OP Toan Tang II

Toan Thang II began 1 June 1968 and was in full swing when the Tropic Lightning Division closed out its 27th year. It included a large number of Vietnamese and US forces and the entire III Corps tactical zone.

The second and third days of the operation belonged to 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry gunship crewmen operating along the Saigon River. They turned up an entrenched enemy force and a cache of 27 122mm rockets, and two 122mm rocket launchers. Aided by division artillerymen, the cavalrymen destroyed the rockets, launchers, and 38 Viet Cong.

Three days later 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Manchu's, supported by division cannoneers, turned a hot LZ five miles north of Saigon into a substantial victory killing 36 NVA soldiers.

The Wolfhounds took over. An estimated NVA battalion bombarded a 2nd Battalion 27th Infantry night location seven miles northwest of Saigon and the launched a savage pre-dawn attack. For 2.5 hours the enemy pressed the attack in the face of withering counter fire, which included exploding artillery scant meters before the Second Wolfhounds' emplacements. When they fled, 56 of their comrades were left on the battlefield. One of the Wolfhounds told MG F.K. Mearns hours later that he couldn't understand how he and his buddies survived the fray. Responded the CG, “You're still here because you were better than they were.”

The First Wolfhounds two days later turned up a cache of 32 122mm rocket warheads, 88 82mm mortar rounds, 88RPG-2 rounds and seven RPG-7 launchers. The following day they struggled with an unknown sized Viet Cong force in the same Hoc Mon Canal neighborhood where the cache had been found. Infantrymen, artillerymen, helicopter and USAF pilots together accounted for 44 enemy dead.

Headlines on 21-23 June 1968 concerned the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division; under operational control of the 25th division to re-place the Tropic Lightning's own 3rd Brigade, which had been temporarily attached to the Capital Military Assistance Command (CMAC) at Saigon. Fighting near the Cambodian border nine miles southwest of Trang Bang, the following day they uncovered 110 RPG-2 rounds and 106 recoilless rifle rounds.

Then came a lull, Lightning soldiers searched diligently for the next month and a half, finding tons of munitions, food and clothing. Occasionally they found the enemy but rather than fight, he ran.

As a consequence, the only major conflict during July occurred before dawn 4 July when an estimated two reinforced companies took on Dau Tieg Base Camp. They directed 550 mortars and rockets into the compound. During an accompanying ground attack, five members of the mixed NVA-Viet Cong force cut the wire entanglement on the western perimeter and were racing toward the bunker-line when the defenders felled them

The successful defense was a tribute to 3rd brigade support troops who manned the majority of the bunkers. Most of the brigade's tactical units were operating around Saigon at the time, leaving mostly cooks, clerks and truck drivers to keep the home fires burning.

In early August while the fighting lull engulfed South Vietnam, 25th Infantry Division intelligence officers began receiving information indicating a major offensive against Tay Ninh City. Division strategists and ARVN planners drew up a detailed defense plan for the provincial capital and surrounding military installations.

Then the game of hide and seek was over! On 17 August 1968, the 1st Brigade's Tay Ninh Base Camp shook to the sound of exploding mortar and rocket shells. The shelling was apparently from the major NVA-Viet Cong objectives.

Four miles north of Tay Ninh City, Tropic Lightning soldiers at Fire Support Base Buell II were under mortar and rocket attack also. As the intensity of the fire increased, NVA soldiers tried to overrun the American camp.

Tropic Lightning units deployed in blocking positions around the city as Vietnamese forces moved through flushing out the enemy. In the southeastern portion of the city, elements of the 4th Battalion (Mech), 23rd Infantry and the 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry killed 12 enemies.

Meanwhile 1st Battalion (Mech), 5th Infantry soldiers departed Dau Tieng Base Camp to clear the road to Tay Ninh. Entering the Ben Cui Rubber Plantation, 2.5 miles southwest of Dau Tieng, the Bobcats encountered an NVA force whose apparent mission was to block any force to reinforce Tay Ninh. For six hours the Bobcats clawed the hapless enemy force killing 42.

The following morning at 9:30 a.m. after an uneventful night, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry troops, moving east down Highway 26 came under fire from an enemy force entrenched in rice paddies along the road; 34 enemy died in the six hour clash.

Before Three-Quarter Horsemen could polish off their foe, the Bobcats were again attacked while moving through the Ben Cui Rubber Plantation. With artillery aid, infantrymen mauled the attackers, 67 of whom perished.

Tuesday, 20 August 1968, a platoon-sized patrol stole the show. It started at 1:05 a.m., when the patrol opened up on six Viet Cong moving in front of their position six miles northwest of Tay Ninh. Immediately the platoon was besieged with small arms automatic weapons and RPG fire from three sides.

When his patrol leader was wounded, Sergeant Paul Lambers took charge. To mark their own position for air support, Lambers directed his men to burn anything they could including personal clothing and boots. After four hours of intense fighting, the enemy force withdrew and 57 of their comrades were found dead immediately after the fighting; 45 more were found during the next three days, bringing the total enemy dead to 102.

Wednesday's activity shifted back to Ben Cui and the 1st Battalion (Mech), 5th Infantry. At 12:54 p.m. the Bobcats were advancing through the rubber when an enemy battalion met them head on. For 90 minutes the enemy launched three human wave attacks on the Bobcats. Supported by artillery, gun ships and air strikes the Bobcats made short work of their foe killing 182.

Two Tropic Lightning fire support bases were attacked shortly after 1:a.m. Thursday, sixty attackers died at Buell II as they charged into point-blank artillery barrages and 25 perished at Fire Support Base Rawlings, two miles east of Tay Ninh City.

Scattered contacts involving Fire Support Base Rawlins, the1st Battalion (Mech), 5th Infantry and the attacked 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne division accounted for more than 190 enemy dead in August's final five days.

A brief lull in the fighting ended before dawn on 11 September 1968, when the Ben Cui Rubber Plantation erupted to exploding mortar shells. The night defensive position of the 1st Battalion (Mech), 5th Infantry three miles south of Dau Tieng was the target of an estimated enemy battalion. The Bobcats called in artillery, counter-attacked and in three hours killed 99 enemies.

Two days later the enemy hit Buell II hard. A mortar barrage estimated at more than 50 incoming rounds a minute at peak intensity hit the camp at 1:50 a.m. Waves of attackers flung themselves at the position. More than 1,000 105 mm howitzer shells were hurled into their faces from point-blank range by 2nd Battalion, 13th Artillery. Other defenders from the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry and 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry added firepower. The enemy fled three hours later leaving 76 dead behind.

Another Cu Chi to Tay Ninh convoy was hit on 12 September; the pre-dawn attack routine was re-played against the guns at Fire Support Base Pope 15 miles northwest of Cu Chi. Screaming Eagles from the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne division, still opcon to the 25th Division, conducted the defense. The final count was 131 enemies dead.

The last actions for Tropic Lightning soldiers during their 27th year occurred on 20 September. The day opened with a mortar and ground attack against the Bobcats' night defensive position on the edge of the Ben Cui Rubber Plantation. The attack began at five minutes past midnight, lasted three hours and cost the attackers 37 dead.

Twenty-eight more enemies died the same day in a two-hour battle with 4th Battalion (Mech), 23rd Infantry and 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry soldiers eight miles southeast of Tay Ninh City.

Ten days of moderate activity brought Tropic Lightning's 27th year to a close. More than 3,700 enemy soldiers had challenged Lightning and died since Operation Toan Thang II began.

On 8 December 1968, Alpha and Bravo Companies of the 1st Battalion (Mech), 5th Infantry pulled into their night laager position in the Ho Bo Woods in the midst of a sweep of that area. The enemy, caught in the closing net, attacked at night with rocket propelled grenades and rifle fire. The Bobcats sprung out of their position in pursuit, capturing weapons and engaging the escaping squads. Through the following day and night the enemy was pressed back, stumbling over itself, and under heavy artillery fire dispersed. The main element was located again the next day and the Bobcats moved in backed by air strikes and more artillery in a battle that ran late into the night. The base camp had been discovered: several bunkers and 30 surrounding spider holes. Enemy weapons, ammunition, and supplies were captured as the remnants of the unit fled into the surrounding jungle.

At 7:30. on the morning of a routine sweep in mid-February, the 3rd Squadron, 4th Armored Cavalry discovered extensive bunkers and tunnels in the Boi Loi Woods, south of Dau Tieng. Efforts to investigate were greeted by enemy rifle and machine gun fire. The cavalry attacked the complex in their tanks and armored personnel carriers, first head on and then from the flank as enemy rifle fire and rocket propelled grenades exploded around them. With the tanks 90mm guns, the cavalry pounded the bunkers and spider holes lining the road, a hand grenade lobbed out of one of the enemy bunkers landed on the road between two tracks. Captain Melvyn Moss of Kingston, New York, pulled the pin on one of his grenades and threw it into the bunker.

The NVA soldier in the bunker threw it back and it exploded in the air. A tank was stopped by an RPG round, until SP4 John Johnson of Philadelphia and PFC Donald Harris of West Point, Virginia, dashed through the heaviest fire to drive it out of the way of the tracks behind. The gunner on the tank never stopped firing.

As Tet 1969 approached, and with it the prospect of a new enemy offensive, the division redoubled its efforts to disrupt and disperse the enemy and capture his supplies. At the heart of the enemy's resupply and reinforcement system in Tay Ninh Province stood Nui Ba Den, a lone craggy mountain on the fringe of the triple canopy jungles of War Zone C. In the thousands of caves which honeycomb deep into the granite mountain the enemy had an ideal center for operations-if he could only get some peace and quiet.

In January 1969, the division's 1st Brigade determined to sweep the mountain. With elements of the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regulars, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry, and tanks from the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor, the brigade began a systematic search of the mountain's slopes, uncovering supplies and weapons destined for the Tet Offensive, destroying the enemy emplacements in the caves and engaging the fleeing squads. It is significant that during the period of Tet no major attacks were mounted from Nui Ba Den. A division posture was evolving; disrupting the enemy supply channels, searching out his weapons, his ammunition, his food and rushing the position every time a force tried to gather, these tactics were pre-empting battle.

Just over the Cambodian border, the enemy was able to assemble troops and supplies brought down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. A scant 16 miles from Tay Ninh city, the enemy could mount a considerable opposition if he could filter through the Straight Edge Woods, cross the river, and position himself within striking distance of 25th Division installations.

To the north of Tay Ninh City stretched 30 miles of triple canopy jungle, difficult for aerial reconnaissance, uninhabited, and nearly impossible to patrol. The enemy found it convenient to establish training zones for the enemy forces in III Corps. The key to the Allied defense against this ever present threat lay in continuous probes and vigilant screening along the southern borders of War Zone C. This defense harassed the enemy resupply effort and prevented his move out of the jungle to launch his campaign.

In the northeast corner of the division's area of operations, the 3rd Brigade, then stationed in Dau Tieng, faced the difficult problem of finding and fighting an enemy well entrenched in the thickly forested and mountainous areas to the north known as the Razorbacks.

Probes, followed by aggressive sweeps continually knocked the enemy off balance and prevented him from bringing significant forces into the populated areas in the center of the province. A major effort was made to seek out the supplies, which the enemy had positioned in advance of his attacks. Enemy patrols were interdicted and dispersed and heavy artillery barrages and major air assaults met all signs of enemy assembly in the key areas of the province

As if harassing the enemy was not enough, Diamond and Frontier City blocked and destroyed the last efforts of the Spring Offensive and delivered a crushing blow to the already stunned and defeated enemy.

The regular convoy to resupply the division's 3rd Brigade base camp at Dau Tieng had always been a tempting target for the enemy. In late December and early January, he yielded to the temptation and lost.

On 14 January 1968, in the largest of these attempts, the enemy established an ambush along Route 239 near the Ben Cui Rubber Plantation, less than a mile from the spot where the enemy had failed on a previous attempt.

The convoy was interdicted by RPG and rifle fire as it drew near the plantation, but Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion (Mech), 22nd Infantry roared up in their armored personnel carriers in the first of three assaults on the enemy's position.

Division artillery shifted to the scene of the battle and pounded the isolated enemy as the Triple Deuce continued to fire machine guns and rifles to the position; F-100 Supersabre jets flashed overhead delivering air strikes into the target. Before the battle ended, 115 of the would-be ambushers were eliminated.

In February 1969, the enemy began a series of savage attacks on the villages and hamlets in Hau Nghai and Tay Ninh Provinces in a last ditch effort to find food, shelter and popular support. They lost on every count. Cu Chi District was typical.

There, in a series of victorious night battles, the enemy tried to intimidate the local population and wrest from them the food and medical supplies they so badly needed. In a dramatic testimony to the increasing strength of the Vietnamese government, Regional Forces and Popular forces soundly whipped the enemy. These soldiers stopped the Enemy on the edges of the village in a series of courageous battles fought with American artillery and air support.

Local Vietnamese civilians increasingly volunteered information on enemy caches and movements, and allied soldiers swept in to capture the supplies and engage the frustrated forces.

On 23 February, the enemy launched his much-heralded Tet Offensive. Tay Ninh Base Camp became the target for a massive rocket and mortar barrage that numbered in the hundreds each night for several nights. At Dau Tieng, sappers breached the outer wire and base camp guards and reaction forces engaged them in close fighting. For five hours the battle raged as gun ships and artillery pounded the enemy into defeat.

At Cu Chi base camp, a sapper squad rushed the southern perimeter under a heavy rocket and mortar attack,, throwing satchel charges and grenades onto the airfield. Throughout the area of operations, Tropic Lightning fire support bases, patrol bases and night laager positions were subjected to mortar and rocket attacks.

And yet these attacks represented no substantial enemy force; squads for the most part, company sized units at Dau Tieng and Cu Chi. The ammunition and supplies earmarked for the offensive had long since been captured by the Allies.