Battle of Ap Bau Bang II The Battle of Ap Bau Bang II occurred during the night of 19 – 20 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 . Forces from the 5th Cavalry Regiment were entrusted with the securing of Fire Support Base 20 , around 1 . 5 km north of the village of Ap Bau Bang , and they had expected an attack , as their area was a known communist stronghold . During the evening of 19 March , the Viet Cong attacked the base with machine guns , mortars , rockets and small arms fire . The mortars fired from afar while a large number of infantrymen dressed in black charged from the foliage . Initially , they swarmed over the American armored vehicles , but were dispersed by the vehicles shooting on one another , although some of the vehicles were destroyed . With the help of artillery and air strikes , as well as flares and aerial searchlights to spot their enemies , the Americans repelled the communists with ease . They claimed 227 communist killed and captured three , while losing only 3 and suffering 63 wounded . Prelude . At 11 : 50 on 19 March 1967 , A Troop , 3rd Squadron , 5th Cavalry Regiment , commanded by Captain Raoul H . Alcala , deployed within the perimeter of Fire Support Base 20 . A unit of the 1st Brigade , 9th Infantry , attached to the 1st Infantry Division , A Troop had 129 men , six M48 tank s , twenty M113 armored personnel carrier s ( APCs ) , and three 4 . 2 - inch mortar carriers . The troop formed into a circular ( wagon train ) perimeter defense . Their mission was to secure the base for B Battery ( 105 - mm . ) of the 7th Battalion , 9th Artillery , commanded by Captain Duane W . Marion . Fire Support Base 20 was located in relatively flat terrain 1 . 5 km north of the village of Ap Bau Bang and immediately west of Route 13 . To the south of the position was a rubber plantation , while wooded areas were prominent to the north and west . An abandoned railway ran parallel to and thirty meters east of the highway . American Intelligence sources had indicated that the area was densely populated with Viet Cong guerrillas , noting the existence of a well - used trail to the north of Fire Support Base 20 which ran east and west . Alcala sent his 2nd Platoon commanded by First Lieutenant Harlan E . Short to establish an ambush along the trail at a point 1 . 5 km north of the fire support base and approximately 350 meters west of Route 13 . The ambush was to be in position by 18 : 00 . The perimeter was manned on the west by the 1st Platoon , commanded by First Lieutenant Roger A . Festa and to the east by the 3rd Platoon under Second Lieutenant Hiram M . Wolfe , IV . Battle . At 22 : 50 that night a Viet Cong probe signaled the start of the battle . The probe was spearheaded by a herd of fifteen belled cattle being driven across Route 13 at a point 150 meters northeast of the perimeter . At 23 : 00 the Viet Cong opened fire on the northeast section of the perimeter with a wheel - mounted . 50 - caliber machine gun located on the railway embankment . One tank operator trained his searchlight on the Viet Cong machine gun position and returned fire along with three APCs for around three minutes . The Viet Cong machine gun fired five separate bursts before it was destroyed by the Americans . During the lull that followed , reconnaissance by fire was conducted by Wolfe ' s tank along the wood line to the east beyond the railway . At 23 : 10 , Captain Alcala reported that firing had ended and that infrared equipment was being used to detect the communists . At 00 : 30 , 20 March 1967 , the Viet Cong resumed their attack , hitting Fire Support Base 20 with mortar rounds , rifle grenade s , rockets , and recoilless rifle fire . This was the start of the main phase of the battle . Festa ' s track was hit , wounding his sergeant , as fire came in from the west . Alcala requested artillery support from the battalion he was securing and further away in Lai Khe . The Americans concluded that the communist mortar positions were 1 . 5 – 2 kilometers west of Ap Bau Bang in and around an old village that had been destroyed . The positions were located by radar from Lai Khe , although one officer thought that airborne artillery observers seeing the flashes were more effective . The communists increased their intensity and two M113 s were hit directly , wounding several Americans and destroying the vehicle . Two 3rd Platoon tanks were hit , but were not disabled . Throughout the mortar and antitank bombardment , Alcala maintained radio contact with his squadron commander , Lieutenant Colonel Sidney S . Haszard , who was located to the south . Within 20 minutes of the start of the mortar attack , the Viet Cong ground assault began . The main attack came from the south and southwest , accompanied by a secondary attack from the north . These were the troops of the 273d Viet Cong Regiment , who had been waiting in position in the rubber trees before moving forward under mortar fire cover , wearing dark clothes . Captain Alcala advised his superiors at 00 : 50 that he felt able to repel the attack , but he asked for a ready reaction force to be put in place . Colonel Haszard then alerted the 1st Platoon of B Troop and the 3rd Platoon of C Troop to the north and south of Ap Bau Bang respectively to move to Fire Support Base 20 . He gave Alcala permission to recall his 2nd Platoon from the ambush site to the perimeter . Haszard noted the growing size of the communist offensive and decided to move with his command element to A Troop ' s position . In the 3rd Platoon sector on the eastern side of the perimeter , Wolfe detected communist movement and requested night illumination from a 4 . 2 - inch mortar , which revealed Viet Cong troops crossing the highway from east to west . Wolfe ' s men fired and the Viet Cong stopped , having struck one American vehicle ' s gun . By 01 : 00 a Spooky 742 armed with Minigun s , and a light fire team of helicopter gunships were sent to aid Wolfe ' s platoon . The communists troops on the southwest portion of the base perimeter were mobbing some of the APCs . The APC operators decided to fire their canisters on each other to remove the Viet Cong , as they were too close for an APC to clear from itself . This killed the communists , but in one case , Viet Cong mortar hit simultaneously , blowing up the APC , killing one and injuring many others . Later Wolfe ' s track was directly hit for a second time by an RPG - 2 rocket . The entire crew was wounded and evacuated . At the same time , the 2nd Platoon returned along Route 13 from its ambush site , the men firing intermittently as they came . They crossed to the southern half of the perimeter under the heaviest communist attack . As they took their positions , they were hit with recoilless rifle fire and grenades . The elements of B and C Troops move in from afar to assist their colleagues . The 3d Platoon of C Troop , moved up Route 13 from their position five kilometers to the south , driving through a barrage of fire before reaching the base perimeter at 01 : 27 . At the direction of Alcala , the platoon swept 1 . 5 km south of the defenders along the rubber tree line . Firing continually during their sweep , they turned west , then north , before doubling back and entering the perimeter from the southeast . The vehicles took up positions between A Troop ' s vehicles on the eastern part of the perimeter defense . At the same time the 1st Platoon of B Troop moved down Route 13 from its position eight kilometers north . After knocking past a hastily built communist ambush just north of the perimeter , they moved around to the south . Moving into the perimeter , the platoon took up positions between A Troop ' s vehicles on the western half of the defensive ring . The perimeter now contained the artillery battery , all of A Troop , and the two relief platoons , which provided a large quantity of armor . Alcala expanded the perimeter by 40 m with a counterattack at 02 : 20 . Several Viet Cong who attempted to remove the . 50 - caliber machine gun from one of the burning tracks of Festa ' s unit were killed , as were others trying to storm the foxholes containing the wounded . While fighting continued , part of Festa ' s unit were trying to evacuate their wounded . Meanwhile , Haszard travelled in an APC followed by another M - 113 bearing his command group as the tried to move into the perimeter . Close to the perimeter , Haszard ' s APC was disabled by a communist hit . Alcala sent a tank out of the perimeter to help . Haszard was fired on as he left the APC to attach the towline . The command track , and its communications equipment , was safely pulled into the perimeter without losses to the communists . At 03 : 00 another attack began on the southern perimeter . Alcala concluded that it was an attempt by the Viet Cong to recover bodies . The attackers were followed by a line of unarmed troops carrying ropes and wires with hooks to recover the fallen communists . The attacking force was stopped within 15 m of the perimeter . During the attempted retrieval operation , and for the next four hours , Miniguns and air strikes hit the Viet Cong from above . An Air Force flareship kept the battle area continually lighted . Initially the artillery covered the northwest , west , and southwest sides of the perimeter while aircraft attacked on a north - south axis east of Route 13 . Later a switch was made and the aircraft attack runs were made from east to west on the south and southwest sides of the perimeter . During the battle , resupply and medical evacuation missions continued under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Paul F . Gorman of the 1st Infantry Division . Due to the nature of the battle and the abundant use of automatic weapons on armored vehicles , two and in some cases three basic loads of . 50 - caliber and 7 . 62mm . ammunition were expended . At 03 : 30 the communist fire eased ; resupply of the units and evacuation of the wounded was completed during the next 75 minutes while the artillery and air strikes continued . Of the 63 wounded , 26 were evacuated . By 04 : 50 flares and tank searchlights detected that the Viet Cong were was massing for an attack on the south and southeastern sides of the base . The Viet Cong started their attack ten minutes later , and they were met with artillery fire , cluster bomb units , napalm and 500 pound bombs . This last wave of firepower ended the offensive . At 07 : 00 the final air strike and artillery rounds were fired . Aftermath . During the battle of Ap Bau Bang III , the Americans killed at least 227 communists , and captured 3 , as well as much equipment and weapons . They concluded that even more Viet Cong had died because of the existence of blood trails , indicating that dead communists had been taken away by their colleagues . Although more infantry than usual are killed by small arms fire , they attack cavalry and armored units , most Viet Cong deaths in this battle resulted from artillery and air strikes . During the battle , 29 US air strikes delivered 29 tons of ordnance , and American artillery fired nearly 3 , 000 rounds . The Americans reported their battle losses at 3 killed and 63 wounded . Viet Cong prisoners confessed that they were from the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 273rd Regiment of the 9th Viet Cong Division . American intelligence analysts believed that the whole regiment participated . Following the battle , General Hay wrote a propaganda letter to the 9th Vietcong Division commander , taunting him about the communist defeat . The letter was translated into Vietnamese , and leaflets were dropped into the communist area . The original English was