by putting reinforcement/replacement in, resupply the base constantly and evacuate out the wounded. The Objective as defined by Gen. Westmoreland is to face a general onslaught against the main attacking force thrust from the North over the DMZ and win a decisive engagement against a combine effort of NVA/NLF Forces.
The ultimate goal for the North Vietnamese serves in two. 1.) They would like to try andn overrun the US Bases in Khe Sanh, deal a humiliate defeat to the American, win a battle with a set piece with the American. 2.) Served as a diversion to the American so they will focus on the Northern Battlefield and draw out resource from the south, thus paving the road for the oncoming Tet Offensive.
For the US side, they have no choice but to fight, as they were under siege, moral factor should be mid-low, but agumented by the better experience, better equipment and overhelming firepower
For the NVA/NLF side, they are the instigation of this battle, moral factor is high, with highly motivated troop. NVA have above average training and equipment too, however, the let down was the support and firepower front. Still NVA/NLF force brought in tanks and artillery for this battle.
Begining of Siege
The siege began back in April 1967 when the NVA force trying to sieze the hill 861, the nearest to the KSCB
Battle of Hill 861 - April 1967
The battle started when a team of US oberserve were ambush and attacked when scouting the Hill 861, 4 dead and the remaining observer prompt the 1/9 to move on to the hill and set out for a recon run.
the 2 Company of the battalion were ambush right off the bat andbecome combat ineffective during the night ambush. With the rest of the Bravo Company Pinned down and cannot move with all the dead and wounded, the Marine decided to dig in and wait for rescue.
Rescue come in the form of a Kilo company, along with the remain of Bravo. Pushed the NVA line back and secure the Hill 861 which is the closest hill overlooking both KSCB and Hill 558
Battle of Hill 881 - April-May 1967
As the same contact from the Hill 861, comes Hill 881 (Or 881S), the battle of Hill 881 is even more bloody than 861. With the Hill 861 Secure, the 3rd battalions was converging south of Hill 881, as they march their troop in, the whole hill instantly light up, with more prepared firing position than Hill 861, the Marine have to call in heavier substance to gain upper hand in fire support. The possible overrunning of the Marine Battalion were high, but the NVA were beaten back time after time from the prepared position, when they were oliberated by American Air Strike. After the US battlion captured the Hill, they had found 40 times more prepared position than in Hill 861, indicating a divison or regiment strength enemy were there nt so long ago. infact, it was the 325C divison headquarter they had uncover.
Battle of Hill 881N - April-May 1967
Where the 3/3 were htting hill 881S, the 2/3 were jump off from Hill 861 which they previously took and move on with success onto Hill 881N. The fight on Hill 881 North were not so much recorded in marine history the only thing I do know is that they had secured 881N at the same day with 881S and the resistence were not as tough as at hill 881S when they were atleast facing 1 regiment strengh of enemy.
With the hill battle secure, the area surrounding Khe Sanh were calmed down for a little bit as the NVA then trigger some Border Battle that cover the area of Con Thien and Dak To. These 2 battle will not be cover in this report as they are not part of the siege but the intention of these border battle happening in September 1967 is clear, draw troop out of Khe Sanh and draw attention of US Top Brass onto the Northern District.
Actual Siege started 1 months before tet Offensive
Fall of Khe Sanh Villege - January 22
The Khe Sanh were captured by the NVA troop on the Jan 22, it was a pre-requirsit of the campaign and the villege see little fighting before it fall in the 22nd
Battle of Ban Houei Sane January, 23-24 1968
The first move for NVA is to attack the Laotian Garrison in Ban Houei Sane, manned by a Royal Laotian Battalion BV-33, approximately 700 strong, augmented by travelling mountain people and garrison's own family. Approximately 3000 people in total. NVA forces included the 3 Bn from 24th Regiment, troop level about 2000, attack and seize the camp at Ban Houei Sane
What's different is this battle is also the first time with North Vietnamese Troop sending and using combine force attack a fixed Position, the NVA troop were augmented by 13 PT-76 tank from NVA 198 Armoured Battalion. The tank were travelled down south from the famouse Ho Chi Ming Trail and enter the battle.
The battle of Ban Houei Sane served 3 purposes for the NVA
1.) To test the Combine force tactics, which is new to NVA
2.) To initial the first move, grab the tempo
3.) To secure the jumping point from Ho Chi Ming Trail to Route 9, so their advance force will not be harrassed and tsupply can flow in within any interruption
The night of Jan 23 was poor, with overcast and rain over the AO, and the speed of the NVA advance proved too much, with Air Support cannot pin point friend or foe on the ground, the battalion were defeated in just 3 hours by a superior force 3 times its size and with armor support.
Battle of Lang Vei - Feb 6/7 1968
With Ban Houei Sane done, the NVA next logical step would be the SF camp at Lang Vei. The camp sit squarely in route 9, which lies in the middle of supply route between Khe Sanh Siege Force and their supply depot near Ho Chi Ming Trail. Naturally, Lang Vei has to go.
Lang Vei was defended by a garrison of nearly a battalion of 500 CIDG with US Special Force. Where there also presented the Survivor of Laotian Battalion BV-33 the camp was defended a bit over Battalion Strength. Where the attacker stays the same, 3 Bn from 24th Regiment and their tank support.
Battle of Lang Vei started when the US Special Force observed the NVA tank harassing the Company 104 fence south of the perimeter. Artillery and air strike were called and 3 tanks were knocked out but the company 104 position inturn were overran by the NVA force with combine infantry and armor attacks. Come next is the attack of 102 and 103 from West and South West. This time with a combination of 3 tanks and 2 rifle company assault. Overwhelming the 2 company and their 100 men in minutes.
Now, basically in complete disorganise, the soldier of the Lang Vei were either trapped inside the last remaining position, the command bunker, or has already escaped to Khe Sanh. With the initial attack lasted 5 hours. The Lang Vei Camp were completely overran by the NVA, but it was not until 2 days later, did the last of the American and ARVN abandon their position in Lang Vei.
The Siege
With The fall of Lang Vei, the land rule is then officially blocked, no more supply and troop can be brought in and out using Route 9, and the siege officially begin.
The siege started off with assorted mortar attack, artillery attack and rocket attack. Range from 81 mm mortar, 120mm artillery and recoilless rifle round to 130 mm rocket.
With the indirect fire, come infantry attacks, in the form of WW1 era trench warfare. NVA sapper battalion would dig trenches from their jump off point to as close as the base as possible. As the US Marine were still holding the High Ground to the North and North west, NVA/NLF trenches runs South to north to the ARVN Ranger Battalion position and West to North through the 9th Regiment Position
As soon as the trenches appear to the KSCB defender, they would call in Air strike and artillery strike to destroy the trenches and the occupant inside. The method used were called “the kill box”.
When mass scale enemy attacking the base. The forward observer would call-in support to bracket the enemy. That would limit the enemy scope of attack. Afterward, they will call in an walking artillery to go up and down inside that bracket and effectively breaking up the formation.
Whatever escape the kill box and continue with the attack would then be cut down by small arms fires from the defender.
The Pin and Splash method were the only way to hold the base together and preventing the base from being completely overrun by the enemy.
Apart from the daily routine of being attack, US force would also conduct short patrol to test the strength of the attacker with mixed result. Sometime those patrol would not see any action at all, other time could be completely wiped out. On 2 occasions, 2 platoons were sent over the wire to investigate and were ambushed severely, only a few member of those patrol got out.
The Battle of Logistic
While the siege is going on, you still need to find a way to supply your troop, bring in the replacement and brought out the dead and wounded. Being a siege, the only possible way be supplied is by air.
Well, when you can think of it, the enemy could too, so it would be a shame if the NVA did not put some AA up the entrant route and the exit route trying to shoot them down.
When a plane about to come in to land, that’s when they were the most vulnerable, because the runway can’t move and when you have to land, you need to line up with the runway to land. That’s where your course is set, and that’s where they will attack you.
So, to keep supplying the base, the enemy AA would have to be suppressed, but that would also be a challenge in itself, I mean, it’s ok if you only need to supply KSCB, but there are also Hilltops and Out Post too, and they would also need re-supplies. What worst? Those Hilltops and outposts are too small to land a C-130 so chopper like Ch-46 or UH-1 were needed, and they flew slower than the C-130.
Solution comes when the French, some 13 years ago, when the French have a similar problem delivering rounds to different target, but they want to hit them all at the same time. What they do? They time the artillery round, and making it TOT (Time-On-Target) and they would all be fixed at the same moment and hit their separate target.
What US Air Force do is, they will send out 3 Squadron of A-4 or F-4 and SEED all the location that needed to be supply, and brought in all the supply chopper and cargo plane in at the same time, the whole perimeter would be re-supplied within 30 minutes. Then all element egress out and leave the area.
Supplying the base this way will require both coordinated effort and luck. In the beginning of the siege, the weather is not as good and supply bring in that way is low, and chopper and planes coming in took longer to find their bearing and sometime missed approach altogether.
However, with more experience and better weather, soon those bases were able to sufficiently supply without any hitch.
Withdrawal of the US troop
Soon, both US and NVA lost interested at this siege. The NVA simply have no point going on, as neither their objective were seems to be able to achieve, the Base is no where near captured, and the Tet offensive had came and gone. There are no needs to diversion anymore. The Prospect of saving and lifting their troop for future operation is more potent than continuing on diverting interest and resource to the siege.
On the other hands, the American after Tet offensive has seen the war have been going nowhere but at the same spot. The American public has significantly lost interest for the war in general. This reflects in the denial of request for 200,000 more troop surge during 1968-1969. The Military planner started to draw down involvement in the war. Hence there must be a way to take those Marine out of the Base.
So, from April both sides is thinking of disengaging. While NVA/NLF pulls out their divisions and regiments one by one, the American started Operation Pegasus to reopen Route 9 and facilitate a ground exertion of the Marine.
The US Army 1st Air Cav was called in to fight their way thru route 9 and reach the marine. All the while Marine/Navy CB and Army Corp of Engineering were to move in behind the 1st Cav and repair the road. Fighting is hard when the 1st Air Cav fought with the blocking force of the NVA 95th Regiment.
On April 8, the Air Cav reaches the KSCB and started relieving the Marine from the defense of KSCB meanwhile the road were declare to be opened 3 days later and facilitate the Marine Withdrawal.
As the NVA also withdraw their present from the Area, the Defender at Khe Sanh shrink from 3 battalions to 1, and then most of the works were mop up operation, retrieving the dead from previous ambushes, destruction of the perimeter, but the battle still gone on between the US Force that behind and the NVA/NLF Force that left behind.
With the last Marine died on 1 July, the Base was totally evacuated on 5th July, and the NVA/NLF occupied the abandoned base and claim victory. Ending the Siege of Khe Sanh.
What Went Wrong??
In reality, both sides did some good tactical and strategic thinking but failed in all other aspect.
For the American, they did a good job to attack and hold the high ground surrounding the base. The 4 Hills (881S, 861, 558 and 950) hold a string of defensive position north of the Camp. With 689 always under contested by 9th Regiment, all those hill were denied access or exclusive access from the Vietnamese.
This serve 2 purpose, 1st, by controlling those hill, you effectively expanded your perimeter, where Hill fight are always favor the defender, that’s why the Marine were able to hold those position with a single company even when facing regimental assault. Also controlling those hill increase your LOS beyond the base area, hence you can call artillery and air strike fire on enemy Beyond those hills, those frontline and hit the assemble area, usually somewhere far away at the bottom of the valley.
You also denied the right for enemy direct fire. The NVA could have directly fire on the Base if they own the hill and set up gun there.
Another advantage from the American controlling those hills is they diluted the Anti-Aircraft Volume from the NVA. As they have to space out those guns further away from the Base, the distance covered will be multiplied to the concentration. Meaning you will need more guns to have the same concentration as if you have a closer pit. This will then translate to less gun shoot at those incoming chopper and cargo plane. That is why the US air drops are more effective then the French.
However, the Marine committed a Major error when they allow the post at Lang Vei fall without any serious contention. Lang Vei was a very important stop gap post on Route 9, controlling Lang Vei effective control the in and out of the Base land route.
Regardless of what Colonel Lownds think, the Special Force camp at Lang Vei is very well defendable if reinforcement were dispatch quickly and that would hold the line longer and give more time for the FO and disrupted or even beat back the attack.
The reason why Lownds abandon the camp is that he do not want to risk the 2 company going out there and help out the Special Force. But the situation is so that the US is still controlling the area between Lang Vei and Khe Sanh, they could have venture out and help out those SF/CIDG
We will probably never know if Lownds send in those 2 company reinforcement will change anything, but the fact that Lownds did not order those reinforce mean a definitely fall of Lang Vei. What we know is, those SF/CIDG hold out for 2 days, with overwhelming attacks. Reinforcement could as well change the whole game.
For the NVA, the single on major mistake they make is they do not press on with those hill battles. Hill 861, Hill 689 and Hill 881S can swing either way, especially Hill 689 when the US defender were down to only 30 men but the final blow never came to push the American out from 689. The key to a siege is to take the high ground, the same tactics they had achieved during the siege of Dien Bien Phu, yet they were not copied and repeated here.
Without those hills, they may as well call off the siege.
Another mistake NVA made is the lack of military objective. If the goal is to divert attention from the south, then the whole siege would have ended after Tet was effectively gone. But this was not the case, and if the goal is to overrun an American base, then the NVA did not commit enough troops for the job.
After Operation Pegasus, the US effectively reopened route 9 and the “Siege” at that stage were actually broken. Had the US force not withdraw on their own, they could have been there forever until the end of the war, and this is probably what NVA troop can salvaged in this situation, that a poetic victory from an withdrawing occupant.
That’s concluded our Vietnam War Series, the beginning of our new series will be in couple of weeks time, and it will start with a battle very closely related with this one. And stay tune next weeks.
Today's battle will bring you to the DMZ, where the North and South Vietnam divided. To a place called Khe Sanh, the Siege of Khe Sanh Combat Base (KSCB) Part of the bigger operation with the Tet offensive.
Background of the battle
As the battle stepped into 1968, the war was moving nowhere, and now the NVA and NLF is cooking up something. Spring of 68 would see perhaps one of the most complicated and massive attack from the Northerner, today knows as Tet Offensive.
Saying the Siege of Khe Sanh is a part of tet is actually an understatement, the engagement has been planned for months and it was started in November the previous year and lasted well into April of 68' and complete withdrawal from Khe Sanh is finally finished in July in 68
The plan for Khe Sanh is planned so the US/ARVN would draw their troop northward and pave the way of the actual tet, so when it hit the lunar new year, there are not as many troop stay behind. In effect, the Siege of Khe Sanh were used to draw troop and attention away from what's actually about to happened.
Deposition of force
The US main defending troop for KSCB is the 26th Marine Regiment, 3 full battalion with approximately 2000 men, other unit were also there to defend the KSCB and the surrounding hill
- 1st Battalion, 9th Marine regiment reinfirce KSCB on Dec 13
- 37th ARVN Ranger Battalion reinforce the 26th on Jan 27
- South Vietnamese CIDG and US Special Force occupy the camp at Lang Vei
- BV33 Loatian Battalion were later joined Khe Sanh after their position were overran by NVA troop
I Company 3/26 Occupied Hill 881S
K Company 3/26 Occupied Hill 861
E Company 2/26 Occupied Hill 861A
rest of the 2/26 Occupied Hill 558
2d Platoon, A/1/26 Occupied Hill 950
1/9 Occupied West of KSCB near Hill 689
USSF/ARVN CIDG occupied the Out post at Lang Vei
The KSCB was defended by rest of the 26th Regiment + 37th Battalion ARVN Ranger with 2 Battalion 13 Regiment artillery support the defence of KSCB
Total about 7000 men
North Vietnamese Force were deployed NW and SE of KSCB, the key Unit is 325C division NW of KSCB and 304 Division SW of KSCB, while element of 29th Battalion and 95C regiment were East North East Blocking the US Base from the East.
Total Vietnamese effort in this about 40,000 (25,000 assault force (325C and 304 Division), 15,000 blocking force)
Tactical Consideration
The ultimate goal for the US forces is simple, hold out for as long as the siege goes. The whole base survived by putting reinforcement/replacement in, resupply the base constantly and evacuate out the wounded. The Objective as defined by Gen. Westmoreland is to face a general onslaught against the main attacking force thrust from the North over the DMZ and win a decisive engagement against a combine effort of NVA/NLF Forces.
The ultimate goal for the North Vietnamese serves in two. 1.) They would like to try andn overrun the US Bases in Khe Sanh, deal a humiliate defeat to the American, win a battle with a set piece with the American. 2.) Served as a diversion to the American so they will focus on the Northern Battlefield and draw out resource from the south, thus paving the road for the oncoming Tet Offensive.
For the US side, they have no choice but to fight, as they were under siege, moral factor should be mid-low, but agumented by the better experience, better equipment and overhelming firepower
For the NVA/NLF side, they are the instigation of this battle, moral factor is high, with highly motivated troop. NVA have above average training and equipment too, however, the let down was the support and firepower front. Still NVA/NLF force brought in tanks and artillery for this battle.
Begining of Siege
The siege began back in April 1967 when the NVA force trying to sieze the hill 861, the nearest to the KSCB
Battle of Hill 861 - April 1967
The battle started when a team of US oberserve were ambush and attacked when scouting the Hill 861, 4 dead and the remaining observer prompt the 1/9 to move on to the hill and set out for a recon run.
the 2 Company of the battalion were ambush right off the bat andbecome combat ineffective during the night ambush. With the rest of the Bravo Company Pinned down and cannot move with all the dead and wounded, the Marine decided to dig in and wait for rescue.
Rescue come in the form of a Kilo company, along with the remain of Bravo. Pushed the NVA line back and secure the Hill 861 which is the closest hill overlooking both KSCB and Hill 558
Battle of Hill 881 - April-May 1967
As the same contact from the Hill 861, comes Hill 881 (Or 881S), the battle of Hill 881 is even more bloody than 861. With the Hill 861 Secure, the 3rd battalions was converging south of Hill 881, as they march their troop in, the whole hill instantly light up, with more prepared firing position than Hill 861, the Marine have to call in heavier substance to gain upper hand in fire support. The possible overrunning of the Marine Battalion were high, but the NVA were beaten back time after time from the prepared position, when they were oliberated by American Air Strike. After the US battlion captured the Hill, they had found 40 times more prepared position than in Hill 861, indicating a divison or regiment strength enemy were there nt so long ago. infact, it was the 325C divison headquarter they had uncover.
Battle of Hill 881N - April-May 1967
Where the 3/3 were htting hill 881S, the 2/3 were jump off from Hill 861 which they previously took and move on with success onto Hill 881N. The fight on Hill 881 North were not so much recorded in marine history the only thing I do know is that they had secured 881N at the same day with 881S and the resistence were not as tough as at hill 881S when they were atleast facing 1 regiment strengh of enemy.
With the hill battle secure, the area surrounding Khe Sanh were calmed down for a little bit as the NVA then trigger some Border Battle that cover the area of Con Thien and Dak To. These 2 battle will not be cover in this report as they are not part of the siege but the intention of these border battle happening in September 1967 is clear, draw troop out of Khe Sanh and draw attention of US Top Brass onto the Northern District.
Actual Siege started 1 months before tet Offensive
Fall of Khe Sanh Villege - January 22
The Khe Sanh were captured by the NVA troop on the Jan 22, it was a pre-requirsit of the campaign and the villege see little fighting before it fall in the 22nd
Battle of Ban Houei Sane January, 23-24 1968
The first move for NVA is to attack the Laotian Garrison in Ban Houei Sane, manned by a Royal Laotian Battalion BV-33, approximately 700 strong, augmented by travelling mountain people and garrison's own family. Approximately 3000 people in total. NVA forces included the 3 Bn from 24th Regiment, troop level about 2000, attack and seize the camp at Ban Houei Sane
What's different is this battle is also the first time with North Vietnamese Troop sending and using combine force attack a fixed Position, the NVA troop were augmented by 13 PT-76 tank from NVA 198 Armoured Battalion. The tank were travelled down south from the famouse Ho Chi Ming Trail and enter the battle.
The battle of Ban Houei Sane served 3 purposes for the NVA
1.) To test the Combine force tactics, which is new to NVA
2.) To initial the first move, grab the tempo
3.) To secure the jumping point from Ho Chi Ming Trail to Route 9, so their advance force will not be harrassed and tsupply can flow in within any interruption
The night of Jan 23 was poor, with overcast and rain over the AO, and the speed of the NVA advance proved too much, with Air Support cannot pin point friend or foe on the ground, the battalion were defeated in just 3 hours by a superior force 3 times its size and with armor support.
Battle of Lang Vei - Feb 6/7 1968
With Ban Houei Sane done, the NVA next logical step would be the SF camp at Lang Vei. The camp sit squarely in route 9, which lies in the middle of supply route between Khe Sanh Siege Force and their supply depot near Ho Chi Ming Trail. Naturally, Lang Vei has to go.
Lang Vei was defended by a garrison of nearly a battalion of 500 CIDG with US Special Force. Where there also presented the Survivor of Laotian Battalion BV-33 the camp was defended a bit over Battalion Strength. Where the attacker stays the same, 3 Bn from 24th Regiment and their tank support.
Battle of Lang Vei started when the US Special Force observed the NVA tank harassing the Company 104 fence south of the perimeter. Artillery and air strike were called and 3 tanks were knocked out but the company 104 position inturn were overran by the NVA force with combine infantry and armor attacks. Come next is the attack of 102 and 103 from West and South West. This time with a combination of 3 tanks and 2 rifle company assault. Overwhelming the 2 company and their 100 men in minutes.
Now, basically in complete disorganise, the soldier of the Lang Vei were either trapped inside the last remaining position, the command bunker, or has already escaped to Khe Sanh. With the initial attack lasted 5 hours. The Lang Vei Camp were completely overran by the NVA, but it was not until 2 days later, did the last of the American and ARVN abandon their position in Lang Vei.
The Siege
With The fall of Lang Vei, the land rule is then officially blocked, no more supply and troop can be brought in and out using Route 9, and the siege officially begin.
The siege started off with assorted mortar attack, artillery attack and rocket attack. Range from 81 mm mortar, 120mm artillery and recoilless rifle round to 130 mm rocket.
With the indirect fire, come infantry attacks, in the form of WW1 era trench warfare. NVA sapper battalion would dig trenches from their jump off point to as close as the base as possible. As the US Marine were still holding the High Ground to the North and North west, NVA/NLF trenches runs South to north to the ARVN Ranger Battalion position and West to North through the 9th Regiment Position
As soon as the trenches appear to the KSCB defender, they would call in Air strike and artillery strike to destroy the trenches and the occupant inside. The method used were called “the kill box”.
When mass scale enemy attacking the base. The forward observer would call-in support to bracket the enemy. That would limit the enemy scope of attack. Afterward, they will call in an walking artillery to go up and down inside that bracket and effectively breaking up the formation.
Whatever escape the kill box and continue with the attack would then be cut down by small arms fires from the defender.
The Pin and Splash method were the only way to hold the base together and preventing the base from being completely overrun by the enemy.
Apart from the daily routine of being attack, US force would also conduct short patrol to test the strength of the attacker with mixed result. Sometime those patrol would not see any action at all, other time could be completely wiped out. On 2 occasions, 2 platoons were sent over the wire to investigate and were ambushed severely, only a few member of those patrol got out.
The Battle of Logistic
While the siege is going on, you still need to find a way to supply your troop, bring in the replacement and brought out the dead and wounded. Being a siege, the only possible way be supplied is by air.
Well, when you can think of it, the enemy could too, so it would be a shame if the NVA did not put some AA up the entrant route and the exit route trying to shoot them down.
When a plane about to come in to land, that’s when they were the most vulnerable, because the runway can’t move and when you have to land, you need to line up with the runway to land. That’s where your course is set, and that’s where they will attack you.
So, to keep supplying the base, the enemy AA would have to be suppressed, but that would also be a challenge in itself, I mean, it’s ok if you only need to supply KSCB, but there are also Hilltops and Out Post too, and they would also need re-supplies. What worst? Those Hilltops and outposts are too small to land a C-130 so chopper like Ch-46 or UH-1 were needed, and they flew slower than the C-130.
Solution comes when the French, some 13 years ago, when the French have a similar problem delivering rounds to different target, but they want to hit them all at the same time. What they do? They time the artillery round, and making it TOT (Time-On-Target) and they would all be fixed at the same moment and hit their separate target.
What US Air Force do is, they will send out 3 Squadron of A-4 or F-4 and SEED all the location that needed to be supply, and brought in all the supply chopper and cargo plane in at the same time, the whole perimeter would be re-supplied within 30 minutes. Then all element egress out and leave the area.
Supplying the base this way will require both coordinated effort and luck. In the beginning of the siege, the weather is not as good and supply bring in that way is low, and chopper and planes coming in took longer to find their bearing and sometime missed approach altogether.
However, with more experience and better weather, soon those bases were able to sufficiently supply without any hitch.
Withdrawal of the US troop
Soon, both US and NVA lost interested at this siege. The NVA simply have no point going on, as neither their objective were seems to be able to achieve, the Base is no where near captured, and the Tet offensive had came and gone. There are no needs to diversion anymore. The Prospect of saving and lifting their troop for future operation is more potent than continuing on diverting interest and resource to the siege.
On the other hands, the American after Tet offensive has seen the war have been going nowhere but at the same spot. The American public has significantly lost interest for the war in general. This reflects in the denial of request for 200,000 more troop surge during 1968-1969. The Military planner started to draw down involvement in the war. Hence there must be a way to take those Marine out of the Base.
So, from April both sides is thinking of disengaging. While NVA/NLF pulls out their divisions and regiments one by one, the American started Operation Pegasus to reopen Route 9 and facilitate a ground exertion of the Marine.
The US Army 1st Air Cav was called in to fight their way thru route 9 and reach the marine. All the while Marine/Navy CB and Army Corp of Engineering were to move in behind the 1st Cav and repair the road. Fighting is hard when the 1st Air Cav fought with the blocking force of the NVA 95th Regiment.
On April 8, the Air Cav reaches the KSCB and started relieving the Marine from the defense of KSCB meanwhile the road were declare to be opened 3 days later and facilitate the Marine Withdrawal.
As the NVA also withdraw their present from the Area, the Defender at Khe Sanh shrink from 3 battalions to 1, and then most of the works were mop up operation, retrieving the dead from previous ambushes, destruction of the perimeter, but the battle still gone on between the US Force that behind and the NVA/NLF Force that left behind.
With the last Marine died on 1 July, the Base was totally evacuated on 5th July, and the NVA/NLF occupied the abandoned base and claim victory. Ending the Siege of Khe Sanh.
What Went Wrong??
In reality, both sides did some good tactical and strategic thinking but failed in all other aspect.
For the American, they did a good job to attack and hold the high ground surrounding the base. The 4 Hills (881S, 861, 558 and 950) hold a string of defensive position north of the Camp. With 689 always under contested by 9th Regiment, all those hill were denied access or exclusive access from the Vietnamese.
This serve 2 purpose, 1st, by controlling those hill, you effectively expanded your perimeter, where Hill fight are always favor the defender, that’s why the Marine were able to hold those position with a single company even when facing regimental assault. Also controlling those hill increase your LOS beyond the base area, hence you can call artillery and air strike fire on enemy Beyond those hills, those frontline and hit the assemble area, usually somewhere far away at the bottom of the valley.
You also denied the right for enemy direct fire. The NVA could have directly fire on the Base if they own the hill and set up gun there.
Another advantage from the American controlling those hills is they diluted the Anti-Aircraft Volume from the NVA. As they have to space out those guns further away from the Base, the distance covered will be multiplied to the concentration. Meaning you will need more guns to have the same concentration as if you have a closer pit. This will then translate to less gun shoot at those incoming chopper and cargo plane. That is why the US air drops are more effective then the French.
However, the Marine committed a Major error when they allow the post at Lang Vei fall without any serious contention. Lang Vei was a very important stop gap post on Route 9, controlling Lang Vei effective control the in and out of the Base land route.
Regardless of what Colonel Lownds think, the Special Force camp at Lang Vei is very well defendable if reinforcement were dispatch quickly and that would hold the line longer and give more time for the FO and disrupted or even beat back the attack.
The reason why Lownds abandon the camp is that he do not want to risk the 2 company going out there and help out the Special Force. But the situation is so that the US is still controlling the area between Lang Vei and Khe Sanh, they could have venture out and help out those SF/CIDG
We will probably never know if Lownds send in those 2 company reinforcement will change anything, but the fact that Lownds did not order those reinforce mean a definitely fall of Lang Vei. What we know is, those SF/CIDG hold out for 2 days, with overwhelming attacks. Reinforcement could as well change the whole game.
For the NVA, the single on major mistake they make is they do not press on with those hill battles. Hill 861, Hill 689 and Hill 881S can swing either way, especially Hill 689 when the US defender were down to only 30 men but the final blow never came to push the American out from 689. The key to a siege is to take the high ground, the same tactics they had achieved during the siege of Dien Bien Phu, yet they were not copied and repeated here.
Without those hills, they may as well call off the siege.
Another mistake NVA made is the lack of military objective. If the goal is to divert attention from the south, then the whole siege would have ended after Tet was effectively gone. But this was not the case, and if the goal is to overrun an American base, then the NVA did not commit enough troops for the job.
After Operation Pegasus, the US effectively reopened route 9 and the “Siege” at that stage were actually broken. Had the US force not withdraw on their own, they could have been there forever until the end of the war, and this is probably what NVA troop can salvaged in this situation, that a poetic victory from an withdrawing occupant.
That’s concluded our Vietnam War Series, the beginning of our new series will be in couple of weeks time, and it will start with a battle very closely related with this one. And stay tune next weeks.
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Now the article is as good as new 
