Operation Abilene

The official story of Operation Abilene, called the bloodiest battle of the Vietnam war, is incorrect as view by an Infantryman who was there.

In April 1966, we were participating in Operation Abilene. The Ist Infantry Division Commander Major General Depew, the planner of this operation, was a man who seemed to be obsessed with pleasing General Westmoreland at any cost to the men of his Division.

The overall objective was to lure and engage the Viet-Cong into a large battle where the Americans could bring its superior Infantry, Armor, Artillery, Naval, and Airpower into the battle. In operation Abilene, the battle plan was that the 2nd Battalion 16th Infantry would attack the crack D-800 Battalion of approximately 400 Viet-Cong. Specifically, Charley Company with 134 infantrymen would bait and attack straight into the area where intelligence had determined the Battalion home base. Their exact location was unknown. Moving Parallel to Charley Company and two-kilometer or about one-third of a mile to the right, Bravo Companies mission with approximately 160 infantrymen was to reinforce Charley Company when they made contact. My Company, Alpha Company, would be inserted at platoon level strength at different locations on the left of Charley Company and search for Viet Cong units believed to be moving to reinforce the D-800 Viet-Cong Battalion. Orders were for us to locate the reinforcements, report their location, and Artillery and Airstrikes would stop them from reinforcing D-800.

Day one Easter Sunday 1966

My Platoon, 3rd Platoon of A Company, was helicoptered into an area west of Ax Cam My and West of Charley Company to try and locate the reinforcement unit. The Ist and 2nd Platoons of A Company had the same mission.

Upon arrival at our designated search area around noon, the Lieutenant sent out two patrols, one South and one North. Because I was a trained scout, I was selected to lead the patrol going North as it was the most logical area to find the enemy force, although four Sergeants outranked me.

I took four men and a radio, but before moving out, we dropped all non-essential equipment to reduce any noise and make it easier to move. The terrain was not heavily brushed, and we moved faster than expected. As we approached a mile out, we stopped and listened for several minutes. Two of the men believed they could hear noises from our front. I had to hear for myself, so we moved forward a hundred meters and came across a Vietnamese soldier by the bank of a small creek.

He was squatting, as most Vietnamese do, washing his face. I needed information to identify his unit as we had not been told who we were looking for, although the planners knew who was coming and what units they were. I believe they already knew the operation was compromised but did not want us to know Charley Company was the bait for a potential massacre.

I took one man and moved up behind the man at the creek, pulled his head back, and started to cut his throat, but he had his feet under him and pushed me back until he was lying on top of me while I was holding him around the head. My fellow soldier acting quickly stabbed him with a bayonet, and I could finish him off. We searched his body for any identification but found nothing.

We rejoined the other men, and I called back to the Lieutenant to update him and let him know we had located a soldier flanking the enemy force. He was not satisfied and had me continue forward. By now, we could make out the earlier noise and could hear the movement of large equipment. About the same time, we saw four Viet-Cong soldiers approaching our front. We quickly lined up and opened up fully automatic on the four men, dropping them where they stood. Then, as having to shoot had given up our presence and position, We turned and ran back toward our base camp. On the way, I informed the Lieutenant what we found. He immediately called in the other patrol and reported back to Company Headquarters that we had located the reinforcement unit.

My team arrived back to join the others, and all the Sergeant's gathered together with the Lieutenant as I briefed them on what I found. I repeated it was a large enemy force as we could hear wagons and soldiers moving east. Then, in astonishment, I listened to the Lieutenant begin to plan an attack. I waited, expecting one of the senior Sergeants to speak up in opposition, but to no avail.

So, I took up the argument and told the Lieutenant that we didn't need to attack as we knew that some of the force had broken off and was following my patrol. I suggested that we take care of the unit following me, and then we could parallel the main force calling in artillery and air strikes as we moved. I guess the Lieutenant was looking for medals.

Later, I learned that the force we had discovered was the 174th and 175th Viet Cong Regiments and that they had a Company of Infantry coming for us. A Viet Cong Company was usually around 120 men. A regiment had 1500 men. So, we were about to attack a force of 3000 men with two Infantry squads of 29 men. I was ordered to stay in place and lay down supporting fire with about 11 men. I did have two M-60 machines guns. Each machine gun could fire up to 600 rounds per minute. The Lieutenant went with his men online, and shortly after entering the wood-line, they came under fire from the Company of Vietnamese who was following my patrol. We provided as much firepower as possible, leading in front of our attacking force.

When their radio went silent, I ordered a ceasefire and started preparing for our defense as I knew that we would be next. We were online, and I decided it was useless to move into a perimeter defense. As I looked over the terrain, we were just inside a wood line with the ground sloping down in front of us with about a hundred meters of heavy elephant grass before another wood line began. There was a cut in the ground left by a stream that used to flow through that area. I moved one machine gun over to protect the enemy, using that as cover when they approached our position. We took all our spare ammunition and reloaded it. I then gave the order a soldier never wants to hear, "Fix Bayonets."

There are two times in a battle that soldiers get scared when a battle is imminent, and soldiers alone with their thoughts try and prepare themselves for death. There were some of the men who had given up on coming out of Vietnam alive, like the Sergeants who must lead from the front and are so involved with the coming action they don't have time to be scared. After the battle, when you pick up the pieces of dead or mangled soldiers, you start thinking it could have been me. During the battle, there is no time to be scared. You fight, or you die.

After the Viet-Cong Company had overrun the Lieutenants attacking force, they came for us. At first, we could see movement from the wood-line and shades of brown and black uniforms moving in the grass. They had not located us but were moving slowly and carefully toward us. When they had reached about 75 meters from our position, I ordered "Open Fire.

Our first volley tore through the Viet Cong like a scythe through weeds. Some fired back, but when whistles started blowing, most withdrew into the woods. As they planned their assault, we could hear a great moan coming from the wounded left in the field. I could not call in Artillery as I knew we had dead and wounded out there as well as the Vietnamese. Before the Lieutenant's stupid action, we could have called in Artillery and Air Strikes against our attackers and against the main Viet-Cong force. Those options were gone.

The Company Commander of the Vietnamese Company took about fifteen minutes before launching a second attack. First, they fired rocket launchers toward our machine gun positions, missing one but taking out the other. Then, with whistles and bugles blowing, they swarmed across the field toward us, taking heavy casualties. We kept firing until they were overrunning us, and we continued fighting with bayonets until they had moved through and past our position.

We knew about the Viet- Cong and North Vietnamese Army that they chose when and where to fight. We had surprised them, but their goal was to be in a position to engage Charley Company the next day, and they had ground to cover. So instead of finishing us off, they moved on out to rejoin their regiment. When the battle is over, there is a haze of smoke covering the battlefield. There is the stench of gunpowder, urine, and feces, all intermingled floating with the smoke. It is like a dead body. Once you have smelled it, there is no way you can ever forget. There were about 7 of us who were all wounded but able to function, so we took care of our wounded, and then I took four men out to find the remnants of our two squads who had attacked. I found the Lieutenant wounded in the chest and lung, but I was so disgusted with him that I rolled him on his wounded side to protect his good lung and left him out there overnight.

We brought back the wounded we could find and some that were not wounded. It was approaching 6:00 pm when the sun would set, and in the Jungle, that meant darkness. We were stuck there for the night, so, not wanting to lose more men to a wounded Viet-Cong, I took a 45 from the M-60 machine gunner and went about the dead and wounded Vietnamese and finished off the wounded. It's not easy to look a man in the eye and, in simple terms, execute him.

After a rough night, the following day, reinforcements came in to help carry out our dead and wounded. We were first evacuated to a field hospital on a firebase where the seriously wounded were treated then transferred to the 93rd Army evacuation hospital for treatment. The walking wounded were treated at the field hospital. I had a bayonet wound sewed up. Headquarters estimated our Platoon had killed 51 Vietnamese, but I doubt these numbers. It was becoming normal to inflate body count.

Aftermath

I turned out to be the senior Non-Commissioned officer left in our Platoon. I was promoted to Staff Sergeant and took over the Platoon, although it was a squad rather than a platoon. As we could not function as a platoon, we were used to scout by the Company and Battalion Commander. On occasion, we would reinforce another platoon when needed. As replacements came in, we grew back to platoon size, but I remained platoon Sergeant. As the surviving ranking officer of the Platoon, I had to approve the recommendation of anyone for a medal for valor. The captain approached me several times to recommend the Lieutenant for a Silver Star for his action, but I refused to recommend him.

Day Two the Battle of Courtenay Plantation

After my people, the walking, wounded were patched up Alpha Company which now consisted of two platoons, and my Squad flew out of the Base Camp to help Charley Company as they were coming under heavy fire. We needed several helicopters to take us to Charley Company. Still, because of no landing area close to Charley Company, the closest the helicopter could get was about 7 Kilometers southwest of the battlefield. Unable to offer assistance at the battle site, we moved northwest to try and cut off any fleeing Vietnamese.

On the morning of 11 April 1966, with Charley Company 7 kilometers east of the village of Xan Cam My, near Courtenay Rubber Tree Plantation, began moving north searching for the D-800 Battalion, a well-trained Viet Cong main force unit headquarters. Beginning about 1100, the Company made several successive contacts, but no firm firefights developed. It was about this time we loaded on helicopters and headed out.

About 1355, a Viet Cong force estimated at platoon strength opened fire and wounded two men. The Company commander stopped the Company to evacuate the men. Unknowingly, however, the Company was only 150 yards away from D-800 headquarters. As medics tried to medevac the two casualties on jungle penetrators via helicopter, the D-800 Battalion, now reinforced by the Viet Cong's 174th and 175th Regiments, quickly and quietly surrounded Charley Company. Unfortunately, the Company did not form a tight perimeter before the enemy attacked, and the initial defense was disjointed, at best.

Located forward of the Company, the isolated 3rd Platoon of Charley Company called for Artillery to break up an enemy force massing to their front.

The initial shells landed right on target, but on the second salvo, the shells landed in the platoon area, killing or wounding several men. When the Platoon called off the artillery fire, the Viet Cong used the lull to move in even closer to use small arms and M-50 and M-51 machine guns to rake Charley Company from three sides.

The Company was now in a trap, and the commander attempted to pull back, but soon found he could not do that as several soldiers already dead or wounded could not be left behind. When the other platoons attempted to move into a tighter perimeter, they were also driven to the ground by intense small arms fire. About 1540, Air Force rescue teams came in to evacuate the dead and the wounded, and miraculously, they were able to rescue twelve men during the conduct of the fighting. When the situation became too hot, and the Air Force choppers were forced to leave, one of the rescue team members, Airman First Class William H. Pitsenbarger, remained with Charlie Company. Pitsenbarger's efforts to save lives that day resulted in his death and in receiving the Medal of Honor.

The firefight continued throughout the afternoon and into the evening. There were several breakout attempts, but all failed. Then, one by one, the Company's leaders became casualties, including the Company Commander and Executive Officer (second in command), both wounded. All the platoon leaders and platoon sergeants were eventually killed or wounded as well.

By 1745, the Viet Cong had emplaced up to ten machine guns around the perimeter, including at least two 51 caliber Machine Guns to rake the Company. Friendly artillery fire was brought in as close to the perimeter as possible. At the same time, Bravo Company, the nearest unit at two kilometers away, struggled through the thick foliage trying to reach their fellow soldiers. General Depew now has made two mistakes. He didn't think the two regiments would make it there in time, nor did he account for the terrain between Charley and Bravo Company.

Sergeant James W. Robinson of Annandale, Virginia, was fighting with the heart of a tiger. After bandaging his own wounds, Robinson knocked out a .51 caliber machine gun that had caused much damage. But in doing so, he fell dead from two .50-caliber hits in the chest. For his indomitable courage that day, Robinson earned the regiment's tenth Medal of Honor.

As darkness enveloped the battlefield, small arms fire slackened but did not cease. The supporting artillery battery back at Xu yen Mo was able to keep dropping high explosive rounds very close to the perimeter and flares above the position as well. Finally, after midnight, Charley Company survivors noticed the Viet Cong fire go slack in the dark. Men scrambled to help their wounded buddies in the perimeter, redistribute weapons and ammo, and plug holes in the line. The badly wounded were placed in the center of the position, but those wounded troops who could still fire stayed on the line, determined to resist to the last if necessary. For the next three hours, the area remained quiet.

During the night, some Viet Cong slipped through the perimeter defense and cut the throat of some of the wounded before being killed themselves. During the night, the Vietnamese had melted away.

Day Three Bravo Company Arrives

Hopes soared as streaks of light to the east announced the dawn of 12 April. At about 0715, the infantrymen of Bravo Company who had fought through the undergrowth all night made contact with the remnants of Charley Company. During the planning, no one looked at the thickness of the Jungle and underbrush between Bravo and Charley Company. Again, General Dupuy's lack of proper planning had sealed the fate of Charley Company. Soon after daylight Army Engineers blew up trees and made helicopters Landing areas, making room for additional medivac helicopters. The medivacs started taking out the dead and wounded. Newspaper headlines and Ist Infantry after-action reports read: "Charley Company had held on and handed the D800 Battalion a defeat!"

The Viet Cong suffered 41 known killed-in-action by known body count, and it was reported the Viet-Cong had removed 80 killed from the field. In addition, an unknown number of Viet Cong were killed or wounded and taken off the battlefield. Some estimates ran as high as 150 killed-in-action. The enemy had also failed to overrun and destroy Charley Company which was the enemy commander's intent. However, Charley Company did suffer 35 killed and 71 wounded of the 134 soldiers who entered the fight. For their actions on 11--12 April 1966, Charley Company was later awarded the Valorous Unit Award by the Secretary of the Army on 23 April 1968.

Aftermath

Calling this an American victory was for newspapers reporters and official reports. In total, Alpha and Charley Companies suffered nearly 85 percent casualties. In Charley Company, they had almost 90 percent casualties. These are numbers more common to fighting in the Civil War than modern warfare.

This operation was only one more example of officers who didn't understand the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Regulars, who, after the battle with the 7th Calvary in the Ia Drang Valley in 1965, changed tactics. In Operation Abilene we did not hand the D-800 Battalion a defeat. Instead, we gave them a victory by poor planning by staff officers who probably never saw an enemy soldier. And a 2nd Lieutenant's decision to attack a large Vietnamese force without knowing who or what he was attacking, and Charley Company ordered to attack a reinforced Battalion with 134 men.

Our soldiers fought bravely outnumbered by over 3,000 men, and not one died calling for his mother. We were soldiers but stuck with Generals leftover from the Greatest Generation, nor were we the Gulf War Hero's, we were the Vietnam Grunts, and we did have atheists in our foxholes. The people of America who abandoned us only made us angry, and the only baby killers I knew were Air Force Pilots with their indiscriminate bombing from 30,000 feet.