Task Force Dragoon - Divided Ground - Vietnam

Minh Thanh, 20km SW of An Loc, Binh Long Province, III CTZ (Best played as US). Operating with South Vietnamese forces, the U.S. 1st Infantry Division mounted a series of operations in eastern War Zone C during June and July 1966. The purpose was to open Route 13 from Saigon to Loc Ninh in Binh Long Province and to destroy elements of the 9th Viet Cong Division. The 9th was reported to be massing to seize the province capital of An Loc and several district capitals. Encouraged by two earlier successes of the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, Major General William E. DePuy, 1st Infantry Division commander, directed development of a plan to lure the enemy into attacking an armored cavalry column. Colonel Sidney B. Berry, Jr., 1st Brigade commander, prepared a two-phased flexible plan that could be easily modified for attacks on either Route 13 or the Minh Thanh Road. Five possible enemy ambush positions were selected during the planning, and, as it turned out, the site selected as the most likely was where the enemy struck. To increase the chances that the enemy would attack, rumors were circulated for the benefit of Viet Cong agents that a small armored column would escort an engineer bulldozer and several supply trucks from Minh Thanh to An Loc on 9 July. The true size of the force, called Task Force DRAGOON, was a well-kept secret; actually it was composed of Troops B and C, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, and Company B, 1st Battalion, 2d Infantry. SOURCES: Vietnam Studies: Mounted Combat in Vietnam. NOTES: for a better simulation, the US player should move his armored column down the road as far as the maximum movement allowance of the slower units (that is, the Patton tanks) during turn 1 and 2 so as to be in the ambush area at start of turn 3 (I had to use this trick because the AI player is not really good at setting up ambushes)