The Battle of Trung Nghia took place from 8 June to 16 September 1973 when North Vietnamese forces captured the village of Trung Nghia in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese were eventually forced out by the South Vietnamese.
In mid-May, Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) aerial observers saw two PAVN 130 mm guns being moved into position northwest of Kontum. ARVN intelligence learned of PAVN planned to use the artillery against ARVN artillery batteries in the Kontum area. Shortly afterwards heavy attacks by fire hit the ARVN firebases and positions of the 53rd Infantry Regiment, 23rd Division, northwest of Kontum. Two PAVN ground attacks against Doi Oa Cham were repulsed. Artillery bombardments by the PAVN's 40th Artillery Regiment, employing 130mm guns and 122mm rocket fire, continued against forward ARVN positions and artillery batteries during the first week of June, while elements of the PAVN 10th Division conducted ground probes against three forward ARVN positions.[3]
Battle
On 7 June, a major attack by battalions of the 66th Regiment, 10th Division and the 24th Independent Regiment, supported by at least 10 T-54 tanks and by fire from 130mm guns and 122mm rockets struck ARVN positions at Trung Nghia and Polei Krang. The attack drove a Regional Force battalion and elements of the ARVN 44th Regiment, 23rd Division from their positions, giving the PAVN control of positions 17km west of Kontum.[3]
The ARVN immediately tried to retake the position and casualties mounted on both sides as successive attempts failed to dislodge the entrenched PAVN, who enjoyed the advantage of observation from the heights of Ngoc Bay Mountain. In early July, the 44th Regiment gained a few meters and dug in on the eastern edge of the village of Ngoc Bay, but could move no further despite the employment of massive artillery preparations and air strikes.[3]:52
Stalled in the attempt to take Trung Nghia by frontal assault, II Corps commander General Nguyễn Văn Toàn determined that an approach from the south against the positions at Plei Djo Drap, directly across the Dak Bla River from Trung Nghia, would strike the PAVN defenses in the flank and force a withdrawal. Toàn therefore directed the 23rd Division, reinforced with Rangers, to attack north from the base at Plei Mrong.[3]:52–4
The southwest monsoon, in full force over the western highlands of Pleiku and Kontum Provinces in early August, allowed the PAVN to maneuver in daylight since RVNAF aerial observation was spotty and artillery and air strikes consequently much less effective. Plei Mrong (14°09′25″N107°53′02″E / 14.157°N 107.884°E / 14.157; 107.884) and its camp, called Ly Thai Loi, were situated on Provincial Route 3B south of the Yali Falls of the Krong Bolah and the PAVN concentration around Plei Monoun.[2]:412 The ARVN move north caused activity to pick up during the week of 4–10 August when the PAVN 28th Reconnaissance-Sapper Battalion launched seven separate attempts to take the camp, supported by 75mm and 130mm gunfire. ARVN Ranger units in the field north and south of the camp also came under attack. A few days later a battalion of the 95B Regiment, 10th Division, hit the ARVN 22nd Ranger Border Defense Battalion at Doi Ba Cham, just north of Plei Mrong, but was repelled, leaving 150 dead on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the ARVN 45th Regiment, 23rd Division, advancing in the Plei Monoun area to the Krong Bolah River, encountered other elements of the 95B Regiment. Combat with the 95B Regiment continued throughout the month in the Plei Mrong sector, and its losses were estimated to approach 200 killed. Despite these losses, the 95B was successful in preventing the ARVN from closing on the Dak Bla River.[3]:54
The PAVN was nevertheless suffering from the bombardment at Trung Nghia. Damage to the PAVN 24B Regiment was so severe that it was withdrawn to the Đắk Tô area for recuperation and replaced by elements of the 66th and 28th Regiments, 10th Division. The 28th Regiment, recently strengthened by replacements from the North, took up the defense of Trung Nghia, while the 66th held Plei Djo Drap. Meanwhile, the exhausted ARVN 44th Regiment was replaced in the attack by the 42nd Regiment, 22nd Division, flown to Kontum in C-130s from Bình Định Province. This fresh regiment, and a small but important change in tactics, made the difference. Rather than engage in large infantry assaults, the 42nd methodically eliminated PAVN bunkers one by one, using platoon-sized assaults supported by 81mm mortars firing delayed-fuze rounds which blew away overhead cover and killed or exposed the occupants. Prisoners later attested to the effectiveness of these techniques.[3]:54
On 1 September 1973, the 42nd Regiment began the final assault on Trung Nghia, advancing cautiously to find that except for a few isolated riflemen the PAVN had withdrawn. The PAVN 28th Regiment, depleted by casualties and malaria, limped north along the Poko River. Some of its wounded, left behind and captured, revealed that PAVN forces defending Trung Nghia had suffered losses of 30 percent on the whole, and that in some units with considerable sickness casualty rates were as high as 60 percent. On the other hand, the 42nd's casualties were light. While the 42nd Regiment entered Trung Nghia, the 53rd Regiment, 23rd Division, advanced along the south bank of the Dak Bla River and occupied Plei Djo Drap, vacated by the withdrawing PAVN 66th Regiment, which crossed the river to recuperate.[3]:54
Aftermath
Trung Nghia was cleared of all PAVN by 7 September, and the 42nd Regiment entered Polei Krong on 16 September. During the rest of the month, mopping-up operations cleared PAVN remnants from the slopes of Ngoc Bay Mountain, while skirmishing between the ARVN Rangers and elements of the 95B Regiment continued around Plei Mrong.[3]:54
Related Research Articles
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, Sông Bé 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 Battle of Ban Me Thuot was a decisive battle of the Vietnam War which led to the complete destruction of South Vietnam's II Corps Tactical Zone. The battle was part of a larger North Vietnamese military operation known as Campaign 275 to capture the Tay Nguyen region, known in the West as the Vietnamese Central Highlands.
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 Vietnamese Rangers (Vietnamese: Biệt Động Quân), commonly known as the ARVN Rangers or Vietnamese Ranger Corp (VNRC), 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 23rd Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)—the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the II Corps that oversaw the Central Highlands.
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 Battle of Duc Lap took place during the Vietnam War where North Vietnamese forces attempted to overrun the Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) Duc Lap Camp between 24 and 27 August 1968.
Operation Hawthorne took place near the village of Tu Mơ Rông, Kon Tum Province, South Vietnam from 2 to 21 June 1966.
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.
Firebase 6 is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base southwest of Đắk Tô in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
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 Kon Tum Provinces, South Vietnam, lasting from 6 April to 11 October 1967.
The War of the flags was a phase of fighting throughout South Vietnam lasting from 23 January to 3 February 1973 as the forces of North and South Vietnam each sought to maximize the territory under their control before the ceasefire in place agreed by the Paris Peace Accords came into effect on 27 January 1973. The fighting continued past the ceasefire date and into early February. South Vietnamese forces made greater territorial gains and inflicted significant losses on the North Vietnamese forces.
The Battle of Quang Duc took place from 30 October to 10 December 1973 when North Vietnamese forces attempted to occupy part of Quang Duc Province to expand their logistical network from Cambodia into South Vietnam. While the North Vietnamese attacks were initially successful they were eventually forced out by the South Vietnamese.
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.
Operation Wayne Grey was an operation carried out by the United States Army, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division and supporting elements, on March 1 to April 14, 1969. Its main objective was to cut off lines of communication and supply to the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 24th and 66th Infantry Regiments as well as preventing them from retreating into Cambodia.
Nguyễn Trọng Luật was an officer in the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
South Vietnam 
North Vietnam 
