Firebase Birmingham (also known as FSB Birmingham, LZ Birmingham and Huế Southwest Airfield) is a former U.S. Army and

Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. It is estimated to have suffe ...

(ARVN)

firebase Firebase is a set of hosting services for any type of application (Android, iOS, Javascript, Node.js, Java, Unity, PHP, C++ ...). It offers NoSQL and real-time hosting of databases, content, social authentication (Google, Facebook, Twitter an ...

southwest 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 adm ...

in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

History

1968

The base was originally established in March/April 1968 by the 2nd Brigade,

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operat ...

on Highway 547 as part of

Operation Jeb Stuart Operation Jeb Stuart was a U.S. Army operation during the Vietnam War that took place in Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên Provinces from 21 January to 31 March 1968. The original operation plan to attack People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) base areas w ...

. The base is located approximately 12 km southwest of Huế.

1969-70

Birmingham was used to support the 101st Airborne's major operations against the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) base areas in the A Sầu Valley - Operation Apache Snow in 1969 and

Operation Texas Star Operation Texas Star was a military operation of the Vietnam War that took place in Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên Provinces from 1 April to 5 September 1970. Operation This was a follow-on operation to Operation Randolph Glen. The main obj ...

in 1970.

1972

On 1 February 1972 in a turnover ceremony attended by Brigadier General

John G. Hill Jr. Major General John Gillespie Hill, Jr. (9 August 192628 March 1999) was a United States Army officer who served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Early life Hill was born in Plattsburgh, New York on 9 August 1926. His father John Gilles ...

, assistant Division commander, 101st Airborne Division and Major General

Phạm Văn Phú Major General Phạm Văn Phú (1927, Hà Đông, French Indochina – 30 April 1975, Saigon, South Vietnam) was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He was a graduate of the 8th class of the Dalat Military Academy in 1954. Militar ...

, commanding general of the

(ARVN) 1st Division, Birmingham was handed over to the ARVN. Like most other support bases in Thừa Thiên Province, the base 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. Following a PAVN attack on

Firebase Bastogne Firebase Bastogne (also known as Firebase Phu Xuan) was a U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) firebase, located along Highway 547 halfway between the city of Huế and the A Sầu Valley, a feeder route from the Ho Chi Minh ...

, 6km to the west, on 9 April the ARVN 54th Regiment's headquarters were moved to the base from Bastogne. On 5 May after Bastogne had been abandoned to the PAVN, Birmingham was shelled by the PAVN and in two clashes west and southwest of the base, 39 PAVN and two ARVN were killed. On 14 May approximately 4,000 ARVN 1st Division troops supported by artillery and B-52 strikes advanced west along Route 547 coming to within of Firebase Bastogne and killed 110 PAVN. The base was overrun by the PAVN, but later recaptured by the ARVN.

1975

The base was captured by the PAVN again during the

1975 Spring Offensive The 1975 spring offensive ( vi, chiến dịch mùa Xuân 1975), officially known as the general offensive and uprising of spring 1975 ( vi, Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy mùa Xuân 1975) was the final North Vietnamese campaign in the Vie ...

Current use

The base is abandoned and turned over to farmland and housing.

References

Installations of the United States Army in South Vietnam Installations of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Buildings and structures in Thừa Thiên Huế province {{VietnamWar-stub