Article about a battle in Chu Lai

Item

derivative filename/jpeg
363-05823 to 363-05833.pdf
Digital Object Identifier
363-05823 to 363-05833
Title
Article about a battle in Chu Lai
Description
Original title: "tank", Keever's title: "'It was a natural tank trap and we fell into it,' Marine describing loss of 'swimming coffins'", Article about a battle in Chu Lai
AI Usage Disclosure
Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.
Transcript
deepe tank--page 1 august 19, 1965 AP CUONG, SOUTH VIET NAM--In describing the fierce fighting of the major U.S. Marine Corps operation near the Chu Lai enclave, a senior Marine officer explained, “This is World War II--with helicopters added.” (More) deepe tank--page 2 august 19, 1965 But it was much worse for a small band of thirty American Marines encircled and shelled and encircled for more than 24 hours by [deletion: Viet] an estimated 100 hard-core Viet Cong fighters. Far fewer than 30 Marines escaped unscratched. “It was like the Indians in the Old West surrounding and attacking a covered wagon convoy, except we were in armored wagons,” one Marine sergeant with 19 years in the service explained. “I was in the invasion of Okinawa--but I have never seen anything like this. I thought this was the end of all of us.” (More) deepe tank--3 august 19, 1965 Instead of fighting the U.S. Marine tanks and amphibious tractors with conventional tanks and anti-tank weapons of World War II, [deletion: however,] the [deletion: Viet Cont Cong] Communist fought them with orthodox guerrilla tactics [insertion: and concentrated firepower] that repeatedly won them magnificent victories against the French during the Indo-China War more than a decade ago. (More) deepe tank--page 4 Since the French forces were road-bound--and lacking the greater mobility of the Americans provided by helicopters--the [deletion: Vie] Communist forces repeatedly bushwacked the tanks, armored cars and trucks of the French supply and troop convoys. (More) deepe tank--page 5 Instead of a neat road ambush, however, the Viet Cong fight against the Americans was a small battlefield one hundred feet by one hundred feet--half of it was a red clay field surrounded by hedgerows and half of it [deletion: was aslopp] sloped downwards into a soggy rice paddy. “It was a natural tank trap and we fell into it,” one American officer explained. It was a deathtrap for some of the American Marines who are called Poges--the non-infantry types such as supply sergeants, drivers and crews of tanks, and amphibious tractors. (More) deepe tank--page 6 During the opening of the operation on August 18, one American Marine company passed near [insertion: this] the tangled jungled area splotched with rice paddies one mile northwest of this Viet Cong-infested village. But the company received no fire; the second company sweeping through did. Three Marine amphibious tractors--called amtracs for short--were sent to help out. These hulking black square boxes, costing $120,000 and weighing 35 tons--were also hit two of these were retrieved. With their capability of swimming, the amtracs are often used for amphibious assaults. Young Marine corps troops call it a “swimming coffin.” One of the amtracs was to become a flaming coffin for [deletion: one] an American Marine burned inside. (M9re) deepe tank--page 7 Then 17 tanks and amtracs were sent to relieve the trapped companies, but never reached their destinations. Five tanks and five amtracs were trapped--one tankswas completely destroyed, one amtrac completely burned out, three of the tanks were still [XXXX indicating deletion] lost [XXXX indicating deletion] more than 30 hours after they were first lost. [XXXX indicating deletion] Of the 17, one was a vague re-supply covo convoy with two tanks bringing up the rear and the front of the column and five amtracs carrying food, water and ammo to the infantry unit in their front. They never found their unit. ([deletion: Un] More) deepe tank--page 8 When we came across the [XXXX indicating deletion] this red clay piece of land,” the tired sergeant explained, “it was about 11 in the morning, just as the operation began. Suddenly, they attacked from the hedgerows on out left and right flanks--the flanks were about 30 yards apart. It was the Viet Cong tank-killer platoons. We started up here with five amtracs and two tanks--one in the front and one in the rear. First the lead tank was hit in the front and in the rear and then the rear tank was hit from behind. Maybe the rear tank got away. (More) deepe tank--page 9 Then the Viet Cong hit us with everything they had--57 and .75 recoiless rifles, small arms fire, mortars and automatic weapons. [deletion: The] One amtrac [deletion: acid] accidentally slipped down the slope into the rice paddy and two other amtracs deliberately drove down into the rice paddy hoping to set up a perimeter. They immediately got stuck. There were more than 100 Viet Cong that had us encircled on the right and the left flanks and all around. They hit us so fast--it was coming from every bush--every way we looked they were there. They had one special round [XXXX indicating deletion] that made a hole about the size of a half dollar, but the round burst inside the tanks throwing shrapnel everywhere. (More) deepe tank--page 9 Their first attack was at 11 and it continued until about four o’clock in the afternoon, and then it slowed up, but we received small arms fire intermittently throughout the night. By afternoon, one of the amtracs was hit and burning and the people inside panicked, open the landing door and ran out. The Viet Cong started picking them off. Half of the dead and wounded were from either opening the door and leaving the vehicles or else the people were shot while peeping out of the upper doors. (More) deepe tank--11 Sitting on the dusty red checkerboard, watching helicopters ferry out the dead and wounded, the sergeant continued, “My amtrac was the only one that had a machinegun [insertion: and radio] that would work. I kept praying, don’t let that machinegun and radio conk out. I just kept praying and splashing water on that machinegun to cool it down when it got too hot.” A young lance corporal interrupted to explain, “Three sergeants stayed outside the amtracs all day and all night and kept firing their rifles and pistols. The rest of us were buttoned up in the amtracs. When I closed the hatch of mine, I took out my rosary and started praying. Earlier, the Viet Cong had taken over one of our amtracs, which its crew had evacuated. They used it as a shelter. It was only 15 yards from me and one Viet Cong and I kept playing peek-aboo, looking out the top hatches. Finally, I killed two of them with one shot--then another was killed on top of our own amtracs. The Viet Cong kept walking around us all night; they were well camouflaged and we couldn’t see them well. We killed 15 of them in one rice paddy alone; I suppose we killed fifty [deletion: all] in all.” The sergeant and lance corporal watched as the helicopter crews loaded the dead, which had been mummified by the red dust. One had died with a knife [XXXX indicating deletion] clutched in his hand; one had been disemboweled. One survivor, a young Negro private, watched wailing in [deletion: agony] horror with tears rolling down his face. -30-
Date
1965, Aug. 19
Subject
Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Ambushes and surprises; Tanks (Military science); Tactics
Location
Ap Cuong[?], South Vietnam
Coordinates
10.8231; 106.6311
Size
20 x 26 cm
Container
B187, F5
Format
dispatches
Collection Number
MS 363
Collection Title
Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
Creator
Keever, Beverly Deepe
Collector
Keever, Beverly Deepe
Copyright Information
These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
Publisher
Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
Language
English