The Battle of Snuol, fought in
Snuol,
Cambodia
Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
, was a major battle of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, between the
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; ) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forc ...
(ARVN) and the
People's Army of Vietnam
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...
(PAVN) as part of
Operation Toan Thang 1/71. The battle lasted from 25 to 30 May 1971.
Background
Operation Toan Thang 1/71 was launched with the purpose of destroying PAVN and
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...
bases and to help the Cambodian forces reestablish control over the area north of
Highway 7 up to the
Mekong River
The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...
town of
Kratié. Despite some engagements in late February, mid-March and early April the PAVN largely avoided contact.
Battle
In late May the PAVN learned that the South Vietnamese planned to withdraw a task force of the
5th Infantry Division from Snuol. On 25 May, three PAVN regiments massed to cut
Highway 13, thereby trapping the task force in Snuol. Intense antiaircraft fire prevented the allies from resupplying the town by air, and after three days of fighting the South Vietnamese position became untenable. The South Vietnamese sent a brigade-size relief column up Highway 13 from South Vietnam to link up with the beleaguered contingent as it fought its way out of Snuol. A U.S. adviser described the scene: "What had been a controlled operation was turned into a rout as units that were supposed to occupy night defensive positions continued down the road and suffered heavy personnel and equipment losses."
[
]
Aftermath
By the time the relief operation ended on 31 May the PAVN had lost 1,143 dead and 186 weapons in the fight, while the South Vietnamese had lost 133 killed, 494 wounded, 130 missing, 947 individual weapons, 83 crew-served weapons, 41 mortars and artillery pieces, 198 armored personnel carriers, 6 tanks and 41 vehicles.[
The PAVN claim to have eliminated 14,000 ARVN and 6,000 Khmer National Army troops, destroyed over 1,500 vehicles (including 369 tanks and armored vehicles) and 169 artillery pieces and shot down 200 aircraft and captured 700 prisoners, 1,800 weapons, 34 vehicles and other ammunition and supplies during the operation.
The battle rendered the ARVN 5th Division combat ineffective in the estimation of its American advisers.]
References
External links
Operation Snoul
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snuol
Conflicts in 1971
1971 in Cambodia
Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1971
Battles involving the United States
Snuol
Kratié province