A Raid Too Far by Willbanks James H.;

Author:Willbanks, James H.; [Willbanks, James H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Map 7. Enemy Situation, Mid-March 1971

As the action south of the Xe Pon River unfolded, the ARVN forces north of the river were told to hold their positions until the 1st Infantry Division had extracted its forward units from FSBs Sophia and Lolo. However, by 15 March the forces at FSB A Luoi were surrounded and under intense enemy pressure. By 17 March it was apparent that the NVA were preparing to launch a tank-infantry assault similar to the one that had overrun FSB 31; in light of this intelligence, General Lam gave instructions to initiate phase two of the withdrawal. The Airborne Division subsequently directed the armored task force to abandon A Luoi and begin movement to designated positions west of FSB Alpha.

At first light on the morning of 19 March, with almost all of the ARVN battalions in Laos in contact, the armored task force began to withdraw from A Luoi, covered by the 8th and 9th Airborne Battalions operating north of the base. A column of eighteen tanks and armored personnel carriers departed first, towing damaged vehicles and several howitzers. The force had been allocated two US air cavalry troops to cover the move, but General Dong, the Airborne Division commander, diverted them to support other airborne units.

Four kilometers east of Ban Dong, still about halfway to FSB Alpha, the column was ambushed at a stream crossing. North Vietnamese gunners struck the lead vehicles with rocket-propelled grenades, disabling four M41 tanks in the middle of the stream and stranding the vehicles that followed in the ambush zone while at the same time isolating the 11th Armored Cavalry on the west bank of the stream. During the course of the short and violent battle that ensued, about half the ARVN vehicles were damaged or destroyed. The column was immobilized, and the airborne soldiers, refusing to stay with the stranded vehicles, left the cavalry, continuing to march east down Route 9. The cavalry fought on alone, finally getting across the stream after three hours, but lost four tanks and three M113 armored personnel carriers in the process. In addition, they left eighteen disabled vehicles on the west side of the stream. Eventually, tactical air support was called in to destroy the abandoned vehicles to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.

The North Vietnamese did everything possible to prevent the South Vietnamese from escaping, pursuing with tanks and other armored vehicles while continuing to pound them with artillery, rockets, and mortars. Route 9 became a tangle of disabled and destroyed tanks and other vehicles that had run out of gas. The panic that ensued in some South Vietnamese units was reminiscent of that shown earlier by the deserters at Ranger Base North. Lieutenant Colonel Peachey, commander of the 158th Aviation Battalion, described the nature of the South Vietnamese withdrawal: “They [the ARVN troops] would do absolutely anything to get out of Laos. . . . The healthy would run over the dead and wounded. We would hover at six or seven feet, and the crew chief and gunner would lay on their bellies and pull people up.

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