VENETIC

MACV-SOG Mission To Laos

4 July 1970

Up in the Laotian highlands, from the air, things look still, but there is movement down below.

A SOG team is on the ground, seeking to verify reports of heavy concentrations of NVA in the area. They advance in two groups along both sides of this stretch of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in order to secure a perimeter.

It appears the rumours are true: they have not even taken up positions when an approaching vehicle is heard.

Spotting an NVA T34-85 is great intel, but perhaps is not so great up-close.

The two men who were setting up a wire tap on one of the trail’s telephone poles run for cover.

Fortunately visibility from a tank is not great, and the crew are not expecting to run into the enemy here, so the tank rumbles past, its crew heedless of just how close they came to causing a very bad day.

The two SOG men return to the telephone pole, hook up the necessary wires, and press record on their cassette recorder to start monitoring any wire traffic.

After completing the wire tap, the team guarding the far side of the trail stealthily cross it so they can join up with the rest of their men.

They are half way across when the point man watching in the direction the tank came from hears approaching vehicles and spots more movement.

NVA trucks!

Not doubting that his team has been spotted, the point man opens fire.

His fire misses, but causes the drivers of both trucks to slam on their brakes and hastily reverse.

The automatic fire also stirs up a hornet nest: a whole platoon of NVA sleeping under the forest canopy beside the road awakens, their commander screaming at them to run towards the source of the shooting.

The lead squad reaches the scene and finds itself the target of reactive fire from the SOG team on the road, now covering the withdrawal of their second team.

The NVA lose a stand and another is pinned.

The problem is that the SOG team acting as rearguard has to quickly withdraw off the trail or they will be toast. Soon their point man becomes suppressed.

And is then cut down by automatic fire and an RPG.

One team member holds off the lead elements of the NVA platoon while the others didi mau. Even as he is running, the radio man is calling in air support.

The NVA take more casualties. The fire coming from the SOG man is so heavy that most of the NVA platoon are holding back, leaving the lead squad to take the brunt of his punishment.

The air support requested turns up promptly: a Cobra gunship begins raking the side of the trail, just as the SOG guy still on the trail gets pinned down.

Several NVA men go down as the Cobra roars past.

The gunship’s presence in the vicinity stalls the NVA advance, but soon the second and third squads are moving forward over the dead bodies of their comrades.

Things are looking dire for the SOG man pinned on the trail. Two team mates give him covering fire.

The second NVA platoon replies with everything it has.

Quickly, the trapped man goes from being pinned to being suppressed.

And is then killed.

The NVA commander wants to charge, but hesitates to do so - that Cobra could easily return. He chooses instead to keep his men under cover and continue firing.

The three SOG men return fire, causing more NVA casualties.

Then they manage to skedaddle into the jungle, sustained fire whizzing over their heads.

They catch up with the rest of the unit, get into formation, and start running through the jungle to get to a nearby LZ.

Although the commander of the NVA platoon they encountered has decided not to give pursuit, he does radio to another platoon resting up on the other side of the road. They rouse themselves and begin searching through the thick jungle.

Their tracker picks up the SOG team’s trail, but also runs into a toe popper left behind by the team.

Having heard the explosion go off behind them, the SOG team takes shelter in a ruined temple while their radio man calls for a helicopter pick-up.

Soon they are on the move again, hoping to outrun the NVA who, fortunately, have now lost their tracker.

Having passed through triple-canopy jungle, they reach the LZ, exhausted but still unfound: it appears that the NVA have lost their trail.

Having secured the LZ, the radio man confirms their location and requests pick-up.

A Jolly Green Giant comes in low, using the triple canopy as shelter from any NVA AA units that might be located in the rock formations across the valley.

The helicopter lands and its tail ramp is lowered.

The SOG team moves out and piles on board.

P1070493

Then the pilot lifts off, does a low-hovering right turn and heads for the far end of the valley, flying nap of the earth. Little does he know that, in choosing not to fly out in a straight line, he avoided fire from an NVA 14.5 mm AA battery concealed on the far side of the valley. The NVA commander curses his bad luck as the SOG team flies off.

In spite of losing team members, it was a good day for MACV-SOG: the wire tap recording was successfully made, the presence of tanks and trucks was confirmed on the trail, along with the presence of at least a company of NVA infantry resting up in the area. Once the team’s intel is delivered, an Arc Light strike on the valley will doubtless be the next step.