THE BATTLE FOR A SHAU

Background

The A Shau Special Forces Camp was located in the A Shau Valley, about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Hue in Thua Thien Province. It was strategically important for the North Vietnamese Army as a major infiltration route because it was adjacent to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Defending the camp were 10 Green Berets and 210 South Vietnamese Civilian Irregular Defense Group, supported by Air Commando units equipped with vintage A-1 Skyraiders and AC-47 Spooky gunships.

The camp was routinely harassed by small Viet Cong formations leading up to the battle. Throughout February and March, platoon-sized troops from the camp were often sent out to conduct reconnaissance patrol and were prepared to destroy any suspected enemy position in the surrounding area. On March 5, two defectors from the North Vietnamese Army turned up at the camp. Under interrogation, they indicated that four battalions from the North Vietnamese 325th Division were planning to attack the camp.

Based on the information given by the defectors, night patrols were dispatched to confirm the enemy positions. But no contact was made. In addition to ground patrols, the Air Commandos were requested to conduct reconnaissance flights. Large build-ups of North Vietnamese troops were reported each time, along with anti-aircraft emplacements. As a result of these findings, airstrikes were called in to attack Viet Cong positions.

On March 7, the A Shau camp was reinforced with seven U.S. special forces personnel, nine interpreters and a MIKE Force Company in anticipation of the North Vietnamese attack.

[edit] Battle

On March 8, the camp was placed on general alert and the camp's defenders had taken up their positions. During the night an enemy assault was thrown back.

Because of the presence of the Air Commandos, the North Vietnamese 325th Division decided to capitalize on the poor weather conditions that would hinder tactical air support and resupply efforts. The attack on the Special Forces Camp began during the early hours of March 9 with mortar bombardment, damaging the communication line and reducing defensive positions to rubble. Upon the request of the detachment commander, at 13:00 an AC-47D "Spooky 70" from the 4th Air Commando Squadron, circling the camp, managed to attack North Vietnamese formations but was shot down and crashed about five kilometers north of the camp. All six crewman survived the crash, but were taken under attack by NVA troops. Three crewman were killed in the attack but the other three were eventually rescued by a USAF HH-43.

Between 16:30 and 17:00, supplies of ammunition were flown in by C-123 and CV-2 aircraft, but the resupply drops often landed outside of the camp and could not be retrieved. At the same time, helicopters were called in to evacuate the wounded. Additional reinforcements from Hue and Phu Bai could not be deployed because of the bad weather, so the camp's defenders repaired their defensive wall as well as they could and dug in for the night.

On the morning of March 10, the North Vietnamese Army launched another attack with mortar and recoilless rifle fire. At 05:00 an assault team penetrated the east wall of the camp, where hand-to-hand combat took place for three hours. By 08:00 the defenders had withdrawn to the camp's north wall. Throughout the day USMC and VNAF bombers strafed North Vietnamese positions around the camp, but as fighting continued the situation deteriorated with ammunition supplies running short. As a result, a decision was made to evacuate all personnel.

[edit] Evacuation

At 17:00 all communication equipment was destroyed. The survivors carried out their evacuation orders and destroyed all their weapons and withdrew further to the north wall of the camp. Leading the evacuation effort were fifteen H-34 helicopters from HMM-163 supported by four UH-1B gunships. Panic-stricken Vietnamese mobbed the evacuation helicopters and overwhelmed U.S. Special Forces troops as they abandoned the camp. The evacuation of the camp was complicated by heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire, and two H-34s were lost.

PERSONNEL RECAPITULATION