Battle of Dong Xoai

The Battle of Dong Xoai (Vietnamese: Trận Đồng Xoài) was a major battle fought during the Communist Summer Offensive of 1965 as part of the Vietnam War. The battle took place in Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam, between June 9 and 13, 1965. In 1964, General Nguyen Khanh gained control of the South Vietnamese government after General Duong Van Minh was overthrown in a military coup. Even though General Khanh was able to gain control of the military junta, he failed to garner support from the civilian population when he implemented various laws which limited the freedoms of the South Vietnamese people. He then had a falling-out with the Catholic faction within his own government, when he became increasingly reliant on the Buddhist movement to hold on to power. Consequently on February 20, 1965, General Khanh was ousted from power and was forced to leave South Vietnam forever.

The political instability in Saigon gave North Vietnamese leaders in Hanoi an impetus to step up their military campaign in the south, because they believed the South Vietnamese government were able to survive because they still had a strong military to combat the growing influence of the Viet Cong. Thus, the result was the summer campaign of 1965, in which North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces aimed to inflict significant losses on the South Vietnamese military. In Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam, the Communist summer offensive culminated in the Dong Xoai campaign. The fight for Dong Xoai began on the evening of June 9, 1965, when the Viet Cong 272nd Regiment attacked the U.S. Special Forces Camp there. In response to the sudden Viet Cong assault, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Joint General Staff ordered the ARVN 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, to retake Dong Xoai district. They arrived on the battlefield on June 10, but were quickly overwhelmed by the Viet Cong 271st Regiment near Thuan Loi. Later that day, Dong Xoai was recaptured by the ARVN 52nd Ranger Battalion, who had survived an ambush whilst marching towards the district.

On June 11, further South Vietnamese reinforcements arrived in the form of the ARVN 7th Airborne Battalion. The South Vietnamese paratroopers, while searching for survivors of the ARVN 1st Battalion in the Thuan Loi rubber plantation, were defeated in a deadly ambush by the Viet Cong. On June 13 U.S. Army General William Westmoreland decided to insert elements of the 173rd Airborne Brigade into a major battle for the first time, because he feared the Viet Cong could secure a major base area in Phuoc Long Province. By that stage, however, the Viet Cong had already withdrawn from the battlefield, so the U.S. paratroopers were ordered to return to base without a fight.