Khe Sanh Combat Base

Khe Sanh Combat Base
(Khe Sanh Airfield)
Khe Sanh Combat Base; (Khe Sanh Airfield)
Khe Sanh, Quảng Trị province in Vietnam
	Diagram of base
	Khe Sanh Combat Base Shown within Vietnam
Coordinates	16°39′15″N106°43′27″E / 16.65420°N 106.72423°E
Type	Marine/Army base
Site information
Operator	Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN); United States Marine Corps ; United States Army (U.S. Army)
Condition	Abandoned
Site history
Built	1962
In use	1962-1975
Battles/wars	; Vietnam War ; Battle of Khe Sanh ; Operation Lam Son 719
Garrison information
Garrison	3rd Marine Division ; 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division
Airfield information
Elevation	1,608 feet (490 m) AMSL
Runways
10/28	3,300 feet (1,006 m) PSP

Last updated September 28, 2024

Khe Sanh Combat Base (also known as Ta Con) was a United States Marine Corps outpost south of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) used during the Vietnam War.

History

US Army Special Forces (Detachment A-101, Company C, 5th Special Forces Group) constructed a camp with airfield outside the village of Khe Sanh in July 1962. It served as an outpost of the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups. Its purpose was to keep watch on People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) infiltration along the border and to protect the local population.

In January 1966 the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) attacked the camp with 120 mm mortars and intelligence indicated that a PAVN buildup was taking place in the area. In March MACV instructed the III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) to plan a one-battalion security operation around the camp. On 27 March 3rd Marine Division commander MG Wood B. Kyle ordered the 4th Marine Regiment at Phu Bai Combat Base to deploy the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines and supporting artillery and mortar batteries to Khe Sanh. 1/1 Marines commander Lt. Col. Van D. Bell flew into Khe Sanh to plan his deployment and found the Special Forces there to be nervous and leaving all patrolling outside the perimeter to Nùng forces. On 3 April the operational order for Operation Virginia was issued, with the operation to begin on 5 April. On 4 April an advance unit was landed at Khe Sanh, but the arrival of the rest of the force was delayed by bad weather and the effects of the Buddhist Uprising and it wasn't until 18 April that VMGR-152 Lockheed Martin KC-130s were able to complete the deployment. The plan called for sequential sweeps to the northeast, northwest and then southwest of the base. On 19 April HMM-163 helicopters landed the headquarters unit and Company C in a blocking position 6 km north of the base and then landed Companies A and B 9 km further east, Companies A and B then swept west meeting no PAVN and joined up with Company C on 21 April and the force then returned to the base. Reconnaissance patrols of the northwest sector indicated no PAVN presence and so the 2nd phase of the operation was cancelled. III MAF then ordered 1/1 Marines to march east along Route 9 which had been closed for several years to determine if there was any PAVN buildup south of the DMZ. The artillery unit was moved to Ca Lu to cover Route 9 and on 1 May the 1/1 Marines completed the 30 miles (48 km) march from the base to Cam Lộ encountering no PAVN.^[2]

In December 1966, Special Forces Detachment A-101 moved from Khe Sanh to a site near the village of Lang Vei.

Fighting began at Khe Sanh in late April 1967 with the Hill Fights, which later expanded into the 1968 Battle of Khe Sanh. U.S. commanders hoped that the PAVN would attempt to repeat their famous victory at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which would permit the U.S. to wield enormous air power. Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses alone dropped more than 75,000 tons of bombs on the PAVN 304th and 325th divisions encroaching the combat base in trenches.

On April 1, 1968, the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division launched Operation Niagara to break the siege of the base. All three brigades from the 1st Cavalry participated in this vast airmobile operation, along with a Marine armor thrust.^[3]

The defense of Khe Sanh commanded international attention and was considered the climactic phase of the Tet Offensive. On July 5, 1968, the combat base was abandoned, the U.S. Army citing the vulnerability of the base to dug-in enemy artillery positions in neutral Laos and the arrival of significant airmobile forces in I Corps (1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne divisions). However, the closure permitted the 3rd Marine Division to conduct mobile operations along the DMZ.

In 1971, Khe Sanh was reactivated by the U.S. Army (Operation Dewey Canyon II) to support Operation Lam Son 719, the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos. On the night of 23 March a PAVN sapper attack on Khe Sanh resulted in 3 Americans killed and several aircraft and 2 ammunition dumps destroyed, PAVN losses were 14 killed and 1 captured.^[4] The base was abandoned again on 6 April 1971.^[5]

On 27 January 1972 a U.S. Air Force Lockheed AC-130 gunship was shot down by a PAVN SA-2 missile over the base.^[6] In March 1973, American intelligence reported that the PAVN had rebuilt the airstrip at Khe Sanh and were using it for courier flights into the South.

Tourism

Khe Sanh Combat Base can be visited daily as part of tours starting in Huế. Since its abandonment, most of the base has become overgrown by wilderness or coffee and banana plants. A small museum on the site contains exhibits of historical pictures, weapons, and ubiquitous "impression books" common among battlefield and heritage museums in Vietnam.^[7] Additionally a C-130, Boeing CH-47 Chinook, Bell UH-1 Iroquois, artillery and armor, restored bunkers and portions of the airstrip are visible.

Gallery

Seabees of Mobile Construction Battalion (MCB) 301 set and seal runway mats into place at Khe Sanh, 29 November 1967
Khe Sanh base, 1968
Museum
UH-1H helicopter
CH-47 helicopter
Outside view of a restored bunker
The airstrip
Khe Sanh landscape.

Related Research Articles

The Battle of Khe Sanh was conducted in the Khe Sanh area of northwestern Quảng Trị Province, Republic of Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. The main US forces defending Khe Sanh Combat Base (KSCB) were two regiments of the United States Marine Corps supported by elements from the United States Army and the United States Air Force (USAF), as well as a small number of Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) troops. These were pitted against two to three divisional-size elements of the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN).

Operation Lam Son 719 or 9th Route – Southern Laos Campaign was a limited-objective offensive campaign conducted in the southeastern portion of the Kingdom of Laos. The campaign was carried out by the armed forces of South Vietnam between 8 February and 25 March 1971, during the Vietnam War. The United States provided logistical, aerial and artillery support for the operation, but its ground forces were prohibited by law from entering Laotian territory. The objective of the campaign was the disruption of a possible future offensive by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), whose logistical system within Laos was known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Con Thien</span> Military base in the Vietnam War

Con Thien was a military base that started out as a U.S. Army Special Forces camp before transitioning to a United States Marine Corps combat base. It was located near the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) about 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) from North Vietnam in Gio Linh District, Quảng Trị Province. It was the site of fierce fighting from February 1967 through February 1968.

Operation Delaware/Operation Lam Son 216 was a joint military operation launched during the Vietnam War. It began on 19 April 1968, with troops from the United States and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) moving into the A Sầu Valley. The A Sầu Valley was a vital corridor for moving military supplies coming from the Ho Chi Minh Trail and was used by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) as a staging area for numerous attacks in northern I Corps. Other than small, special operations reconnaissance patrols, American and South Vietnamese forces had not been present in the region since the Battle of A Shau in March 1966, when a U.S. Special Forces camp located there was overrun.

Operation Prairie was a U.S. military operation in Quảng Trị Province, South Vietnam that sought to eliminate People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Over the course of late 1965 and early 1966 the Viet Cong (VC) and the PAVN intensified their military threat along the DMZ. The tactical goal of these incursions was to draw United States military forces away from cities and towns. Operation Hastings, a series of actions in defense of the DMZ, lasted from 15 July to 3 August 1966. It was considered a strategic success. Operation Prairie was conceived as a larger, longer mission covering the same areas along the DMZ.

The 3rd 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 I Corps that oversaw the northernmost region of South Vietnam, the centre of Vietnam.

Operation Prairie IV was an operation conducted by the United States Marine Corps in the area around Con Thien, South Vietnam known as Leatherneck Square from 20 April until 17 May 1967. During the course of the fighting Marine casualties were 164 killed 1,240 wounded while claiming 505 People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) killed and 9 captured.

Ca Lu Combat Base was an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and United States Marine Corps base located on Highway or Route 9, near Krông Klang, Đa Krông District, western Quảng Trị Province, South Vietnam.

The 320th Division or Đồng Bằng Division is a formation and one of the six original "Steel and Iron Divisions" of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). It was established in January 1951.

The Battle for Quang Tri occurred in and around Quảng Trị City, the northernmost provincial capital of South Vietnam during the Tet Offensive when the Vietcong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) attacked Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and American forces across major cities and towns in South Vietnam in an attempt to force the Saigon government to collapse. This included several attacks across northern I Corps, most importantly at Huế, Da Nang and Quảng Trị City. After being put on the defensive in the city of Quảng Trị, the Allied forces regrouped and forced the PAVN/VC out of the town after a day of fighting.

Company E, 52nd Infantry, (LRP) was a 120 man-sized long-range reconnaissance patrol unit attached to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in Vietnam in 1967-69. Its origin begins on January 1, 1967, as "LRRP Detachment G2," 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). It was then redesignated "Headquarters & Headquarters Company LRRP Detachment" in April 1967, and redesignated "Company E, 52nd Infantry (LRP)" on December 20, 1967.

Operation Robin was a U.S. Marine Corps operation that took place southeast of Khe Sanh, Quảng Trị Province from 2–19 June 1968.

Cam Lộ Combat Base is a former U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base northwest of Quảng Trị in central Vietnam.

Quảng Trị Combat Base is a former United States Marine Corps, United States Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base northwest of Quảng Trị in central Vietnam.

Operation Lancaster was a U.S. Marine Corps operation that took place in northern Quảng Trị Province from November 1967 to January 20, 1968.

Operation Jeb Stuart was a U.S. Army operation during the Vietnam War that took place in Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên Provinces from 21 January to 31 March 1968. The original operation plan to attack People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) base areas was disrupted by the Tet Offensive and instead it saw the U.S. Army units fighting in the Battle of Quang Tri and the Battle of Huế.

Operation Neosho was a security operation in northern Thừa Thiên Province, South Vietnam from 1 November 1967 to 25 January 1968.

Operation Scotland II was a U.S. Marine Corps security operation that took place in northwest Quảng Trị Province from 15 April 1968 to 28 February 1969.

The DMZ Campaign (1969–71) was a military campaign by the United States Army, United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) against the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) along the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in northern Quảng Trị Province from 1969 to 1971 during the Vietnam War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Crockett</span> 1967 American mission in the Vietnam War

Operation Crockett was an operation during the Vietnam War conducted by the United States Marine Corps against People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces around Khe Sanh Combat Base in northwest Quảng Trị Province that took place from 13 May to 16 July 1967. The PAVN tested U.S. defenses, forcing the Marines to deploy additional forces to the area, following which the PAVN disengaged but did not withdraw from the area. The operation resulted in 111 PAVN killed and one captured for Marine losses of 34 killed. The operation was immediately followed by Operation Ardmore, an ongoing security operation.

References

↑ Kelley, Michael (2002). Where we were in Vietnam. Hellgate Press. p. 5-275. ISBN 978-1555716257.
↑ Shulimson, Jack (1982). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: An Expanding War 1966. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. pp. 140-3. ISBN 9781494285159.
↑ Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri, revised ed., Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Lanham, MD (2009).
↑ Fulghum, David; Maitland, Terrence (1984). The Vietnam Experience South Vietnam on Trial: Mid-1970–1972. Boston Publishing Company. p. 96. ISBN 0939526107.
↑ "Narrative of Events of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) During LAM SON 719". Archived from the original on 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
↑ Melson, Charles (1991). U.S. Marines In Vietnam: The War That Would Not End, 1971-1973. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. p. 32. ISBN 978-1482384055.
↑ Blattenberger, Phil (2016). Messages from the Heart: Agent Orange and Narrative Conflict in Contemporary Vietnam (Master's). The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

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[Kelley-1] Kelley, Michael (2002). Where we were in Vietnam. Hellgate Press. p. 5-275. ISBN 978-1555716257.

[2] Shulimson, Jack (1982). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: An Expanding War 1966. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. pp. 140-3. ISBN 9781494285159.

[3] Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri, revised ed., Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Lanham, MD (2009).

[4] Fulghum, David; Maitland, Terrence (1984). The Vietnam Experience South Vietnam on Trial: Mid-1970–1972. Boston Publishing Company. p. 96. ISBN 0939526107.

[5] "Narrative of Events of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) During LAM SON 719". Archived from the original on 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2013-02-18.

[Melson-6] Melson, Charles (1991). U.S. Marines In Vietnam: The War That Would Not End, 1971-1973. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. p. 32. ISBN 978-1482384055.

[7] Blattenberger, Phil (2016). Messages from the Heart: Agent Orange and Narrative Conflict in Contemporary Vietnam (Master's). The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

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