Incident Description
Pacific
Stars and Stripes information
for 25
INF DIV
3 BDE 1 CAV
Dak Seang SF Camp
1 BDE 5 INF
For
date 700429
25 INF DIV was a US Army unit
3 BDE 1 CAV was a US Army unit
Dak Seang SF Camp was a US Army unit
1 BDE 5 INF was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
South Vietnam
Location, FSB Pine Ridge
Description: The following is
an edited version of an article titled
"Red Sappers Raid U.S. Base."
Saigon (S&S Vietnam Bureau) - Red sappers scaled a steep ridge
overlooking the vast Michelin rubber plantation 44 miles northwest of
Saigon and invaded an American firebase atop the ridge, killing four
Americans and wounding 12, the U.S. Command reported Monday. Between 10
and 15 sappers hurled satchel charges rampaged through Firebase Pine
Ridge for about 30 minutes late Sunday before infantrymen from the 25th
Inf. Div., aided by helicopter and fixed wing gunships and artillery
strikes, drove them back into the thick woods surrounding the base, the
Command reported. The attack began with a brief, intense enemy mortar
and rocket-propelled grenade attack, according to the Command. The body
of only one dead sapper was found in the base after the smoke cleared,
along with one individual weapon, 15 satchel charges and two and
one-half pounds of C4 explosive, the Command reported. Materiel damage
in the attack was termed "moderate" by the U.S. Command. Informed
sources said the Reds succeeded in demolishing at least one bunker. The
sources said Sunday night's attack - along with attacks earlier in the
month at two other fire support bases northwest of Saigon - are a part
of an enemy campaign of stepped-up sapper assaults that began this
spring. Meanwhile, North Vietnamese Army troops attacked the village of
Dak Cin, 16 miles west of the Dak Seang Special Forces camp where
fighting continued into its 26 day Sunday, according to a Vietnamese
spokesman. Regional Forces troops defending the village 84 miles
southwest of Da Nang killed seven enemy soldiers, the spokesman said.
Friendly casualties were described as "light." The U.S. Command
reported that Red ground fire in the Dak Seang area downed a UH1
helicopter Saturday morning, killing four crewmen. It was the 14th U.S.
aircraft shot down in the Dak Poko Valley since fighting began there
April 1. Sunday morning skytroopers from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Air Cav.
Div., ran up against an estimated enemy squad in bunkers 57 miles north
of Saigon, the U.S. Command reported. Two Americans were killed and 15
wounded in the firefight. With the help of helicopter gunships and air
force jet strikes, the Skytroopers killed three Red soldiers, according
to the Command. To the north, 2nd ARVN Inf. Div. troopers reported
killing five enemy soldiers near Quang Ngai, according to a Vietnamese
army spokesman. In other action reported by the U.S. Command: -
Leathernecks from the 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Div., called in
artillery strikes after spotting four enemy soldiers running into a
treeline 20 miles south of Da Nang. Later they swept through the area
and found seven dead Red soldiers in a bunker. - Red gunners lobbed
about 5 rounds of 60mm mortar fire into a position of troopers from the
1st Brigade, 5th Inf. Div. (Mech.), 92 miles northwest of Da Nang,
causing U.S. casualties described as "light with no fatalities." - Red
gunners fired 50 82mm mortar rounds into an element of the 1st Brigade,
101st Airborne Div., 50 miles west-northwest of Da Nang, resulting in
light U.S. casualties.
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