Operation Toan Thang I

    No Vietnam campaign has more dramatically demonstrated how Tropic Lightning has taken the war into the enemy's backyard than has operation Toan Thang I. This multi-division operation took them to the very edges of the25th Infantry Division's area of operations.

    One moment they probed the triple canopied fringes of War Zone C. The next they drew a tight cordon about the gigantic Tan Son Nhut Air Base. Then the men with the Lightning patch firmly stood their ground in the face of withering enemy assault several miles north of the extensive Michelin Rubber Plantation.       Moments later, they fought their way across hedgerows and rice paddies a mere five miles south of Camp Cu Chi where a desperate enemy was pinned against an impassable swamp.

    During the course of the 54-day operation, 3,542 enemy soldiers fell dead before Tropic Lightning's fury. This fact in itself should prove that the 25th's soldiers left little chance as they tracked their foe the length and breadth of their operational zone.

    Running its course from 12 April 1968 to 31 May, Operation Toan Thang I was a coordinated campaign involving US, Vietnamese, Australian and Thailand armed forces. Up to then, it was the largest operation in terms of participating troops that the Vietnam conflict had known.

  At 20 minutes past 4 o'clock on a dark, silent Good Friday morning, 11 April 1968, all hell broke loose for the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regulars manning a night defensive position in jungle, 13 miles north of Dau Tieng Base Camp. An unknown number of mortar rounds rained down on the Regulars. As the intensity of incoming rounds increased, a multi-battalion force of NVA and Viet Cong soldiers swarmed toward the perimeter in a virtual human wave.

    The Bravo Company sector of the perimeter bore the brunt of the assault. Company Commander 1st Lieutenant Richard J. Prarie later said it looked pretty bad for his men in the early going. The intensity of the attack caused many of his men to pull back from their original positions.

    “I pulled what men I could muster back to my CP area,” Prarie said, “and with the support of the recon platoon, as the night progressed, we retook all our bunkers.”

    Tropic Lightning soldiers were determined to stand their ground. Aided by artillery, helicopter gun ships, and USAF tactical air strikes, they did just that.

    Before the fighting ended, the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry had worked its way through six kilometers of jungle to reinforce their sister battalion.

    When the fighting finally subsided, the enemy had fled, leaving 155 dead comrades behind. Sixteen US Infantrymen died in the attack and 47 were wounded.

    Tropic Lightning soldiers weren't fighting the enemy alone. The little-hailed artillerymen did his bit as well. Tropic Lightning's big guns slammed a whopping 85,000 rounds into the enemy from 29 April to 12 May. Whether supporting troops in contact, destroying enemy positions and fortifications or harassing and interdicting, Tropic Lightning's Redlegs were also taking the war to Charlie.

    A multi-battalion task force of Tropic Lightning soldiers was formed on 3 May and moved before dark into a semi-circular blocking position pinning an estimated 400-500 enemy soldiers against a large, open swamp five miles south of Camp Cu Chi.

    Throughout the night and for the next three days Tropic Lightning soldiers-with substantial support from division artillery, helicopter gun ships, and Air Force tactical fighters-kept the pressure on Charlie. By the time they had pushed completely through the enemy position, 285 dead NVA soldiers had been found on the battlefield.

    The task force moved on to new and scattered battlefields during the next 19 days, pursuing Viet Cong forces across the division's area of operations past Trang Bang, and into the Boi Loi and Ho Bo Woods. It disbanded 25 May 1968 after having amassed a total of more than 600 enemy killed in 23 days.

    Battalion-sized task force elements included the2nd Battalion, 34th Armor; 4th Battalion (Mech), 23rd Infantry; 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry and 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry. Companies from other battalions of the division were assigned to the task force for portions of the operation.

    Meanwhile, the Viet Cong had mounted a long-awaited second offensive a long-awaited second offensive on Saigon, meeting much less success than had come their way during Tet. In what was probably their do-or-die final push on the capital city, a Viet Cong battalion locked horns with the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry on 27 May 1968. The Infantrymen's night defensive position, a little over a mile west of the city limits, came under attack before midnight. Supported by division artillerymen, gun ships, and an Air Force “Spooky,” they managed to keep the Viet Cong pinned down overnight.

    In the morning, the3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry joined the23rd Infantry in an advance, which carried, through the enemy positions. By late afternoon all resistance had ceased; 218 Viet Cong lay dead on the battlefield, their second offensive having died with them. American casualties were six dead.

    Four days later, Toan Thang I came to a close. The men with the Lightning patch had met the enemy on his ground and had whipped him soundly.