Welcome to War and Tactics! War and Tactics Forum is currently undergoing some modifications that might disable features you are used to. This is unabvoidable as we have to update the forum engine to a new structure that is incompatible with many of the features we had used so far. The good news: WaT will be more secure and stable, and most of the features we uninstalled will be a natural part of the new structure anyway. For the rest we will be looking for solutions. (APR 23, 2018)
For years, everyone has warned that counterfeit microchips made in China and installed on American military hardware could contain viruses or secret backdoors granting the Chinese military cyber access to U.S. weapons systems. These warnings/predictions recently expanded beyond counterfeit parts, now we’re worried that any Chinese-made components could be infected. The problem was that until this week, these warnings were educated guesses and theories. Well, a scientist at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom claims to have developed a software program proving that China — and anyone else — can, and is, installing cyber backdoors on some of the world’s most secure, “military grade” microchips.
Specifically, the American-designed, Chinese-made Actel/Microsemi ProASIC3 A3P250 — commonly known as the PA3 — chip was found by Cambridge researcher, Sergei Skorobogatov, to have a backdoor, or trojan, deliberately built into it. The PA3 is what’s called a Field Reprogrammable Gate Array (FRGA); an almost blank slate of a microchip that can be programmed by its owner to perform a variety of tasks.
Most alarming is that the PA3 is considered to be one of the “most impenetrable” designs on the market. The chip is used in military “weapons, guidance, flight control, networking and communications” hardware, according to Skorobogatov’s report on his findings that was published last weekend. The PA3 is also used in civilian “nuclear power plants, power distribution, aerospace, aviation, public transport and automotive products,” according to Skorobogatov.
In the picture, the girl will always be 9 years old and wailing "Too hot! Too hot!" as she runs down the road away from her burning Vietnamese village. She will always be naked after blobs of sticky napalm melted through her clothes and layers of skin like jellied lava.
She will always be a victim without a name.
It only took a second for Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image 40 years ago. It communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of the most divisive wars in American history.
But beneath the photo lies a lesser-known story. It's the tale of a dying child brought together by chance with a young photographer. A moment captured in the chaos of war that would be both her savior and her curse on a journey to understand life's plan for her.
"I really wanted to escape from that little girl," says Kim Phuc, now 49. "But it seems to me that the picture didn't let me go."
It was June 8, 1972, when Phuc heard the soldier's scream: "We have to run out of this place! They will bomb here, and we will be dead!" Seconds later, she saw the tails of yellow and purple smoke bombs curling around the Cao Dai temple where her family had sheltered for three days, as north and south Vietnamese forces fought for control of their village. The little girl heard a roar overhead and twisted her neck to look up. As the South Vietnamese Skyraider plane grew fatter and louder, it swooped down toward her, dropping canisters like tumbling eggs flipping end over end.
"Ba-boom! Ba-boom!"
The ground rocked. Then the heat of a hundred furnaces exploded as orange flames spit in all directions. Fire danced up Phuc's left arm. The threads of her cotton clothes evaporated on contact. Trees became angry torches. Searing pain bit through skin and muscle.
"I will be ugly, and I'm not normal anymore," she thought, as her right hand brushed furiously across her blistering arm. "People will see me in a different way."
In shock, she sprinted down Highway 1 behind her older brother. She didn't see the foreign journalists gathered as she ran toward them, screaming.
Then, she lost consciousness.
Ut, the 21-year-old Vietnamese photographer who took the picture, drove Phuc to a small hospital. There, he was told the child was too far gone to help. But he flashed his American press badge, demanded that doctors treat the girl and left assured that she would not be forgotten.
"I cried when I saw her running," said Ut, whose older brother was killed on assignment with the AP in the southern Mekong Delta. "If I don't help her — if something happened and she died — I think I'd kill myself after that."
Back at the office in what was then U.S.-backed Saigon, he developed his film. When the image of the naked little girl emerged, everyone feared it would be rejected because of the news agency's strict policy against nudity. But veteran Vietnam photo editor Horst Faas took one look and knew it was a shot made to break the rules. He argued the photo's news value far outweighed any other concerns, and he won.
A couple of days after the image shocked the world, another journalist found out the little girl had somehow survived the attack. Christopher Wain, a correspondent for the British Independent Television Network who had given Phuc water from his canteen and drizzled it down her burning back at the scene, fought to have her transferred to the American-run Barsky unit. It was the only facility in Saigon equipped to deal with her severe injuries.
"I had no idea where I was or what happened to me," she said. "I woke up and I was in the hospital with so much pain, and then the nurses were around me. I woke up with a terrible fear."
Thirty percent of Phuc's tiny body was scorched raw by third-degree burns, though her face somehow remained untouched. Over time, her melted flesh began to heal.
"Every morning at 8 o'clock, the nurses put me in the burn bath to cut all my dead skin off," she said. "I just cried and when I could not stand it any longer, I just passed out."
After multiple skin grafts and surgeries, Phuc was finally allowed to leave, 13 months after the bombing. She had seen Ut's photo, which by then had won the Pulitzer Prize, but she was still unaware of its reach and power.
She just wanted to go home and be a child again.
For a while, life did go somewhat back to normal. The photo was famous, but Phuc largely remained unknown except to those living in her tiny village near the Cambodian border. Ut and a few other journalists sometimes visited her, but that stopped after northern communist forces seized control of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975, ending the war.
Life under the new regime became tough. Medical treatment and painkillers were expensive and hard to find for the teenager, who still suffered extreme headaches and pain.
She worked hard and was accepted into medical school to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. But all that ended once the new communist leaders realized the propaganda value of the 'napalm girl' in the photo. She was forced to quit college and return to her home province, where she was trotted out to meet foreign journalists. The visits were monitored and controlled, her words scripted. She smiled and played her role, but the rage inside began to build and consume her.
"I wanted to escape that picture," she said. "I got burned by napalm, and I became a victim of war ... but growing up then, I became another kind of victim."
She turned to Cao Dai, her Vietnamese religion, for answers. But they didn't come.
"My heart was exactly like a black coffee cup," she said. "I wished I died in that attack with my cousin, with my south Vietnamese soldiers. I wish I died at that time so I won't suffer like that anymore ... it was so hard for me to carry all that burden with that hatred, with that anger and bitterness."
One day, while visiting a library, Phuc found a Bible. For the first time, she started believing her life had a plan. Then suddenly, once again, the photo that had given her unwanted fame brought opportunity. She traveled to West Germany in 1982 for medical care with the help of a foreign journalist. Later, Vietnam's prime minister, also touched by her story, made arrangements for her to study in Cuba.
She was finally free from the minders and reporters hounding her at home, but her life was far from normal. Ut, then working at the AP in Los Angeles, traveled to meet her in 1989, but they never had a moment alone. There was no way for him to know she desperately wanted his help again.
"I knew in my dream that one day Uncle Ut could help me to have freedom," said Phuc, referring to him by an affectionate Vietnamese term. "But I was in Cuba. I was really disappointed because I couldn't contact with him. I couldn't do anything."
While at school, Phuc met a young Vietnamese man. She had never believed anyone would ever want her because of the ugly patchwork of scars that banded across her back and pitted her arm, but Bui Huy Toan seemed to love her more because of them.
The two decided to marry in 1992 and honeymoon in Moscow. On the flight back to Cuba, the newlyweds defected during a refueling stop in Canada. She was free.
Phuc contacted Ut to share the news, and he encouraged her to tell her story to the world. But she was done giving interviews and posing for photos.
"I have a husband and a new life and want to be normal like everyone else," she said.
The media eventually found Phuc living near Toronto, and she decided she needed to take control of her story. A book was written in 1999 and a documentary came out, at last the way she wanted it told. She was asked to become a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador to help victims of war. She and Ut have since reunited many times to tell their story, even traveling to London to meet the Queen.
"Today, I'm so happy I helped Kim," said Ut, who still works for AP and recently returned to Trang Bang village. "I call her my daughter."
After four decades, Phuc, now a mother of two sons, can finally look at the picture of herself running naked and understand why it remains so powerful. It had saved her, tested her and ultimately freed her.
"Most of the people, they know my picture but there's very few that know about my life," she said. "I'm so thankful that ... I can accept the picture as a powerful gift. Then it is my choice. Then I can work with it for peace."
IDF Revolutionizes Tank Warfare with a New Shooting Technique
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Artillery Corps will implement groundbreaking changes in the upcoming weeks, significantly increasing tank firepower capabilities.
Strict security regulations were recently altered, enabling an entire company of tanks moving forward in a straight line to simultaneously fire at enemy targets. Prior to the modification, only the first tank in the line was permitted to fire when confronted with an enemy ahead. "As a result of cooperation within the Israeli Ground Forces, we were able to come up with a creative, outside the box idea that allows tanks to fire together in a row," explained Lt. Col. Avi Marks, Head of the Armored Corops' training department. "This enables incredible operational capabilities," he said.
Last week the Armored Corps held the first ever operational test of the new regulations, which define new shooting angles that enable simultaneous attacks.
Marine Corps Experiments With A New Rifle Company Design
Those who have read the December 2009 issue of the Marine Corps Gazette should already be familiar with The Rifle Company Experiment, written by Col. Vincent Goulding, USMC (ret). (Goulding is the Director, Experiment Division, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory.)
For those who have not, Goulding's article (h/t Potomac Institute for Policy Studies) shows how the Marine Corps is applying lessons learned from stabilization operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to the broad set of rifle company tasks and to amphibious landing force operations.
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) — Firing its 16-inch guns in the Arabian Sea, the U.S.S. Iowa shuddered. As the sky turned orange, a blast of heat from the massive guns washed over the battleship. This was the Iowa of the late 1980s, at the end of its active duty as it escorted reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran-Iraq war.
Some 25 years later, following years of aging in the San Francisco Bay area's "mothball fleet," the 887-foot long ship that once carried President Franklin Roosevelt to a World War II summit to meet with Churchill, Stalin and Chiang Kai Shek is coming to life once again as it is being prepared for what is most likely its final voyage.
Not far from where "Rosie the Riveters" built ships in the 1940s at the Port of Richmond, the 58,000-ton battlewagon is undergoing restoration for towing May 20 through the Golden Gate, then several hundred miles south to the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. There it is to be transformed into an interactive naval museum.
A fighter plane from World War II that crashed in the Sahara 70 years ago has been unearthed, and holds clues to a missing pilot.
The Telegraph reports that the intact American-made Curtiss Kittyhawk P-40, which had remained untouched since its crash landing in 1942, was discovered by a Polish oil company worker, Jakub Perka, who was exploring a remote region of the Western Desert in Egypt, about 200 miles from the nearest town.
It is believed that the airman, Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping, 24, initially survived the crash, because a parachute found at the scene looks to have been used as a makeshift shelter. But no trace of the body was found, leaving experts to believe the pilot walked away from the flight, then walked to his death in a hopeless attempt to find civilization.
Super Secret Hypersonic Aircraft Flew Out of Its Skin
It turns out that tearing through the atmosphere at 20 times the speed of sound is bad for the skin, even if you're a super high-tech aircraft developed by the government's best engineers at its far-out research agency.
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, has made public its best guess about what might have caused its unmanned arrowhead-shaped Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2) to suddenly lose contact and crash in the Pacific just a few minutes after slicing through the sky at Mach 20 last August: it was going so fast its skin peeled off.
OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian anti-Islamic fanatic Anders Behring Breivik told a court on Thursday that he used computer games to prepare for his attacks, once spending an entire year isolated from society playing a game for hours on end.
Breivik, on trial for massacring 77 people last July, said he spent "lots of time" playing Modern Warfare, a first-person shooting game, and also took an entire year off to play World of Warcraft, a multi-player role-playing game with more than 10 million subscribers.
"I don't really like those games but it is good if you want to simulate for training purposes," Breivik said as he discussed Modern Warfare, smiling when asked about the aiming system.
A relic of World War II -- a gun that's 66 feet long, weighs a quarter-million pounds and was powerful enough to hurl a more than 1-ton shell 23 miles -- will soon make its way to Cape Henlopen State Park by train.
And because the gun is in Norfolk, Va., it will make a 26-mile crossing of the Chesapeake Bay on a train barge run by Bay Coast Railroad. In all, three rail companies will be involved in moving the gun: Bay Coast, Norfolk Southern and the Delaware Coast Line.
Veterans and World War II re-enactors will be part of a celebration next week to welcome a huge naval cannon to its new resting place in Delaware.
WDEL-AM reports the giant armament was used on the USS Missouri during World War II. Its final destination is on the grounds of Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware. A dedication is scheduled Monday.
James Diehl with Southern Delaware Tourism says the cannon is 66-feet long and weighs 120 tons. He says it was on the USS Missouri when the Japanese surrendered in 1945 to end World War II.
On 5 November 1 RAR began the routine search-and-destroy operation, inserting by helicopter south of the Song Dong Nai at 08:00, while the US 1/503rd Battalion was inserted onto LZ King north-west of the Song Dong Nai and Song Be rivers at 11:00. The operation started badly for the Australians and Americans with the fly-in delayed. Despite a lengthy preparation by fire, a large Viet Cong force had been observed in the vicinity of LZ Queen prior to the insertion of the lead Australian rifle company—D Company under the command of Captain Peter Rothwell. The escorting helicopter gunships began taking small arms fire as they attempted to provide suppressing fire and Rothwell made the decision to activate the alternate landing zone to the north-east, LZ Princess. D Company was subsequently inserted safely and swept back to LZ Queen, securing it for the remainder of the battalion. By mid-morning 1 RAR occupied LZ Queen, with the 105 mm L5 Pack Howitzers of 105 Field Battery also flying-in to provide direct support. Augmenting the Australian gunners, the US 3/319 Artillery Battalion and 161st Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery occupied FSB Ace 4,000 metres (4,400 yd) further south.
1 RAR's scheme of manoeuver dictated that each company undertake a dispersed patrol program in their own Tactical Area of Responsibility, a fact which would allow them to search more ground, but limit their ability to concentrate combat power in the event of contact. A Company, under Major John Healy, patrolled east; B Company moved north along the Song Be to Xom Xoai, while D Company patrolled south. C Company remained at LZ Queen to protect 105 Field Battery which had established a fire support base (FSB). Over the next two days the Australians patrolled relentlessly through the leech-infested swamps and dense jungle. At midday on 6 November A Company received two mortar rounds which failed to do any damage, but marked the start of a series of minor clashes. A Company had a number of contacts during this time, with the Australians killing a Viet Cong scout for the loss of two wounded in one skirmish. A further contact soon after resulted in two more Viet Cong killed and one wounded. Intelligence gained from these incidents indicated the presence of a Viet Cong Main Force Regiment in the area, while documents recovered contained plans for attacks on ARVN outposts near Bien Hoa Airbase.
By nightfall on 7 November, despite the earlier contacts, no major actions had occurred in the Australian AO. With the rifle companies now several kilometers apart, A Company had patrolled into a network of well used roads and tracks that formed part of a branch of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Healy's men spent the night astride the tracks and would resume patrolling the following day along a track which led to Hill 82. Meanwhile, although unknown to them at the time, the US 1/503rd Battalion across the Song Dong Nai had patrolled to within 2,000 metres (2,200 yd) of a major Viet Cong bunker system sited on two spur lines in the vicinity of Hill 65.
Hill 82, 8 November 1965
Brumfield arrived by helicopter on the morning of 8 November, just as A Company was preparing to depart its night location at 08:00. With contact now seeming unlikely to the Australians, Healy was instructed to move to a rendezvous from which the battalion would be extracted back to Bien Hoa the following day. A Company subsequently set out on a compass bearing which would take them across the northern edge of the Gang Toi plateau. By 10:30 the Australians moved out in single file but had not gone far before a lone Viet Cong scout was observed shadowing them; he was subsequently shot and killed by the rear section. Crossing a creek line the Australians uncovered a company-sized camp of dugouts and trenches, before being fired upon at 15:40 by a single Viet Cong soldier who then fled. A Company halted briefly, and at this time two Viet Cong approached their position, before being killed by 1 Platoon.
The Australians continued in single file towards the top of the plateau, with 1 Platoon—under Sergeant Gordon Peterson—leading, followed by 2 and then 3 Platoons. The going was slow in the dense jungle and visibility was limited. By 16:30 the lead section was nearing the top of the hill having gone just 250 metres (270 yd), while the last platoon—3 Platoon—was still leaving the harbour. 1 Platoon was suddenly hit by heavy small arms fire from at least three Viet Cong machine-guns in well-sited bunkers, supported by rifles and grenades. The fire engulfed the lead section and platoon headquarters, causing five casualties in the opening minute. Pinned down, the Australians went to ground and began returning fire, allowing all except one of the wounded to crawl to safety. Private Richard Parker, who had fallen directly in front of the bunker system, was unable to be recovered. Failing to respond to the shouts of his comrades, Parker was exposed to further hits, although was probably already dead. To support the beleaguered platoon, Healy subsequently ordered the support section from company headquarters to move forward to provide covering fire, while 3 Platoon moved up on the left flank. However, due to the dispersed patrolling plan adopted, the remaining companies were unable to provide any assistance.
Still at the bottom of the hill, 3 Platoon—under Second Lieutenant Clive Williams—had just shot and killed two Viet Cong moving along the creek line. Reaching the top of the hill to the left of company headquarters, Williams turned to the right towards the Viet Cong positions. Moving into extended line on a 120 meters (130 yd) front the Australians had advanced just 50 metres (55 yd) before the left flank was engaged by a number of machine-guns from another sector of the Viet Cong position. In danger of being outflanked, 3 Platoon continued to advance regardless, using fire and movement. Just 15 meters (16 yd) from the bunkers Private Peter Gillson, the machine-gunner in the forward section, was shot has he tried to move around the twisted roots of a tall tree. As he fell two Viet Cong rushed forward to take the M60 machine-gun, however Gillson was still conscious and they were killed at point blank range before he collapsed. Williams radioed Healy of the increasing danger while his platoon sergeant—Sergeant Colin Fawcett—had crawled forward under heavy fire to Gillson, whose body was wedged in the buttress of a large tree. Unable to find a pulse, Fawcett attempted to extract Gillson, but was unable to do so due to heavy fire. Two other attempts to recover the body were also beaten back, and although unsuccessful, Fawcett was later awarded the Military Medal for his actions.
Taking heavy fire from both the front and flanks, Williams had little choice but to withdraw. With the Viet Cong moving rapidly to encircle them, and unable to move forward, the Australians had to fight hard using small arms fire and grenades to extract themselves back to company headquarters without further casualties. However, by this time the artillery was beginning to have an impact as A Company's Forward Observer, Captain Bruce Murphy, a New Zealander, directed the fires. The Australians had unavoidably been placed in the worst possible position to their supporting artillery, with 105 Battery firing on a line directly towards them from their gun-line 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) on the other side of the Gang Toi plateau. Consequently Murphy was unable to observe the fall of shot, and had to walk the rounds onto target by sound. A slight miscalculation could have sent a round over the hill into the Australian positions, regardless, and despite persistent rifle and machine-gun fire, Murphy calmly directed the artillery throughout the battle. For his skill and bravery he was later awarded the Military Cross.
By 18:30, more than two hours since the fighting began, darkness was approaching. The battalion would be unable to concentrate against the Viet Cong position until the following day, and Healy subsequently made the decision to withdraw. With the artillery falling as close as possible, the weight of the indirect fires provided the Australians with a degree of protection and an opportunity to extricate themselves. 2 Platoon—under Lieutenant Ian Guild—was subsequently moved into position to cover the withdrawal, and carrying their wounded the Australians successfully broke contact without suffering further losses. A Company initially moved to a landing zone 120 meters (130 yd) below the ridge line which had been cleared to allow the casualties to be evacuated, however there were no helicopters available. As a result the Australians would had to look after their casualties until the following morning, and they proceeded further north to a night harbour as the area was pounded by artillery, aerial bombing and helicopter gunships.
Healy assessed that his company had encountered a force of at least company-size. Later it became apparent that they had indeed contacted Company 238 which was tasked with protecting the U1 headquarters and to carry out operations in the Bien Hoa region. Throughout the day Viet Cong reconnaissance parties, perhaps including those that had been contacted intermittently, had observed the approaching Australian force on a line leading directly to the U1 headquarters. During the fighting the Viet Cong company commander—Nguyen Van Bao—had split his force into two, allocating one platoon to fight the advancing Australians, and the other two to protect the headquarters. Following the Australian withdrawal Van Bao had also withdrawn, preempting the ensuing barrage, yet the U1 base remained in communist hands.
Fighting across the Song Dong Nai
Meanwhile, across the river in the American AO the US 1/503rd Battalion had uncovered a large Viet Cong bunker system and became involved in fierce fighting that had included desperate hand-to-hand combat, with both sides resorting to using bayonets. Throughout the morning the Australians had heard the increasing crescendo of firing as the battle raged, however, as neither they nor the US 2/503rd Battalion had been called on to reinforce the US 1/503rd Battalion they had pressed on. The American paratroopers had contacted a well-equipped Viet Cong Main Force regiment, complete with khaki uniforms, steel helmets and Soviet automatic weaponry and small arms. The fighting across the Song Dong Nai continued into the afternoon, before subsiding into sporadic sniper and small arms fire in the later afternoon and early evening. During the fighting, Specialist Lawrence Joel—a medic—distinguished himself tending to his wounded comrades while under heavy fire. He was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor.
Brumfield demanded the right to return to Hill 82 in order to destroy the bunker system and to recover the bodies of Parker and Gillson, and he and Major John Essex-Clark—the Operations Officer—began planning a battalion attack. However, with American casualties rising and all available helicopters required for casualty evacuation, the planned operation was cancelled. The thick jungle canopy compounded the issue, and Williamson decided to stage the casualties through an area secured by the Australians at LZ Princess. Operation Hump concluded on 9 November, with the US 1/503rd Battalion and 1 RAR being extracted by helicopter and returning to Bien Hoa in the late afternoon. Following 1 RAR's return to Bien Hoa Brumfield continued to petition for permission to conduct the operation. A battalion attack was subsequently planned for 14 November, however Williamson later deferred it dependent on the availability of air and helicopter support, and the start date of the upcoming Operation New Life. Ultimately it was never conducted.
Casualties
The Battle of Gang Toi was the first set-piece action between Australian and Viet Cong forces in the Vietnam War. Australian casualties included two missing (presumed killed) and six wounded, and despite the efforts of their comrades, the bodies of the Australian dead were unable to be recovered. Against these losses the Viet Cong had suffered at least six killed, one wounded and five captured. Confronted by an equal sized force, dug-in in well-prepared defenses, the Australians had performed creditably enough even if they had been forced to withdraw, leaving the battlefield to the Viet Cong. Despite inflicting heavier casualties on the communists than they had suffered themselves, many of the Australians were depressed at having left two soldiers behind, and they longed for the opportunity to return to Gang Toi. In 2007, more than 40 years after the fighting, an Australian Vietnam veteran—Jim Bourke, MG—and a team of volunteers successfully located the remains of both Parker and Gillson. They had been hastily buried together in a weapon pit the day after the battle by Viet Cong soldiers, and with the assistance of the Australian and Vietnamese governments they were subsequently returned to Australia for burial. Assessment
Although A Company, 1 RAR had been mauled, the experience of the Australians at Gang Toi was relatively minor when compared to that of the Americans in Operation Hump. During fierce fighting the US 1/503rd Battalion had suffered nearly a 100 casualties, including 40 killed and 51 wounded, while more than 400 Viet Cong were believed killed. American claims were later raised to over 700 killed when captured documents revealed the losses caused by artillery and air strikes. Yet it was questionable as to whether such battles of attrition would be viable, while equally the American battalion had taken casualties far beyond what would have been politically acceptable for 1 RAR. Indeed, their losses had been significant, and although claimed as a victory, the Americans had failed to secure the area even if the Viet Cong had temporarily surrendered control of the battlefield. Ultimately, the communists continued to use the Bien Hoa area as a major supply route for the rest of the war.
Brumfield considered Operation Hump to be the least successful operation in which the Australian battalion had participated, and he criticized it as being badly conceived from the start, and mounted with too little intelligence or prior reconnaissance. Indeed from the initial landing zone being occupied by the Viet Cong, failures in the passage of information, the heavy losses suffered by the US 1/503rd Battalion and the subsequent difficulties with casualty evacuation, the operation had not run smoothly. The Australians were vengeful for their losses and wanted to return to collect their dead, however with 1 RAR absorbed into other operations the planned battalion attack on Hill 82 never occurred. Regardless, further operations followed in the months afterwards, with 1 RAR subsequently employed on Operation New Life in November and December, and later Operation Crimp in the Ho Bo Woods in January 1966. Operation Hump was Brumfield's last however, with an old football injury forcing his evacuation to Australia in mid-November. He was subsequently replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Alex Preece.
Operation Hump was a search and destroy operation initiated on 8 November 1965 by the 173rd Airborne Brigade, in an area about 17.5 miles (28.2 km) north of Bien Hoa. The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment deployed south of the Dong Nai River while the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, conducted a helicopter assault on an LZ northwest of the Dong Nai and Song Be Rivers. The objective was to drive out Viet Cong fighters who had taken position in several key hills. Little contact was made through 7 November, when B and C Companies settled into a night defensive position southeast of Hill 65, a triple-canopy jungle covered hill.
At about 0600 on the morning of 8 November C Company began a move northwest toward Hill 65, while B Company moved northeast toward Hill 78. Shortly before 0800, C Company was engaged by a sizable enemy force well dug in to the southern face of Hill 65, armed with machine guns and shotguns. At 0845, B Company was directed to wheel in place and proceed toward Hill 65 with the intention of relieving C Company, often relying on their combat knives and bayonets to repel daring close range attacks by small bands of masked Viet Cong fighters.
B Company reached the foot of Hill 65 at about 0930 and moved up the hill. It became obvious that there was a large enemy force in place on the hill, C Company was getting hammered, and by chance, B Company was forcing the enemy's right flank.
Under pressure from B Company's flanking attack the enemy force—most of a People's Liberation Armed Forces (Viet Cong) regiment—moved to the northwest, whereupon the B Company commander called in air and special napalm tipped (it's doubtful there were any napalm artillery shells, perhaps they mean white phosphorus shells) artillery fire on the retreating rebels. The shells scorched the foliage and caught many rebel fighters ablaze, exploding their ammunition and grenades they carried. B Company halted in place in an effort to locate and consolidate with C Company's platoons, managing to establish a coherent defensive line running around the hilltop from southeast to northwest, but with little cover on the southern side.
Meanwhile, the PLAF commander realized that his best chance was to close with the US forces so that the 173rd's air and artillery fire could not be effectively employed. PLAF troops attempted to out-flank the US position atop the hill from both the east and the southwest, moving his troops closer to the Americans. The result was shoulder-to-shoulder attacks up the hillside, hand-to-hand fighting, and isolation of parts of B and C Companies but the Americans held against two such attacks. Although the fighting continued after the second massed attack, it reduced in intensity as the PLAF troops again attempted to disengage and withdraw, scattering into the jungle to throw off the trail of pursuing US snipers. By late afternoon it seemed that contact had been broken off, allowing the two companies to prepare a night defensive position while collecting their dead and wounded in the center of the position. Although a few of the most seriously wounded were extracted by USAF helicopters using Stokes litters, the triple-canopy jungle prevented the majority from being evacuated until the morning of 9 November.
The result of the battle was heavy losses on both sides—48 Paratroopers dead, many wounded, and 403 dead PLAF troops.
Operation Hump is memorialized in a song by Big and Rich named 8th of November. The introduction, as read by Kris Kristofferson, is: “ On November 8th 1965, the 173rd Airborne Brigade on "Operation Hump", war zone "D" in Vietnam, were ambushed by over 1200 VC. Forty-eight American soldiers lost their lives that day. Severely wounded and risking his own life, Lawrence Joel, a medic, was the first living black man since the Spanish-American War to receive the United States Medal of Honor for saving so many lives in the midst of battle that day. Our friend, Niles Harris, retired 25 years United States Army, the guy who gave Big Kenny his top hat, was one of the wounded who lived. This song is his story. Caught in the action of kill or be killed, greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friend. ”
The final sentence is a reference to John 15:13 in the Bible.
An enormous, expensive and technology-laden warship that some Navy leaders once tried to kill because of its cost is now viewed as an important part of the Obama administration's Asia-Pacific strategy, with advanced capabilities that the Navy's top officer says represent the Navy's future.
The stealthy, guided-missile Zumwalt that's taking shape at Bath Iron Works is the biggest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy...
2/28 Infantry “Black Lions” of the 3rd (Iron) Brigade, 1st Infantry Division
Operation Shenandoah II was a 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) operation covering an area northeast of the Michelin rubber plantation.
The battle of Ong Thanh, located 5 miles east of the Michelin rubber plantation, where the Iron Triangle and War Zone C virtually merged, began on the morning of October 17th. It was one of the most costly enemy ambushes of the war. The ambush occurred near the boundary line between Binh Long and Binh Duong Province. As Alpha Company, 2/28 Infantry “Black Lions” of the 3rd (Iron) Brigade commanded by Lt. Colonel Terry Allen, Jr., whose father had led the Big Red One during World War II in North Africa and Sicily, searched the jungle for the elusive 271st VC regiment, enemy fire suddenly erupted from all sides. Colonel Allen was among those cut down in the first burst. When the battalion’s operations officer, Major Donald W. Hollander, who had been an All-American end at West Point in 1954, tried to reach the battalion to take command, he was also killed by VC fire. Although the 271st lost 106 men killed they took a heavy toll on the Black Lions of the 2/28: 57 killed, 75 wounded and 2 missing in action. Medevac helicopters were unable to land in the area on the 17th because of the overwhelming enemy fire.
Thanks to the efforts by the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division reconnaissance units Camp Rainier was put on amber or red alert every night in early November. Elements of the 101st VC Regiment had been spotted just east of Dau Tieng and there was a high probability that the enemy intended to attack and overrun Camp Rainier. Because of the closeness of Dau Tieng to the base camps southern perimeter 3rd Brigade command expected that the VC probe would focus on the 188th’s company area and the air field.
At 2100 hours on November 9th the 188th company area and airfield were hit with 167 rounds of 82mm mortar fire, heavy sniper fire and a ground attack by elements of the 101st VC Regiment that had earlier infiltrated the village of Dau Tieng. Prior to the ground attack on the base camp VC sappers infiltrated the concertina wire and slit the throats of four soldiers from an artillery unit who were asleep in a bunker next to the southwest main gate and then blew the gate off.
The first mortar rounds hit close to the orderly room wounding Major Charles M. Graham, Captain James W. Searcy, Captain Maurice Charbonneau and the 154th Medical Detachment flight surgeon Captain Phillip A. Snodgrass.
They had at least 58 M60 machine guns dispersed along the company perimeter line plus two .50 caliber machine guns that Top had scrounged from the Special Forces in exchange for M60 parts. One was positioned at bunker number one at the southwest main gate and the other was set up on top of bunker number four, which was the closest bunker to the village. When “Charlie” started cutting through the concertina wire Top gave the order to his young aviators to open fire and the entire perimeter opened up on the village as flares exploded overhead. A VC sniper on the roof of one of the closest structures to the perimeter was lit up by a flare exploding above his position and as he looked up, it was the last thing he ever did.
During the battle the 2/12 Infantry sent soldiers out through the southern perimeter for a pincer movement and as the grunts very slowly made their way through the village parallel to the base camp’s perimeter they started receiving friendly fire from the 188th’s position. At that point orders came down for the 188th to cease fire because of the friendly troops to their front.
The next morning the 2/12 Infantry swept the village again and soldiers from Graves Registration counted 214 dead VC in the village. The bodies were laid out on the road that leads from the Southwest main gate into the village of Dau Tieng.
The Commander of the 101st VC regiment figured that his soldiers would have no problem infiltrating the village and breaching the base camp’s southern perimeter overrun the 188th company area and air field. They would then link up with other VC elements that had infiltrated Camp Rainier’s perimeter. He didn’t realize that an aviation company could muster more fire power than an infantry company. The M60D machine gun was the most dependable weapon in the Army arsenal and the 188th had a bunch.
The aftermath of the attack resulted in a weeklong siege of a Viet Cong regimental-sized base camp found by the 3rd Brigade, 25 Infantry Division troops southeast of Dau Tieng and the destruction of the enemy bastion. Twenty-eight VC were killed by heavy air strikes, artillery, Spider gunship’s and the 2/22 (Triple Deuce) mechanized infantry. Over 400 bunkers, 250 two-man spider holes, and 1,500 meters of trench line were destroyed in the spider web-like base camp.
According to 3rd Brigade Commander Colonel Kenneth E. Buell, the base camp was a key to an expected attack on the Vietnamese District Headquarters located in Dau Tieng by the 101st VC Regiment. Papers found among eight of the enemy who were killed in an ambush indicated that the 101st was massing in the area. In eight days over 30 air strikes and thousands of rounds of artillery out of Camp Rainier smashed into the 900 by 800 meter entrenchments. Many bunkers were 10x10x6 feet in size and had 3 feet of overhead cover protecting the VC who were found in the base camp.
The first day the camp was discovered, Bravo and Charlie Companies from the Triple Deuce uncovered 100 bunkers before intense enemy small arms and RPG rocket fire forced their withdrawal. The Air Force then pounded the area until it was a veritable dust heap.
Returning to the camp, a grenade factory, complete with crude furnace, hand and rifle grenade molds, VC claymore molds, scrap metal, and 300 wooden sand casting frames were found and destroyed. Twelve-hundred ponds of rice, a small number of grenades and ammunition, typewriter, clothes and documents were captured. Twenty dead VC were found within the camp, either in shallow graves or in the blasted undergrowth. Another eight VC, part of a mortar squad that had mortared the battalion command post, were killed by an ambush patrol from C/2/22.
During the Black Widows eight-month stay at Camp Rainier numerous VC tunnels were discovered under the 188th company area and airfield. The VC tunneled in from the homes of VC sympathizers in the village of Dau Tieng. The tunnels were dug under the 188th’s company area and the WEB air field. Some of these tunnels were found after the enemy’s rocket and mortar attacks caved in their own tunnels and were subsequently destroyed by the 25th I.D. Before and during Tet ’68 a number of tunnels were found in the company area. One of the Vietnamese day workers was arrested when he was spotted hauling dirt away from a tunnel excavation being dug in the company area. Unfortunately the VC successfully used other tunnels in early 1969 after the 188th had moved north to LZ Sally.
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