User:BonesBrigade/Battle of Dakto

This page is so I can properly write the Dak To page. == The actual entry begins The Seige of Dak To was a engagement during the Vietnam war in 1969 between the US's 299th Engineer battalion and ARVN against North Vietnam's NVA.

Siege of Dak To
In May of 1969, the North Vietnamese launched a major campaign against the American base at Dak To. Cynics claimed that the engineers and gunners had been left behind as "bait" to the draw the NVA from their hills, thus exposing them better to bombing strikes by B-52s flying from Guam and Thailand. The American military officially denied this, but the commander of the 22d ARVN Division openly stated that it was indeed the reason. The subject is controversial even today.

During the ensuing siege of Dak To, from May through July 1969, the American base was defended by the 299th Engineer Battalion, A Battery of the 1/92d Artillery, and a detachment of "dusters" from the Americal Division (highly mobile lightly armored vehicles mounting twin 40 mm guns). Total American troop strength at Dak To probably was not more than 600 men, while an estimated 5,000 NVA took part in the operations against the Americans and the ARVN infantry bases. During the battle the American engineers suffered an extremely high casualty rate of about 45%, though fortunately most were comparatively minor wounds. Still, at least 19 engineers died of their wounds. The artillery suffered 6 killed and 25 wounded. It was a favorite target of the NVA because of the damage it was inflicting on enemy forces. Alpha Battery often exchanged direct fire with the NVA while providing fire support to ARVN forces. As a result, it took numerous direct hits from rockets, mortars, recoilless rifles, and B-40 rockets. Two of its howitzers at the Ben Het Special Forces Camp suffered equal damage.

Dak To was subjected to daily 122 mm rocket attacks, plus occasional artillery fire from a surprisingly accurate recoilless rifle. The usual time for the shelling was around noon, the NVA obviously hoping to catch the Americans dining in the mess hall. (The NVA did get lucky one day, when the 15th LE Company took a disastrous hit. A 122 mm rocket chanced to penetrate their headquarters bunker, killing the company commander, first sergeant, operations sergeant, company clerk, commo section on duty, and a reaction force which had taken cover there.) Nights were often punctuated by heavy mortar attacks, while sapper probes were frequent. (Several times NVA sappers were killed in their attempt to penetrate the perimeter and their bodies discovered the next morning.) The entire base at Dak To was kept on constant alert, with the men sleeping on the perimeter, ready to repel ground attacks or to take cover in foxholes and trenches when required. Fortunately, this was during the rainy season and the muddy ground absorbed many rockets and mortar rounds before they exploded, limiting the spread of the shrapnel. Otherwise, the American casualties might well have been much higher. The Dak To defenders were on the receiving end of NVA attacks for over 30 days without let up, which kept American nerves on edge. Dak To was cut off by ground and supplies had to be flown in from Pleiku. At one point, the engineers -- who were still equipped with the older 7.62 mm M-14 rifle -- had to pull apart belts for their M-60 machine guns (also 7.62 mm) to obtain ammunition for their rifle magazines.

Yet amazingly, despite the presence of the NVA regulars, the 299th Engineer Battalion continued its regular mine sweeps and attempted to support friendly units in the area. It was during an unsuccessful attempt to bring supplies to the besieged Special Forces camp at Ben Het that A Company, 299th suffered its heaviest casualties, losing its acting executive officer and his driver/radio operator and having several men wounded so seriously that they had to be flown to hospitals in Japan. D Company, 299th also lost men during several of its mine sweeps on that same road.

And then suddenly in late July 1969, having taken very heavy losses from the American artillery and the B-52 bombers, the North Vietnamese regulars retreated back into their hills and were seen no more. The siege of Dak To had ended as abruptly as it had begun.

Aftermath
Later, in both 1971 and 1972, the North Vietnamese swept through Dak To again. Because of the difficulty with the weather and the terrain, plus the absence of the Americans this time, the NVA largely maintained freedom of operations, as far as staging for and commencing battle.

Commendations
For their outstanding performance in the 1969 defence of Dak To, both the 299th Engineer Battalion and the 1/92d Artillery were awarded the Valorous Unit Award, the Army's second highest unit decoration. The 299th Engineer Battalion would also receive the Republic of Vietnam's Cross of Gallantry unit citation with Palm.

Category:Battles and operations of the Vietnam War Category:Vietnam War sites ==