Saturday, December 7, 2024

 6533 IV N Duc Lap, Special Forces Base - BSP Montagnards Base, Duc Lap Air Field, Cambodian Border -Duc Minh. BON SAR PAR Mobile Guerrilla Force : Prior to the arrival of the the CIA and the US Special Forces in this area the Montagnards People of the Bon Sar Pa tribe had for decades been combat ready in an effort to protect and gain some autonomy of the homeland area. Also known (incorrectly) as the Buon Sar Pa they had operated since before the 2nd World War as a fighting force. In the late fifties an airfield sprung up (apparently out of now at Duc Lap (right in the middle of the Bon Sar Pa homeland) and over the ensuing years the BSP were trained and supplied by the CIA and US Special Forces (on a quarterly rotational basis out of Japan). By the beginning of the 1960's they were actively combating the Viet Cong both in their home area and cross border into Cambodia. Fiercely anti-communist by the time the main body of American Forces entered the War the BSP were already fully Special Forces Trained and one of the most feared of the Allied Forces due to their capacity to 'Out-Jungle-Warfare' the Jungle Warfare Specialists of the Viet Cong. Of mixed Khmer/Montagnard descent the BSP were at the time generally taller and stronger than their enemy. One of the few of the Montagnard MGF's not to be considered wholey in the war as a mercenary action they were however assigned Mercenary Status as paid combatants of the South Vietnamese Government. In 1966 in an act that formalised the relationship between the BSP and the US Special Forces, Duc Lap was officially opened as a US Special Forces base, designated, ' Civilian Indigenous Defense Group, US Special Forces Detachment A-239' the base officialy opened Novemebr 1966 with a strength of 580 BSP Operatives. Such was the attrition rate out of this base camp that through losses and members of the BSP removing themselves from the base to operate from remote jungle areas were they could not be so easily tracked by the middle of 1968 less than half of the original 580 members remained at the Duc Lap Camp. They did however remain under the command of the 5th Special Forces group operating from Duc Lap and were supplied primarily by clandestine helicopter drops both within Vietnam and into Cambodia. The BSP remained the primary cross border indigenous Recon Unit throughout the Vietnam and remained with the Special Forces right up their withdrawal in late 1970 when the Duc Lap camp was handed over to the 96th Ranger Battalion. In mid 1971 the entire Bon Sar Pa tribal group, approximately 40,000 people left the area, moving initally into Laos and then across the Mekong River and moved into Thailand. MAP Map, 6533 IV N of the area of Duc Lap, Duc Minh, Bon Sar Pa of Western Vietnam (and eastern part of cambodia). Extremely rare, 1 only available. Please note: A Separate listing of a BSP Mobile Guerrilla Force Patch follows this listing so check out our store to view. Printed June 1966 from Map information as of 1965 by US Army Corps of Engineers Pictograph Map Original, Vietnam War, Perfect Condition Large Wall / Table Map - Size, 29 x 45 inches ( 74 x 115 cms ) Vietnam War Original 2nd and subsequent Map & Patches (or bank-notes) are sent free of charge when sent in same order. Special Forces, ARVN, Green Berets, Elite, Recon, Reconnaissance, CCN, CCC, CCS, MACV SOG, SOA, Paratrooper, Parachutist, Vietnam War, Special Operations, Military, Tiger, Ranger, Route, Team, VC, NVA, Viet Cong, Command Control, Republic of Vietnam Be sure to add me to your favorites list ! Strike-Force-7: Payment is accepted via Paypal and via Australian Money orders, Personal and Bank Cheques. Post : All items are posted within three working days from time of received payment. Combined Post: We combine postage costs on all items. Bulk Purchasing Discounts : Discounts will be applied at ... hide



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FIGHTING PICKS UP IN SOUTH VIETNAM

FIGHTING PICKS UP IN SOUTH VIETNAM
Credit...The New York Times Archives
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March 12, 1975, Page 81Buy Reprints
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SAIGON, South Vietnam, Wednesday, March 12—As fighting picked up sharply across South Vietnam, the battle for Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands remained undecided this morning after the Government brought in three battalions of rangers from the north of the city, military sources said.

The arrival of the 1,200 rangers was believed to have almost doubled the size of the defending garrison of regular troops and militiamen.

One informant in touch with the beseiged city said that last night was “quieter” than the night before, though street fighting persisted.

Artillery Fire Exchanged.

Government and North Vietnamese artillery units were said to have exchanged fire yesterday while frightened civilians hid in their houses. According to one account, Government spotter plane with a loudspeaker hovered over the city warning residents not to venture outside lest they be mistaken for invaders.

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The Saigon command said that North Vietnamese troops, who twice reportedly penetrated the heart of the city Monday supported by tanks, again threw themselves against the defenses of Ban Me Thuot, the capital of Darlac Province, yesterday morning.

As the battle for the city unfolded rather uncertainly and as the pace of fighting picked up sharply across the country, the Saigon command spokes‐ again threw themselves against the defenses of Ban Me Thuot, the capital of Darlac Province, yesterday morning.

As the battle for the city unfolded rather uncertainly and as the pace of fighting picked up sharply across the country, the Saigon command spokesman, Lieut. Col. Le Trung Hien, charged that the Communists had launched “a nationwide general offensive.”

Though in places the fighting was intense, several Western analysts were reluctant to call the Communist attacks so far an “offensive”—which evokes memories of the 1968 and 1972 offensives.

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Some cautioned that the targets so far—possibly including Ban Me Thuot—could represent feints, diversions or attempts to draw troops away from other Government strong points and that the real shape of the current “high point,” which began on March 4, would become clear only as more days elapsed.

From various accounts, the attackers in Ban Me Thout have a firm foothold in the southern section of the once‐placid town, where the military headquarters, the province chief's office and residence and a vaguely Bavarian manor once owned by the former Emperor, Bao Dai, are situated. The Emperor used, to hunt in the hills around Ban Me Thuot.

A North Vietnamese tank was reported to have blasted its way into the town's military headquarters, obliging the province chief and others to move to a makeshift center further toward the center of Ban Me Thuot. The city and its surrounding district have a population of 150,000 montagnards, Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese.

The rangers were said to have had some success in clearing out demolition troops, and snipers from a landing strip, at the northeastern edge of the town. But the command acknowledged that six helicopters and a light observation plane had been destroyed there.

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The command says that air strikes—which have reportedly been called in on the city's main thoroughfares — and ground troops have knocked out 24 tanks in and around the city.

Some scattered house‐tohouse fighting was reported. Also, a battle for the town's main airfield, which is four miles to the east down a largely deserted country road, was said to be in progress, with the outcome uncertain.

The command said that ele, ments of the North Vietnamese 320th Division had joined the 25th Regiment and a battalion of demolition troops in the fight for the city.

But to some analysts the force doesn't seem that great.”

An American Embassy spokesman said that Paul A. Struharik, a representative of the. United States consulate general in Nha Trang who speaks scale of the fighting seemed to indicate that the North Vietnamese lad not committed even the bulk of the troops they had been thought to have put around Ban Me Thuot.

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“That's part of the real mystery,” said one Western military analyst. “The size pf the the montagnard language Rhade, and eight American missionaries were known to be safe early this morning, with sufficient food and water. Another diplomatic source said that an Australian who happened to be in Ban Me Thuot had joined the group.

But the chaotic battle and the intense antiaircraft fire thrown up by the North Vietnamese on the city's perimeter reportedly made helicopter evacuation of the Americans difficult.

There were these other battlefield developments:

¶Heavy shelling and ground attacks and one tank‐led assault were reported from South Vietnam's northernmost provinces, Quang Tri and Thua Thien, whose capital, Hue, was flooded with more than 25,000 refugees. The command reported that marine positions ?? southeast of Phong Dien, a district capital in northern Thua Thien, were hit with 1,100 runds of mortar, rocket and artillery fire.

¶In the northern province of Quang Tin, where a full North Vietnamese division was recently reported to have infiltrated two district capitals in the hills were reported captured. In addition, an outpost manned by militiamen and artillery seven miles southwest of the province capital near the coast was said to have been overrun.

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¶In Quang Duc province in the Central Highlands, to the southwest of Ban Me Thuot, the Government reported the loss of Duc Lap, a district capital, and three satellite base camps. Another district capital, Men Duc, was attacked.

¶As fighting picked up around Saigon, the command reported that North Vietnamese tanks thrust toward the district capital, Tri Tam, which is 40 miles north northwest of here surrounded by dense rubber plantations owned by the French company Michelin. The command said that Government forces killed 60 Communist troops and knocked out three tanks in the heavy Tri Tam fighting. The road to nearby Tay Ninh city remained cut for the second day and Tay Ninh itself was struck by rockets, as it has been regularly.

¶The air bases of Da Nang, Pleiku and Bien Hoa north of Saigon were struck with rockets. Twelve people were killed and 14 wounded in the Da Nang attack and three Idled and 10 others wounded at Bien Hoa, the command reported. Three soldiers and two civilians were wounded at Pleiku and three aircraft were damaged.

¶Government armored units were reported to have clashed with North Vietnamese troops north of Binh Khe in Binh Dinh Province where Route 19 leading from the coast to Pleiku in the highlands is cut. Mother bridge on Route 21—the other usable road leading out of the highlands from Ban Me Thuot—was still out, the command reported.

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Mortar Fire in Hue

While the fighting in Quang Tri and Thim Thien was probably the most dramatic—morItars were reportedly fired into a residential area on the outskirts of Hue, wounding 11 civilians — some analysts focused on the Quang Tin and Quang Duc fighting as possibly the most important.

The command reported that North Vietnamese forces attacked and took both Hau Duc, a district headquarters, and Tien Phuoc, a district capital, which lie in narrow valleys in the rugged hills back from the coast.

The Communists also reportedly attacked militia positions throughout the Quang Tin hinterlands and appeared to have sealed off escape routes to the coast. Some analysts, watching the pattern of troop movements lately, have predicted that the North Vietnamese might try to drive on the provincial capital, Tam Ky, while crack airborne and marine units are pinned down to the north in Quang Tri.

The situation in Quang Duc is also extremely worrisome to the Saigon side. With the capture of Duc Lap, the overland escape route from Gia Nghia is sealed off—though army engineers are reported to have been improving an old colonial road that leads south of the isolated capital.

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