VENETIC

The Battle of Ba Ria

1 February 1968

by W.S. McCallum

Ba Ria (Phuoc Tuy Province), 9 am 1 February 1968

As news of the unleashing of the VC’s Tet Offensive spreads in the early hours of 1st February, a reaction force from the Australian base at Nui Dat is hastily fomed and sent off in response to reports that VC are in the provincial capital, Ba Ria and have attacked the ARVN Sector HQ there. There is also some alarm over the possible fate of a CIA officer, agent Johnson, who is stationed in the town.

Having shot their way through an ambush at the village of Hoa Long on the way, the reaction force arrives on the northern outskirts of Ba Ria. The Viet Cong D445 Battalion, supported by the C610 Ba Ria Town Company, are roaming the streets of the township. Approaching from the north, the Australians can see smoke plumes above the downtown area…

ARVN troops have fought off a VC attack on the Sector HQ in the early hours of the morning, and the signs of battle are all too obvious.

Aerial reconaissance does not pick up much, as the Possum helicopter pilot is reluctant to fly over the town centre.

To the east of downtown is the local cinema.

The town’s water tower marks the horizon, near the Song Dinh bridge, on the road to Saigon.

Most of the town’s inhabitants have not had time to flee, so artillery and air strikes cannot be used.

The VC are rallying for their next move though: they may not have been able to take the Sector HQ, but they are conducting a house-to-house search for Puppet Regime collaborators and for agent Johnson of the CIA.

The Australians move in, unaware of just how many VC they are about to run into.

Approaching the downtown area, they have the feeling they are being watched.

They halt, and machine guns are trained on nearby buildings. Charlie is in the vicinity….

Out of sight, VC are now scrambling to take up defensive positions.

While others continue the house-to-house search.

The search is thorough…

The ARVN at the Sector HQ open fire as some VC make a rush across the main road.

The ARVN in turn receive fire from a nearby rooftop.

RPG and automatic fire suppress the ARVN, enabling VC to dash across the road.

The search for agent Johnson ends at a garage; there he is!

He is armed however, and a firefight breaks out. His accurate fire pins down the VC.

The other VC return fire, and agent Johnson is suppressed, but he rallies and keeps returning fire.

Meanwhile, VC firing at the Sector HQ has become so intense that the ARVN decide to call in an artillery strike, regardless of the civilians in the area.

Agent Johnson is fighting for his life - if he breaks and runs now, he will be shot down, so he keeps firing.

Responding to radio reports that he needs help, and throwing caution to the wind, the Australians send in an APC.

The town is now swarming with VC, who seem to be appearing from here, there and everywhere.

Before they can reach agent Johnson, the lone APC sent in to rescue him takes a hit from an RPG and the crew and infantry inside bail out.

Overwhelmed, agent Johnson is cut down in a hail of RPG and automatic fire.

Things are getting hot at the Sector HQ too: heavy fire from an increasing number of VC causes casualties.

Cut off from their main body, the Australian section sent in to rescue agent Johnson starts taking casualties too.

There are even more D445 Battalion VC on their way, crossing the Song Dinh bridge.

This is disastrous for the Australian rapid reaction force, who have not even managed to take up positions in the town yet.

They are still stuck on the outskirts of town, with a burning M113 ahead of them. The lead M113 has been doing recon by fire but it is proving ineffective: the VC are not showing themselves, and the Australian commander is not prepared to take the risk of going any further.

The rest of the force is waiting near the cinema, but they too are reluctant to move forward; fearing an ambush from RPGs.

And it is true that the local force VC there are ready and waiting for them.

The lead M113 on the road opens fire once more at local force VC near the intersection ahead.

But the machine gunner’s fire is erratic, and soon RPG rounds are coming his way.

Meanwhile, VC from the D445 Battalion are taking up positions behind the Sector HQ.

They assault the building and take it.

The VC now have total control of downtown Ba Ria, with approximately 200 men taking up positions lining the main road. Any Australians venturing in there will find themselves in the middle of a turkey shoot.

VC are also quietly moving in on the Australian road column’s flank, getting ready to assault.

At this point, the Australian player threw in the towel. He had not deployed quickly enough, and had allowed the VC to out-maneouvre him. Lousy shooting from the lead APC had failed to clear the way, and it was apparent that all the Australians could do now was beat a hasty retreat and await reinforcements.

In real life, the local and main force VC in Ba Ria did not manage to achieve such good co-ordination, and the Australians managed to fight their way into the downtown area and take up positions along the river, and take back the cinema, where departing VC had murdered various locals. Agent Johnson was rescued that day, and managed to climb into the M113 sent to save him, but had his head blown off by an RPG round while he was returning fire out of a hatch with his SMG. For the rest of that day, the 2 platoons of Australians sent in with 9 M113s found themselves playing cowboys and Indians around the downtown area, chasing VC that made unco-ordinated attacks. The Australians managed to take up position along the Song Dinh River by nightfall, before fighting continued. Their numbers were insufficient to hold the downtown area, and artillery, air strikes and ARVN reinforcements were called in.

This game was a lesson in the need for the Free World forces player to be bold in the initial stages of a game. If you allow VC to take up positions in large numbers, their superiority can be overwhelming.