Hell in An Loc: The 1972 Easter Invasion and the Battle That Saved South Viet Nam

7. Reinforcing An Loc

116 While the war was raging at Loc Ninh, General Minh, III Corps commander, finally realizing that Binh Long—and not Tay Ninh— was the main objective of the enemy’s 1972 Easter Offensive, ordered the 43rd Regiment of the 18th Division, reinforced with the 5th Armored Squadron, to secure Route 13 north of Lai Khe. The relief column received 130mm artillery fire but met only light enemy resistance . It arrived at Chon Thanh without incident on April 7. The next day, the column was subjected to an intense artillery barrage and engaged by a regiment-size enemy blocking force south of Tao O creek. The enemy, well protected by an intricate system of underground inter-connecting reinforced bunkers, stopped the 43rd Regiment’s progression despite powerful artillery and tactical air support. The death of Col. Truong Huu Duc, the 5th Armored Squadron commander, during an aerial inspection of the battle of Tao O caused the attack to lose momentum and the 43rd Regiment —which suffered 30% losses—to withdraw out of the enemy artillery range and reorganize.1 After the war council meeting in Saigon on April 7 decided to put the 21st Dìvision and the 1st Airborne Brigade under the operational control of III Corps in order to cope with the NVA/VC offensive in Binh Long province, General Minh decided to use both of these units to attack from the south to secure the vital supply line to An Loc and to link up with the besieged city. Minh resisted Seven Reinforcing An Loc 117 Reinforcing An Loc the idea of transporting the 1st Airborne Brigade directly into An Loc to reinforce the garrison because he was concerned that NVA forces could bypass An Loc and attack the cities to the south and thus would pose a serious threat to Saigon itself. In fact, the NVA had the capability to unleash two uncommitted independent regiments, the 24th and 274th , against elements of the ARVN 25th Division in Tay Ninh province. These two regiments , which had not been engaged in the battle of An Loc, could then join forces with elements of the 7th Division or even the 5th Division after the latter’s victory at Loc Ninh, to attack Hau Nghia province south of Tay Ninh and to open a new front to support the enemy’s planned drive toward the capital of South Viet Nam. On the morning of April 11, the 1st Airborne Brigade under Col. Le Van Luong, was transported by trucks from Lai Khe to Chon Thanh in order to replace the 43rd Regiment in the Route 13 securing mission. The paratroopers disembarked at Chon Thanh and then moved north by foot. They were stopped just six kilometers north of Chon Thanh by a well-entrenched blocking force made up of a regiment of NVA’s 7th Division. The paratroopers were unable to destroy the enemy blocking positions due to the lack of support from attached armor units of the 5th Armored Squadron; the latter were reluctant to move forward after having suffered heavy losses from enemy mortar and rocket barrages.2 Meanwhile, the situation in An Loc became critical after the second attack. The 5th Division had practically given up one-third of the city to the north. The enemy had occupied the airfield and installed a powerful anti-aircraft system around the city, which had not only thwarted medical evacuation efforts, but had also taken a heavy toll on the aircraft and crews carrying out aerial resupply missions . Faced with the possible collapse of the garrison under renewed enemy attacks, General Minh met on April 14 in Lai Khe with Lt. Gen. Duong Quoc Dong, the Airborne Division commander, and Colonel Luong, to discuss the feasibility of conducting an air assault into An Loc to reinforce the defense of the city. During that meeting, Minh informed General Dong and Colonel Luong that the NVA troops were tightening their knots around An Loc, 118 Hell in An Loc that the friendly casualties kept mounting due to increased enemy artillery fire and that an advance base must be established in the vicinity of An Loc to provide fire support to the defenders and to allow fresh troops to link up with and reinforce the threatened garrison . According to General Minh, the 1st Airborne Brigade was the most suitable unit to carry out that difficult mission.3 The 1st Airborne Brigade...