Before, During, and After the Americanization and Vietnamization Were the ARVNs any good? Before, During, and After the Americanization and Vietnamization

No, they were not: We had to send in our troops “American officers began saying things like, Theses guys can't handle the war. None of them are fighters. None of them are worth a damn.” (General Norman Schwarzkopf, a Captain and an American Advisor in 1964, in It Doesn't Take A Hero) While in country, we were doing all the fighting and were winning the war Not long after we had left, South Vietnam collapsed

Review of some unheard of ARVNs’ military operations : Operation Quyet Thang 202 (April 1964) Operation Than Phong (August 1965) Operation Dan Thang 8 (October 1965) Americanization (November 1965) Operation Dai Bang 800 (February 1967) Vietnamization (November 1969) Operation Toan Thang 02 (May 1971) Last American Combat Units Departed (March 1973) Operation Svay Rieng (April 1974)

Operation Quyet Thang 202 (April 1964) 50th Infantry Regiment 4 Ranger Bns 1st Airborne Bn

HMM-364 USMC Sqdr US Army 52nd Aviation Bn

Operation Than Phong August 1965 22nd ID and 3rd ACR Airborne Task Force, units of RF and CDIG Alpha MC Task Force 42nd Infantry Regiment 20th Engineer Combat Group

Operation Dan Thang 8 October 1965 1/42th Bn 21st and 22nd Ranger Bns 3rd ACR 1 Engineer Co

- A Study of American Involvement in the Vietnam War (1965-1969) (http://macv.cjb.net) The Ia Drang Valley November, 1965 This was a battle between the NVA 66th Regiment and the US 1st Cavalry Division. It started when NVA attacked a Special Forces camp at Plei Me. The 1st Cav was called in and drove off the NVA. The 1st Cav was ordered to sweep the Ia Drang Valley and to destroy the NVA there. The 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry landed at LZ X-Ray, but was immediately attacked by the NVA. The 1/7 was heavily outnumbered and had to call in heavy support. The fire support held off the NVA and the 1/7 was reinforced. The NVA assaulted the troopers several more times but failed and withdrew. The 2/7, was ambushed on its way to LZ Albany and took horrendous casualties, again fire support kept the US forces from being overrun. After that the battle was over.

Ground Combat Operations - Vietnam 1965 - 1972 (http://www Silver Bayonet - 23 Oct-20 Nov 65 - 29 days - 5 Bns - 1st Cavalry Division - operation in Ia Drang Valley of Pleiku Province - VC/NVA KIA 1,771 - US KIA 240

1st US Cavalry's Website - Vietnam War (http://www. metronet On 10 October 1965, in Operation "Shiny Bayonet", the First Team initiated their first brigade-size airmobile action against the enemy. The air assault task force consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions 7th Cavalry, 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry, 1st Battalion 12th Cavalry and the 1st Battalion 21st Artillery. Rather than standing and fighting, the Viet Cong chose to disperse and slip away. Only light contact was achieved. The troopers had but a short wait before they faced a tougher test of their fighting skills; the 35-day Pleiku Campaign. On 23 October 1965, the first real combat test came at the historic order of General Westmoreland to send the First Team into an air assault mission to pursue and fight the enemy across 2,500 square miles of jungle. Troopers of the 1st Brigade and 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry swooped down on the NVA 33rd regiment before it could get away from Plei Me. The enemy regiment was scattered in the confusion and was quickly smashed. On 09 November, the 3rd Brigade joined the fighting. Five days later, on 14 November, the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, reinforced by elements of the 2nd Battalion, air assaulted into the Ia Drang Valley near the Chu Prong Massif. Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray was "hot" from the start. At LZ X-Ray, the Division's first medal of honor in the Vietnam War was awarded to 2nd Lt. Walter J. Marm of the 1st Battalion 7th Cavalry. On 16 November, the remainder of the 2nd Battalion relieved the 1st Battalion at LZ X-Ray, who moved on to set up blocking positions at LZ Albany. The fighting, the most intensive combat in the history of the division, from bayonets, used in hand-to-hand combat, to artillery and tactical air support, including B-52 bombing attacks in the areas of the Chu Pong Mountains, dragged on for three days. With the help of reinforcements and overwhelming firepower, the 1st and 2nd Battalions forced the North Vietnamese to withdraw into Cambodia. When the Pleiku Campaign ended on 25 November, troopers of the First Team had paid a heavy price for its success, having lost some 300 troopers killed in action, half of them in the disastrous ambush of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, at LZ Albany. The troopers destroyed two of three regiments of a North Vietnamese Division, earning the first Presidential Unit Citation given to a division in Vietnam. The enemy had been given their first major defeat and their carefully laid plans for conquest had been torn apart. The 1st Cavalry Division returned to its original base of operations at An Khe on Highway 19.

LZ X-Ray (http://www/weweresoldiers.net/campaign.htm) In late October '65, a large North Vietnamese force attacked the Plei Me Special Forces Camp. Troops of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Cavalry were sent into the battle. After the enemy was repulsed in early November, the 3rd Brigade replaced the 1st Brigade . After three days of patrolling without any contact, Hal Moore's 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry was ordered to air assault into the Ia Drang Valley on Nov 14, his mission: Find and kill the enemy! At 10:48 AM, on November 14th, Moore was the first man out of the lead chopper to hit the landing zone, firing his M16 rifle. Little did Moore and his men suspect that FATE had sent them into the first major battle of the Vietnam War between the American Army and the People's Army of Vietnam - Regulars - and into history.

Historical Distortions No mention of ARVNs Reality and Fiction: – Reality: Pleime, main battle; Ia Drang and Duc Co, moped up operations – Fiction: Ia Drang, main battle; Pleime, preliminary operation; no mention of Duc Co

Operation Dai Bang 800 (February 1967) 41th Infantry Regiment 1 Armored Squadron

Search and Destroy vs Lure and Destroy Operation Pershing

Operation Toan Thang 02 (May 1971) 8th Task Force III Corps Assault Task Force

A B ______ _______ 1/8bn 3/8bn 2/8bn 3/9bn 2/7bn ACR ACR C/Pco C/Pco 2/7bn 2/8bn 1/8bn

Samurais You are not to lie down when the enemy opens direct gun fires or artillery fires WIA and KIA comrades will be picked up by Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC)

Operation Svay Rieng (April 1974) 31 bns 49th Infantry Regiment 7th Ranger Group 3 ACRs of III Corps 2 bns RF 1 Task Force of IV Corps

Blitzkrieg Tactic (Lightning War)

They were downright great! The ARVNs fought with aggressiveness, attacking the heart of the enemy (Quyet Thang 202, Svay Rieng) with creativity and initiative: luring tactic (Dai Bang 800, Toan Thang 02), pin-down tactic (Than Phong) with intelligence: knowing the enemy, the terrain (Dan Thang 8) with gusto and discipline under stress (Toan Thang 02) with grandeur using blitzkrieg tactic (Svay Rieng) The ARVNs were not that bad, after all! They were downright great!

References Major General Hieu, ARVN, A Hidden Military Gem www.generalhieu.com