thedrifter
04-24-06, 12:52 PM
Inner Sanctum
(23-04-2006)
Marines recall fierce action against US forces
Viet Nam News, Vietnam
Rear Admiral Nguyen Van Tinh of the People’s Naval Command led Viet Nam’s first unit of special marine forces in an attack on US positions in Quang Tri in 1967. Hai Van sends a dispatch from the front, in which the rear admiral speaks of his former unit’s unsung heroes.
Inner sanctum: What role did the Dong Ha-Cua Viet Front play in the context of the American War?
Quang Tri Province was a very important position for both sides. When the American and Sai Gon troops were deployed at Highway 9 and northern Quang Tri, they used the water route from the Cua Viet River mouth to Dong Ha as their supply route and turned Dong Ha and Cua Viet into logistic bases. As much as 2,000 tonnes of logistics were shipped daily from Cua Viet to Dong Ha before being transported to regional outposts comprising Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue provinces and through Highway 9 to Lower and Central Laos.
Inner sanctum: Is it possible that the American resistance fight helped propel Viet Nam’s marine combat to new heights?
Viet Nam began to develop special marine forces from as early as the 12nd century when the Tran Dynasty created diving teams that swam into riverside enemy bases, bored holes and sunk their boats. During the French resistance war some sort of an organised marine force attacked the French vessels. Yet it was not until 1966 that the Viet Nam’s People Navy officially established its special marine forces. Initially these troops were deployed in the northern part of Quang Tri Province.
Inner sanctum: Can you, a former member of the special marine forces of Dong Ha-Cua Viet, explain what made you Viet Nam’s ‘legendary weapons’?
Each of the members had to possess a ‘steel-like’ determination. This was close-quarter combat that required a fighter to get very close to his target for precision. It is unlike other kinds of attacks that can use sophisticated weapons from afar to destroy a target. Without steel-like determination a special marine fighter cannot be flexible enough to change tactics, when adverse conditions arise, in order to fulfil his mission at any cost. In addition he must also be a very skilful fighter on land.
We had to use tactics to bore deep into the centre of an enemy’s base for fatal destruction. We used such tactics at the curtain-raiser attack against a US war ship docked at the Cua Viet military sea port on April 30, 1967. The assigned team slithered across the Ben Hai River (which separated North and South Viet Nam, according to the 1954 Geneva Agreement on Viet Nam) and navigated through a 10km passage heavily guarded by US defence and before stopping at the northern bank of the Cua Viet River mouth. The plan went off without a hitch. While the rest of the team was deployed along the bank, two members swam out to the US ship, placed a time bomb on the hull and swam back. Thirty minutes later the bomb exploded and the freighter was engulfed in fire.
Inner sanctum: But it wasn’t always smooth sailing, was it?
No. Sometimes we had to pay dearly for our missions. Take the Cua Viet attacks for instance. The enemy became crazier each time their ships were hit. They strolled and fired the coast night and day by aircraft, amphibian armoured tanks and infantry troops in an attempt to weed out the ‘North Viet Nam special forces’. All our exertions to approach the US LST (landing ship tank) were foiled. Two team members were killed but the remaining five kept trying. Finally we changed targets: a US dredger returning to base. Two fighters swam out and clung to the outer hull of the ship despite the intense pressure caused by the waves. They fixed their timed explosive and swam back to safety. My team fulfilled our mission but at the cost of our two comrades’ lives.
Inner sanctum: What is your most memorable combat situation?
Creativeness does not come until we are stuck in a dilemma. When we were informed that a US LCU (landing craft utility) was loading cargo at the Dong Ha harbour, Nguyen Dinh Thi and I were assigned the mission. We were given two 6.8kg Russian-made explosives attached to a magnet. But when we fixed the explosives against the hull, the magnet did not work. It had been buried in the sand for too long and had become weak. We did not have time to swim back for back up explosives. So I dove deep and attached the explosive upside down against the ship’s bottom. The water pressure was so strong that the explosive remained in place. My partner followed suit. Both exploded and the LCU sank immediately.
Inner sanctum: Did local revolutionary sympathisers help your missions?
Yes, it’s undeniable that we depended very much on the protection from local villagers who were revolutionary sympathisers for our own safety and for information gathering.
These locals fed us with their own meagre food and bore the brunt of the enemy’s destruction. They hid us in their underground bunkers they secretly dug right in their bedrooms or in their gardens. I myself stayed at the home of Truong Thi Lao in Quang Tri’s Gio Linh District. We stayed in the underground bunkers during daylight and left only in the veil of night to complete our missions. Once, I had hardly returned to the house after a round of information gathering, when the enemy arrived. I had no time to get to my bunker, so Lao told me to climb up to the house rafter. Unfortunately my clothes were still wet, leaving a mark on one of the house’s columns.
Seeing the water stain, Lao immediately slapped her youngest sister and shouted vehemently, "Damn you! All grown up and still wetting your pants!" Lao then grabbed a nearby bucket of water and threw it at her, soaking not only the girl but the revealing column. Seeing the quarrelling sisters, the enemy did not carry out any further investigation and, safe, I breathed a sigh of relief. — VNS
Viet Nam’s Marines in combat from ‘67 to ’75
From its curtain raiser attack at Cua Viet in 1967 to the signing of the Paris Agreement on Viet Nam in January 1973, the Viet Nam Navy’s special marine forces dispatched nearly 5,000 trained fighters to the southern battlefields where they attacked and destroyed over 3,000 warships and freighters.
They also played a special part in liberating islands in the Truong Sa Archipelagos in April 1975.
The special marine forces were awarded Heroes of the Armed Forces twice for their military exploits.
Ellie
(23-04-2006)
Marines recall fierce action against US forces
Viet Nam News, Vietnam
Rear Admiral Nguyen Van Tinh of the People’s Naval Command led Viet Nam’s first unit of special marine forces in an attack on US positions in Quang Tri in 1967. Hai Van sends a dispatch from the front, in which the rear admiral speaks of his former unit’s unsung heroes.
Inner sanctum: What role did the Dong Ha-Cua Viet Front play in the context of the American War?
Quang Tri Province was a very important position for both sides. When the American and Sai Gon troops were deployed at Highway 9 and northern Quang Tri, they used the water route from the Cua Viet River mouth to Dong Ha as their supply route and turned Dong Ha and Cua Viet into logistic bases. As much as 2,000 tonnes of logistics were shipped daily from Cua Viet to Dong Ha before being transported to regional outposts comprising Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue provinces and through Highway 9 to Lower and Central Laos.
Inner sanctum: Is it possible that the American resistance fight helped propel Viet Nam’s marine combat to new heights?
Viet Nam began to develop special marine forces from as early as the 12nd century when the Tran Dynasty created diving teams that swam into riverside enemy bases, bored holes and sunk their boats. During the French resistance war some sort of an organised marine force attacked the French vessels. Yet it was not until 1966 that the Viet Nam’s People Navy officially established its special marine forces. Initially these troops were deployed in the northern part of Quang Tri Province.
Inner sanctum: Can you, a former member of the special marine forces of Dong Ha-Cua Viet, explain what made you Viet Nam’s ‘legendary weapons’?
Each of the members had to possess a ‘steel-like’ determination. This was close-quarter combat that required a fighter to get very close to his target for precision. It is unlike other kinds of attacks that can use sophisticated weapons from afar to destroy a target. Without steel-like determination a special marine fighter cannot be flexible enough to change tactics, when adverse conditions arise, in order to fulfil his mission at any cost. In addition he must also be a very skilful fighter on land.
We had to use tactics to bore deep into the centre of an enemy’s base for fatal destruction. We used such tactics at the curtain-raiser attack against a US war ship docked at the Cua Viet military sea port on April 30, 1967. The assigned team slithered across the Ben Hai River (which separated North and South Viet Nam, according to the 1954 Geneva Agreement on Viet Nam) and navigated through a 10km passage heavily guarded by US defence and before stopping at the northern bank of the Cua Viet River mouth. The plan went off without a hitch. While the rest of the team was deployed along the bank, two members swam out to the US ship, placed a time bomb on the hull and swam back. Thirty minutes later the bomb exploded and the freighter was engulfed in fire.
Inner sanctum: But it wasn’t always smooth sailing, was it?
No. Sometimes we had to pay dearly for our missions. Take the Cua Viet attacks for instance. The enemy became crazier each time their ships were hit. They strolled and fired the coast night and day by aircraft, amphibian armoured tanks and infantry troops in an attempt to weed out the ‘North Viet Nam special forces’. All our exertions to approach the US LST (landing ship tank) were foiled. Two team members were killed but the remaining five kept trying. Finally we changed targets: a US dredger returning to base. Two fighters swam out and clung to the outer hull of the ship despite the intense pressure caused by the waves. They fixed their timed explosive and swam back to safety. My team fulfilled our mission but at the cost of our two comrades’ lives.
Inner sanctum: What is your most memorable combat situation?
Creativeness does not come until we are stuck in a dilemma. When we were informed that a US LCU (landing craft utility) was loading cargo at the Dong Ha harbour, Nguyen Dinh Thi and I were assigned the mission. We were given two 6.8kg Russian-made explosives attached to a magnet. But when we fixed the explosives against the hull, the magnet did not work. It had been buried in the sand for too long and had become weak. We did not have time to swim back for back up explosives. So I dove deep and attached the explosive upside down against the ship’s bottom. The water pressure was so strong that the explosive remained in place. My partner followed suit. Both exploded and the LCU sank immediately.
Inner sanctum: Did local revolutionary sympathisers help your missions?
Yes, it’s undeniable that we depended very much on the protection from local villagers who were revolutionary sympathisers for our own safety and for information gathering.
These locals fed us with their own meagre food and bore the brunt of the enemy’s destruction. They hid us in their underground bunkers they secretly dug right in their bedrooms or in their gardens. I myself stayed at the home of Truong Thi Lao in Quang Tri’s Gio Linh District. We stayed in the underground bunkers during daylight and left only in the veil of night to complete our missions. Once, I had hardly returned to the house after a round of information gathering, when the enemy arrived. I had no time to get to my bunker, so Lao told me to climb up to the house rafter. Unfortunately my clothes were still wet, leaving a mark on one of the house’s columns.
Seeing the water stain, Lao immediately slapped her youngest sister and shouted vehemently, "Damn you! All grown up and still wetting your pants!" Lao then grabbed a nearby bucket of water and threw it at her, soaking not only the girl but the revealing column. Seeing the quarrelling sisters, the enemy did not carry out any further investigation and, safe, I breathed a sigh of relief. — VNS
Viet Nam’s Marines in combat from ‘67 to ’75
From its curtain raiser attack at Cua Viet in 1967 to the signing of the Paris Agreement on Viet Nam in January 1973, the Viet Nam Navy’s special marine forces dispatched nearly 5,000 trained fighters to the southern battlefields where they attacked and destroyed over 3,000 warships and freighters.
They also played a special part in liberating islands in the Truong Sa Archipelagos in April 1975.
The special marine forces were awarded Heroes of the Armed Forces twice for their military exploits.
Ellie