Battle of Lang Vei - Battle

Battle

In response to the threat posed by the North Vietnamese, Willoughby stepped up daytime patrols and night ambushes around his camp. On the afternoon of February 6, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel F. Shungel — commander of Company C, 5th Special Forces — flew into Lang Vei from Da Nang as a diplomatic gesture towards the Laotian commander Phetsampou. At 23:30, North Vietnamese artillery started pounding the Lang Vei Special Forces Camp, which covered the movement of the 24th Regiment and the 3rd Battalion, 101D Regiment. From an observation post above the tactical operations centre, Sergeant Nickolas Fragos saw the first North Vietnamese tanks moving along Lang Troai road, attempting to breach the barbed-wires just in front of Company 104. He immediately went down to the tactical operations center and described what he had witnessed to Willoughby; Shungel then advised Willoughby to concentrate all available artillery and air support on the North Vietnamese formation just in front of Company 104. Soon afterwards, three North Vietnamese PT-76 tanks were knocked out by a 106mm recoilless rifle manned by Sergeant First Class James W. Holt, but the barbed wire in front of Company 104 was quickly overcome by the combined North Vietnamese tank-infantry attack.

Meanwhile, from inside the tactical operations center, Willoughby was busy calling in air and artillery support. He also radioed the 26th Marines Regiment at Khe Sanh to request the deployment of two rifle companies as part of the reinforcement plan, but his request was denied. Believing that the attack on Company 104 was the enemy’s main effort, Willoughby concentrated his artillery support there during the early stages of the battle. About 10 minutes after the artillery had begun firing, a U.S. Air Force forward air-controller arrived over Lang Vei along with a flareship and an AC-119 Shadow gunship. Willoughby then requested air strikes on the ravines located north of the camp, on Lang Troai road, and the areas west of the early warning outpost manned by the Hre soldiers of the Mobile Strike Force. Despite the ferocity of the air strikes and artillery fire, the North Vietnamese managed to break through the Company 104 area, forcing the defenders to retreat into the 2nd and 3rd Combat Reconnaissance Platoon positions behind them. By 01:15, the North Vietnamese had captured the entire eastern end of the Special Forces Camp and, from the Company 104 area, began pouring fire on Company 101.

At the opposite end of the camp, three North Vietnamese PT-76 tanks rolled through the barbed-wire barrier in front of Company 102 and 103. From point blank, North Vietnamese tank crews destroyed several bunkers with their guns, forcing the soldiers of Company 102 and 103 to abandon their positions. Those who survived the onslaught either retreated to the reconnaissance positions, or along Highway 9, toward Khe Sanh in the east. About 800 meters to the west, Sergeant First Class Charles W. Lindewald, an adviser to the Mobile Strike Force, also reported back to Willoughby that the early warning outpost was in danger of being overrun. To save it, Lindewald directed artillery strikes on the North Vietnamese troops moving up towards his outpost, but he later died from a gunshot wound to the stomach as the North Vietnamese overran the outpost. At about 01:30, Shungel and his hastily-organized tank-killer teams were busy engaging the North Vietnamese tanks that were roaming the Company 104 area; on many occasions the M-72 rockets fired by the Americans either missed completely, jammed, misfired, or simply failed to knock out the enemy tanks. By 02:30, the North Vietnamese had broken through the inner perimeter of the camp, and began harassing the soldiers trapped inside the tactical operations center, which included Willoughby along with seven other Americans, three South Vietnamese special forces, and 26 CIDG soldiers.

Above ground, American and Vietnamese soldiers who had escaped death or capture tried to escape from the North Vietnamese. From the team house, a group of four Americans and about 50 CIDG soldiers held a quick conference and decided that they would leave the camp through the northern perimeter, where there was no visible sign of the North Vietnamese. Without much difficulty, the Americans and the CIDG soldiers were able to make it through the barbed-wire barrier, but North Vietnamese soldiers on the eastern side of the camp had detected their movement and began firing on the group. Ultimately, only two Americans and about 10 Vietnamese soldiers managed to escape from the camp, taking refuge in a dry creek bed that offered some cover and concealment. At around 3:30 am, Willoughby made another request for the Marines at Khe Sanh to send reinforcements, but again his request was turned down. In an attempt to save the defenders at Lang Vei, Company C Headquarters in Da Nang tried to call for reinforcements from the Marines at Khe Sanh, but its request was also turned down. Finally, Company C Headquarters placed another Mobile Strike Force Company and a company-sized unit on standby alert in Da Nang, to be airlifted into battle as soon as helicopters were available.

Back in Lang Vei, the North Vietnamese continued to harass the small force of soldiers still trapped in the command bunker with hand grenades, explosives and bursts of gunfire down the stairwell that led into the bunker. Shortly after 6:00 am, the North Vietnamese threw several fragmentation grenades and tear gas grenades down the stairwell, causing panic amongst the defenders. Then, a voice called down the stairwell in Vietnamese, demanding the American-led forces give up at once. Following a quick discussion with his CIDG soldiers, the South Vietnamese special forces commander led his troops up the stairwell to surrender but were killed by North Vietnamese soldiers, leaving behind their American counterparts. After the South Vietnamese had gone up, there was another short verbal exchange between the Americans in the bunker and the North Vietnamese in English, which was followed by another fire-fight when the Americans refused surrender. At 6:30 am, the North Vietnamese successfully blasted a hole on the northern wall, gaining direct access into the command bunker. However, instead of launching a direct attack on the last American stronghold, the North Vietnamese continued to throw grenades through the wall.

At dawn, Sergeant First Class Eugene Ashley assembled about 100 Laotian soldiers of BV-33 at the old Lang Vei Camp in order to launch a rescue operation and, if possible, recapture the Special Forces Camp from the North Vietnamese. Even though Phetsampou had initially refused to take part in the operation, the Americans held him to his earlier promise of providing them with troops. After Ashley had formed the Laotian soldiers into a skirmish line, he radioed the forward air-controllers overhead to direct strafing runs on the Special Forces Camp to soften up the enemy. Meanwhile, as General William C. Westmoreland learned of the North Vietnamese attack on Lang Vei and Lownd’s refusal to send a relief force, he ordered the U.S. Marines to supply enough helicopters to airlift a 50-man strike force with the aim of rescuing the survivors. Subsequently, Colonel Jonathan F. Ladd—commanding officer of the 5th Special Forces Group — and Major General Norman J. Anderson, commander of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing — were directed to formulate a rescue plan. While Willoughby and his men waited for help in the command bunker, Ashley and his Laotian contingent cautiously entered the Special Forces Camp.

The Laotian soldiers were evidently reluctant to advance on the enemy, and only inched forward when the Americans ordered them to do so. In their first attempt to break through North Vietnamese lines, Ashley and his men were beaten back. Undeterred, the American-led forces tried to penetrate North Vietnamese positions several times, and only stopped after Ashley was shot in the chest and later killed by an exploding artillery round. The Laotians, who feared the North Vietnamese, disengaged from the fight and fled. After Ashley's final attack had failed, Willoughby and his men made the decision to abandon their position. However, after Specialist Four James L. Moreland was mortally wounded, Captain Willoughby decided to leave him in the bunker, because the remaining Americans were in no physical condition to carry out the wounded man. Under the cover of U.S. air strikes, Willoughby and other American survivors ran towards the old Lang Vei Camp, where they were evacuated by U.S. Marines UH-1 Hueys under the protection of a 50-man reaction force. By 17:30 on 7 February, all known survivors had been evacuated to Khe Sanh.