Battle of Kham Duc

15°26′17.50″N 107°47′48.85″E / 15.4381944°N 107.7969028°E / 15.4381944; 107.7969028

Battle of Kham Duc
Part of the May offensive in the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War
The United States military lost twelve aircraft during the Battle of Kham Duc, including this CH-47 Chinook that was shot down while attempting to land on the airfield
Date 10–12 May 1968 Location Khâm Đức District, Quảng Tín Province (now Quảng Nam Province), South Vietnam Result North Vietnamese victory
Belligerents
North Vietnam Supported by: Việt Cộng	United States  South Vietnam  Australia
Commanders and leaders
MG Chu Huy Mân COL Giáp Văn Cương[1]: 6	GEN William Westmoreland BG Burl W. McLaughlin[2]: 9  LTC Robert B. Nelson[3] LTC Daniel Schungel[4] CPT Robert Henderson[5] CPT John White[6]: 61, 62
Units involved
2nd Division 21st Regiment 1st 'Ba Gia' Regiment	23rd Infantry Division 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade[6]: 89  A Company, 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment, 198th Light Infantry Brigade[6]: 90  5th Special Forces Group Detachment A-105 C & C Detachment (SOG) 11th MIKE Force[6]: 61, 62  12th MIKE Force[6]: 77  A Company, 70th Combat Engineer Battalion[6]: 41  Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 13th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division[6]: 65.66
Strength
2,500[1]: 106  3,000-4,000[6]: xiii	911[7]: 343 23rd Infantry Division - 791, 5th SF Group - 120 3 AATTV advisors Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 13th Regiment, 1st Marine Division - 44 266 CIDG soldiers[2]: 4
Casualties and losses
U.S. claim: 345 killed[8]: 261  1,500–2,000 killed[6]: xiii	46 killed 112 wounded 33 missing[9] 1 captured 12 aircraft shot down or destroyed 10 killed 95 missing[10]
~183 civilians killed[6]: xiv

The Battle of Kham Duc was a major battle of the Vietnam War. The event occurred in Khâm Đức, now district capital of Khâm Đức District, then in Quảng Tín Province (now part of Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam), from 10–12 May 1968. During the Tet Offensive of 1968, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 2nd Division tried to capture Đà Nẵng, but they were defeated in the Battle of Lo Giang by elements of the U.S. 1st Marine Division and the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal Division). PAVN General Chu Huy Mân disengaged from the fight on the outskirts of the city, and pulled the 2nd Division into the mountains to rest, rebuild, and prepare for the next major operation. The US and allied defenders of the Special Forces camp at Khâm Đức, a small district in the north of Quảng Tín, were chosen as the next target for the 2nd Division. Although the Special Forces camp had never been an obstacle to the constant infiltration of PAVN troops around it, the North Vietnamese hoped to attract major US reinforcements away from the lowland populated areas, kill or capture them and film the battle, presumably to make it look like a US Điện Biên Phủ on the eve of the 1st Paris peace conference.

Following their defeat at Đà Nẵng, U.S. military intelligence agencies in I Corps Tactical Zone were confused by the movements of the 2nd Division. Beginning in late February, intelligence reports confirmed the presence of large units of the 2nd Division in the Khâm Đức area. Coincidentally, General William Westmoreland sent U.S. Army engineers to upgrade the camp's airstrip for sustained use by large transport aircraft in preparation for an incursion into Laos titled Operation York. An Australian-led indigenous MIKE Force company was ordered to hold their vulnerable position at Ngok Tavak (Ngok Ta Vak), the ruins of a small, earthen French fort on a hill about 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) south of Khâm Đức, to boost Special Forces intelligence-gathering capabilities in the area. More and more reports of patrol contact with elements of the 2nd Division heightened the alert status of the MIKE Force troops.

In the early hours of 10 May, the 40th Battalion attacked Ngok Tavak and overran much of the outpost. By dawn, the 11th MIKE Force company was devastated, but they later received reinforcements from the 12th MIKE Force company. The Australian MIKE Force commander then decided to evacuate his troops and move towards Khâm Đức. The survivors of the PAVN battalion had left behind a mortar squad and a recoilless rifle squad to cover their retreat and harass the remaining MIKE Force and Marine artillery platoon. Meanwhile, a reinforced infantry battalion with an attached artillery battery of the 23rd Infantry Division was airlifted into Khâm Đức as part of Operation Golden Valley, to defend the airstrip in preparation for a possible evacuation. On the morning of 12 May, the day before the Paris peace talks began, both regiments of the 2nd Division attacked Khâm Đức. It began with assaults on two of the three hilltop outposts surrounding the camp. Westmoreland then ordered his Deputy MACV CO for Air, General Momyer, to make an all-out effort to extract all the people in Khâm Đức, both military and civilian. The PAVN mass attacks on the airstrip in broad daylight under clear skies were ravaged by an unprecedented concentration of some 350 sorties of almost 150 US Air Force, Marine, Navy and South Vietnamese tactical aircraft, causing an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 PAVN casualties without allowing them to penetrate, much less overrun, the airstrip or the camp. By the time the operation was completed, about 1,500 military and civilian personnel had been evacuated. For the following two days, US Air Force B-52s bombed the surrounding area intensively.