Operation Sure Win 202 (

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

: ''Chiến dịch Quyết Thắng 202'') was a 1964 Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) operation carried out with US support. ARVN commandos were transported by U.S. helicopters behind entrenched

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

(VC) positions, attacking them with shoulder fired rockets and

flame throwers A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World W ...

. Sniper teams then tracked the fleeing rebels and engaged them.

Background

On 26 April ARVN and

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

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

officers met in

Pleiku Pleiku is a city in central Vietnam, located in the Central Highlands region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province. Many years ago, it was inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or De ...

to plan a helicopter assault on the VC Do Xa stronghold () on the northern border of II Corps. The operational plan called for

HMM-364 Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 364 (VMM-364) is a United States Marine Corps medium-lift tiltrotor squadron consisting of MV-22B Ospreys. The squadron, known as the "Purple Foxes", is based at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, Californi ...

to lift an ARVN battalion from Quảng Ngãi Airfield to Landing Zone Bravo to the west, simultaneously a U.S. Army helicopter company based at Pleiku would transport 2 ARVN battalions from Gi Lang to a second landing zone southwest of LZ Bravo.

Operation

On the morning of 27 April

Republic of Vietnam Air Force The South Vietnam Air Force, officially the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF; vi, Không lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa, KLVNCH; french: Force aérienne vietnamienne, FAVN) (sometimes referred to as the Vietnam Air Force or VNAF) was the aer ...

(RVNAF) A-1 Skyraiders conducted preparatory airstrikes on the two landing zones following which U.S. Army UH-1B helicopter gunships conducted a reconnaissance of the landing zones and were met by VC machine gun fire at LZ Bravo. The UH-1Bs engaged the machine guns until they ran out of munitions and returned to base to refuel and rearm and further airstrikes were called in. One A-1 was hit by 0.51 cal machine gun fire and crashed from Quảng Ngãi Airfield. The airstrikes continued until 12:25 when the transport helicopters began their landing but the VC remained active around LZ Bravo hitting many of the UH-34Ds, forcing one to crash-land in the LZ. The second wave was delayed to allow further airstrikes and only resumed at 13:55 but the VC continued to fire on the LZ and approaching helicopters hitting one RVNAF UH-34 and forcing it to crash-land. With more ARVN forces now on the ground they were able to push back to VC machine-gunners from LZ Bravo, however the VC had hit 15 of the 19 Marine helicopters and only 11 Marine and RVNAF helicopters remained airworthy at the end of the day. The following morning HMM-364 landed the last ARVN forces at LZ Bravo. On 28 April an HMM-364 UH-34 was caught in rotor wash while landing at Quảng Ngãi Airfield and crashed into a canal being totally written off. On 29 April an aircraft recovery team flew to LZ Bravo to assess the two shot down UH-34s, however both were deemed beyond repair and were destroyed.

Aftermath

The one-month-long operation ended with heavy damage to the VC communications line that linked Do Xa with other VC controlled provinces, and forced a critical regrouping of the estimated nine hundred remaining VC fighters there.

References

External links

Do Xa Campaign
{{DEFAULTSORT:QuyetThang202, Operation Quyet Thang 202 United States Marine Corps in the Vietnam War Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1964 History of Kon Tum Province History of Quảng Ngãi province