Battle of Nui Thanh - the first victory over the US

After 3 days of American troops landing in Ky Lien, Ky Ha (now Tam Nghia and Tam Quang communes, Nui Thanh district, Quang Nam province), on May 10, 1965, the Military Region 5 Command assigned the Quang Nam Provincial Military Command to quickly launch and change the ideology of the troops and guerrillas from fighting the puppet army to fighting both the puppet army and the Americans. The immediate task was to destroy an American company at all costs, the target and the unit that carried out the battle were chosen and decided by the province.

Discovering that the 2nd Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Brigade, 3rd Division of US Marines from Chu Lai base were stationed in Nui Thanh (from May 17, 1965), Quang Nam Provincial Military Command decided to choose Nui Thanh as the target for a preemptive strike. Nui Thanh is the name of a hill with two main peaks (hill 50, hill 49, 500m apart) and a secondary peak belonging to Tinh Tay village, Ky Lien commune. Here, the enemy had 180 troops, arranged in 3 clusters on 3 hill peaks. The enemy built field fortifications, arranged in a terraced pattern around the hill peaks from low to high, interspersed with bushes. On the outermost side, there were two rows of barbed wire fences 1m high and 1m wide for protection. If Nui Thanh was attacked, the enemy could use the artillery position in Ao Vuong, Chu Lai, gunboats, ships and aircraft from Chu Lai base to support.

Carrying out the order of the Military Region 5 Command, Quang Nam Provincial Military Command decided to use the 2nd Infantry Company, 70th Infantry Battalion, reinforced with a special forces squad of the 16th Special Forces Company of Quang Nam local troops, to participate in the fight against the Americans in Nui Thanh. The guiding ideology of the battle was: Strike first, strike quickly, destroy the American company, and control the battlefield.

Based on the enemy situation and terrain, we arranged our forces to attack in two directions. The main direction to attack hill 50 included two spearheads: Spearhead 1 consisted of 25 people divided into 5 groups (1 deep thrusting group, 2 circling groups, 1 secondary ledge attacking group, 1 reserve group); spearhead 2 consisted of 12 people divided into 3 groups (1 deep thrusting group, 2 circling groups). The secondary direction to attack hill 49 consisted of 12 people divided into 3 groups (2 raiding groups from the Southeast and 1 reserve group). In addition, we also arranged 1 group (3 people) to intercept and attack the enemy retreating in the East. With this force arrangement, our troops were strong enough to destroy the enemy defending in the field fortifications at Nui Thanh.

On the night of May 26, 1965, our troops were ordered to open fire. In all directions, the spearheads used grenades, grenade launchers, and submachine guns to capture the outer fortifications and then developed attacks on each enemy-held peak. In the main direction of attacking Hill 50, spearhead 1, after two minutes of organizing a deep penetration, captured 2/3 of the target but was blocked by enemy fire; spearhead 2 developed favorably, the deep penetration team captured the top of the hill, planted the flag "Determination to fight, determination to win against the American invaders" on the command position of the American company. The surviving enemy retreated toward Ao Vuong and were annihilated by the ambush force. We controlled Hill 50 and the secondary peak.

On the secondary direction of attacking Hill 49, two assault teams captured two outer fortifications. The enemy used 75mm DKZ, heavy machine guns and grenades to fire down from the top of the hill. Due to the steep slope and slow development, our troops had to stop to consolidate their formation and send reserve forces to raid from the Northeast, combining with two assault teams from the Southeast to coordinate in capturing Hill 49, controlling the battlefield. After 30 minutes of fierce fighting, we destroyed most of the American company in Nui Thanh, eliminated 139 from combat, captured 4 Garand M2 guns, destroyed an 81mm mortar, 2 75mm DKZ guns and many weapons, military uniforms and equipment.

The victory of the battle of Nui Thanh marked a new step forward in the spirit of proactive deployment and the ability to organize and use combat forces of the Military Region 5. This was the first battle in which a local army company with reinforced forces applied flexible fighting methods, secretly bringing forces close to the target, forming a siege, quickly penetrating, dividing, and unexpectedly destroying each part of the American company equipped with strong firepower, defending in field fortifications and supported by aircraft and artillery.

The victory at Nui Thanh was the opening event that strongly affirmed the ability to defeat the US of the military and people of Military Region 5 as well as the military and people of the entire South; at the same time, it opened a movement to compete to destroy the US with the slogan "Find the US and fight, meet the US and destroy" that arose on all battlefields in the South, winning step by step, moving towards completely defeating the "Local War" strategy of the US imperialists.

DUONG DINH LAP

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