Kontum: The Battle to Save South Vietnam

4. The Looming Threat

4 The Looming Threat In order to fulfill the goals of Chairman Ho Chi Minh, all young men must fight. . . . A costly battle is ahead. Much sacrifice and heartache will precede our victory. . . . The armed forces must be increased. All youths, regardless of past deferments, must serve. . . . Victory is in sight. —North Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Giap, December 1971 The heavily armed NV A was moving into position to attack us. During 1971, the Soviets sent 350 ships loaded with war material —a million tons of it—to North Vietnam.1 By 1972, they had replaced all the equipment previously lost by the NV A and VC. The NV A now had more tanks and heavy artillery than ever before.2 An ARVN lieutenant general described the warning signs, the NV A’s plans, and the dire consequences if the enemy’s coming offensive succeeded: Starting in the fall of 1971, intelligence reports began to stream into II Corps Headquarters revealing the enemy’s preparations for a major offensive campaign in the Central Highlands during the approaching dry season. Prisoner and returnee sources further disclosed that large enemy forces were moving into northern Kontum Province from base areas in Laos and Cambodia and [that] their effort would concentrate on uprooting border camps and fire bases in northwestern Kontum, and eventually, “liberating” such urban centers as Pleiku and Kontum. In conjunction with this effort, the reports indicated, other enemy forces in the coastal lowlands THE LOOMING THREAT • 41 were to increase activities aimed at destroying ARVN forces, particularly in northern Binh Dinh Province, where enemy domination had long been established. If these concerted efforts succeeded and joined forces, South Vietnam would run the risk of being sheared along Route QL-19 [Highway 19] into two isolated halves.3 Captured enemy documents, defectors, and other intelligence sources confirmed that the Communist B-3 Front would act as a corps headquarters to control all the units participating in the attack on II Corps. NV A lieutenant general Hoang Minh Thao would be in command. The B-3 Front’s subordinate units were identified as the 2nd and 320th NV A Infantry Divisions plus the entire 203rd Tank Regiment4 from Hanoi High Command and other independent infantry and artillery units. VC main and localforce units supplemented the NV A units. All those nondivisional units assigned to the B-3 Front equaled another division, so the equivalent of three enemy divisions would be attacking into the Central Highlands in II Corps. A captured document revealed that both 122-mm and 130-mm Soviet field guns with ranges up to 27,500 meters were being infiltrated into the triborder area. This attack would be the enemy’s first use of either armor or artillery in the Central Highlands. The main thrust of the offensive would be attacks on Tan Canh and Dak To II and the FSBs on Rocket Ridge, the American name for a large hill mass running northwest from Kontum that the enemy used to fire rockets at Kontum. Next the NV A would attack the main population centers of Kontum City and Pleiku City. In Binh Dinh Province on the Coastal Lowlands, the NT-3 “Gold Star” NV A Division, augmented by VC units, would lead the attack.5 The 2nd NV A Infantry Division had entered South Vietnam in 1967. They had fought the Americans in Kontum and Darlac provinces and thereafter had remained in the Highlands. They were experienced soldiers who knew the territory. The 320th NV A Infantry Division was formed in 1951 and had participated in the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. The 320th’s organic units were the 48th, 52nd, and 64th Infantry Regiments and the 54th Artillery Regiment. The total strength of the division and its special battalions was 10,400 men. However, information that the 2nd NV A Artillery Regiment and the 7th NV A Engineer Regiment were now 42 • KONTUM supporting the 320th indicated that an unusually big attack was coming. The 7th NV A Engineer Regiment was building a road four meters wide to be used by tanks moving to attack Kontum. It was to be completed by the end of March. Enemy sources said the attack would begin the first week in April and the objectives would be ARVN outposts along Highway 14 northwest of Kontum City and then the city itself.6 At a...