| 1st Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1965-1974 |
| Allegiance |  Vietnam |
| Branch | People's Army of Vietnam |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Colonel Nguyễn Hữu An |
The 1st Infantry Division was a division of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), first formed from PAVN units in 1965.
The Division was formed on 20 December 1965 from the PAVN 32nd, 33rd, 66th and 320th Regiment was under the control of the PAVN B3 Front in the Central Highlands. [1] : 156 [2]
The Division's 33rd and 66th Regiments were engaged in the Battle of Ia Drang from 14-18 November 1965, losing 1070-1753 killed. [2] : 145–50
The Division was the target of Operation Paul Revere from 10 May to 1 August 1966, losing 546 killed and 68 captured. [2] : 289–93
The Division's 33rd Regiment and the Viet Cong 95B and 101C Regiments were the target of Operation Paul Revere IV from 20 October to 30 December 1966, losing an estimated 120 killed. [3]
The Division and the 10th Division were the target of Operation Sam Houston from 12 February to 5 April 1967, losing 733 killed. [3] : 167–77
The Division was the target of Operation Francis Marion from 6 April to 11 October 1967, losing 1,530 killed. [3] : 287–309
The Division was engaged in the Battle of Dak To from 3 to 23 November 1967. [4]
During the Tet Offensive of January/February 1968, the Division's 66th and 174th Regiments attacked Ben Het Camp, Tân Cảnh Base Camp and attempted to cut Highway 14 between Dak To and Kontum. [4] : 295 The 174th Regiment's attack on Tân Cảnh took place on 30 January but by the end of the day they had been repelled for the loss of over 300 killed. On 8 February the 174th Regiment attacked Tân Cảnh again and were repulsed for the loss of 150 killed. [4] : 307–8 The 32nd Regiment attempted to cut Highway 19 at Thanh An on 1 February, losing 275 soldiers in the attack. Allied forces located the Regiment's base camp on 5 February and killed a further 35 soldiers. [4] : 301–2
In August 1968 as part of the Phase III Offensive, the Division was tasked with seizing Duc Lap Camp and then threatening Buôn Ma Thuột. [4] : 642 During the Battle of Duc Lap from 24 to 27 August the Division's 66th Regiment lost more than 700 killed. [4] : 658–62
In 1969 the Division, now comprising the 95C, 101C and 209th Regiments, was sent to the Mekong Delta area. [1] : 243
During the Easter Offensive in southern Cambodia and the Mekong Delta the Division was the only full PAVN division engaged in the fighting. The Division suffered heavy losses in the fighting at Kompong Trach, Cambodia from 22 March to the end of April and then was unable to achieve its objectives in the Mekong Delta. [5] : 143–53
The battle of Dak To in Vietnam was a series of major engagements of the Vietnam War that took place between 3 and 23 November 1967, in Kon Tum Province, in the Central Highlands of the Republic of Vietnam. The action at Đắk Tô was one of a series of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) offensive initiatives that began during the second half of the year. PAVN attacks at Lộc Ninh, Song Be and at Con Thien and Khe Sanh,, were other actions which, combined with Đắk Tô, became known as "the border battles". The post hoc purported objective of the PAVN forces was to distract American and South Vietnamese forces away from cities towards the borders in preparation for the Tet Offensive.
The lead-up to the Battle of Kontum began in mid-1971, when North Vietnam decided that its victory in Operation Lam Son 719 indicated that the time had come for large-scale conventional offensives that could end the war quickly. The resulting offensive, planned for the spring of 1972, would be known as the Easter Offensive in the South and the Nguyen Hue Offensive in the North, Nguyen Hue being a hero of Vietnamese resistance against the Chinese in 1789. The Easter Offensive would make use of fourteen divisions and would be the largest in the war.
The siege of Plei Me was the beginning phase of the first major confrontation between soldiers of the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. The lifting of the siege by South Vietnamese forces and American air power was followed by the pursuit of the retreating North Vietnamese from 28 October until 12 November, setting the stage for the Battle of Ia Drang.
The Vietnamese Rangers, commonly known as the ARVN Rangers, were the light infantry of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Trained and assisted by American Special Forces and Ranger advisers, the Vietnamese Rangers infiltrated beyond enemy lines in search and destroy missions. Initially trained as a counter-insurgency light infantry force by removing the fourth company each of the existing infantry battalions, they later expanded into a swing force capable of conventional as well as counter-insurgency operations, and were relied on to retake captured regions. Later during Vietnamization the Civilian Irregular Defense Group program was transferred from MACV and integrated as Border Battalions responsible for manning remote outposts in the Central Highlands.
The Seventh Division was part of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was part of the IV Corps, which oversaw the Mekong Delta region of the country.
The 22nd Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was part of the II Corps that oversaw the region of the Central Highlands north of the capital Saigon. The 22nd Division was based in Ba Gi near the south central coast.
The 9th Infantry Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)—the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1961 to 1975—was part of the IV Corps that oversaw the southernmost region of South Vietnam, the Mekong Delta. The 9th Infantry Division was based in Sa Dec 1962 - 1972 and Vinh Long 1972 - 1975 throughout the war.
The VC 5th Infantry Division was a division of the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War and later became part of the People's Army of Vietnam.
The 7th Infantry Division is a division of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN).
Đắk Tô Base Camp is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base northwest of Kon Tum in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Ben Het Camp is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base northwest of Kon Tum in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The camp was notable for being the site of a tank battle between the U.S. Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), one of the few such encounters during the Vietnam War.
Tân Cảnh Base Camp is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base northwest of Kon Tum in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Polei Kleng Camp is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base west of Kontum in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Operation Francis Marion was a 4th Infantry Division and 173rd Airborne Brigade operation that took place in Pleiku, Darlac and the Kon Tum Provinces, South Vietnam, lasting from 6 April to 11 October 1967.
Operation Enterprise was a U.S. Army pacification and security operation that took place in Long An Province, lasting from 13 February 1967 to 11 March 1968.
The 9th Infantry Division is a division of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), first formed from Viet Cong units in 1965 in the Mekong Delta region.
The 3rd Infantry Division also known as the Yellow Star Division is a division of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), first formed from Viet Cong (VC) and PAVN units in September 1965. The first commanding officer and political officer of division were Colonel Giáp Văn Cương and Colonel Đặng Hòa respectively.:chapter 3
The 2nd Infantry Division also known as Quảng Đà Division or Steel Division is a division of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), first formed from Viet Cong (VC) and PAVN units in October 1965. The first commander and the first commissar of the division were Colonel Nguyễn Năng and Senior Colonel Nguyễn Minh Đức respectively.
The 10th Infantry Division is a division of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), first formed in September 1972.
Operation MacArthur was a United States Army military operation in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam from 12 October 1967 to 31 January 1969. The early phases of the operation encompassed the Battle of Dak To from 3 to 23 November 1967.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History .
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .