The Move South

Company A

227th Assault Helicopter Battalion

1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

The Division's Move South

Story by Michael Harris

Reprinted from "The Air Cavalry Division", Volume 1, Number 4, January 1969

On October 25, the 1st Air Cavalry Division area of operations was quiet. At Camp Evans, in the brigade bases, in isolated FOB's, Skytroopers looked out over an expanse of "Cav Country" they had tamed in nine months of bitter fighting. They had seized NVA caches in the razor-sharp, jungled mountains bordering the A Shau Valley. They had crippled the VC infrastructure and denied the enemy rice and recruits on the sandy, half-flooded plain between Hue and Quang Tri. They had provided safety and shelter for refugees. "Charlie" was on the run.
During the summer there had been rumors of a move. "With things so quiet," the men said, "they aren't going to leave the Cav here. They'll send us where the action is - maybe to the Delta, maybe back to An Khe, maybe to Da Nang."
But no rumors were current when the order came to move the whole division - over 19,000 men, hundreds of vechicles and helicopters, tons of supplies - south to a new area of operations northwest of Saigon.
The Cav moved. The equilavent of a medium-sized U.S. town tore itself up by the roots, took wings, and landed at the other end of South Vietnam. Within days, the division was conducting combat operations in III Corps; within two weeks, everything was back to normal. Supplies were circulating. Paperwork flowed. And "Charlie", once again, was on the run.
Control: During the move, the division had to fight on two fronts 350 miles apart, overcoming staggering problems of control. Three operations were in progress simultaneously.
The 3rd Brigade spearheaded the advance south. The 1st Brigade remained in the northern provinces until Nov. 3, wrapping up Operation Jeb Struart III, which had lasted 171 days. The 2nd Brigade continued to participate in Operation Comanche Falls in the jungle 25 miles from the DMZ. With elements of the 1st ARVN Division and the 5th Infantry Division, the "Black Horse" troopers formed a cordon 16 kilometers in circumference around the My Chanh district to week out the Viet Cong infrastructure. Comanche Falls, which ended on Nov. 7, resulted in more than 300 enemy killed.
In the midst of all this, the brigades had to adapt to a new task organization. The 3rd Brigade, consisting of the 2/7th, 2/8th and 2/12th Cavalry, occupied the northeastern section of the new AO, with a base at Quan Loi. The 1st Brigade followed with the 1/5th, 1/7th and 1/8th Cavalry, funneling through Quan Loi and establishing bases to the southwest, in the Tay Ninh area. The 2nd Brigade, with the 2/5th, 5/7th and 1/12th Cavalry, came last, taking up a central position between the other two brigades. The new division base was established at Phouc Vinh. Altogether, the 1st Cav assumed areas of responsibility in the provinces of Binh Long, Phouc Long, Tay Ninh, and a corner of Binh Duong.
The 3rd ("Gary Owen") Brigade sent an advance party to Quan Loi as early as Oct. 28. "We were told to be ready for anything." said Specialist Four David R. Bow of Modesto, Calif. "We didn't know if friendly elements were in the area, or if we'd have to fight our way in. So naturally we expected the worst."
Instead of a "hot" landing zone, the Skytroopers found a well-built base camp manned by units of the 1st Infantry Division. SP4 Bow said, "They met us at the airstrip, took us to our area, and helped us set up." Once oriented, the advance party began to prepare for the arrival of the rest of the brigade.
Build: First of the arriving units was the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, which flew to Quan Loi, paused for breath, and then combat-assaulted into the flat forested country near the border to build its own base. On Nov 1, the 2/7th dropped three companies, Battery A of the 2/19th Artillery, and two squads of engineers into a clearing five kilometers from Cambodia. The Skytroopers dug foxholes in the damp soil, set up observation posts, and began to build bunkers with steel planking, sandbags, logs, and sod. The engineers felled trees with chain saws and demolitions to clear fields of fire. In two days 181 helicopter sorties, many by big CH-47 Chinooks and CH-54 Flying Cranes, lifted in food, ammunition fortification materials, light vechicles, radios, tents, and other equipment. As the artillery pounded the nearby forest, empty ammo boxes were filled with earth and stacked into walls. "Nobody sits on his rear here." Said Lieutenant Colonel Addison D. Davis III, the battalion commander. "Dig down or build up, but hurry."
The haste was justified. On Nov. 2 patrols clashed with two platoons of Viet Cong only a kilometer west of the camp. That night several 107mm rockets slammed into the perimeter, but the Skytroopers were so well dug in that no casualties resulted.
On Nov. 6, Company D of the 2/7th was probing into the forest when it received automatic weapons fire. Companies A and B were inserted into the fight, which broke off during the night and resumed the next morning. By noon on the 7th, 31 enemy dead had been counted. The communist force, an estimated battalion, had dispersed.
First Lieutenant Edward G. Gensel, Wilkes-Bare, Pa., assistant G-4 (Logistics) officer for the 2/7th, noted that "We're getting the stuff we need," as he tossed smoke grenades to guide supply-laden Chinooks into the camp, now named LZ Billy. "We're settled in here now, the companies are going to be moving out and building LZ's of their own, and this won't be Charlie's country any longer."
Air and Sea: The 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry moved to the new AO by both air and sea. The battalion began packing on Oct. 27, strapping conex containers tightly to wooden pallets, forklifting them onto trucks, and driving the trucks to Hue for transport on Navy LSTs. On the 28th, the Skytroopers were camped on the Quang Tri airstrip, waiting for C-130 flights south.
Aloft, some remembered the month-long fight for the relief of Hue in February, the leap to break the siege of Khe Sanh in March, the daring assault into the A Shau. Others thought of the men who had died in I Corps. A chapter in the history of the 1st Cav was ending, and another was beginning.
On Oct. 29, the 2/8th reached Quan Loi. The men sorted out their combat gear and inspected their weapons. On the 31st, they assaulted into LZ Joe with an artillery preparation, air cover, and waves of supply choppers bringing up the rear. It was Halloween, but for the enemy there were no treats; aerial rocket artillery (ARA) ships blasted the woods, and the 2/8th rapidly began turning a former NVA base area into "Cav Country". The occupation of LZ Joe was the first combat assault for the Skytroopers in III Corps.
On Oct. 27, the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry learned that it would be moving south in roughly a day and a half. Lieutenant Colonel James W. Dingeman, the battalion commander, made plans to pull his companies in from the mountains.
"They couldn't extract any of the units closer to LZ Nancy, because that would leave us without the necessary fire support," he explained.
By the 28th, all of the 2/12th's companies had reached Nancy. The men were told that they would have to carry enough food and ammunition to last two weeks. It wasn't known for certain when they would be resupplied.
Sandbags: Each Skytrooper had a case of C-rations in addition to his regular gear. Books, souvenirs, and other belongings were crammed into duffel bags. Some men carried extra bundles of sandbags. They joked about how unnecessary the sandbags were, but the veterans of Operation Pegasus at Khe Sanh knew they might come in handy. Even the spirit of Halloween was present, as one cavalryman hung a large plastic jack-o-lantern from his pack.
There wasn't much time for speculation about the future. Around noon on the 29th, there was a cry of "Birds inbound!" and Chinooks, stirring up a dust storm with their twin rotors, hovered down. The 2/12th, now part of the 3rd Brigade, was on its way to the Quang Tri airport, one of the first units to make the big leap into the unknown of III Corps.
When word of the redeployment came on Oct. 27, the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry had been stationed in the mountains, battling the enemy in Operation Comanche Falls, for two months. Now, as part of the 1st ("All The Way") Brigade, it would enter an entirely new situation.
By the morning of Nov, 2, all the companies were back at LZ Nancy, waiting to be taken to Camp Evans for the C-130 flight to III Corps.
Many of the Skytroopers were glad to leave the mountains. They would have the good fortune of serving during two dry seasons - the monsoon rains were just beginning in I Corps, and had ended in the Saigon area. Short-timers with bitter memories of the Khe Sanh and Dong Ha campaigns would no longer be reminded of their ordeals.
However, some of the newer men saw it differently. They had gotten used to the area and action had been light. Vietnam wasn't so bad. Why switch?
It was these Funny New Guys (FNG's) who gave the 1/5th's veteran commanders pause for concern.
Major Joseph C. Boyersmith, S-3 (operations) officer for the battalion, briefed the company commanders and platoon leaders. Using a map of the new AO, he described the terrain and enemy situation the Skytroopers would encounter. After MAJ Boyersmith left, one company commander told his platoon leaders:
'No Picnic': "I hate to say this, but I think we're going to get hit down there and hit hard. It's not going to be any picnic. You officers have got to prevent your men from getting a complacent attitude about this thing. The enemy's got rockets - new ones we've never seen - artillery, and good supply routes.
"With the election coming up and the peace talks hanging, I think they've picked that area to make one last desperate attempt to win. You can bet we'll see a lot of action. Why else would the Cav be going down there?"
"We have something no other unit has - complete airmobility. We can outmaneuver them, outguess the, and outfight them, and this is what we're going to do. The only thing tht worries me is the FNG. He's been here for a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, but I don't have to tell any of you old guys that this has been nothing compared to what we saw at Khe Sanh and Dong Ha. We've got to impress on that new guy that there's hell ahead and he's got to get ready for it."
"Gentlemen, again I say: we have a fight ahead. But if we beat them this time, we've got them licked. Go back to your platoons and tell your men. Get them prepared mentally. Get them psyched up."
A version of this speech was given in every company. Often a squad leader, sensing the CO's concern, would remark, "Sir, don't sweat it. The FNG will come through in the pinch, just like we did when we first came over."
And for a moment the captain would be reassured. Here was a man who would be fighting beside that new guy, who might pay with his life if the latter made a mistake. But the squad leader wasn't scared. He was confident.
Good and Bad Times: Finally the Skytroopers loaded their packs into the birds, seated themselves, and, as they rose, looked out over the mountains of I Corps. Clouds had gathered above the peaks; it was raining. There had been some real bad time out there, they thought, but some good times too. Bull sessions - sitting around and trying to convince each other that you had the best girl or the best car. Sharing food, water, shelter, or cleaning gear. Getting to know about your buddy's family, his girl, his likes and dislikes. When a letter arrived, the whole squad read it, smelling the perfume on the pages. When a "care package" of food came, everybody ate. You got close to each other.
What would the future hold? One soldier, quoting Albert Einstein, said, "I never think of the future. It comes soon enouth."
The move was clearly a logistical triumph. By the evening of Oct.31, 2600 men and 61 helicopters had arrived in Quan Loi. By Nov. 10, 378 air sorties had been flown from Camp Evans with over 9200 men aboard. Over 3600 tons of vehicles and equipment had moved by air. The Navy LST's had carried 2800 passengers, 11,000 tons of equipment, 1750 wheeled vehicles, and 27 helicopters. The rest of the Cav was coming fast.
As the 1st Infantry Division moved out of its bases, the Skytroopers moved in, setting up communications networks, making contact with ARVN units and Special Forces - advised CIDG groups, and learning as much as possible about the local enemy.
"Charlie" was already feeling the pinch, despite his sanctuary in nearby Cambodia. By Nov 9, the 1st Cav, joining other allied units in the Toan Thang Offensive, had killed 109 enemy soldiers. On Nov. 14, 1st Cav firepower helped the 3rd Battalion, 36th ARVN Rangers repel and NVA assault on LZ Dot with almost 300 enemy killed. After a month in III Corps, the division by itself had accounted for over 1100 VC and NVA dead.
Uniquely capable, uniquely successful in coping with the conditions of warfare in Southeast Asia, the division was well on its way to another distinguished entry in the annals of THE FIRST TEAM.