The Long Walk Home - Battle of the Slopes - Campaign Series Vietnam 1948-1967
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| Rating: | 0 (0) |
| Games Played: | 0 |
| SM: | 2 |
| Turns: | 15 |
| Type: | Stock |
| First Side: | US |
| Second Side: | N. Vietnam |
Jason Petho
21 June, 1967
[Dak To, Kon Tum Province, South Vietnam]: [SIDE A] [HIS] [CSL]:
In the Central Highlands, the North Vietnamese put Kontum Provinces isolation to good use. One spur of the Ho Chi Minh Trail emptied into Base Area 609, a supply depot near the junction of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, the so-called tri-border area.
In 1967 Base Area 609 grew into a major military way station, on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
In May, as the rainy season began, intelligence believed that North Vietnamese forces in the base area were growing in strength, hoping to draw the Americans back into the highlands and to establish new infiltration routes to the coast. By June it appeared that the intelligence was correct.
On June 17th a battalion of the 24th Regiment attacked the compound of the 24th Special Tactical Zone at Kontum City and the headquarters of the South Vietnamese 42nd Regiment at Tan Canh and the Special Forces camp at Dak To with mortars and rockets.
These heavy enemy contacts prompted 4th Division Headquarters to request reinforcement, and as a result, later on 17 June, two battalions of the 173rd Airborne Brigade were moved into the Dak To area to begin sweeping the jungle-covered mountains in Operation Greeley.
The 173rd had been operating near Bien Hoa Air Base outside Saigon and had been in combat only against Viet Cong guerrillas.
Prior to its deployment to the highlands, the 4th Divisions operations officer had attempted to warn the Airborne officers of the hazards of campaigning in the Highlands and advised them that PAVN regulars were a much better equipped and motivated force than the Viet Cong.
A and C Companies of the 2nd/503rd were airlifted onto a steep hill near Hill 1338 on June 21. Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment discovered the bodies of a CIDG unit that had been missing for four days and found several indications of extensive enemy activity and presence throughout the area south of Dak To.
With orders to return to Dak To on foot, on the morning of 22 June Company A and Company C, 2nd/503rd Airborne left their night position and began moving north down adjacent finger-like ridges line planning to close into the 173rd Airborne Brigade Command Post at Dak To late that afternoon.
Soon after moving out of their night location, the point squad of Company A engaged 10-15 PAVN to their front. The PAVN unit was from the 6th Battalion, 24th Regiment which had also got an early start that morning, apparently intent on returning to Laos after its June 17th attack against Tan Canh.
The long walk back to their respective camps had been cut short as the firefight intensified.
[ALL, NO VV] [CSEE, Variable Objectives] [1.00]
21 June, 1967
[Dak To, Kon Tum Province, South Vietnam]: [SIDE A] [HIS] [CSL]:
In the Central Highlands, the North Vietnamese put Kontum Provinces isolation to good use. One spur of the Ho Chi Minh Trail emptied into Base Area 609, a supply depot near the junction of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, the so-called tri-border area.
In 1967 Base Area 609 grew into a major military way station, on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
In May, as the rainy season began, intelligence believed that North Vietnamese forces in the base area were growing in strength, hoping to draw the Americans back into the highlands and to establish new infiltration routes to the coast. By June it appeared that the intelligence was correct.
On June 17th a battalion of the 24th Regiment attacked the compound of the 24th Special Tactical Zone at Kontum City and the headquarters of the South Vietnamese 42nd Regiment at Tan Canh and the Special Forces camp at Dak To with mortars and rockets.
These heavy enemy contacts prompted 4th Division Headquarters to request reinforcement, and as a result, later on 17 June, two battalions of the 173rd Airborne Brigade were moved into the Dak To area to begin sweeping the jungle-covered mountains in Operation Greeley.
The 173rd had been operating near Bien Hoa Air Base outside Saigon and had been in combat only against Viet Cong guerrillas.
Prior to its deployment to the highlands, the 4th Divisions operations officer had attempted to warn the Airborne officers of the hazards of campaigning in the Highlands and advised them that PAVN regulars were a much better equipped and motivated force than the Viet Cong.
A and C Companies of the 2nd/503rd were airlifted onto a steep hill near Hill 1338 on June 21. Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment discovered the bodies of a CIDG unit that had been missing for four days and found several indications of extensive enemy activity and presence throughout the area south of Dak To.
With orders to return to Dak To on foot, on the morning of 22 June Company A and Company C, 2nd/503rd Airborne left their night position and began moving north down adjacent finger-like ridges line planning to close into the 173rd Airborne Brigade Command Post at Dak To late that afternoon.
Soon after moving out of their night location, the point squad of Company A engaged 10-15 PAVN to their front. The PAVN unit was from the 6th Battalion, 24th Regiment which had also got an early start that morning, apparently intent on returning to Laos after its June 17th attack against Tan Canh.
The long walk back to their respective camps had been cut short as the firefight intensified.
[ALL, NO VV] [CSEE, Variable Objectives] [1.00]
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