Jungle war

[39mto39g]

A while back I was on a 1/35 infantry sight and came across this artical, I don't know who wrote it ecept its spelled way to good.

Ron

There are two wars in Vietnam; One is being fought in the coastal lowlands and valley plains, and the other one is being fought in the mountainous jungles. In some areas units will be operating in the first environment one day and in the second the following day. The normal methods of operation differ sharply in each environment. Jungle fighting is not new to U.S. soldiers nor does the enemy have a monopoly on jungle know-how. U.S. units adapt well to jungle fighting. When we were operating against the NVA along the Cambodian Border we found that they had as much difficulty operating in the area as we did. The prisoners we captured were as a rule, undernourished, emaciated and sick with malaria. They stated that almost everyone in their units had malaria and many had died from it.
In the jungle, landing zones are few and far between, trails are few and narrow. Navigation is difficult, units in many cases are limited to jungle trails and flank security is difficult to attain. Visibility is usually between 20 to 30 meters and forward movement is generally limited to 300 to 500 meters per hour. The most difficult problem in fighting NVA in this type of terrain is "finding him". This is where he builds his fortified base camps and where he locates his bunkers on ridges and in the heads of draws in hopes that a platoon or company will blunder into the area. The NVA habitually emplace their fighting positions to fire down the valley or ridge; as in the fortified village, the enemy realized that our tactical advantage lies in our artillery and air support. So, again he likes to use "hugging" tactics. Therefore, the problem is finding and fixing the enemy without having our units engaged and shot up at close range.
In the jungle where LZs are limited reaction time is reduced to the cross-country proximity of units on the ground. Commanders must continually consider this possible requirement to rapidly reinforce small units which gain heavy contact with the enemy. When operating in this type of terrain where contact with large NVA units is possible, rifle companies should be within none to three hours of each other.
The rifle company should operate as a unit with platoons within 15 to 30 minutes of each other. The company should have security elements covering the main body, front, flanks and rear. (Too often company commanders overlook flank and rear security because of the difficult terrain.) There are times when it is impossible to have flank security because of the heavy jungle vegetation. In this case the unit must move in a single file. The point element should precede the main body by about 200 meters. A rifle company should stop every so often and send out patrols in all directions. Not only is this a good security measure, but it is also a good method of search in the jungle. Special emphasis should be paid to the rear. On the border the NVA have developed a habit, of once they locate a U.S. unit they will have a small recon party follow to keep "tabs". There are a couple of ways to combat this technique; one is by dropping off a small ambush patrol. This procedure has paid dividends for us on several occasions. The other method is by having a patrol "button hook", move off the trail double back at some distance and move back along the trail. When operating in mountainous terrain, if at all possible a company commander should keep one or two platoons on the high ground, so that if need be they can maneuver down upon the enemy. This procedure paid off several times for our battalion.
On 15 July 1967, our C Company was operating in the mountainous jungle area southwest of Duc Pho RVN. Intelligence reports indicated that an NVA battalion was in the area and the company had infiltrated in with three days rations on the night of the 12th. On the morning of the 15th the Company was moving south on two axes. The company (-) was in the valley floor; and the 2nd & 3rd platoons were on the high ground to the west. About mid-morning the platoons on the high ground turned to the east and started moving down the ridge line to link up with the company (-). The 2nd plt, which was leading, ran into an enemy bunker which was oriented to fire down the hill and killed three NVA. Shortly thereafter they ran into the main enemy position which was occupied by an NVA platoon. The company commander maneuvered the company (-) up the ridge line and soon the enemy was surrounded. After a five hour firefight the enemy positions were overrun and 28 NVA were killed. The NVA platoon was not prepared to fight a heavy battle in two directions, their bunkers were generally located to catch a unit moving up the ridge line, consequently they were annihilated.
When firm contact with the enemy is established the ground commander must not be "sucked in" to over-commit his unit. He should concentrate on fixing the enemy with his forces and immediately employ his supporting fires. Following extensive artillery and air bombardment the commander should maneuver his elements to determine the effect of his supporting fires; additional support required, if any; and to destroy the remnants of the enemy force. The deciding factor in many of these battles has been the immediate application of fire power.
On normal operations it is a good policy for a company to halt about 1600 hours; so they will have sufficient time before dark to prepare their night defensive perimeter. Digging in is an absolute must! At the very least individual prone fighting positions should be prepared. Security in the form of OPs and LPs is another cardinal rule. For some reason this is a difficult thing to get commanders, especially new commanders to do. They are reluctant to put out two or three men 100 to 200 meters from the company perimeter. One of the finest weapons in a jungle perimeter is the claymore. The hand grenade loses much of its usefulness in the thick jungle. A lot of men have been wounded by their own grenades, when they hit a tree limb or bush. The same is true of the M-79 grenade launcher. The claymore is an aimed weapon, just like a rifle, therefore it should be carefully sighted in, to cover the desired target area. Some men tend to put the claymore out to far; for fear of being injured in the backblast. The enemy has a habit of sneaking up to our perimeters and turning the claymores around. To combat this the claymores should be close enough to be observed. We have also found it effective to rig the claymore with a trip flare or anti-intrusion device. A claymore can be detonated safely by placing them just outside the foxhole against the berm. It is a good idea to emplace one there just "in case". Another good rig for a claymore is up in a tree with the business end aimed on a slant toward the ground. The locations for claymores and trip flares should be selected before dark but ideally they should be emplaced after dark.
Whenever possible the company should cut an LZ within their night perimeter. Of course it is a must if the unit is going to be resupplied with other than a free drop. Our units like to bring in their 81 mortars, not only for close-in fire support but also for immediate illumination.
Medical evacuation is another problem. In the jungle only emergency cases should be evacuated at night. Also, since LZs are limited in the jungle many wounded or injured personnel are evacuated by means of a hoist rigged on a medevac ship. On the 15 July fight of C Company, thirteen wounded men were hoisted out of the battle area. We keep an emergency rig of a rope and parachute harness. Fortunately, we have only had to use this rig twice, but on both occasions the men were saved by this crude affair. The problem with this rig is that the individual cannot be lifted all the way into the aircraft and must dangle 15 to 30 feet under the helicopter.
In the jungle most of the meeting engagements with the enemy are from a distance of 15 to 20 feet. In this terrain our point men like to carry the shotgun. It is an excellent close-in weapon especially when the point man turns the corner of a trail and runs head-on into a couple of NVA. We used to have a Sgt E-5 in our A Company, now SSG Sidney S. Hines Jr., who love to walk point. On the border from July 66 to December 66, he killed 15 NVA with a shotgun. In three days time last January he killed seven more NVA. He has since rotated but his skill with a shotgun is still a legend in the Battalion.
In the jungle where there are few LZs, the commander must assume that all are hot and mined. The enemy attempts to keep all possible landing zones under observation by recon elements. Some enemy units have the mission of ambushing prospective LZs. The best method of securing an LZ in this type of terrain is to move a rifle company in on foot to provide security for the following elements. When this is impossible due to the tactical situation the preparatory fires must be carefully planned and coordinated. Ideally tactical air, artillery and gunships should be used. In these preparatory fires not only should the LZ and the immediate area be hit by supporting fires; but also likely avenues of approach into the area and likely enemy assembly areas some distance from the LZ.

[DMZ-LT]

Now they tell me ! By 1970 we would also use " automatic " or " mechanical " ambushes around the NDP. Claymores rigged to batteries and a trip wire , covering likely enemy avenues of approach

[exlrrp]

This is off the 1st/327 website
I came in right after Mothers Day Hill, I was one of the first replacements for 2d platoon which was almost wiped. Thank God for all the jungle training I got in Panama, I was a journeyman grunt from the 2d day on.
This is the most coherent account Ive seen of the battle, which, like the one already posted, was in Duc Pho, spring of '67

Mother's Day Hill Thread

If you would like to add your memories to this thread please email them to David J.

Mother's Day Hill from the back of the line in second platoon


Here is what I remember about the events leading up to and including the
Battle. Steve Black


I was a grenadier in 2nd platoon. We had been operating around Duc Pho for several days without enemy contact. We did see some signs of use in villages, such as military equipment, maps, canteens etc. left in the empty villages we were in.

At the time we had an ABC news man and a two man crew of Koreans carrying the large
film camera they used. Most of the time that group was attached to the command group,
The CO, his RTO, an FO and his RTO.

After about the third day I think, we got orders to start up a high hill with the plan to rendezvous with the choppers for resupply on the other side. My squad Sgt., I can't remember his name, but he was a great guy, was to get on the chopper to go to the rear. He was going to go to Hawaii to meet his fianc? and get married. She was already there, expecting to meet him in a couple of days.

As we started up the trail leading up the hill, it was clear it would be a hard climb. The trail was very steep, windy and narrow, with heavy jungle on all sides and above. I was in the last squad in my platoon. There were two platoons, 4th and 2nd, and the command group in between.

With a total number of about 55 or so men, spaced 5 meters apart, the entire column was perhaps 250-300 meters long. Those of us in the rear were nearly the length of a foot ball field away from the lead elements. With the jungle as it was, the only people we could see were all within about 15 meters forward and back. As a consequence, those of us in the rear really had no idea what was going on at the lead, other then what we could hear.

On the 13th of May, about noon we stopped for lunch break, each one of us sitting on the trail facing in opposite directions, leaning back on our rucks and eating C's, smoking and talking quietly. All of a sudden, the guy sitting next to me, ( can't remember who) jumped up and opened fire into the foliage just to our right. He fired one round then his 16 jammed. (not uncommon no matter how often you cleaned it). We went into the woods where he had fired and found a VC in his black pjs with a grenade in his hand. The one shot had hit him right in the heart. We had been seeing signs of enemy emplacements, commo wire and phones, ammo bags etc. as we had been going up the hill and this made it clear that we were entering Indian territory.
My memory gets hazy here but I think our CO decided to cap up and head up the hill right then.

I remember that our lead elements made some contact as I remember fire, and shouts and moving quickly up the hill. Our lead elements has dropped their rucks and so those of us in the rear were grabbing them along the way. We were carrying ours and then had one on each arm as we suddenly found that running up the hill was easy. Gun fire has a way of doing that.

The rear elements I was with never got far enough up the hill to yet see what had transpired and no one really passed any information back down the hill, but as it was starting to get towards dark ( usually always around 1800-1830) we started digging in for the night right on the trail.

As were digging in ,the dog handler we had assigned to our unit, SP/4 Bost and his dog came and joined the three guys that were at my position for the night. I had never met him before but as we rapped about our lives, his plans, his girl etc., I came to feel like I had known him forever and was very impressed with how friendly and easy going he was. I was looking forward to talking more with him as the days went on. The despite the fact that it was a very tense night, knowing that we were likely going to catch more hell the next day and expecting perhaps more grenades during the night.

The next morning we were up early and back on line ready to go up the hill. From my location all I could see were the three or four men in line just ahead of me and the same to the rear. When walking up a trail slowly like this it was sort of being like any other line in the Army, a few steps forward, then wait then a few steps forward then wait again. I remember that we had moved up hill just a short ways, then seemed to be going back down a short dip in the trail and then back up. We had moved maybe 100 meter when all hell broke loose. The VC had opened up from bunkers on the lead elements of our unit and apparently hit first the dog, rumor was later in the day that it had been hit, jaw blown off and the dog ran off into the jungle. Along with the Sp/4 Bost who had been mortally hit. I don't know too much about who was hit and where initially as we were still strung out way back down the trail. As soon as the noise started every one hit the ground in a defensive position. We could here screams of pain, and cries for " medic" over and over. We could hear commands to move up the hill, move on the flank etc., then we heard "2nd platoon on line" We came running as fast as we could up the hill into the salvo.

I remember coming into a small clearing where I could see two men laying behind a log. One was Sgt. Jerry Norris, I don't remember the other. I rushed up next to them and lay down behind the same log. They both had a cigarette lit and were firing their 16s into the heavy jungle. Visibility was about 20 meters. I had the M 79 which in that jungle could not be used because the round would not penetrate far enough to be armed, or might even bounce back to where we were. All I could do was keep low. In the past grenadiers had been issued .45's but I guess there had been to many "accidental" foot wounding so they took them away. At least that's what I was told when I asked for one.

At this time the noise was beyond belief. People were screaming for help, the CO was somewhere e ahead of us screaming into the radio and the FO was screaming for fire support. A volley of fire came in and it was incredibly loud. I remember thinking that was close. I heard an adjustment call and thought "don't drop it any more". Then I heard a voice in my head (guardian angel ? Premonition? ) Scream, move move move away. I low crawled about 20 meters behind another tree and just as I got there the rounds came right on top of where I had been. It killed Norris and all around and must have wounded many others. After the rounds hit the intensity of fire dropped a lot but there were still incoming. There was several round fired directly at me that went over my head into the tree that I know were from 16's. I thought it was Charlie, but in retrospect it may have been someone up front just firing anywhere at random.

After a few minutes I got up and went to were Sgt. Norris was, and where I had been to see what happened and what I could do. The 2 of them were still lying in a fighting position with there weapons supported by the log, smokes still going. They were perfectly normal from the waist up but from the web gear down they looked like 100 lbs of ground beef, I mean exactly like that. I move on up the hill and found our medic, he had his intestines out on the ground, so I tried to dress him with wet rags. Apparently the CO had called in a medivac as the air was full of smoke, and choppers were coming in. He was also severely wounded. I remember giving morphine surrets to some in that area

To the best of my knowledge, there were 2 other people left in my platoon not wounded, one was named Brabson, I don't remember who else. They and and I and the ABC crew who were also not wounded spent a lot of time trying to give first aid to the many wounded. I don't remember that there was anyone else moving at the time. When the choppers arrived, they could not land due to the heavy jungle, so the 6 of us started chopping down the small trees in the area with machetes. I remember one of the camera men filming this. The choppers then hovered and lowered baskets down. We loaded wounded in as fast as they could lower down a basket. It was scary because they were only about 20 feet or so over us in full hover, and there was still some occasional incoming. The noise, and confusion and fear was indescribable.

After what seemed like forever elements of the 1st and 3rd platoon joined us and set up a perimeter. They started taking over the loading so I went to try and give first aide to others.
Some how the a chopper must have been able to land as the camera group were soon gone. We spent the rest of the day evacuating the wounded. My squad leader had his leg blown off just about the knee, and I remember someone load him in a basket and then put his boot with his leg still in it on his chest. I thought he was going to die of shock. In fact I never knew what happened to him nor do I remember his name.

After the fight there only three from my platoon, so we were assigned to one of the other platoons and the next day soldiered on. This was tough because there was never any time to process the losses, and I remember that for the next few days where ever there was any gun fire, I would want to cry. We did not make any heavy contact after that day.

After a few days, were ordered to go back up the hill from the back side, to see if anyone had reoccupied the bunkers. When we had checked them out just after the battle, there were blood trails but no dead or wounded.... So we never knew what kind of damage we had inflicted.


As we approached the battle area, the stench of death was overwhelming, and there were pieces of flesh still hanging in the trees all around.

My life was forever changed by that day, and it is sad that we could have avoided it if the CO would just have listened to others.
Steve Black


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My name is Mike Ainsworth and I have memories of that day as well. I was the 4th Plts medic. On the 13th of May while on a search and destroy mission the 4th Plt under leadership of SSgt Ed Birmingham (SSgt Birmingham was KIA ( October 2nd, 1967) ran into supplies and a few enemy. As the day went on we found many new supplies and ran across mines that had been set out. Our dog handler Mike Bost with his dog Lady found those before any harm could be done. After one mine was detonated and the area checked for addtional mines we started to move when all of a sudden the point yelled "grenade" and we all hit the ground. I counted to 4 or 5 and looked up and what I saw was Sgt Bernie Simpson (from New York) shooting this VC almost point blank in the chest. I moved to Sgt Simpson's side and my eye's were glued to the Chi-Com the VC had in his hand, I believe he was dead on his feet after Sgt Simpson put a few rounds in him (his M-16 jammed so he ejected each round that he fired into this VC. I walked over and shoved him down to the ground disarmed him and Sgt Green came over and kicked him in the head finally killing him. Sgt Simpson is also the person who lost his leg the next day on Mothers Day Hill. (Sgt. Simpson was also the first disabled amputee veteran to get his shield from the New York Police Department in December 1968). (How I know this is that we had a journalist with a camera crew with us and he took film of part of the fire fight. I saw myself and another medic working on people Sgt. Simpson for one). The 4th Plt went to the aid of another platoon on the 13th of May 1967. The 2nd had two wounded Spec 4 Bell one of the M-60 Gunners for the 2nd Plt and Sgt Easton. The 4th Plt also had the "Old Man" traveling with us. As we reached the fire fight where the 2nd Plt was pinned down and we could see the from our vantage point just where they were and approximately how many VC there were; the "Old Man" ordered SSgt Birmingham to take about a dozen men and move up to the enemies right flank; Artillery came in and we assaulted the hill yelling "ABU" and kicking ass, we took back the M-60 and killed a number of VC and there were no more wounded that day for us. After Doc Smyth (passed away last year) Doc Dolinger (I think) and myself took care of the wounded and had them safely hosted out of the jungle it was already night, we all returned to our platoons and needless to say we were at a 100% alert for the night. The next day Mothers Day May 14th, 1967 early in the morning I was doing my duties as a medic, like passing out required daily malaria pills to each man, Pat Phillips was the point man along with Mike Bost with his dog Lady. (Anyone that doubts this, take it up with God).

I remember Phillips looked scared and SSgt Birmingham (SSgt Birmingham was the 4th Plt leader) disagreeing as well as the 2nd Plt leader on the plan to head up that hill, even I knew that artillery should have been called on the area we were going to go thru merely because what happened to us the evening before.

Of course we all followed orders, both Mike and Pat and perhaps Sgt. Norris sent down by the point radio that there were signs of life, the old man said keep on pushing a second communications about more signs of life, I was still at the CP and turn was coming to start up the hill, it was a eerie feeling just waiting to have your ass handed to you but not knowing when, I guess that why they call it element of surprise. I looked at Snow the RTO for the Old Man, (Snow and Mike as well as Benito Gonzales from the 2nd were good friends of mine Snow along with Benito and Bell who was wounded the previous day are men I went to jump school with all were pretty good friends and Mike and Snow were like real brothers. Mike and Snow had been in the 3rd Plt as well as SSgt Birmingham with me and we really trusted each other to have each others back and this goes for Benito as well because we had history together both in the United States in jump school as well as Vietnam. SSgt Birmingham had a Fire Base named in his honor, he was killed months later.) We both just looked at each other and pounded fist, almost at that instance the ambush started and I headed up the hill patching and triaging as I went. I knew artillery was coming in at some point from experience so I was pulling people down and off of the trail. A trooper we called Animal real name was Hoover came down off the top of that hill with two long gouges in his flesh of one leg caused by an AK-47 or SKS, his wound was cauterized and he was not bleeding much, just a trickle. He told me, Phillips is up there and he is shot in the groin, I went straight up as I started I was wounded in the left side by something however; I didn't really feel it that much, I saw a body lying on his back and his legs pointing down the hill between two trees about four feet apart with another tree laying on it's side behind them so it wouldn't roll down the hill, (thus could be the log your talking about) I went straight at a low and fast crawl to him, he was not shot in the groin but twice in the upper left chest, Mike Bost was about 30 meters to the right and he was dead, I did not see his dog Lady. I tried to move Phillips in a position to pick him up and I was wounded in my legs by M-79 shrapnel that the enemy had taken from Phillips, all of a sudden I looked down the center of the hill and Smith from the 4th was motioning for me to get down and I again tried to pick Phillips but other explosions, the automatic weapons fire was making it really difficult to say the least. Then all of a sudden Smith who came through all that metal flying in the air and the automatic weapons fire to help me, he should get the Silver Star for that heroic deed. Anyway, we couldn't get Phillips down the hill because of the fire the all of a sudden grenades stated to come our way Smith was hit and yelling for a "medic, I told him to shut up that I'm the medic and I'm hit too and I couldn't move." Next thing I knew I was hit yet another time. I could hear, but I couldn't see clearly, what I could hear was muzzle blast and Vietnamese voices and someone tugging at my fatigues, It was the enemy and they were coming down upon the first squad and taking equipment, my aid kit for one. They really shot Phillips this time in the middle of the chest and both Smith and I had head wounds which bleed a lot and just thought we were most likely dead. Phillips was alive before I was rendered semi-unconscious. I lay up one that hill with Phillips and Smith and part of the first squad for from what friend from the 3rd Plt who found us for three plus hrs. I can remember swearing at those that found me "leave me alone you mother fucking bastards and other profanities," because I thought it was the gooks carrying me away. The next face I saw was our battalion surgeon patching me up Doc Nelson medical Plt SSgt, La Salle and Art Timmons voice along with Steve Naughton my old platoon leader from the 3rd Plt.

The last thing I remember from "Mothers Day Hill" was how the medivac medic stood on the skids of that helicopter while Capt. Muchler buttoned me up in the basket for the awaiting medivac about a hundred feet up in the sky. That was actually besides parachuting the ride of my life, literally. Another sad thing was how me being wounded could have gotten my friend Rick Sanders killed, he described to me a few years ago how I looked when the chopper I was on came in to our base camp and I'm truly sorry to have put that image in his minds eye. He went back into the field after being taken off the line a week before.

In all we had 34 WIA and 7 KIA a DR. Lee from the 326th Medical Battalion wrote to me with a higher figure 42 WIA and 10 KIA. I think 34 and 7 is more accurate, I know I patched up over a dozen men and because of the noise as Steve mentioned and how fast I had to work because I focused on their wound some dead as well.

I know that Snow had been torn almost in two, the Old Man was wounded and never made it out of the CP area, his other RTO Michael Peterson was killed his FO was also wounded and John Smyth took a bullet in the stomach with no exit wound and he was not ripped open. He passed away a year ago January from throat cancer.

There is much more to be written, each person in a fire fight sees events from their perspective while the fire fight is taking place and I know I'll think of more things especially about the individual heroic deeds that happened that day. I was very fortunate to have survived with the nature of my wounds, but with God protecting me and my Guarding Angel watching over me I'm here. I have to thank the Paratroopers of "ABU"
who's excellence made ordinary men extra ordinary in a world of chaos on that day.

Airborne and ABU,
Mike "Doc" Ainsworth
9/66 to 5/14/67
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"For My Friend Snow"

Early in the morning we started up the trail,
Pat was point man in this green hell of hells.

As we headed towards the ridge line everything
was quite and still...

In a few minutes men would be laying all over the hill...

Most of them wounded and some would be dead...

I can still the cries for medic and the
muzzle blast that rang in my head.

As I moved from man to man, not one did cry...

I remember Michael, Pat and Snow with death in their eyes...

We fought like hell to get out of that mess...

Now, for you in the street and behind that big desk...
In Vietnam we gave Americas best!

From Vietnam!
How many returned to face a life of ruin...?

Those of us that made it, a new life begins, dealing with bigots
and people we used to call a friend.

And

I've heard some of those people laugh...
Most of the time behind my back.

But, if they went to war today, tomorrow there would
be no last laugh.

(I first wrote this in 1968. Crawford Snow one of my very best friends
died on this day May 14, 1967, I trained in jump school with him. He
was 100% American Indian, a warrior and a brother and son.)

Airborne and ABU,
Mike "Doc" Ainsworth
9/66 to 5/14/67
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





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