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TỔNG HỘI THỦY QUÂN LỤC CHIẾN VIỆT NAM

company, the U Minh 10th Company and local guerrillas were reported to be in the area.
Operations were planned to search out and destroy the Viet Cong. Activity began as the RAC
embarked units of the 4th and 6th battalions on the 19th and landed them on beaches along the
Song Cai Tu in an area 6 ½ miles southwest of Vị Thanh (XS 405 815). No enemy contact was
established the first day. Enroute the next day to landing beaches on the Rach Nuoc Trong, at
0505, Z-131-1 was rolled 30 degrees to port as the result of the explosion of an enemy command
detonated mine; although no personnel casualties nor underwater hull damages were received,
the zippo incurred a misaligned starboard engine and loss of electrical power. At 0655 the assault
craft received the first enemy initiated firefight. Intense and continuous fighting then commenced
and lasted through the morning. During that time RAC came under attack from B-40
Enclosure (5)
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rockets on nine occasions. Vietnamese ground units established and maintained heavy and
continuous contact all morning on the 20th and the 21st. RAC provided almost continuous fire
while under constant smalls arms and automatic weapons fire in support of the Marines.
Although fighting was not nearly so intense on succeeding days, the assault craft came under
ENIFF’s six more times until the operation ended on the 30th. On the 25th, at 1900, during a
transit of the Rach Nuoc Trang, a large mine explosion occurred between two boats but caused no
damage. Twenty Viet Cong sighted on the banks were taken under fire with unknown results.
Translation of a Hoi Chanh’s documents captured during the third day of fighting provided the
information that the opposing enemy force was the Viet Cong 309 Main Force Battalion which had
been sent from the Can Tho area to destroy U.S. river assault craft. At the conclusion of the
operation, results indicated that the enemy had been dealt a severe blow deep in territory which
he once considered his sanctuary. Ninety-Seven Viet Cong were killed (body count) and 14
additional were probably killed; 13 Viet Cong were captured and 24 detainees were taken, two of
whom were women. The following is a partial list of vital enemy material captured - one 82-mm
mortar and 10 rounds, one 61-mm mortar, one B-40 launcher and 10 rounds, 49 AK-47 rifles and
2000 rounds, 8 other rifles and 1000 small arms rounds, one automatic weapon, and 5 mines.
Vietnamese Marines reported 15 personnel killed and 34 wounded. Fifty-nine USN sailors were
wounded (mostly minor) in the campaign.
Sau trận chiến này Bồng Sơn phải thuyên chuyển qua Xử Lý Thường vụ chức vụ ĐĐT/ĐĐ3
thay thế cố Đ/Uý Lộc tử thương, khoảng một tháng sau Bồng Sơn được BTL/SĐTQLC gọi về học
Anh Ngữ để theo học khoá The Basic School của USMC tại Hoa Kỳ 1969-1970, đang theo học thì
nghe tin nhà văn Song Linh và TĐP Đ/Uý Phan Như Đơn (cựu ĐĐT/ĐĐ2 lúc Bồng Sơn là Tr/Đ
Trưởng Tr/Đ1/ĐĐ2) tử trận, trong lúc thám sát địa thế bằng trực thăng C and C.

Illinois 2019
Bồng Sơn

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