Con Thien: The Hill of Angels

16. Winter Battles: 1967–68

The fall-winter monsoon misery continued without letup. The badly battered North Vietnamese withdrew many of their units into DMZ sanctuaries for some rest and re¤tting. They had suffered an appalling number of casualties at the hands of the Marines that fall. General Westmoreland was quoted in the press as stating that the attempted siege of Con Thien had cost the NVA more than two thousand dead. For the Americans along the DMZ, it was war as usual—Dyemarker bunker building, endless patrolling, and dodging incoming—they did not get a break. Periodic shelling attacks continued to plague the Marines, despite the ongoing efforts of Operation Neutralize. The NVA had endured a terri ¤c pounding from air, land, and sea. Nevertheless, their persistence and determination to rebound after each setback were amazing to Westerners who could not fathom such dedication in the face of staggering losses. MACV staffers must have imagined that they were dealing with a multiheaded Hydra—slice off one serpent head, and two more took its place. “I never thought it would go on like this,” once commented a bewildered Secretary McNamara. “I didn’t think these people had the capacity to¤ght this way, to take this punishment.”1 There were some notable successes, however. On October 16, in a stunning coup, 1/9’s FAC ran a series of air strikes on an NVA position to the north that resulted in eleven secondary explosions. For the next several days, incoming on The Hill was noticeably infrequent. In early November, a devastating B-52 Arc Light strike fatally smashed 16 Winter Battles: 1967–68 the 812th NVA Regiment headquarters three miles southwest of Con Thien, forcing the few dazed survivors to retreat into North Vietnam. That unit was never heard from in the Con Thien area again. Gaining the Upper Hand Lt. Col. John Mitchell’s 1st Battalion, 9th Marines conducted sweeps daily in all directions out of Con Thien but primarily to the northwest and southwest. Enemy troop sightings in those areas indicated that a well-used trail was being utilized to in¤ltrate small units south across the DMZ. Evidence of the enemy’s continued presence was frequently encountered, such as freshly dug graves and empty harbor sites, but 1/9 made little actual contact until November 1, the ¤rst day of Operation Kentucky. Elements of Delta Company had a brief ¤re¤ght with an NVA unit one thousand meters northwest of Con Thien. They quickly gained the upper hand and overwhelmed the NVA, killing ten and capturing one. They were hot on the trail of the retreating enemy, having chased them through the trees for two hundred meters, when the AO overhead spotted something that brought Delta to an abrupt halt. A large force of NVA had set up an ambush and was waiting for them. Capt. Francis L. Shafer wisely held his Delta hard chargers back and then covered his company’s withdrawal by supporting ¤res from Con Thien’s 81s and 4.2inch mortars. NVA from the 803d NVA Regiment attempted to draw 1/9 into another trap a week later in almost the same location. Companies A and D, accompanied by a command group, departed the Con Thien perimeter at ¤ve o’clock in the morning on November 7 under cover of darkness . Moving quietly, Captain Henry Radcliffe’s Company A established a blocking position one thousand meters west of Con Thien. Delta continued searching to the south. Before Alpha could set up in position, their plan was interrupted by¤fteen NVA who opened ¤re wildly and then broke contact and ran. They expected Alpha to pursue them because green, hard-charging Marine assault troops usually did when they caught the enemy’s scent. In278 Kentucky stead, 1/9 pulled the old “snowball ¤ght” tactic on the NVA: lob one snowball high to the right and, while their attention was diverted in that direction, hit them with a low, hard snowball toss from the left. Captain Radcliffe held Alpha back and made a visible show of preparing to pursue, while Captain Shafer’s Company D stealthily approached the hedgerow into which the NVA had retreated and attacked unexpectedly from the south. The NVA, waiting in battalion strength for Alpha, had been caught totally off guard by Delta. A ¤erce threehour battle ensued. Delta ¤nally broke contact under covering ¤re provided by Alpha and supporting ¤res from mortars...