Battle of Khe Sanh
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The Battle of Khe Sanh was a Vietnam War battle between the United States Marine Corps and the People's Army of Vietnam at Khe Sanh, Vietnam. Khe Sanh was a United States Marines military base in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) constructed near the border with Laos and just south of the border with North Vietnam which became the scene of a large offensive operation by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, also known to many English speakers as the North Vietnamese Army or NVA) and US Marines in 1968. The defense of the base was codenamed Operation Scotland.
U.S. commanders provoked the battle hoping the PAVN would attempt to repeat their famous victory at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The overwhelming power of US air support and vastly increased airlift capacity made this impossible. After heavy casualties, the PAVN claimed the battle to be a diversionary tactic and abandoned the campaign in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive.
History
The origin of the Khe Sanh Combat Base was an airstrip constructed in September 1962 outside the town of Khe Sanh, about 7 miles from the Laotian border. The airfield saw little use until a Special Forces team constructed a base next to it in 1965. This base became the scene of the battle. Over the next few years the base was used as a staging ground for a number of attacks on troop movements down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and was permanently manned by Marines starting in 1967. A smaller Special Forces base, known as Lang Vei, was later constructed down the road to the Laotian border and was in the process of being moved about a kilometer further west when the battle began.The area saw a series of "Hill Fights" in April and May of 1967 between U.S. Marines and NVA troops on Hills 861, 881 North and 881 South. These were launched by the Communists in preparation for the Tet Offensive where it was hoped significant numbers of American troops would be drawn off into the countryside. This, along with other major clashes that year are sometimes known as the "Border Battles". The North Vietnamese were driven off of the area around Khe Sanh after experiencing heavy casualties.
In 1968 General William Westmoreland decided to use Khe Sanh in an attempt to bring the NVA into direct confrontation. He sent a massive reinforcement force to the base, planning to launch major operations from it against the Ho Chi Minh Trail, hoping to effectively cut off NVA operations further south. This would force the PAVN to attack Khe Sanh in order to re-open the trail, resulting in a set-piece battle of the sort the French had hoped to fight at Dien Bien Phu a decade earlier. Westmoreland believed that if his plan was successful the war would be soon over.
During the American build-up, North Vietnamese forces developed excellent defensive positions on nearby hills that had caves and former mines that were impervious to ground and tactical air attack. Over a period of just over a week three full divisions totaling 20,000 men were moved into the area, well supported from the nearby trail. From these positions they launched mortar and rocket attacks on the base, camouflaged to a great degree by continuing bad weather.
Results and Analysis
As a military action, Khe Sanh was a tactical failure, but is viewed by some as a strategic or at least psychological victory. The United States claimed 8,000 NVA dead and considerably more wounded. Even though this is probably an inflated figure, it is likely that the majority of Communist forces sent to the area were rendered disorganized and useless. This was particularly striking given the similarities to Dien Bien Phu.On a strategic level it drew attention away from NVA buildups elsewhere, although this appears to be true of both sides. As the leadup to the battle took place over late 1967 and into January 1968, the American military focussed on winning the battle. Intelligence suggesting that the NVA was planning a large scale offensive throughout South Vietnam was largely ignored. It was not a part of the Khe Sanh plan to distract the anti-communist forces prior to the surprise Tet offensive. The Tet offensive would end in military failure, although it undoubtedly weakened support for the war. However, considering the fact that only two Marine regiments were tied down at Khe Sanh compared with several NVA divisions, it may indeed have been a plan to emulate Dien Bien Phu. General Abrams, MACV leader from mid-1968, has suggested that it would have taken longer to dislodge the Communists at Huế if the NVA committed to Khe Sanh had joined them.
The significance of the battle in terms of its impact on American public opinion continues to be debated. Nearly a quarter of all television news was devoted to covering the battle, and was even higher for others. CBS would devote half of their show to the siege. The intensely televised coverage was one of the hallmarks of Vietnam conflict in general and is a subject of study as a psychological and social phenomenon. The television coverage of this particular battle was filled with constant reminders of Dien Bien Phu. The coverage often also seemed to anticipate the eventual failure of the US in the battle based on the French experience regardless of the actual situation.
In the end, the battle was a critical part of the war, highlighting the need on both sides for development of new military tactics. Khe Sanh itself was abandoned on June 23, 1968. Its abandonment was the result of a change in strategy concurrent with the departure earlier that year of U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. Prior to 1968, there had been a plan to close off the northern border of South Vietnam with a series of fortifications and bases extending from the coast into Laos (the "McNamara Line"). This plan had been highly unpopular within the military because it tied down large numbers of troops in static defensive positions and there was concern that it would lead to a permanent Korea-style commitment of forces. Had the US Army made a serious effort to close the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the base would still have been of value. But in the post-Tet offensive situation, the US was unlikely to launch such an effort.
Trivia
Although few Australian Army personnel were involved in the battle, the Australian rock band Cold Chisel chose the battle for the title of its song, "Khe Sanh", about an Australian Vietnam veteran. Members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam were stationed there during this time.Bruce Springsteen referred to the battle in his classic song "Born in the U.S.A." with the line, "I had a brother at Khe Sanh."
External links
- [Pbs.org - the Siege of Khe Sanh] (extensive information on the battle)
- [Vietnam-war.info - the Siege of Khe Sanh] (mainly details of battle)
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