| Operation Patrick | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Vietnam War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States |  North Vietnam | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Col. Eugene Forrester | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Regiment | 3rd Division | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| US body count: 70 killed | |||||||
Operation Patrick was a security operation conducted during the Vietnam War by the U.S. 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division in Bình Định Province, South Vietnam from March 1 to 30, 1968.
The 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Regiment had been patrolling Bình Định Province since September 1967, supporting South Vietnamese and South Korean units. In early March, the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division commanded by Col. Eugene Forrester was deployed to improve security in the coastal lowlands. [1] : 473
On March 9, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 22nd Regiment, 3rd Division attacked the 1/50th Infantry's base camp, Landing Zone Litts ( 14°11′49″N109°03′40″E / 14.197°N 109.061°E ), 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of Phù Mỹ District. [2] [1] The attackers failed to penetrate the perimeter and 36 were killed. [1]
On March 15, during a patrol north of Phù Mỹ, the 1/50th Infantry engaged a force from the 22nd Regiment, killing a further 34 PAVN. [1]
The operation concluded on March 30, when the 3rd Brigade moved to the Central Highlands to rejoin the rest of the 4th Division. The 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment began Operation Cochise Green continuing the mission of Operation Patrick. [1] : 474
The Battle of Xuân Lộc was the last major battle of the Vietnam War. From the beginning of 1975, People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces swept through the northern provinces of South Vietnam virtually unopposed. In the Central Highlands, South Vietnam's II Corps was completely destroyed, whilst attempting to evacuate to the Mekong Delta region. In the cities of Huế and Da Nang, ARVN units simply dissolved without putting up resistance. The devastating defeats suffered by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) prompted South Vietnam's National Assembly to question President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's handling of the war, thereby placing him under tremendous pressure to resign.
Operation Masher was in early 1966 the largest search and destroy mission that had been carried out in the Vietnam War up until that time. It was a combined mission of the United States Army, Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), and Republic of Korea Army (ROK) in Bình Định Province on the central coast of South Vietnam. The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 3rd Division, made up of two regiments of North Vietnamese regulars and one regiment of main force Viet Cong (VC) guerrillas, controlled much of the land and many of the people of Bình Định Province, which had a total population of about 800,000. A CIA report in 1965 said that Binh Dinh was "just about lost" to the communists.
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This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents ofthe United States Army Center of Military History .
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .