Mekong River Blues

Sông Cái Nhỏ

25 February 1968

by W.S. McCallum

The Tet Offensive has been raging for some weeks. Vĩnh Long, 12 km downstream on the Mekong River, has been cleared of Viet Cong after two battles for control of the town.

Elements of the 9th US Division and the 9th ARVN Division, supported by the US 502nd Aviation Battalion and gunboats from the Brown Water Navy, are clearing the Mekong upstream from Vĩnh Long, where VC troop movements have been reported.

The mouth of the Sông Cái Nhỏ, a canal that flows into the Mekong, is eerily empty in the dawn light....

The Free World forces’ arrival is heralded by a lone Pibber…

It is being watched from the boat house.

A South Vietnamese gunboat arrives, joining the Pibber to scout around the river side of the “island” formed by two semi-submerged rice paddies.

A second Pibber arrives to scout the shore side of the island.

It too is being observed from the shore.

A VC battery of 105 recoilless rifles on the shoreline reveals itself and opens fire on the second Pibber.

Some of their shots miss, but one hits the front gun emplacement.

On the other side of the island, the other two gunboats hear the shooting but do not have line of sight and cannot see the source of the firing.

The shoreside Pibber does not need any reinforcing though; its two remaining gunners rake the 105 mm battery with fire, destroying two guns and suppressing the third.

A second South Vietnamese Navy gunboat arrives on the scene to provide covering fire for the shoreside Pibber, not expecting to be the target for fire from another recoilless rifle battery at the entrance to the canal.

There is more erratic VC fire, but once again, the front gun is knocked out.

The gunboat’s side gunner nonetheless finishes off the 105 mm battery.

While the Pibber, taking a waterline hit from the recoilless rifles by the canal mouth, is forced to turn and withdraw entirely from the fire zone.

On the river side of the island, the other two gunboats push ahead, heading towards the sounds of the firing from the canal’s mouth.

They don’t realise they are entering another ambush, this time from a battery of 14.5 mm AA guns, in position beside the boat house.

The AA battery opens up, knocking out the Pibber and setting it on fire. The crew all bale out and, concealed from view, wade to the rice paddy “island”.

Taking advantage of the 105 mm recoilless rifle battery’s fire zone having been cleared, a US landing craft monitor comes to shore in order disembark US troops.

Meanwhile, the nearby South Vietnamese gunboat takes more hits from the second recoilless rifle battery near the canal mouth. First a side gun is hit, and then another hit causes mechanical damage, leaving the gunboat drifting while the crew frantically make repairs.

Just when the Free World forces commander thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, another 12.7mm AA battery begins opening fire on the US landing craft, which fires back.

The landing craft monitor suppresses a first and then a second 12.7 mm AA gun, but fire keeps coming from the third.

On the rice paddy “island”, the marooned Pibber crew are busy wading through the rice plants, so they can take up a fire position.

Things are not looking good for this detachment of the Brown Water Navy….

While the river side South Vietnamese gunboat begins firing on the 14.5 mm AA battery on its side of the bay….

… the US monitor landing craft heads to shore to unload its infantry while the seriously damaged ARVN gunboat nearby manages to restart its engine and begins withdrawing under heavy fire.

As the troops are landing, the second VC recoilless rifle battery by the canal mouth scores a KO hit on the gunboat’s superstructure. US infantry frantically run off the landing ramp and begin wading through a shoreside wet paddy field.

Unfortunately, there is a waiting squad of VC in position on the high ground above the paddy field. They open fire.

A firefight ensues. The VC are heavily outnumbered, but they hold the high ground, are under cover, and have an RPG and an LMG. It will probably only be a matter of time before they are dislodged though, and they begin taking casualties.

The US commander sends in a helicopter gunship from the 502nd Aviation Battalion to rocket the VC position.

It opens fire with rockets and its mingun, but its fire is wide:

Two of the VC 14.5 mm AA guns down by the boat house shift their fire from the burning Pibber and fire at the Huey gunship, which is little more than a silhouette on the horizon from their position….

Their high-velocity rounds hit the Huey and cause a flame-out. Caught over water, the pilot tries a hard landing on the “island” but the AA guns keep hitting it all the way down and there are no survivors.

On shore, the US infantry are still bogged down, stuck in the paddy field and under heavy fire.

Help is on hand though, in the form of a second landing craft monitor with a second platoon of US infantry as reinforcements.

Meanwhile, on the river side of the island, the South Vietnamese gunboat is passing the burning Pibber and its stranded crew so it can engage with the 14.5 mm AA battery by the boat house.

Heedless, the 14.5 mm AA battery shifts fire from the downed helicopter to the second landing craft monitor, causing a serious hit that forces it to withdraw. As it does so, one of its turrets is also peppered with high-velocity rounds and is disabled.

The VC 14.5 mm AA battery then receives retaliatory fire from the approaching South Vietnamese gunboat, taking hits.

The first AA gun is suppressed, but the other two return fire and hit the South Vietnamese gunboat, setting it on fire.

Trailing a plume of smoke, it too is forced to withdraw from combat.

On shore, the VC commander orders in reinforcements to back up the lone squad holding off the landed US infantry platoon.

A VC squad moves out from its position near the bamboo stilt house and begins running down the path.

It then crosses the vegetable field and joins the firing line.

The odds are still 3/2 in the US force’s favour, but the VC have held the high ground. The firefight there continues….

Wanting to wipe out the US beach head, the VC commander decides to send in another squad from the far side of the canal.

Unfortunately they get pinned down whilst trying to cross the bridge as they receive MG fire from an unexpected source….

… The Pibber crew stranded on the rice paddy “island”:

Having given their position away, they are now targets for the 14.5 mm AA guns directly across from them, by the boat house. They take hits, and all but the commander are killed.

At this point, the Free World forces commander threw in the towel. Although he still had one more landing craft in reserve with a platoon of ARVN infantry, he was not confident that he could break through the VC shore defences in order to land them. The VC commander heaved a sigh of relief, as he had run out of infantry reserves and was not at all convinced he was going to easily dislodge the US infantry already landed who, backs to the wall, were stubbornly holding their ground.

Regardless of the outcome, the VC commander was on the verge of withdrawing. He had inflicted heavy losses on the Free World forces and the inevitable response would be the arrival of more helicopter gunships, followed by napalm airstrikes along the riverbank by US jets. All that remained to be done was to quietly withdraw the bulk of his units under the abundant riverside cover, whilst keeping the few US infantry on shore bottled up.

In retrospect, the Free World forces commander didn’t focus his assault sufficiently. Instead of having fun sailing his gunboats around, he should have kept them together and used them to shield his landing craft while they went straight for the nearest shoreline. Ultimately, what was going to win the day was concentrated firepower and boots on the ground, as the Free World forces commander had a numerical advantage over a thinly spread opponent, however well-armed.

© W.S. McCallum 21 May 2019

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