Firebase Bastogne (also known as Firebase Phu Xuan) was a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)

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, located along Highway 547 halfway between the city of

Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...

and the

A Sầu Valley The A Shau Valley (Vietnamese: ''thung lũng A Sầu'') is a valley in Vietnam's Thừa Thiên-Huế Province, west of the coastal city of Huế, along the border of Laos. The valley runs north and south for 40 kilometers and is a 1.5-kilometer- ...

, a feeder route from the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Creation and early years

Bastogne was originally constructed in late March 1968, by the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Carentan and was named after the Battle of Bastogne where the 101st Airborne and other U.S. units held the town of Bastogne against seven German divisions during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The base was then used to support

Operation Delaware Operation Delaware/Operation Lam Son 216 was a joint military operation launched during the Vietnam War. It began on 19 April 1968, with troops from the United States and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) moving into the A Sầu Valley. ...

, following which it was closed, but was reopened in August 1969 by the 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry. Bastogne had three artillery batteries: 105, 155, and heavies (175 and 8 inch two of each in one battery). It also had two

M42 Duster The M42 40 mm Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun, or "Duster," is an American armored light air-defense gun built for the United States Army from 1952 until December 1960, in service until 1988. Production of this vehicle was performed by the ...

(from D Battery 1/44th Artillery), two quad 50's and one searchlight. Following the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the base was transferred to the ARVN 1st Division who renamed it Phu Xuan.

Easter Offensive and abandonment

In early March 1972 People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces from the 6th Regiment began attacks on Bastogne and its outposts. The heaviest fighting occurred on 18-19 March when 235 PAVN were killed during fighting at Cu Mong/Hill 640. A total of 513 PAVN and 42 ARVN were killed in two weeks of fighting before the PAVN withdrew to its base areas in the west. Firebase Bastogne, like most other support bases in Thừa Thiên Province, came under intense fire during the

Easter Offensive The Easter Offensive, also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive ('' vi, Chiến dịch Xuân–Hè 1972'') by North Vietnam, or the red fiery summer (') as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted b ...

of 1972. On 9 April a PAVN attack on the base was defeated for the loss of 182 PAVN and nine ARVN, however 14 M113 armored personnel carriers were destroyed in the fighting on Route 547. The ARVN then withdrew the four M107s at the base to Camp Eagle and moved the 54th Regiment's headquarters from the base to Firebase Birmingham, 6km to the east. The PAVN then laid siege to the base and on 11 April lost 102 killed as an ARVN armored column tried for the third day to relieve the base. By 12 April the base was running low on food and ammunition and PAVN fire prevented helicopters from evacuating more than 100 wounded at the base. On 13 April after two

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strikes around the base, the ARVN relief force reported finding 210 PAVN dead. On 18 April ARVN relief forces reported approximately 400 PAVN and 21 ARVN killed in fighting east of the base. The PAVN began a renewed attack on the base on 28 April and succeeding in overrunning it on 29 April with the survivors withdrawing east to Firebase Birmingham. After the capture of Bastogne, other ARVN firebases nearby, including Firebase Birmingham, continued to repel the offensive. On 14 May a force of over 4,000 ARVN soldiers of the 1st Division launched a counterattack due to the strategic importance of Firebase Bastogne as it was approximately 32km southwest of Huế and within shelling distance. The base was recaptured by 15 May. On 27 June PAVN forces fired more than 1,000 mortar rounds on ARVN positions southeast of Bastogne, the attack was repulsed for the loss of 60 PAVN and nine ARVN Heavy shelling and repeated ground attacks together with the difficulties of resupply forced the ARVN to abandon Bastogne on 27 July. On 2 August, preceded by B-52 strikes, the ARVN recaptured Firebase Bastogne, meeting no resistance. In fighting east and north of Bastogne 56 PAVN were reported killed.

References

{{Reflist Installations of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Installations of the United States Army in South Vietnam Military installations closed in the 1970s