Commanding General United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam

d.     The Battle of Long Binh.

At long Binh the perimeter bunkers were manned, and gunships were placed on strip alert.

As early as 0035 hours on 31 Jan the first indications of a ground attack were realized as Co E, 4/12 Inf, 199th Lt Inf Bde detected and engaged a VC force north of the Dong Nai River (XT039222) moving south toward Bien Hoa Airbase.  They engaged the VC, were supported by artillery and air and eventually killed 47 VC.  At about 0100 a long range patrol of the 199th Bde also detected approximately 90 VC who doubletimed past their positions just north of Ho Nai Village near Long Binh.

These contacts caused the gunships on strip alert to be ordered aloft.  When the widespread 122mm rocket and mortar attacks came at 0300 these aircraft were able to quickly engage several of the launching sites, disrupting their fire.

Map 5 shows the full scope of the VC initiated actions in the base area of III CTZ on 31 January.  Each red dot represents an attack by fire and each red arrow a separate ground attack.

Map 6 shows the allied response on the 31st in the area of the most significant engagements which are outlined by black lines.  Only the unit symbols are shown for the principal forces involved in these attacks.

In the Long Binh area, a heavy rocket and mortar barrage directed at the 199th Bde Hq and II FFORCEV Hq started the attack.  Light fire teams prewarned and aloft and artillery responded immediately to the rocket fire coming from the east and north of the Dong Nai River.  Several of the eastern firing points were put out of action before they had fired all the rounds on site.

At 0330 CG II FFORCEV ordered the 2/47 Mech Bn, 9th Inf Div north from its position on Route 15 vicinity Bearcat, to the Long Binh area.

At 0430 two battalions of the 27th Regiment launched a ground attack through Ho Nai village south across Highway 1 against the northern perimeter of Long Binh.  At the same time U-1 Local Force Battalion harassed the eastern perimeter covering efforts by Sapper units to penetrate the main ammunition dump.  One company of the 275th Regt attempted to seize the ARVN PW compound, located between Bien Hoa and Long Binh, which contained approximately 2000 PW's at the time of the attack.

While fire was returned from the bunker line and from armored personnel carriers other units of the 199th Bde immediately engaged the VC throughout the area.  By a series of platoon and company moves, both on foot and mechanized, they converged on the 275 Regt which was under heavy fire, particularly from gunships of one Air Cav Troop 3/17 Air Cav Sqdn.  Enemy forces were unable to make headway into the bamboo area south of the PLANTATION Compound and attacked the 12th Aviation Group runway without success.  Several teams penetrated the ammo dump and set time charges, many of which were removed by EOD teams before 4 of 100 pads of ammo detonated at 0800. The 1st Platoon, Company B, 2 Battalion 47 Infantry (Mechanized) with MP gun jeeps were protecting II FFORCEV Hq.  This force started a sweep through Widows Village, located across the road and north of the H1, where it ran into strong resistance and lost one APC.

By 0600 it became apparent that the 199th Bde, reinforced by units of the 9th Div and supported by the fires of one troop of the 3/17 Air Cav, had encircled the bogged down assault elements of the 275th Regt and were killing them at a sustained rate.

At 0800, Company B 4/39 Inf made a combat assault into the grass helicopter pad in a field opposite II FFV Hq.  The LZ was hot, the unit quickly cleared the area and moved through the Widows Village along with a mechanized company and the recon platoon from the 2nd Battalion 447th Infantry.

A company sized force from the 199th Bde, together with ARVN MPs, repulsed the attack on the PW compound although it fought alone until late afternoon.

From this point on the battle at LONG BINH consisted of the systematic destruction of the defeated VC Regt by air, artillery, ground sweeps, ambush and LRP activities.