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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-05233 to 363-05243.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-05233 to 363-05243
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Title
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Article about discoveries inside the DMZ
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Description
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Original title: "dmz", Keever's title: "In more [?] Inside the DMZ, U.S. Marines Find Communist Bunkering Complex, Arms Cache, Graves", Article draft about discoveries inside the DMZ, for the Christian Science Monitor, pages 1-15
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AI Usage Disclosure
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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.
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Transcript
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- Page 1
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zczc sag
yy nnm
wsiroeil
adibantahmmm
dmz 1 (normass/deepe)
WITH THE U. S. 9th MARINE REGIMENT, DEMILITARIZED ZONE,
VIETNAM, OCTOBER 3--The treetop kaxe
tier of of
jjungle canopy had been withered brown by American
defolit defoliation sparys, but the two lower
layers still encased the Marine unit below in an
emerald u umbrella.of foliage.
Only as the Huey "slick" descended into a
cylindrical landing zone where the rainforest
had been felled did the troops emerge life-size
from their prison of greenery. The troops were
tw
Two To
hi gingerbread-colored, their faces arms and uniforms
having been powdered and buttered with the
cinnomon dust of the jungle floor.
==more reuter
zczc sag
yy nnm
dmz 2 (normass/deepe)
In the humid, mid-day heat, many had stripped off their
shirts and flak jackets; some were hacking away the undergrowth
between trees; some were laboriously chipping out floxholes from
the rubbery clay. They were digging deep; a company in a sister
unit earlier in the operation had already been decimated in a ten
withering North Vietnamese army and mortar barrage, suming
The troops of the 1st b batalion--which had already written
Vietnam military history along the demilitarized zone during the
battles of Con Thien and Khe Sanh--appeared weary; some wore several
dayss of stubble on their chins and cheeks; they had been
17
on the march since August 27 and during the operat Typhoon Bees
in early September had bequeathed them with twenty two inches of rain
the ViBLENT
HARB. Not the MONSOONS.
in four days. BESS WAS
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- Page 2
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zczc sag
yy nnm
dmz 3 (hormass/deepe)
The jungle in and around the da dmz is some
of the densest in the world; it is among the most
agonizing terrain in Vietnam in which to walk--little
lone to fight. Sending out super-cautious flank
RE
security potential ideal Communist ambush counttry,
the 1st Bat Battalion had moved about three-fifths
of a mile a day--one grid square on the map--while
on the ridgelines.
But at the base of the mountains,
in the gulleys and draws where machete hacking was
required, the battalion covered 500 yards a day--the
equivalent of five normal city blocks.
==more reuter
zczc sag
yy nnm
dmz 4 (normass/deepe)
The demat demilitarized zone is perhaps the
great misnomer of the Vietnam war. On the ground,
it has not been a bloody battleground--but for the
North Vietnamese, it has since mid-1965 become
mid-1964 become a significant transiting area
from which to prepare, man and supply their battlefield
further south. The Allies have during the years
countered with massive tactical and strategic air
bombardments, artillery and naval gunfire
shellings. The Communists have in turn countered
this with their own artillery shellings an onto the NTO South VIETNA
ground across the dmz and surface-to-air missiles and
radar-controlled 100 millimeter anti-aircraft barrages
directed at American airera fighterd fighters and-
bombers.
Bess
==more reuter
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- Page 3
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zcze sag
yy nnm
dmz 5 (normass/deepe)
Only frequ occasionally, however,
three years,
in the past
have American or South Vietnamese
combat units piereced into the dmz (except for
unannounced, clandestine Special Forces raids).
Whenm Usually the battleground was ground battles
were fought further south, on the Allied side of t line.
the southernmost limits of the zone When Allied
battalions did venture into the zone, they have
thus far to date remained in the so-called
Dmz
£ southern trace"--the half of the zone south of
the Ben Hai river. The Ben Hai forms the sole
natural boundary of the dmz--which on the maps is
termed the "provisional military demarcation line."
==more reuter
zczc sag
yy nnm
dmz 6 (normass/deepe)
Three miles
Three miles on each side of the Ben Hai River,
except for a few odd wrinkles here and there, kins
thr
Except for a few odd wrinkles here and there,
miles on each side of of the Ben Hai river lies the
"southern trace" and the northern half of the
zone. Zigazgging and s-eur S-curving towards
the South China Sea, the silvery river--currently
about a hundred yards wide--appears as one of the m
most innocent and idyllic waterways in the world;
yet more than any other,
it hss has given birth
three
there
to diplomatic, fe ideological and military confrontations
in this decade.
==more reuter
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- Page 4
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zczc sag
yy nnm
dmz (normass/deepe)
Horizontally, scissoring North and South Vietnam,
40-mile-long
dmz from the Laotian border to the South China Sea.
The 9th MARINES.
The first ba 1st Battalion has been almost
in the horizontal center of the damn dmz; vertically
it has moved from 500 yards south of the Ben Hai
southwards towards its southermonst boundardy.
The battalion -me began operating its operation
on August 27 outside the dmz on August 2u 27, while
searching the hills and mountains and valleys around
the sg shaggy "Rockpile" area. Then on September
17, it was helicoptered into the lowlands near the
MEANDERING
Ben Hai river and owes moved southe southwards.
Since September 17, the battalion on the map has
It has taken the battalion since September 17 to
- By thE MAP
move the three miles from the Ben Hai river to
the southern limits of the dmz--but the routes here
have been doubly circuit circuitous, up-and-dog-down
the hi mountains and v mountainsides and meandering
sound each upen one mountainside, down the other
side and meandering between the ridges. Inn Besides
the Ben Hai forms the midstream of the
BOGAN
==more reuter
2
HR
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- Page 5
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zczc sag
yy nnm
édmz 8 (normass/dep deepe)
Besides moving cautiously to Spring potential
Communist ambushes and bushwacking parties,
the
battalion also took time to be blaze out a one-ship
helicopter landing zones which can be were used to
for resupply and medical evacuations.
The unit first moved into the dmz on
In part, the unit was moved into the dmz as
a follow-up ground action committed to assess the
effectiveness of B-52 raids in the area during the
two previous days. On D-Day--September 17--tje
the battalion was helicoptered into the Hill 256 00
complex and then two of its companies moved
southwards to secure the dominant terrain in
overlooking the Ben Hail. ] The next day, the battalion
was split; two companies--roughly 18 170 men per
"grunts per "grunits"-- per company--moved
directly southwest cross-country and the remaining
two companies attacked along a ridgeline inet a
known North Vietnamese bunker complex. The
units then moved into the Hill 579 complex,
between the Ben Hai and the southernmost border of
midway
the dmz.
==more reuter
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- Page 6
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zcze sag
yy nnm
nnm
dmz 9 (normass/deepe)
In confident spirits, but haggard-looking,
Captain Edward F. Riley, explained what the battalion
had found during their three-week jungle odyssey.in the dmz.
A 31-year-old native of Portland, Maine,
he
served, as the battalion's operations officer during
his second tour in Vietnam in three years./
Ri
Period.
"we discovered hundreds of bunkers, sometimes
bunkers within a maze of bumlee bunker complexes," "
he said matter-of-factly. "With our two companies
attacking southwest from the Ben Hai, we encountered
a significant arms cache three kilometers south
of the Ben Hai, overlooking the river. We found
alot of weapons and ordnance and an elaborate
Communist bunkerint a bunkering system completely
wired with landline communications..
==more reuter
zczc sag
yy nnm
dmz 10 (normass/deepe)
"Some of the bunkers measured 15 feet by 20 feet and were
deep enough for a man to stand ineup in. Logs eighteen inches
in diam diamter diameter circumference provided the
roofing. Everything was extremely well cancer-VEM
camouflaged.
and there were even patios on top of
some of the bunie bunkers with eating facilities th
There were roofed-in eating r facilities. They had
cut steps down the moutains and hills and had
bamboo banisters on them. Everything was extremely
reuternt. Sites.
well camouflaged AND they HAD WELL = LOVELOPED Anti-Hircraft
HOD GROUND.
==more reuter
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- Page 7
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zczc sag
yy nnm
dmz tommm 11 (normass/deepe)
"Their main trails generally followed the
ridgelines, but were crisscrossed with minor trails
every several feet. These minor trails sau ran down
into the draws
He explained what the battalion had seen in the
aftermath of a B-52 raid. the B-52 raids.
"The B-52's were on target in the majority
of the bunker complexes," he said. "Many trees
were uprooted and anything above ground in the area
would have been decimated. The bunkers immediately
removed from the bunker area--about 100 meters awa
bombing craters--about 100 meters away pon on the
flanks--showed no dma damage. But we did four, ND fou
mass graves. We uncovered one and it had in excess
of two bodies in it; we round
F
twenty bodies, but
we did not dig to the bottom of the grave. The
other three graves we did not uncover H He estimated "maybe ten
per
cento de hunkers that battalion are destroyed.s
The evidence was
disc
extremely well organized withdrawal from the area
before we f got there. They didn't rush out; they
buried their dead, policed up the area and left.
==more reuter
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- Page 8
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zcze sag
yy nnm
dmz 12 (normass/deepe)
The 1st battalion
As
Since the major M NVA units had withdrawn
from their bunkering complex, the 1st Marines had
made no "solid" face-to-face showdown contacts.
However, the unit had been mortared on four or
five occasions, generally at dush dusk, when the
Communists can observe where their rounds impact,
yet still use the approaching darkness to evade
on the onrush of American airpower. On one night
last week, a platoon-sized Communist probe hit two
flanks of the command group's security company, but
American artillery supported the Marines within
15 minutes. Several nights later, the North Vietnamese
hurled twenty to thirty mortar rounds at the 1st Battalion;
the Marines suffered one slightly wounded casualty
casualty and returned Firs fire with 97 artillery
rounds.
==more reuter
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- Page 9
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zcze sag
yy nnm
dmz 13 (normass/deepe)
Further to the east in the dmz, the 26th
Marines discovered a road leading southwards from
the Ben Hai river for roughly eight kilometers,
The
road,
wide enough for truck traffice, was cut into
the sides of the mountains, thus giving it an all-weather
capability. Senior commanders fear the Communists
FRE
MA
may have been building the road in order to move do
down their heavy pieces of artillery down closer to pine.
Americ Marine fprw-forward combat bases numerous
combat bases wh8c which have replaced Khe Sanh for
operational purposes.
Since the dmzopeation operation began on
August 27 September 17, eight Marine companies have
consistently operated in the zone in the "southern
trace" at at times 12 companies were four more companies
were committed there. For a few minutes, four other
company wipped across the southern most
boundary into the dmz proper since there is no
Ra
are no
visible features defining the southernmost boundary
of the dmz, and m even elaborate maps are not exact,
American commanders sometimes find it difficult to
say specifically when they are in the dmz,
on the
southern boundary line or in south vietnam proper.
==more reuter
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- Page 10
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zczc sag
yy nnm
dmz 14 (normass/deepe)
Generally,
four Marine companies of 170 men each
form a battalion, but at times during an operation
companies are added or substracted from the a
battalion for specific durations.
Sixcremm
No official statistics are currently available
on materials, bunkering a complexes and casualties of
both sides incurred during the operation within the 3,
the dmz Proper. However, sier August 27, operating
inside and dy south of the central port the dmz and
sou in the northern part of south vietnam, the A
J Marines killed 750 North Vietnamese while suffering
70 killed. An additional 401 Marines were wounded
and evacuated from the battle zone; 41 others were
wounded but not evacuated. Communists wounded are
unknown. Four Communists were s/captured as
prisoners of war and five other Vietnamese were
detained as suspects.
==more reuter
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- Page 11
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zczc sag
yy nnm
dmz 15 (normass/deepe)
FIND
Official statistics list 1,588 Communist bunkers
destroyed, 678 weapons seized, 1.4 million rounds of
repeat one point four million rounds of small arms
Other Captu
ammunition seized,. 10 tons of explosives, 37 tons of rice,
7 tons of salt, 20,255 artillery, mortar and rocket
rounds and 12,589 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.
Note to editors:
after the second take:
please insert the following
The Marines had been cut off
from the news of the outside world during the operation.
MARINES
Unlike thier their the troops in the bunktased remote,
Dm2)
bunkered base camps south of the zona, the 1st Battalion
had not listened to the early morning broadcasts of
the World Series.
EXCHANGES
And they were unaware of the verbal
fuss being raised in the Paris peace conference and
the American Presidential ce campaign
about restoration
of the "de" in the militarized zone. The Marines
were more intent on digging their foxholes deep eno deeper.
Hank:
sorriest this isn't written very well; ey em
rushing to get it out with a courier to Saigon. Maybe
MASSAGE
you can polish it some.
Regards Bev).
==end reuter
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Date
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1968, Oct. 3
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Guerilla warfare; United States. Marine Corps; Bunkers (Fortification); Weapons; Enemy property; Vietnam (Democratic Republic). Quân đội
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Location
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Demilitarized Zone, Vietnam
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Coordinates
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16.6193, 106.7305
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Size
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20 x 26 cm
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Container
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B10, F39
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Format
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dispatches
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
