spartans_in_darkness

EO 1.4. (c)
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and therefore free to use their-overwhelming firepower,
the Americans inflicted heavy losses on
the North Vietnamese and Viet Congregular formations.
rC' / '--··11.1---------------.......
........._-_........ IAt the same time, the communists
hit the helicopter base at Phu Bai and destroyed
or damaged eighteen choppers and caused
over one hundred casualties amongst South
Vietnamese forces.
(8//8I) After the communist troops left, an
American team, made up of soldiers from Phu Bai
'bersonnel, inspected the damage. The
"'"""ro:re"l'lrr'l'li""aT"l'm'l"'li'l'l'fi~ classified matenal and salvageable
equipment were removed. The investigators later
determined that the VC had gained access to the
entire complex and that the
SIGINT site had been compromised.
The apparent
thoroughness of the communist
attack caused the director,
NSA, to send a message
to his military cryptologic
component commanders
CASA, AFSS, and NSG) to
reconsider security arrangements
at all of their sites,
since it seemed that the Viet
Cong had a good idea of the
layout of the site and the
nature of its operations/"
CD) The first of the Phase
I attacks took place at Con
Thien, which was a series of
Page 316
hills located south of the DMZ in Quang Tri
Province. Marines from the Third Marine
Division had occupied these positions as part of
the effort to interrupt PAVN infiltration across
the DMZ. On 1 September, artillery units of the
PAVN 324B and 324C Divisions started shelling
the marine bunkers. Westmoreland, seeing an
opportunity to thrash regular PAVN units,
launched operation Neutralize. Over the next
month the communist units were pulverized by
over 4,000 air sorties, including strikes by B-52s.
Bythe first week of October, the PAVN units, having
suffered an estimated 2,000 dead, pulled out,
and the "siege" was broken, although it should be
noted that the communist troops never tried to
overrun the marine base."
CD) At the end of October, the 88th PAVN
Regiment attacked the ARVN 9th Regiment at
Song Be in Phuoc Long Province about fifty miles
north of Saigon. The North Vietnamese troops
assaulted the ARVNposition four times, but were
repulsed each time with heavy losses. Two days
later, the provincial capital of Loc Ninh near the
Cambodian border was attacked. Here the veteran
273rd Viet Cong regiment assaulted a number
of local South Vietnamese defense units. Soon,
(V) M4rine position 4t Con Thien
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