Mars Adapting (Transforming War) by Frank Hoffman

Author:Frank Hoffman [Hoffman, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 2021-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

U.S. intelligence reported that the North Vietnamese were withdrawing regiments from the Pleiku area to join those in Kontum Province. Despite the extensive attrition prompted earlier by Operation Francis Marion, the 1st PAVN Division had been reorganized and reinforced. It was tasked with the destruction of a brigade-sized U.S. unit. The North Vietnamese fed six thousand troops into the area, mounting their own search-and-destroy operation.

This intelligence led to the launching of Operation MacArthur to spoil the NVA plans. The Army ordered the 173rd Brigade back to Dak To. The immediate goal of the paratroopers was to establish a base of operations and bolster the defenses at Ben Het. They would then search for the 66th PAVN Regiment, believed to be south of Fire Support Base 12. Simultaneously, most of the 4th Infantry Division and two 1st Air Cavalry battalions moved into the area around Dak To. The stage was set for a major pitched battle.

The centerpiece became a series of hilltop fights that took place in Kontum Province and around Dak To between November 3 and 27. The battles that erupted on the hill masses south and southeast of Dak To were some of the hardest fought battles of the war. The first fighting erupted on November 3 and 4, when companies of the 4th Infantry Division came across NVA troops in defensive positions. The next day the same thing occurred with elements of the American 173rd Brigade. The U.S. forces combed the hills on foot, ran into prepared defensive positions, applied massive firepower from aircraft and artillery, and then launched ground attacks. In all of these instances, the NVA troops fought hard, inflicted casualties on the Americans, and then withdrew. The U.S. troops continued this stubborn pattern of expensive attacks.

As the Americans quickly discovered, the area had been well-prepared by the North Vietnamese. The number and elaborateness of defensive preparations indicated that they had been prepared as much as six months in advance. As General Peers noted about the enemy: “Nearly every key terrain feature was heavily fortified with elaborate bunker and trench complexes. He had moved quantities of supplies and ammunition into the area. He was prepared to stay.”127

Peers was just as prepared to keep advancing and push them out. He ordered a number of hilltops seized, to increase artillery fire and support his sweeping patrols logistically. One small company landed at Hill 823, only to find that it was sharing the hilltop with an NVA company in tunnels and bunkers. The next day that tired company was relieved by a battalion, the 1st Battalion, 503rd Airborne. The day after that, the paratroop unit was divided into two small task forces for reconnaissance patrols. On November 11, one of those task forces was ambushed by two VC battalions and had to fight for its life. Only close air support kept it from being overrun. The Americans paid a price: there were 20 KIA and 154 WIA, representing half the battalion’s fighting strength.

American forces kept pressing in search of the NVA.

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