Death In a Lonely Place

By Donald R. White

This is a Non Fiction Book that is for ADULTS only. The book is an accurate Historical rendition. It is reinforced by the author’s 531 days of close quarters infantry combat in the Vietnam War. The introduction begins with the French Indochina War (1946-1954) followed by the US war against the Communist from 1959 until 1973. The aftermath is also included.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jul 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781483486734

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Copyright © 2018 Donald R. White.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-8674-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-8675-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-8673-4 (e)

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 08/01/2018

I, DONALD R. WHITE, DEDICATE THIS

BOOK TO ANYONE WHO HAS KNOWN OR

LOVED AN AMERICAN FIGHTING MAN

ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO CARRIED THE

HILL AND CANNOT BE KNOWN

— KIPLING

AUTHOR’S NOTE: THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN IN CONVERSATIONAL STYLE AND THERE ARE SOME EVENTS THAT ARE REMARKED ABOUT SEVERAL TIMES.

INTRODUCTION: This is a book about the Vietnam War of the 1960s. This book will introduce the reader to Death in a Lonely Place.

At the end of the second World War, colonialism was over and world public opinion was against it. However in Paris, the French government determined to try to reimpose their colonial rule in Indochina.This caused a chain of events that brought horrific death and destruction in that lonely place. That death and destruction continued from 1946 until 1975; it was a lonely place to die. When the French began to move their military forces back into Indochina, they could find few Allies in the world.

Through the years preceding and during the second World War the Vietnamese Independence Movement had grown large. The movement was dominated by the Communist Ho Chi Minh, who had been educated in Europe. VO Win Giap, was the military leader of the movement; also educated and trained by the French.

When the French government returned to Indochina in 1946, the independence movement led by the Communists attempted to reject them by violence. The French were determined and employed a large, partly mechanized infantry force. This force was known as the French Union forces. The French Union forces had both French Officers and French noncommissioned officers, but the troops were drawn from other French colonies, mostly in North Africa. Many of the colonial troops were also drawn from Indochina. Most of the colonial troops were against the French and their attempt to reimpose colonialism. This weakened the French Union forces who, otherwise were well lead and fought well.

However, as their war continued, the U.S., already embroiled in a war against communism, sent them some aid¹. The French Union forces were fighting hard, but the communist were indoctrinated with a fanatical zeal for independence for Vietnam.

In the beginning, the French sought to control the Red River Delta and the area around Hanoi and Haiphong. The French had established an oblong perimeter around both Hanoi and Haiphong. This line of fortifications was known as the De Lattre line. From this fortified zone the French attacked the Communist Viet Minh with mechanized infantry columns, tank supported. The communist had established areas of control throughout Vietnam. The communist Viet Minh force was large and well led. General Giap, having been educated in the military schools of Europe, and was a very tough officer and a very good leader.

When the French moved along the roads in the hills with their armor mechanized columns they also had air cover from the French Naval Air Wing and French Air Force. The French Air support came from Airfields in the fortified zone. The Viet Minh had set up intricate and very dangerous ambushes throughout the hills in Northwest Vietnam. The French Union forces were equipped and trained to fight their wars with World War II tactics. The communist Viet Minh where extremely tough and jungle wise. The Viet Minh troops were deployed in areas of hilly jungle terrain. It was very difficult for infantry to fight in these areas with the tactics that they had fought with in Europe. The terrain was covered by heavy underbrush among trees with a triple canopy. The heat and humidity were extreme. The jungle covered hills were almost impossible for infantry not in superb physical condition. The European led French Union forces were not prepared for this².

In the early years of the French Indochina war, the French Union forces struggled to hold their own. French Union forces had been trained to fight in a European environment and were road bound. The Viet Minh was more mobile than the French forces and they were acclimated to the climate. The Viet Minh on foot could move all around the mountain areas. The French had a difficult time finding and fighting the Viet Minh in the mountains. The terrain covered with huge trees in a triple canopy jungle negated the effect of the French bombs and shells. The French infantry, trained in European tactics, were often surprised by the jungle trained Viet Minh forces. The power and strength of the Viet Minh continued to grow throughout Indochina.

The growing military power of the Viet Minh greatly improved the political situation of the Communist. In one of the first communist offensives against the French they seized the road to the forts at Ciao Bang and Lang Song on the northern border of Vietnam. The French, knowing they must keep control of the border area, counterattacked along the main road from Hanoi. Since the road was important to the Viet Minh in order to hold their position, the Viet Minh had to stand and fight. For the French, this war was in the European sense and here they could use their tanks and their aircraft to support their infantry. Most of the northwest area of Vietnam was referred to as the Tai Highlands. There was a native tribe named the Tai that lived there. The Tai tribe had been loyal to the French but the Communist were making inroads.

For a few years the French were able to maintain themselves in the deep green jungles in the northern part of Vietnam. There were enough trails and roads that the French, with some air cover, could hold their own fighting against the Viet Minh. The Viet Minh were in far better physical condition than the French infantry. This fact began to wear away on the morale of the French troops. The French National Assembly had decreed that no draftees could be used in the French army outside of France. This created an additional morale and strength problem for the French Union forces. This first war in Vietnam between the French and the Communist forces was a very rugged struggle for the French. The French army in World War II and in Europe was a modern mechanized army. Vietnam had very few hard surface roads from which a modern mechanized army could move around.

The French and Viet Minh war from 1946 to 1954 was a war in which the combat power of the French Union forces steadily eroded. The Viet Minh forces, receiving aid from all over the Communist world, continuously increased in firepower and equipment. The Viet Minh were also winning the political struggle with Ho Chi Minh leading the way. Ho Chi Minh was a very popular man among the poor people and the peasants and farmers of Vietnam. He had stood up against the rich Vietnamese who had supported the French colonial government through the years. This created an almost disastrous political fact for the French and had a great impact on the U.S. war in Vietnam.

At no time during the wars in Vietnam did the Vietnamese peasants and farmers ever support a Vietnamese government that was allied with either the French or the Americans.

The French counter attack along the northern border road failed to retake Cao Bang but did recover Lang Song for a period of time. The fighting in the north of the country was always very tough for the French Union forces. The roads in the area were poor. The French infantry was never in the kind of physical condition needed to fight in the Highlands. The Viet Minh continued to gain both political and military strength everywhere in Indochina. There were certain areas in Vietnam that the Viet Minh always controlled. The Tai tribal area in the northwestern mountains was one of those areas. The French managed to gain a few islands in those mountains, but they were never really able to recover a large amount of the area. Local government in the Tai area became more communistic.

As time went by the French colonial forces, including the Vietnamese Paratroop Battalions, morale began to deteriorate. Only the French Foreign Legion and Paratroopers were considered Elite. The French could never win the allegiance of the colonials. Revolt was brewing throughout the French colonies. When 1953 slipped away and brought 1954, there was continuous deterioration in the Red River Delta around Hanoi and Haiphong. The French De Lattre line, which enclosed the Hanoi and Haiphong triangle, was being attacked almost nightly by the Viet Minh.

From 1952 forward the Viet Minh developed a powerful artillery unit. The Viet Minh had received many guns and thousands of artillery shells from the communist nations supporting them. The position of the French in the Red River Delta was becoming very shaky. The French leadership was concerned about its own troop morale. French casualties were increasing as the Viet Minh became stronger.

The French Commander General Navarre began to look around for a place to defeat the Viet Minh in a conventional battle. The General thought that with the French conventional weaponry, they could crush the Viet Minh. The General found such a place at Dien Bein Phu.

In 1953 and 54, the French leadership deluded itself about the weaponry and the tactical ability of the Viet Minh force. The French commander regarded General Giap, as a noncommissioned officer learning to handle a company. Dien Bien Phu was faraway to the northwest of North Vietnam in a valley. The main route from the Hanoi area to Laos passed through this valley. In this open area, General Navarre believed that he could set up his forces and cause the Viet Minh to attack them. General Navarre thought that if the French could get the Viet Minh in the open, their heavy artillery and airstrikes would destroy the main Viet Minh battle force. The General could not have been more wrong. French intelligence had not warned the commander, that the Viet Minh battle force had been built to over 50,000 men armed with modern weaponry and artillery with thousands of rounds of ammunition. Navarre still believed he faced a backward nonconventional guerrilla force. The Viet Minh forces were on the verge of becoming a very competent and very tough conventional army. Dien Bien Phu, in a valley in farway northwest Vietnam, was a tragic choice of location for the French to face the much stronger Viet Minh. The overconfident French could position only eleven battalions in the valley. The French eleven battalions were reinforced with a 155 medium artillery battery, a smaller 105 artillery battery and 4.2 heavy mortars. In addition, the French positioned a tank platoon in the valley thinking that the strong Western army would destroy this backward group of half armed men.

The French airborne parachuted into the valley on November 20, 1953.

The French continued to establish their position in the valley of Dien Bien Phu. They had a well dug in position in the valley bottom. Their next step was to establish wired in strong points around the main base in the valley. The French positioned their Foreign Legion Battalion at Strongpoint Beatrice that looked down on the one trail that came in from the east. At the northeast end of the airstrip was Strongpoint Gabriele. These two strong points had some of the best troops the French had.

Word had it that a Foreign Legion Battalion had never been defeated by the Viet Minh. That would change soon. When the French were finished building their defensive position at Dien Bien Phu, they deployed between 11,000 and 15,000 troops in the position. These French troops were some of the best that the French Union forces possessed. The Legion Battalion at Beatrice was one that had fought all the world. French officers believed the Foreign Legion Battalions were all elite.

At Strongpoint Gabriele, at the end of the airstrip, they positioned what they thought was the best of the Algerian colonial battalions.French intelligence failed to discover the huge number of infantry the Viet Minh were secretly marching toward Dien Bien Phu. They also failed to discover that the Viet Minh by human hands were moving a large force of 105 MM artillery to the valley. The Viet Minh had torn down the weapons and were moving them in pieces on the backs of men. Soon they had a ring around the French position of over 50,000 men. The Viet Minh had a huge artillery battery that vastly outnumbered the French battery in the valley. The Viet Minh had dug their guns in on the front side of the hills facing the valley. The French expected them to be few and on the reverse slope. This made them very difficult to knock out. The Viet Minh would pull them back inside a tunnel dug in the hill after they fired their mission. The Viet Minh attacked on March 13, 1954. The Legion Battalion at Strongpoint Beatrice was overrun in hours. The Algerians at Strongpoint Gabriele the next morning. Dien Bien Phu was beaten by afternoon of the third day, as the airstrip and main battle position became artillery hell. The Viet Minh finished the surrounded demoralized French early in May of 1954.

The Dien Bien Phu disaster was followed closely by the ambush and wipeout of French Mobile Group 100. This disaster took place at Kilometer 15 at Mang Yang pass early in April 1954. In the space of several months the French had lost two of their best units and many of their best troops. In the valley of Dien Bien Phu, as the French position was being wiped out, the commander of the French artillery killed himself. The Colonel had guaranteed to the French command and to the American advisers, that his guns could not be taken out; that he would establish fire superiority over the enemy on the first day. In the famous ambush at Kilometer 15, at Mang Yang Pass, Mobile Group 100 was taken out in a classic ambush. The French that day lost one of their most famous infantry point men, Li Som, the Cambodian. At Kilometer 15 the road made a sharp bend. The inside of the bend was covered by high Buffalo grass. Li Som, knowing an ambush could be there, cautiously led his platoon into the Buffalo grass. Li Som’s platoon had just got out of sight of the French on the road when they heard him yell³. Just after that a tremendous hell of fire, machine gun and artillery, as well as small arms burst upon the surprised French. Li Som, the survivor of so many horrific ambushes died gallantly leading his platoon to attack the Viet Minh kill zone.

Soon the beaten French requested a peace conference. Dien Bien Phu and K15 at Mang Yang were too much for them⁴⁵⁶. The French and Viet Minh met at Geneva, Switzerland on July 20, 1954. The French conceded defeat and agreed to partition Vietnam. The Country was divided at the Ben Hai River, the Northern area going to the Communist and the Southern to those opposed to Communism. The government of South Vietnam was accepted into the United Nations and SEATO⁷ was quickly established by the US to oppose Communism in the area.

The South East Asia Treaty Organization was weak from the beginning, only the Americans had military force and would use it to stop the march of Communism. As the years went by the SEATO began to vanish from the minds of men. All the factors that were going to cause a terrific human disaster were now moving into place. This disaster would be known as the Vietnam War.

This war would start in the late 1950s and end in 1975. The new government of South Vietnam, was entrusted to the DIEM family after a quick vote. The rich and influential supported the new government. The farmers, the peasants and small business people of South Vietnam were always opposed to the rich elite. They knew these people had always supported the French. Soon after the agreement at Geneva, the communist in North Vietnam began to establish communist guerrilla groups in the south. These groups would be forever known to humanity as the Vietcong. The weak government of South Vietnam, that was not supported by the people immediately appealed the United Nations and to SEATO to come to its aid. The best phrase to describe the coming disaster is DEATH IN A LONELY PLACE.

In the beginning, the U.S. ignored the excesses of the Diem Regime and supported them in the United Nations. When the Communist had the Vietcong established in South Vietnam and had sent weapons and munitions to the VC⁸, hell was ready to break loose. Death in a Lonely Place was about to take charge.

The South Vietnamese Army, called ARVN for short by the U.S. Advisers, was never a first-class fighting force. ARVN did have some individual soldiers who were brave and capable, some officers who were brave and capable, but it was always mediocre. The United Nations and SEATO had been joined by South Vietnam and the U.S. was a member. When South Vietnam appealed to the U.S. President Eisenhower, had no choice but to send aid. This event took place in the late 1950s. The initial aid was merely weaponry and ammunition and a few advisers. As time passed it became clear to the American advisers that disaster beckoned, that ARVN was closer every day to complete dissolution on the field of battle. The Vietcong had no artillery and only a few mortars and were not large in numbers. The South Vietnamese were always fearful of facing the Vietcong in a face-to-face battle. The South Vietnamese military effort to oppose communism started downhill from the very beginning.

In the early 1960s,John F. Kennedy came to power in the U.S. He was a foreign-policy conservative and was opposed to the rise of communism. This position was supported by the American people, and that includes the author. President Kennedy increased American aid and American equipment began to appear on the battlefield. The sheer hell that was the graveyard known as Nam was now at the gate.

In 1963, I was stationed in Hawaii in the first Battalion 27th Infantry. In the fall of 1963, I was in the 27th Infantry motor pool walking towards the maintenance shack. I noticed a group of men listening to a radio. I walked over and started to listen also. With a great shock, I heard that President Kennedy had been shot and killed. I respected President Kennedy. I really liked the way he handled the Cuban Missile