An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir June 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 26 | By PAUL O'BRIEN MA THE BaTTLE oF KHE SaNH A t Khe Sanh, Vietnam, on the morning of 21st Janu- ary 1968 a green flare lit up the dawn sky, signal- ling the beginning of a north Vietnamese Army (nVA) assault. Surrounded and outnumbered, there was no escape as artillery and mortar shells rained down on US Marines holding a forward observation base on hill 861 in the opening salvos of a siege that would last 77 days and cost thousands of lives. The main US combat base at Khe Sanh, located in the north-western province of Quang Tri, was to experience one of the fiercest assaults by the NVA during the Vietnam War. The base was in an exposed position, threatened from the north by the NVA and by enemy infiltration to the west through Laos. Khe Sanh was used as a patrol base against these threats with an airstrip that was used as a reconnaissance staging area against the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a lifeline of supplies and reinforcements for the NVA. It would also serve as a jumping off point for ground forces that were detailed to harass the enemy, explore and gather intelligence and cut the Trail in that area. A number of minor attacks and skirmishes in the region in the previous year had confused US Intelligence as there seemed no logic to them except to inflict casualties on the Americans. However, with these attacks, the NVA were drawing attention away from the coastal lowlands and cities in preparation for the Tet Offensive. General William Westmoreland wanted to do battle with General Võ Nguyên Giáp's forces as he believed that in drawing them out into the open, superior American air power would then destroy the NVA completely. However, unknown to the Americans based at Khe Sanh, the NVA had spent six months covertly encircling the base with four divisions of highly trained regular NVA troops. Their mission was to take the base from the Americans, whose 6,000 Marines based at Khe Sanh were outnum- bered six to one. The artillery barrage against the isolated Hill 861 was followed up by a series of NVA infantry assaults against the post. These were driven back by defensive fire from US 105mm howitzers, although some NVA soldiers got inside the wire and were only repulsed after severe close-quar- ters combat.

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