page_title: Operation Pershing
section_title: Operation
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Pershing / Operation
caption_attribution_description: English: OPERATION PERSHING A radio telephone operator and a rifleman, both of "B" Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, (Airmobile), stand on the trail watching while a VC hut burns down.
context_page_description: Operation Pershing was an operation conducted by the 1st Cavalry Division, the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam 22nd Division and the South Korean Capital Division in Bình Định Province, lasting from 12 February 1967 to 19 January 1968.
  The operation concluded on 19 January 1968 with the 1st Cavalry Division being ordered to move 350km north from Landing Zone English in Bình Định Province to Camp Evans in Thừa Thiên Province as part of Operation Checkers, to increase the number of manoeveure battalions in I Corps in order to support the besieged Marines at Khe Sanh Combat Base and defeat any other People's Army of Vietnam attack across the DMZ.
context_section_description: As the waves of helicopters flying north of LZ English signaled an abrupt end to the Tết truce, many enemy soldiers caught without weapons rushed from hamlets to seek safety in the jungle. Gunships hovering overhead cut many of them down; others waited until after dark to slip away. Farther north, cavalrymen from the 2nd Brigade leaped from their UH-1 Hueys and began to search the hamlets to the south. Bulldozers moved forward from LZ English along Highway 1 to assist in collapsing bunkers and tunnels. Although a few captured PAVN soldiers indicated that large numbers of their comrades were hiding nearby, the cavalrymen could not find them. As groups of refugees began clogging the roads and slowing the US advance, local Viet Cong (VC) forces skillfully covered the withdrawal of their PAVN comrades.
  After the first day the tactical momentum gained by Colonel Casey's 2nd Brigade melted away. Known PAVN/VC losses on 11 February were about 50 dead, but as the week proceeded the daily count dropped markedly. By 17 February the Americans were losing at least one soldier for every dead enemy claimed. Booby traps and mines along trails on the fringes of the hamlets accounted for most US casualties. As the number of contacts with enemy units diminished, Pershing appeared to be turning into another arduous, drawn-out sweep.
  Not until the second week of Pershing did the 1st Cavalry Division engage a major enemy unit. The action began late on the afternoon of 18 February, when a rifle company from Smith's 1st Brigade found the 22nd
  Regiment's 9th Battalion in a fortified hamlet, Tuy An, at the base of the mountains west of Tam Quan. The normal confusion of combat combined with approaching darkness made it impossible for reinforcing units to encircle the PAVN, and the Americans lost contact before midnight. Artillery fire on Tuy An produced the only results. When infantrymen entered the hamlet the following morning, they found 6 bodies in the rubble. Documents seized included sketches of LZ English and the Lai Giang bridge. Nine days later Smith's men attacked an element of the 9th Battalion, 2km from Tuy An, and killed another 19 PAVN.
  While 1st Cavalry Division operations throughout January and February focused on destroying the 22nd, its sister regiment, the 18th located somewhere south of the Lai Giang, enjoyed a respite. During December Norton's men had severely mauled the unit, its discipline and morale broken to the extent that the 3rd Division considered the 18th the least reliable of its three regiments, but after receiving replacements and undergoing extensive retraining, the 18th was again prepared to fight. On 6 March an air cavalry pilot on a routine dawn patrol north of the Tra O Marsh, 16km southeast of LZ English, spotted a man disappearing into a foxhole outside Hoa Tan hamlet. While one helicopter orbited above, a second landed within 10m of the foxhole in a bold, perhaps foolhardy, attempt to capture the man for questioning. Rifle fire erupted from a nearby hedgerow and pierced the idling helicopter's hydraulic system. Although the pilot was able to coax his ship off the ground to land among sand dunes 800m away, a door gunner, who had leaped from the helicopter, was left behind. The second helicopter radioed for help and dropped to tree level to keep the enemy busy. The commander of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, Lt. Col. A. I. T. Pumphrey, quickly ordered one of his aero-rifle "blue team" platoons stationed at Landing Zone Two Bits to rescue the abandoned door gunner and then investigate the situation around Hoa Tan. Gunships holding over the hamlet met the team, led the way to the stranded door gunner, and soon rescued him. Moments later the platoon moved on the hamlet and ran into heavy enemy fire. Using the traditional airmobile "piling on" tactic, Colonel Shanahan's 3rd Brigade sent units into the area. During the day five rifle companies formed a loose cordon around the hamlet, while a mixture of artillery, gunships and fighter-bombers kept the enemy under fire. Early the next morning, following a lengthy ar
caption: Men from B Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry with burning VC hut, 21 July
exif: {}