Attack on Camp Holloway The attack on Camp Holloway occurred during the early hours of 7 February 1965 , in the early stages of the Vietnam War . Camp Holloway was a helicopter facility constructed by the United States Army near Pleiku in 1962 , to support the operations of Free World Military Forces in the Central Highlands of Vietnam . In August 1964 , the United States Navy reported they were attacked by torpedo boat s of the North Vietnamese Navy in what became known as the Tonkin Gulf Incident . In response to the perceived aggression of Communist forces in Southeast Asia , the United States Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which enabled U . S . President Lyndon B . Johnson to deploy conventional military forces in the region to prevent further attacks by the North Vietnamese . Immediately after the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed , Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnamese Navy bases in retaliation for the reported attacks on U . S . Navy warships between 2 and 4 August 1964 . However , the Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam were not deterred by the threat of U . S . retaliation . Throughout 1964 , the Viet Cong launched several attacks on U . S . military facilities in South Vietnam but Johnson did not start further retaliations against North Vietnam , as he tried to avoid upsetting U . S . public opinion during the 1964 United States Presidential Election . The Soviet Union , on the other hand , were experiencing political changes of their own as Nikita Khrushchev were removed from power . As leader of the Soviet Union , Khrushchev had begun the process of disengagement from Vietnam by reducing economic and military aid to North Vietnam . However , in the aftermath of Khrushchev ’ s downfall , the Soviet government had to redefine their role in Southeast Asia , particularly in Vietnam , to compete with the growing influence of the People ’ s Republic of China . In February 1965 Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin travelled to Hanoi to rebuild Soviet ties with North Vietnam , and the formation of a military alliance was on the agenda . Coincidentally , senior security adviser to the U . S . President McGeorge Bundy was also in Saigon to report on the political chaos in South Vietnam . In the shadow of those events , the Viet Cong 409th Battalion staged an attack on Camp Holloway on 7 February 1965 . This time , with his victory in the 1964 presidential election secured , Johnson decided to launch Operation Flaming Dart which entailed strikes on North Vietnamese military targets . However , with Kosygin still in Hanoi during the U . S bombing , the Soviet government decided to step up their military aid to North Vietnam , thereby signalling a major reversal of Khrushchev ’ s policy in Vietnam . Background . On 2 August 1964 , while operating off the North Vietnamese coast in the Gulf of Tonkin , the USS " Maddox " was engaged by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats . In the ensuing battle , a North Vietnamese torpedo boat was reported to be heavily damaged by U . S . fire , while the remaining North Vietnamese vessels were chased off by aircraft from the USS " Ticonderoga " . On 4 August 1964 , the United States Navy claimed that a second attack occurred when North Vietnamese Navy vessels fired torpedo es at the USS " Maddox " and USS " Turner Joy " . In response to the second “ unprovoked attack ” on U . S . warships , on 7 August 1964 the United States Congress unanimously passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which gave President Lyndon B . Johnson the authority to deploy conventional U . S . military forces in Southeast Asia to “ prevent further aggression ” from North Vietnamese forces , without the formal declaration of war by the Congress . Even though Johnson had been given a mandate to take military action against North Vietnam and their Viet Cong allies in South Vietnam , he hesitated to take further steps to retaliate against North Vietnam . Towards the end of 1964 , Johnson was in the midst of a presidential election and he did want the U . S . public to believe that he was leading their country into war . Therefore , Johnson decided to wait until after the election , when his presidency was assured , that he would decide on other military moves . Meanwhile , the political situation in South Vietnam continued to worsen ; in August 1964 , South Vietnamese General Lan Van Phat tried to overthrow General Nguyen Khanh , but the coup was aborted and Phat handed power to Air Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky , and Generals Nguyen Chanh Thi and Nguyen Van Thieu . However , on 20 December 1964 , Khanh formed a new military junta with Ky and Thi and the civilian - led High National Council was subsequently dissolved . Thus , the South Vietnamese Government was once again plunged into chaos . In Moscow , between November and December 1964 , at two sessions of the Presidium of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee , Soviet leaders discussed the topic of Soviet military aid to North Vietnam . Although details of the discussions were not made public , the first indication of Soviet strategy in Vietnam came on 24 December 1964 , when the Soviet government invited the North Vietnamese - backed National Liberation Front to open a permanent mission in Moscow . Then on 4 February 1965 McGeorge Bundy , national security adviser to President Johnson , arrived in Saigon to meet with the then U . S . Ambassador to South Vietnam , General Maxwell Taylor , to discuss the political situation in the country . Two days later on 6 February 1965 , Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin arrived in Hanoi for a historic visit to North Vietnam , included in his entourage was a team of Soviet missile experts . Attack . Early in 1965 , as American and Soviet leaders were cementing their strategy in Vietnam , the Viet Cong 409th Battalion was ordered to begin their part of the Communist spring offensive by attacking the U . S . airfield at Camp Holloway near Pleiku in Gia Lai Province and the South Vietnamese Army base at Gia Huu in Binh Dinh Province . Camp Holloway , which is about west of Pleiku , was opened by the U . S . Army ’ s 81st Transportation Company in August 1962 , and the camp was subsequently named for Chief Warrant Officer Charles E . Holloway , who was killed in action in December 1962 . Towards the end of 1964 , about 400 members of the U . S . Army 52nd Combat Aviation Battalion — under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John C . Hughes — was deployed to Camp Holloway with the purpose of supporting South Vietnamese and other Free World Military Forces in the regions of I Corps and II Corps Tactical Zones . Nguyen Thanh Tam , commander of the Viet Cong 409th Battalion , ordered his 30th Company to leave their base area and marched into the Central Highlands , to reconnoitre and attack the U . S . airfield at Camp Holloway and the U . S . advisory compound of Military Assistance Command , Vietnam II Corps . In February 1965 , Camp Holloway ’ s outer perimeter was protected by a South Vietnamese security contingent which included one Ranger battalion , five Regional Force companies and one armored squadron . However , in their reconnaissance of Camp Holloway , the Viet Cong found the security barrier which surrounded the U . S . advisory compound was the real challenge , as it was protected by several layers of concertina wire fences which measured about high . To overcome the U . S . defenses at Camp Holloway , Tam organized the 30th Company into two sections . The first section , under Tam ’ s direct command , was to destroy U . S . aircraft on the airfield , and establish a route of retreat for the attack force . The second section , lead by Nguyen Trong Dai , was ordered to attack the U . S . advisory compound and the facilities where U . S . pilots and technicians were housed . The 30th Company was issued with four mortars and 70 mortar shells for their attack on Camp Holloway , and were reinforced by one combat engineer platoon , a special operations platoon and a local force company of Gia Lai Province . Viet Cong combat engineers were required to break through the wire fences which protected the U . S . facility at Camp Holloway , and protect the attack forces ’ route of retreat using land mines . Meanwhile , the Gia Lai local force company had to set up ambush positions around the U . S . facility , to stop possible reinforcements . At around 11 : 00pm on 6 February 1965 , about 300 Viet Cong soldiers of the 30th Company assembled at their positions outside Camp Holloway , where they began breaking through the wire fences . However , the Viet Cong ’ s mission nearly turned into a disaster when their combat engineers accidentally tripped an electrical wire after breaking through the third fence barrier , but the U . S . Military Police , patrolling the area did not detect it . At 1 : 50am on 7 February 1965 , the Viet Cong attackers opened fire with their AK - 47 rifles , having successfully penetrated Camp Holloway . Shortly afterwards , the Viet Cong mortared the airfield and the U . S . advisory compound , while the sections of the 30th Company attacked their respective targets with small arms fire . About five minutes later , the Viet Cong began retreating from the facility . Later that morning the Viet Cong claimed victory , having caused the death of eight U . S . soldiers , and another 126 wounded . In addition , ten aircraft were destroyed and 15 more were damaged . Aftermath . When news of the attack on Camp Holloway reached Saigon on the morning of 7 February 1965 , General William Westmoreland , McGeorge Bundy and Ambassador Maxwell Taylor , flew out to Pleiku to survey the damage . Bundy then called President Johnson to put forward the MACV ’ s request for retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnam . In response to Bundy ’ s request , Johnson hastily convened a session of the National Security Council , which involved the speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate majority leader , to discuss the need for reprisal against the Communists in Vietnam . That afternoon , General Nguyen Khanh arrived in Pleiku to meet with Westmoreland and Bundy , and they both informed him that recommendations for air strikes against North Vietnam had been made to the President of the United States . Just 12 hours after the attack , Johnson started Operation Flaming Dart to bomb selected North Vietnamese targets . Accordingly , 49 U . S . fighter - bombers took off from the USS " Coral Sea " and the USS " Hancock " to attack North Vietnamese barracks in Dong Hoi , just north of the 17th Parallel . When informed of the strikes , Khanh reportedly opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate the occasion because it served to bolster the morale of the South Vietnamese military , and showed that the U . S . was now more determined to fight North Vietnam . The Viet Cong , however , were not deterred by those air strikes , as they launched another attack on a U . S . installation in Quy Nhon on 10 February 1965 , which caused the death of a further 23 U . S . military personnel . In response , a combined force of about 160 U . S . and South Vietnamese fighter - bombers launched a larger attack against the North Vietnamese , targeting Chap Le and Chanh Hoa , also located just north of the 17th Parallel . The U . S . bombing of North Vietnam in February 1965 had a decisive impact on the Soviet Union ’ s strategy in Vietnam . Since Ho Chi Minh and his Communist Party won control of North Vietnam in 1954 , Ho ’ s government had not always enjoyed cordial relations with their Soviet allies . For example , in 1957 the Soviet government proposed that both North and South Vietnam be given a seat in the United Nations , a move which would have undermined the North ’ s claim as the sole legitimate government of the whole country . Then in February 1964 , North Vietnam joined the People ’ s Republic of China in refusing to sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty , which was an insult to the policy of co - existence adopted by the then Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev . By that time , however , Khrushchev had already began the process of disengagement from Vietnam because of the growing conflict in the region was becoming more expensive for the Soviet Union , with North Vietnam relying more on it for large amounts of economic and military aid . The rift between Khrushchev ’ s Soviet government and North Vietnam was clearly obvious in August 1964 , when the Soviet Union responded in a relatively muted fashion after the U . S . conducted air strikes against North Vietnamese Navy bases in retaliation for the Tonkin Gulf incident . Despite the Soviets ’ lack of response , the North Vietnamese leadership restrained itself from criticizing the Soviet government , as they were still hoping that Khrushchev would supply North Vietnam with the anti - aircraft weapons required to defend against further U . S . air attacks . However , the event which occurred in Moscow in October 1964 worked in North Vietnam ’ s favor , as Khrushchev was removed from power . Keen to counteract Chinese influence in the region , a new Soviet government led by Alexei Kosygin sought to end a defense pact with North Vietnam . During Kosygin ’ s stay in Hanoi , North Vietnam was subjected to U . S . air strikes which infuriated the Soviet government . Consequently , on 10 February 1965 , Kosygin and his North Vietnamese counterpart , Prime Minister Pham Van Dong , issued a joint communique which highlighted the Soviet resolve to strengthen North Vietnam ’ s defensive potential by giving it all “ necessary aid and support ” . Then in April 1965 , while on a visit to Moscow , General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party Le Duan signed a missile agreement with the Soviet Union , which gave the North Vietnamese military what they needed to resist Operation Rolling Thunder .