bobdina
06-30-2009, 11:23 AM
June 30, 1970 - U.S. troops withdraw from Cambodia. Over 350 Americans died during the incursion.
DAU TIENG - Fifty-Six North Vietnamese soldiers died in two hard days of battle in the Crescent area west of Dau Tieng with elements of the 3d Brigade.
A large, black puff erupted in the woodline, and a spinning piece of shrapnel snapped into a tree behind First Lieutenant Arne Laasko, his radio-telephone operator and a medic.
“The planes are coming in from the south - because of the sun. I guess we’d better get down into that bomb crater for a little more cover,” he said.
Laasko and his platoon from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Wolfhounds, plus three other infantry companies from the Wolfhounds and 2d Battalion (Mechanized), 22d Infantry were waiting, close to the ground, to charge the woodline in the jungle area known as the Crescent.
The day before, Bravo Company Wolfhounds and Charlie Company Triple Deuce had run into stiff opposition from what is estimated to have been an enemy battalion. Charlie Company Wolfhounds and Bravo Company Triple Deuce were called in to reinforce the other two companies when they began receiving heavy mortar fire.
“IT WAS TOUGH going in there for awhile,” said Laasko, of Conueaut, Ohio. “We started receiving small arms, automatic weapons, RPG and machinegun fire about 2:30 p.m. The enemy was entrenched in well-fortified bunkers, and it was hard to get at him.”
Now the combined four-company force was advancing toward the contact area again, in hopes of ferreting out any enemy stragglers and uncovering weapons and food caches.
“We’ve gotten things pretty well under control now,” said Laasko as he led his men, the lead platoon, into the thickly vegetated woodline. “There may be a few snipers in here, but I think the main force is destroyed. I don’t see how anyone could have lived through the series of air strikes and artillery bombardment our support units have given us.”
A SERIES OF 12 tactical air strikes and more than 3,200 artillery rounds were spent on the area during the initial contact. One detainee, taken by Bravo Company Wolfhounds, later told them that precise artillery fire had routed the enemy unit from his bunkers.
During the second-day sweep, an additional 17 enemy soldiers were found lying in bunkers where they had died, bringing the total body count for the two-day operation to 56.
The sweep force also picked up four AK-47 assault rifles, two SKS carbines, one complete 82mm mortar, one complete 60mm mortar, two machineguns, a .51 caliber machinegun mounted on wheels, four pounds of documents, eight RPG rounds, six Chicom hand grenades and an assortment of medical and personal supplies.
DAU TIENG - Fifty-Six North Vietnamese soldiers died in two hard days of battle in the Crescent area west of Dau Tieng with elements of the 3d Brigade.
A large, black puff erupted in the woodline, and a spinning piece of shrapnel snapped into a tree behind First Lieutenant Arne Laasko, his radio-telephone operator and a medic.
“The planes are coming in from the south - because of the sun. I guess we’d better get down into that bomb crater for a little more cover,” he said.
Laasko and his platoon from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Wolfhounds, plus three other infantry companies from the Wolfhounds and 2d Battalion (Mechanized), 22d Infantry were waiting, close to the ground, to charge the woodline in the jungle area known as the Crescent.
The day before, Bravo Company Wolfhounds and Charlie Company Triple Deuce had run into stiff opposition from what is estimated to have been an enemy battalion. Charlie Company Wolfhounds and Bravo Company Triple Deuce were called in to reinforce the other two companies when they began receiving heavy mortar fire.
“IT WAS TOUGH going in there for awhile,” said Laasko, of Conueaut, Ohio. “We started receiving small arms, automatic weapons, RPG and machinegun fire about 2:30 p.m. The enemy was entrenched in well-fortified bunkers, and it was hard to get at him.”
Now the combined four-company force was advancing toward the contact area again, in hopes of ferreting out any enemy stragglers and uncovering weapons and food caches.
“We’ve gotten things pretty well under control now,” said Laasko as he led his men, the lead platoon, into the thickly vegetated woodline. “There may be a few snipers in here, but I think the main force is destroyed. I don’t see how anyone could have lived through the series of air strikes and artillery bombardment our support units have given us.”
A SERIES OF 12 tactical air strikes and more than 3,200 artillery rounds were spent on the area during the initial contact. One detainee, taken by Bravo Company Wolfhounds, later told them that precise artillery fire had routed the enemy unit from his bunkers.
During the second-day sweep, an additional 17 enemy soldiers were found lying in bunkers where they had died, bringing the total body count for the two-day operation to 56.
The sweep force also picked up four AK-47 assault rifles, two SKS carbines, one complete 82mm mortar, one complete 60mm mortar, two machineguns, a .51 caliber machinegun mounted on wheels, four pounds of documents, eight RPG rounds, six Chicom hand grenades and an assortment of medical and personal supplies.