Kontum: The Battle to Save South Vietnam

16. "Brother, This Is Going to Be It!"

16 “Brother, This Is Going to Be It!” Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in the heart of a hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it, they will fight hard. —Sun Tzu, The Art of War The Washington Post reported on 27 May 1972, “Kontum, once a pleasant town with abundant fruit trees and gentle climate, has been abandoned by more than 80 percent of the 30,000 people who lived there before the offensive.”1 Under the headline “Kontum Is Next—and It Knows It,” Stars and Stripes said: KONTUM, Vietnam (AP)—This city in South Vietnam’s central highlands is living on borrowed time and a fervent hope that defenses which crumpled elsewhere will holdhere. North Vietnamese forces, which have captured with ease almost every objective they sought in the highlands, are thus far content to probe at the nervous city’s outer perimeter. Since the initial predawn attack on May 14, there has been no indication when a large-scale assault is likely against the city that many allied officials believe is a certain target in the next phase of Hanoi’s general offensive.2 A sample of entries on the nine-page DTOC log for the 24 hours commencing at 0001 on 23 May gives an idea of the varied friendly and enemy activity: “BROTHER,THIS IS GOING TO BE IT!” • 209 C-130 landed. Unloading . . . Covey 550 directing air strike . . . Spectre 01 orbiting “Truck Alley,” engaging targets . . . airfield took 1 round . . . C-130 is burning . . . Sappers repelled outside of wire . . . tactical air strike requested on .51 position . . . VNAF A1s going in . . . 4/53 still in contact . . . MAJ Lovings—5 rounds incoming . . . VNAF strike going in . . . Arc Light detonated . . . Bladder bird due in tonight . . . Arc Light detonated . . . Airfield received 5 rounds . . . Tactical air strike requested . . . LTC McKenna reports his position received 3 rounds . . . Nail 43 put in strikes . . . Spectre 20 engaging truck . . . Spectre engaging bunkers.3 Although a few NV A tanks were detected during daylight hours and destroyed by the TOWs, the NV A’s typical pattern was to hide its tanks in the dense jungle during the day and then attack again in the night. If the NV A shifted its tanks to attack from a new direction, our air cavalry scouts were usually able to detect their movement and thus predict where the next nighttime attack would strike.4 There were about 38 tanks in every NV A tank battalion, yet most of their tank attacks were made with only ten or fewer tanks.5 In addition to the enemy’s inept use of the tanks they had, the number of tanks available to them was declining because of maintenance problems and combat losses. On Wednesday, 24 May, Mr. Vann said that so many enemy tanks were already destroyed, there were only 15 to 25 left in the Kontum area.6 The 23rd ARVN Division launched some offensive operations to the north and east on 24 May. Starting at 1045, VNAF helicopters were used to lift the 1st Battalion, 44th Regiment, for a combat assault on an area four kilometers north of our positions. The objective was three kilometers back to the southeast. Two hours later our 2nd Battalion made a similar combat assault one kilometer east of the 1st Battalion and then attacked toward an objective three kilometers to the southeast. Those two battalions attacked roughly parallel to each other, and a blocking force was set up south of their objectives. About a kilometer south of that blocking force, two battalions of the 53rd Regiment attacked to the east toward three successive objectives, the last of which was a village occupied by the NV A on 22 May. The 45th Regiment also participated by sending one battalion north to operate west of Highway 14. By 1800, all of the objectives were under ARVN control. The 1st Battalion of the 210 • KONTUM 45th returned to its normal defensive positions, but the other units remained on their final objectives through the night of 24–25 May. Total casualties for the day were reported as 86 enemy KIA, and ARVN losses were at 9 KIA and 31 WIA.7 The operations north of our defensive perimeter on 24 May were a good way to...