by David M. Toczek. [46] In his final effort to defeat the VC, Vann flew into Tan Hiep and asked Cao to deploy an airborne battalion on the east side of Ap Bac, the most logical retreat route for the Viet Cong. The battle Ap Bac was the first major battle of the Vietnam War. Their targets were the Tay Loc airfield at 16°28′35″N 107°34′7.8″E / 16.47639°N 107.568833°E / 16.47639; 107.568833 (Tay Loc), the 1st ARVN Division headquarters in the Citadel, and the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) compound in the New City on the south side of the river. “On January 2, 1963, the 7th ARVN infantry division dispatched elements of its 11th Regiment to support two Civil Guard battalions to take out a radio transmitter the NLF were … [19] Furthermore, South Vietnamese and American intelligence personnel believed the VC had deployed a reinforced company of about 120 men to protect the transmitter. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) … [26] Furthermore, using radios captured from the ARVN, the VC was able to intercept news of the attack due to unencoded radio communications from the ARVN. They evacuated through the rice fields, taking their dead and wounded comrades. Against overwhelming odds, the VC had achieved their first de facto victory; they had successfully held off well-equipped ARVN forces supported by artillery and armored units as well as by American airpower. He hoped to pressure the South Vietnamese to accept future changes he favored. [48] Cao had also lost confidence in Vann, because Cao felt Vann had placed the lives of many South Vietnamese soldiers at risk to save the lives of a handful of Americans. Cao would not approve the use of flares because it could expose the airborne battalion's night defensive positions, and instead ordered 100 rounds of artillery to be fired at a rate of four shells per hour. Behind the foxhole line, the irrigation dike enabled Viet Cong units to communicate with each other. [57] According to Mark Moyar, in blaming the South Vietnamese, Vann wanted to conceal the Americans' flawed intelligence and poor leadership. The Vietnamese 7th Division planned an operation to trap the Viet Cong by … [56], Arrival of the armored personnel carriers, The regiment were divided into three separate task forces for the operation against Ap Tan Thoi. In the early morning hours of January 31, 1968, a division-sized force of NVA and Viet Cong soldiers launched a coordinated attack on the city of Huế. 1 Prelude 2 Battle 3 Aftermath 4 References On 4 November the commander of … The Battle of Ấp Bắc was a major battle fought on January 3, 1963, during the Vietnam War. At that point, South Vietnamese M-113 crews backed off while firing their .50 caliber machine guns aimlessly into the sky. He was fearful that the battle would turn out to be the largest defeat of South Vietnamese forces up to that point of the war. Vann, … The Battle of Ap Bac was to have been a routine heliborne operation into the rice rich Mekong Delta. Shortly afterwards, three companies of the 11th Infantry Regiment were committed into battle in northern Ap Tan Thoi, but they too could not overcome the NLF soldiers who had entrenched themselves in the area. It resulted in a large number of casualties for the South, despite having aid from the United States through weapons and planning. [45] At 10:00 pm, Viet Cong commander Hoang led his two companies out of Ap Tan Thoi and headed for their base camp in the Plain of Reeds, while the local force units left by a different route for their hideouts in the local area. Undeterred, the ARVN 8th Airborne Battalion launched small-unit attacks, but on each occasion they were repelled, and sporadic fighting continued until sundown. Ap Bac had many as yet undefined consequences for the South Vietnamese government and the American involvement in Vietnam. The 1st Company, 261st Battalion and the 1st Company, 514th Battalion, had a total strength of 320 regular soldiers and were positioned in Ap Bac and Ap Tan Thoi respectively, which were separated by a distance of about 1.5 kilometers (0.93 mi). The Battle of Ap Bac began to develop in December 1962. American advisers Captain Fletcher Ware and Sergeant Russell Kopti, who had parachuted in with the South Vietnamese, were also wounded. This behavior initially mystified Vann, who was attempting to build Cao into an aggressive commander. Having inflicted heavy casualties on the South Vietnamese, the Viet Cong withdrew during the night. Gen. Robert York what had happened, the general replied: "What the hell's it look like happened, boy? Despite this, the ARVN took heavy casualties, significantly more than the Viet Cong. 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