Battle of Suoi Tre The Battle of Suoi Tre ( Vietnamese : " suối Tre " ) occurred during the early morning of 21 March 1967 during Operation Junction City , a search and destroy mission by American military forces in Tay Ninh Province of South Vietnam , to the west of the capital Saigon . After being challenged heavily to begin with , the Americans gained the upper hand and completed a convincing victory over the Viet Cong . They found 647 bodies and captured seven prisoners , 65 crew - served and 94 individual weapons . The Americans losses were 36 dead and 190 wounded , a fatality ratio of more than twenty to one in their favour . On 19 March , American helicopters dropped two infranty battalions off in a clearing near Suoi Tre to build a fire support base to be used in search and destroy missions against the Communists . During the airlift , seven helicopters were damaged . On March 21 , a Viet Cong attack started before dawn at 6 : 30 a . m . , headlined by mortars , and followed by a large - scale infantry charge . They overwhelmed parts of the American perimeter at first , and forced them to withdraw inwards . After a period , American reinforcements broke through the Communist envelope to assist their besieged colleagues , and firepower and artillery helped them gain the upper hand . The Communists stubbornly fought on , with some carrying wounded compatriots forward in follow - up infantry charges , but they were eventually forced to withdraw with heavy casualties . Prelude . On 20 March , in an area surrounded by a tree line of sparse woodland that had been scarred by defoliants , American helicopters landed the 3rd Battalion of the 22d Infantry and the 2nd Battalion , 77th Artillery , led by Lieutenant Colonels John A . Bender and John W . Vessey , Jr . , respectively , as part of the 3rd Brigade , 4th Infantry Division led by Colonel Marshall B . Garth . Their objective was to establish Fire Support Base Gold , which would be used to support search and destroy missions of Operation Junction City . The Americans did not anticipate heavy action . The landing area was an elliptical clearing close to Suoi Tre , near the center of War Zone C and 90 km northwest of Saigon . Only 3 km away , during Operation Attleboro a few months earlier , the Americans had defeated the Communists at the Battle of Ap Cha Do . The 272nd Regiment of the 9th Viet Cong Division had been involved in that battle , and had recovered since then . On March 19 as the three sets of helicopters landed , five heavy remote - controlled charges were set off by the Viet Cong in the landing clearing . Three helicopters were destroyed and six more damaged , leaving fifteen killed and 28 wounded . A Viet Cong claymore - type mine was also detonated against C Company of the 3rd Battalion , wounding five infantrymen . Company B of the 3rd Battalion , 22nd Infantry , was assigned the east portion of the defensive perimeter , Company A the western half . Later that day the 2nd Battalion , 12th Infantry landed at Fire Support Base Gold and moved to the northwest . Its final airlift attracted Communist fire , and another seven helicopters were damaged . On 20 March work was done to improve the fire support base ' s perimeter defenses , which turned out to be fortunate for the Americans as the Battle of Suoi Tre was to begin the next day . Battle . At 04 : 30 a night patrol from Company B , operating outside the perimeter , reported movement near its ambush site . However no further movement was detected for two hours . At 06 : 30 the patrol prepared to return to camp . One minute later , explosions were set off in the area as the US base came under heavy attack from enemy 60 mm and 82 mm mortars . Simultaneously , the patrol was attacked by a Viet Cong force . Within five minutes , the patrol had been overpowered , and all of its men were killed or wounded . The first Communist mortar round landed on the doorstep of a company command post ; seconds later another exploded outside battalion headquarters . An estimated 650 mortar rounds fell while the Viet Cong advanced toward the perimeter . As they moved closer , machine guns and recoilless rifles joined the attack as the Communists prepared to assault the position . Minutes later , the entire perimeter came under attack by waves of Communist infantry emerging from the jungle and firing recoilless rifles , RPG - 2 rockets , automatic weapons , and small arms . The heaviest attacks were concentrated on the northeastern and southeastern portions of the base . As the Communist offensive intensified , the three US artillery batteries began to return mortar fire at their Communist counterparts . During the first assault , Company B reported that its 1st Platoon positions on the south - eastern perimeter had been penetrated and that a reaction force from the 2nd Battalion , 77th Artillery , was needed to reinforce them . Artillery was sent to the perimeter to help repulse the continuing attacks . At 07 : 00 the first forward aerial observer arrived to direct American air strikes against the Communists . At the same time , two batteries of 105 mm howitzer s located at nearby fire support bases were brought within 100 m of the battalion ' s perimeter . At 07 : 11 , Company B reported that its 1st Platoon had been overrun and faced by an infantry charge . Air strikes were called in all along the wood line to the east to ease the pressure on the besieged company . Then , the air controller directing these strikes was shot down by automatic weapons fire . At 07 : 50 the Company B commander requested that the artillery fire beehive round s ( canisters filled with hundreds of metal darts ) into the southeastern and southern sections of his perimeter . At 07 : 56 Company B reported that complete Communist penetration had been made in the 1st Platoon sector and ammunition was depleted there . Ammunition and twenty men from Company A were sent to assist B Company . At 08 : 13 the northeastern section of the perimeter was overrun by another infantry charge . At 08 : 15 , elements of Company A which had established an ambush just outside the perimeter the previous night charged into the camp ' s perimeter and assumed defensive positions , managing to evade the surrounding Viet Cong . Company A reported that the Viet Cong had penetrated the northern perimeter . Ten minutes later an American quad - . 50 machine gun located there was hit by RPG - 2 rocket rounds and overrun . As the attacking Communists reached the weapon and attempted to turn it on the Americans , the gun was blown apart by a round from a 105 mm howitzer crew from their position 75 m away . By 08 : 40 the Americans on the northeastern , eastern , and southeastern perimeter had withdrawn to a secondary defensive line around the artillery . The northern , western , and southern defenders were managing to hold despite large numbers of Viet Cong who had come within 15 m from the defensive positions , and within hand grenade range of the battalion command post and only 5 m from the battalion aid station . The American howitzers , now pointing almost horizontally , began firing beehive rounds into the Viet Cong at point - blank range . Each round had 8 , 000 finned steel missiles directed at their target . American air strikes were brought in within 50 m of their compatriots and supporting artillery pounded areas around the perimeter to stop the Communist influx . When the artillerymen had exhausted their supply of beehive rounds , they began to fire high explosive rounds at point - blank range . By 09 : 00 the northern , western , and southern sectors of the perimeter were holding despite ongoing Viet Cong pressure . The positions on the east had withdrawn inwards , but were still intact . The 3rd Brigade headquarters had already alerted its other units conducting operations to the west . They were the 2nd Battalion , 12th Infantry , the mechanized 2nd Battalion , 22nd Infantry , and the 2nd Battalion , 34th Armor . When word of the attack reached these forces , they returned immediately to base . The 2nd Battalion of the 12th Infantry moved from the northwest and the mechanized infantry and armor battalions moved from the southwest until they reached the stream , where they were held up while finding a feasible crossing site , of which there was only one . At 09 : 00 the relief column from the 2nd Battalion , 12th Infantry broke through the Communists and linked up with the depleted Company B . With the replenished forces and firepower , the two units were able to counterattack to the east and reestablish the original perimeter . The Viet Cong continued attacking , using wounded soldiers who had been bandaged earlier in the same battle . The Americans reported that they were advancing , even though some could not walk and had to be carried into offensive positions by colleagues . Twelve minutes after the first US relief unit arrived , the mechanized infantry and armor column broke through the jungle from the southwest to reinforce the American defenders . With their 90 mm guns firing canister rounds and machine guns raking the Communists , they moved into the advancing Viet Cong , cutting them down and forcing them to withdraw . By 09 : 30 the base perimeter had been re - secured and thirty minutes later , helicopters had arrived to evacuate the wounded Americans . By 10 : 45 the battle was over , except for various armored cars and tanks that pursued the retreating Communists , who were also targeted with artillery and air strikes . This continued until noon . Aftermath . The Americans counted 647 bodies , took seven prisoners and 65 crew - served and 94 individual weapons . Of the weapons captured , fifty were RPG - 2 rocket launchers . The Americans lost only 36 killed and 190 wounded . Documents captured in the area showed that intensive planning had been made by the Viet Cong before the attack . The attacking force was identified by the Americans as the 272nd Regiment of the 9th Viet Cong Division , and elements of U - 80 Artillery . The 272nd was considered by the Americans to be one of the best organized and equipped Communist units and was one of the few that dared to make daylight attacks .