Monday, May 29, 1972
Defenders Mangle Reds At My Chanh
by Mort Rosenblum
MY CHANH, Vietnam (AP) --Defenders mangled attacking North Vietnamese Saturday for the fifth time this week and U.S. advisers began talking about victory on the northern front. "We just have to hang on another three weeks," said one senior American officer. "We'll know in 72 hours what they intend to do about Hue." South Vietnamese marines, paratroopers and rangers are holding a long defensive line centered at this bombed-out village on a river 20-25 miles northwest of Hue and roughly at the southern edge of occupied Quang Tri Province. North Vietnamese regulars, moving south in their two-month-old offensive, have made their biggest advances along the "Street Without Joy" east of here, where about 1,500 rangers strained to hold them. Air strikes Friday night ended that threat, military officers claimed. "We just called in a B52, and now it's all quiet," said one. "There were two enemy tanks in there, and we didn't bother to warn them first." North Vietnamese crossed the river just west of My Chanh before dawn Saturday in what defenders called a suicidal attack. Some two battalions of perhaps 1,000 men had been repulsed the morning before. South Vietnamese marines claimed they have killed more than 900 attackers in three days with everything from heavy artillery to hand grenades. South Vietnamese losses probably were near 100 killed. Marines trapped one enemy squad south of the river in the latest fighting. They were preparing to clean them out with flame-throwers, although sporadic rocket and artillery fire continued along government lines. Aircraft knocked out two more Communist tanks north of the river Saturday, depleting further the heavily pounded tank fleet. Advisers acknowledge a threat remained to the west, through hilly, tree-covered areas out of naval gunfire range. But two brigades of airborne troops with air support moved to seal off the area. "Just when Charlie was getting away with his wounded from My Chanh yesterday, he ran smack into the airborne," said a U.S. colonel in Hue. "Fate is a funny thing." He went on: "We should stop emphasizing the air effort and give credit to the little guys on the ground. If they can't do it, we'll be here forever. They are doing the job with their own assets." He indicated, however, there may be reinforcements moving down from North Vietnam. But he said defenders aren't worried. When Dong Ha and Quang Tri fell to the North Vietnamese he said, the assaults were preceded by an hour of devastating 130mm artillery fire. Now only a few 130 rounds are fired-and never when air spotters are around to pinpoint the artillery positions for air attacks. Officers at My Chanh reported North Vietnam's 88th Regiment has moved down to join the 66th, but no one knows their actual strength. "I'd admire their guts if it wasn't so stupid, so completely insane," said one Marine. Referring to Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, the Hanoi military chief, he said: "Although Gen. Giap is excellent at planning and tactics, I get the idea that once he makes up his mind to go, he just goes no matter what. They're getting wiped out." Despite the new optimism, there are indications the North Vietnamese are regrouping to the North. The confidence appears built around a renewed morale and willingness to fight by the South Vietnamese as well as signs of disorder among the North Vietnamese. They've never laid on so much naval gunfire," said one adviser. "Desertion is very, very low. The South Vietnamese Marines were never stronger, and the enemy are just not going together. Maybe the old pipeline is drying and the attrition rate is too high.""Defenders Mangle Reds at My Chanh", by Mort Rosenblum, published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Monday, May 29, 1972 and reprinted form European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.