Plei Me Ambush - Divided Ground - Vietnam

It was along this four kilometer stretch of Route 5 that the ARVN relief column sent to counter the attack on the Plei Me Special Forces Camp was ambushed by the 635th NVA Battalion, the 344th NVA Battalion, and the 966th NVA Battalion, all part of the 32nd NVA Regiment. The ARVN relief column was comprised of the ARVN 3rd Armored Cavalry Squadron and contained six M-41 "Walker Bulldog" light tanks mounting 76mm main guns, a company of infantry mounted in M-113 amored personnel carriers, two towed 105mm howitzers, and the thin-skinned vehicles of the squadron trains. The ARVN 22nd Ranger Battalion was heli-lifted to the area where the ARVN and American Advisors expected the inevitable NVA ambush to occur. In fact the ARVN Rangers landed without incident less than two thousand meters from the actual positions of the 635th Battalion but they never moved off their LZ and were therefore not a factor in the events that followed. The NVA sprung the ambush when the column entered the kill-zone. But the ARVN did not react the way the NVA anticpated. The M-41 tanks fired cansister rounds and caliber .50 machine guns into the attackers and inflicted serious casualties on them. Caliber .50 fire from the M-113s also was directed into the NVA positions inflicting more casualties. Tactical air strikes were conducted by U.S. Air Force F-100 Super Sabres on the NVA positions with devastating results for the NVA. While the thin-skinned vehicles at the rear of the convoy were less fortunate, the NVA failed in their attempt to ambush the relief force.