Big Guns of Camp Carroll

©1997 by Peter Brush

Note:  An edited version of this article appeared in Vietnam magazine, Vol. 10, No. 2, August 1997, pp. 26-32.

U.S. strategy for the defense of the DMZ called for interlocking bands of artillery fire, and the firebase at Camp Carroll was the linchpin.

            American military commanders are taught to use generous volumes of firepower instead of manpower to accomplish their military objectives and to minimize their casualties. Thus the ideal tactical environment for the United States was to dot the landscape of South Vietnam with innumerable artillery firebases capable of achieving interlocking fields of fire. Fully aware of the tactical value of artillery, the American military would expend more than seven million tons of it on targets in Vietnam.

            In early 1966, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) began massing forces in the northern provinces of South Vietnam, and the Marines were ordered north to face this threat. The area in the eastern Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) had been heavily infiltrated by the enemy. The 324B NVA Division had crossed the DMZ and was quite willing to tangle with the Marines. Reconnaissance patrols were unable to stay in the field for more than a few hours -- and many for only a few minutes -- before it was necessary to extract them under heavy enemy fire. A new phase of the war in Vietnam was about to begin.

            Operation Hastings, the largest coordinated offensive operation of the war up to that time, was launched on July 15, 1966. Five Marine infantry battalions were inserted into landing zones and given the mission of establishing blocking positions along enemy trails and killing enemy soldiers. A reinforced battalion of Marine artillery accompanied this task force. A headquarters was established at Dong Ha, located about 12 miles from the DMZ and 12 miles from the coast of Vietnam. From Dong Ha, the Marines pushed along National Route 9, establishing firebases at Cam Lo and at a 700-foot mountain known as "the Rockpile."

            The ground between Dong Ha and Cam Lo is level. As you move westward, the terrain becomes more rugged and is composed of a series of ridges and steep hills rising to elevations of over 1,600 feet. During Operation Hastings, the Marines adopted the tactic of launching deep reconnaissance patrols into these hilly areas. On July 28, one of the patrols operating near the Rockpile noted the presence of approximately 200 NVA troops. Artillery fire was called in on the enemy force, resulting in 50 killed North Vietnamese. The marriage of reconnaissance and artillery support used in that patrol was termed "Sting Ray," and Sting Ray patrols came to be considered one of the major innovations of the war.

            Employing supporting arms that included artillery firing 34,500 rounds, Marine tactical aircraft flying 1,667 sorties, helicopters carrying out nearly 10,000 sorties, and Boeing B-52 strategic bombers striking targets in the DMZ for the first time, the Marines were able to destroy more than 700 enemy troops by the time Operation Hastings ended in August 1966. Marine casualties for the operation totaled 126 killed and 448 wounded. Operation Prairie immediately commenced in the same tactical area. From the womb of Prairie, Camp J.J. Carroll was born.

            One of the key terrain features in the otherwise open area along the DMZ was the Rockpile. A reconnaissance patrol rappelled from a helicopter and set up an observation post on the mountain's summit, allowing many Sting Ray patrols to be controlled from that site. According to U.S. intelligence reports, the 324B NVA Division was solidly entrenched to the north of the Rockpile, protecting its infiltration routes into South Vietnam. Large numbers of enemy soldiers were detected along the Nui Cay Tre ridge to the north, from which they bombarded the Marines on the mountain. It was decided that the NVA must be swept from their position to protect the Marines on the Rockpile from further mortar attacks. ....