North of Dong Ha (1 Viewer)

[Horus]

Having crossed the DMZ a few Klicks North of Dong Ha, elements of the 320th NVA Division cross a drainage ditch heading to occupy the Hamlet of Dai Do.



Steve

 

[GICOP]

Having crossed the DMZ a few Klicks North of Dong Ha, elements of the 320th NVA Division cross a drainage ditch heading to occupy the Hamlet of Dai Do.

View attachment 274603

Steve

Lot going on there Steve :salute::.....now where did I put those Claymores :wink2:

Stay safe

Martyn

 

[Horus]

Cheers Martyn ! :salute::

yep seeing this lot coming your way could be a little stressful if you weren't holding some Claymore clackers at the time ! {sm5}

Steve

 

[Larry Allen]

Possibly setting the stage for an ambush by a Recon group of USMC, waiting patiently???

LaRRy

 

[EPGallagher]

Great set up Steve. Unfortunalty, after about 1969 moving forward, that's a sight a lot of SF teams doing recon along the Ho Che Minh trail saw regularly, as the NVA developed a much more rigorous anti-recon approach to the SF teams. often sweeping through likely observation places on line like this to "flush out" the recon teams, several of which "vanished" and were never heard from again. Your scene definitely produces "the pucker factor" for anyone that was there at that time-well done
Pat

 

[Horus]

Possibly setting the stage for an ambush by a Recon group of USMC, waiting patiently???

LaRRy

Great set up Steve. Unfortunalty, after about 1969 moving forward, that's a sight a lot of SF teams doing recon along the Ho Che Minh trail saw regularly, as the NVA developed a much more rigorous anti-recon approach to the SF teams. often sweeping through likely observation places on line like this to "flush out" the recon teams, several of which "vanished" and were never heard from again. Your scene definitely produces "the pucker factor" for anyone that was there at that time-well done<b


Pat
Thanks guys ! :salute::
Yes I bet that the pucker factor was at max plus in life or death high risk operations you and your fellow SF soldiers and you wonder what kind of commander intelligence had at the time, and what were they playing at when they must of known that something was up after first one team then a second and then more went missing in similar circumstances. But I suppose to the Intelligence guys there can never be enough information coming in. Which is never going to be good for guys at the sharp end who like yourself deserve respect for your service to your Country ! :salute::


Thanks to Pat sharing his Battle of Dong-Ha diorama a few months ago, I thought I'd like to find out a bit more about it and I've just finished reading The Magnificent Bastards: The joint Army - Marine defence of Dong-Ha. By Keith W Nolan. Definitely a good read for anyone interested in the Vietnam war and the role being played by the USMC there, so I can recommend it to you Larry.<br>Which in turn has inspired me to this diorama, which I hope to follow up with another couple of scenes as I have time.
All the best

Steve

 

[villagehorse]

Your army has grown to considerable strength, very useful for future skirmishes. Robin.

 

[Horus]

Your army has grown to considerable strength, very useful for future skirmishes. Robin.

And there's a few more bringing up the rear Robin ! {sm4}

Steve

 

[Manila soldier]

Steve,
you are a vietnam dio production machine........I dont know how you keep coming up with the new ideas !
hats off to you !
andrew
:salute::

 

[semperrandyfi]

I was at Dai Do either 30 April or 1 May..Dong Ha provisional rifle unit .Panic in the air.Sat in the grass for ?zero-dark hours.NO friendlies to my front(we were in an unprepared skirmish line ..I was alone))****, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.No running passwords.a lot of action to my front(3rd Mar or 4th Mar to my front..or luke the gook...MR.CHARLES doing line probes).Since I am sure our perimeter behind me had no idea of our presence..friendly fire would fill out the card.Next day I was assigned body clean-up at Graves Registration,D-Med.Quite the brawl. Up north,Marvin the ARVN was NEVER our friend..NEVER!

SemperFi

 

[Denver]

Operation Dewey Canyon
was all about Interdicting the
Ho Chi Minh Trail.

 

[Horus]

Steve,
you are a vietnam dio production machine........I dont know how you keep coming up with the new ideas !
hats off to you !
andrew
:salute::

Thanks Andrew !:salute::

None of it would been possible without Andy and K&C of course ! :salute:: So I owe them a big thank you for bringing this range out and expanding it to what it is today and look forward to seeing the line grow with what looks like plenty of must have figures !

Steve

I was at Dai Do either 30 April or 1 May..Dong Ha provisional rifle unit .Panic in the air.Sat in the grass for ?zero-dark hours.NO friendlies to my front(we were in an unprepared skirmish line ..I was alone))****, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.No running passwords.a lot of action to my front(3rd Mar or 4th Mar to my front..or luke the gook...MR.CHARLES doing line probes).Since I am sure our perimeter behind me had no idea of our presence..friendly fire would fill out the card.Next day I was assigned body clean-up at Graves Registration,D-Med.Quite the brawl. Up north,Marvin the ARVN was NEVER our friend..NEVER!

SemperFi

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us Randy, obviously a tough time for all you guys who were over there to varying degrees.
I've read several accounts of how ARVN were supposed to be at such and such place, but never showed up or just having to be rescued did nothing to help extract themselves.
Hopefully your fellow countrymen have learnt and come to respect over the intervening years of the troops bravery and sacrifices and can separate that from the politicians lies and deceit.
You who served there certainly have my respect.

Steve

Operation Dewey Canyon
was all about Interdicting the
Ho Chi Minh Trail.

That may well be what Pat was referring to in his post.
If Pat sees this perhaps he will elaborate. Was it an Operation you were involved in ?

Steve

 

[Horus]

With Foxtrot company holding Dong Huan and Bravo An Lac after the first days assaults on the NVA, on the second day Golf advances towards Dai Do with two M48 tanks with mutual supporting enemy bunkers slowing their advance all the way into Dai Do. Unfortunately one tank was quickly put out of action by RPG's and the second having run out of ammunition was also leaving until ordered back for morale, if nothing else.




For a accurate overall picture of what went on watch this series of short documentary videos of which link to first is:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOOH2POXOT0&list=LL&index=4&t=17s

Steve

 

[Horus]

Fighting from concealed positions the NVA inflict mounting casualties on the Marines.



Steve

 

[Larry Allen]

Hey Steve, ya' from your PM I can see that the palm trees are pretty good.
Thank you for the leads!!!

--- LaRRY