Mayaguez incident

The Mayaguez incident of May 12-15 , 1975 was the last armed conflict between United States troops and the Khmer Rouge . On May 12, the US container ship Mayaguez was captured by Cambodian troops and 39 crew members were captured. During the subsequent two-day rescue operation by the US military on the island of Koh Tang, in which more than 600 US Marines , several helicopters and warships were involved, 15 American soldiers were killed and three others were reported missing. The crew of the Mayaguez had been released by the Khmer Rouge before the start of the mission and were able to return to their ship. The fighting and casualties in the United States are considered to be the last of the Vietnam War .

The container ship Mayaguez, to the right of it the US frigate Harold E. Holt during the reconquest

The Mayaguez

The Mayaguez was built as a C2 ship during World War II. She was launched in April 1944 as the White Falcon for the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington , North Carolina . After the war , the ship was renamed Santa Eliana in 1960 at Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock , widened and converted into a pure container ship of MARAD design C3-S-45a . The capacity was 382 containers below and 94 containers on deck. In 1964 she was in Sea and 1965 by the same Puerto Rican city in Mayaguez renamed. Starting in 1965, she took up the regular service between Hong Kong , Thailand and Singapore for the Sea-Land Corporation to transport supplies for American troops in Southeast Asia.

Mayaguez left Hong Kong on May 7, 1975 on its regular route to Thailand.

Hijacking

Two Cambodian patrol boats alongside the Mayaguez

On May 12, the ship was on a busy shipping route in international waters in the Gulf of Thailand, which were claimed by Cambodia . About 60 nautical miles off the Cambodian coastline , but only eight nautical miles from the island of Kao-Wai claimed by Cambodia, several Cambodian patrol boats approached the Mayaguez around two in the afternoon and began firing warning shots over the bow of the freighter. The Mayaguez's captain made an emergency call before Khmer Rouge soldiers boarded the ship and forced him to call at Kompong Som harbor. In the meantime, the US government has also been informed of the hijacking of the freighter. President Ford immediately met with his staff at the White House Crisis Center.

On May 13, the Mayaguez was moved to the coast of the island of Koh Tang and the 39-person crew of the freighter was brought to the island in a fishing boat that same evening. An attempt by the Cambodians to relocate the container ship was prevented by warning shots from A-7 Corsair fighter planes circling over the island .

Preparations for Liberation

President Ford , who described the hijacking as an act of piracy , saw the reputation of the USA as damaged by the fall of Saigon on May 1, 1975 and the forced withdrawal from South Vietnam . To prevent the events of the 1968 Pueblo incident from happening again, he ordered the prisoners to be forcibly released. For this purpose, on May 14, US Marines were moved from Okinawa and Subic Bay to the US Air Force Base Utapao in Thailand and the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea and its carrier combat group were ordered to the Gulf of Thailand. The necessary permission from Congress for a military operation was not obtained, and 18 MPs were informed of the imminent action by telephone.

The Americans gave the Cambodian government through the American embassy in Beijing a 24-hour deadline for the occupation to be released. Since several contacts had already failed in this way, the US government assumed that the Khmer Rouge would in no way be impressed by the ultimatum. The influence of the Chinese on the government in Phnom Penh was not considered to be particularly high. In 1976, however, the Government Accountability Office reported that 14 hours before the marines were deployed, a Chinese diplomat replied that they were negotiating and expecting an early release, which the US government ignored. When asked about the criticism in the report, Ford justified the decision in the presidential election campaign in 1976 by saying that rapid action was necessary.

On the night of May 13-14, a Lockheed AC-130 Specter aircraft monitored the island of Koh Tang with low-light intensifying cameras and infrared vision devices, as 24-hour surveillance had been ordered the previous evening. When the plane was taken under fire from a boat with heavy machine guns at about 3:30 in the morning, it returned fire with its 40 mm guns and sank the boat.

On the morning of May 14, four Cambodian patrol boats left Koh Tang for the mainland. Three of them were forced to turn back by circling US gunships, the fourth set on fire by auto-cannon and rocket fire from the A-7 Corsair after it refused to turn back. Another boat left the island at around 7:15 a.m. The crew members of the hijacked container ship were on board, as was determined by an F-4 pilot during several low overflights. The crew of the fishing boat could not be distracted from the course by several warning shots. However, in order not to endanger the prisoners, the pilots did not attack the boat directly. Since the presence of the crew on board the boat could not be finally confirmed, the planning for a rescue operation on Koh Tang was continued.

During reconnaissance flights it was found that there were only two possible landing zones on the island due to the dense tropical vegetation - two narrow beaches on the west and east coast of the northern part of the island.

The plans stipulated that 57 Marines of the 1st Battalion of the 4th US Marine Regiment aboard the USS Harold E. Holt should be brought to from there the Mayaguez to board . The main assault force, consisting of 600 Marines from the Gulf and Echo Companies of the 2nd Battalion of the 9th Marine Regiment, was to be brought ashore with eight heavy helicopters of the type CH-53 and HH-53 in order to secure the island and to hold until the Mayaguez crew was freed. The guided missile destroyer USS Henry B. Wilson was supposed to provide artillery support from the sea, the frigate USS Schofield was used as a blockade between the island and the mainland to intercept any reinforcements.

Liberation Action

Marines board the Mayaguez

Liberation of the Mayaguez

On May 15, 1975 at around three o'clock in the morning, the marines began to be transferred to the Harold E. Holt . They were supposed to be supported by civilian seamen from an MSC ship to rescue the freighter. Since the helicopter deck of the Holt was too small for the heavy CH-53 helicopters, the soldiers climbed out via rope ladders or jumped out of the tailgate when the helicopters briefly touched the deck of the frigate with the rear wheels of the landing gear.

Before the frigate went alongside the container ship, which was anchored not far from the island, A-7 Corsair, which had started from Thailand, covered it with tear gas bombs in order to eliminate any enemy forces that might be present. At 7:20 a.m., soldiers and volunteers wearing gas masks boarded the Mayaguez . After about an hour of searching it was found that the Cambodians had already vacated the ship. At 8:20 a.m., the US flag was hoisted on board the container ship.

About five minutes after boarding began, the seafarers had advanced to the engine room, where they were able to start the emergency generator within a very short time and tried to restart the freighter's engines. After the ship had been searched, the anchor chain was cut with a torch and the Mayaguez was towed by the frigate Harold E. Holt in the direction of Singapore.

Attack on Koh Tang

Aerial view of Koh Tang island; to recognize the two beaches that served as landing areas

Simultaneously with the boarding of the container ship, the first Marines were flown to Koh Tang in eight CH-53 and HH-53 helicopters. Since the Mayaguez crew was still suspected to be on the island, but also in order not to warn the Khmer Rouge, preparatory air strikes on the landing zones were not carried out.

The helicopters split up into two groups and flew separately to the two landing zones at the narrowest point on the island. Two helicopters, callsigns "Knife 21" and "Knife 22", which were approaching the western beach, came under strong defensive fire from mortars and automatic weapons while unloading the troops. "Knife 21" was badly hit on the engine, although the crew of the second helicopter gave fire protection with the M134 miniguns. Shortly after taking off from the island, the badly damaged CH-53 crashed into the sea.

The wreckage of two US helicopters on Koh Tang Beach

On the eastern beach, the helicopters also came under heavy fire on landing, one helicopter was hit by an RPG while still in the air and crashed into the surf zone, and two other helicopters were devastated. About an hour after the start of the battle, four helicopters were destroyed, 13 American soldiers were killed and a total of only 54 soldiers were brought ashore, who were also divided into two groups. Only with massive air support from A-7 Corsair circling over the island could the Marines hold their scattered positions on the beach and between the first rows of trees against the onslaught of the Khmer Rouge. In some cases, the American positions were only 20 meters from those of the Cambodians.

Attempts to evacuate the 25 Marines stuck on the eastern beach by helicopter failed due to massive shelling. The crew of a CH-53, who dared to try, were able to rescue their helicopter back to Thailand with great difficulty and with serious damage. The reinforcement of the marines in the western of the two landing zones succeeded after several attempts. A total of 114 US soldiers had landed on Koh Tang. Further reinforcements could only be flown in after the Cambodian positions had been shot at with heavy weapons by a Lockheed AC-130. The incoming helicopters came under heavy fire after the gunship withdrew, and mortar shells severely damaged another helicopter.

Simultaneously with the attack on Koh Tang, the Coral Sea air group began air strikes on the Cambodian mainland, particularly on port and military facilities in Kompong Som.

Release of the crew

Around ten in the morning a small fishing boat approached the destroyer Henry B. Wilson, who was cruising off the island. The entire crew of the container ship was on board the fishing boat, along with that of a fishing boat that had been seized by the Khmer Rouge a few weeks earlier. Simultaneously with the release, American A-6 Intruders and A-7 Corsair began air raids on an airfield and an oil depot near Kompong Som.

As it turned out, the crew of the freighter had already been released by the Cambodians around six-thirty the previous evening and had then set out by fishing boat to Koh Tang, where they were finally found by the Henry B. Wilson .

The crew of the Mayaguez were brought to their ship by helicopter, where they took control again and continued the voyage to Singapore at their own request.

Retreat of the marines

Marines and pararescuemen board an HH-53

As the freighter's crew was free again, the American commanders decided to break off the attack on Koh Tang and withdraw the marines from the island. The helicopters that took the second wave of attacks on board at Utapao Air Force Base and were en route to Koh Tang were partially ordered back to unload the Marines and then evacuate the soldiers from the island. To initially stabilize the situation on the island, 100 more soldiers were flown in. Shortly after noon on May 15, there were now about 200 American soldiers on Koh Tang, who were under heavy fire from Cambodian units. Attempts to advance from the western landing head to the 25 trapped Marines on the east beach were abandoned.

In the course of the afternoon, after hasty repairs to one of the damaged helicopters, four CH-53 and HH-53 were now available to evacuate the trapped US soldiers. After several F-4 Phantoms attacked the positions of the Cambodian troops with rockets and bombs, the marines began to be flown out in the late afternoon. Sometimes under heavy fire, the Americans withdrew to the helicopters, which were trying to provide fire protection with their miniguns. One helicopter was so badly damaged that it had to abandon the evacuation and return to Thailand. An HH-53 took off with 54 Marines on board, twice the number of people permitted. The last helicopter left Koh Tang in the dark around eight o'clock in the evening. After the Marines withdrew, a C-130 Hercules dropped a BLU-82 bomb over the island.

losses

There are few statements about the losses on the part of the Cambodians. Only 39 people have been confirmed to have died during an attack providing close air support to the ground troops in preparation for the American retreat by an A-7 Corsair. Most other casualties are based on estimates, as the exact number of Cambodian units involved in the fight was also unknown.

A total of 15 US soldiers were killed during the combat mission, including 13 Marines and two crew members of an Air Force helicopter. 50 other soldiers were wounded, 44 of whom were Marines. Three Navy CH-53s and four Air Force HH-53s were shot down or badly damaged.

Three Marines from a machine gun team that was supposed to secure the right flank of the landing area were accidentally left on the island. In the disorder of the retreat, it was forgotten to give them the signal to move away. One of the soldiers was killed a few days after the engagement on the island while attempting to procure food, the other two were captured and executed by soldiers of the Khmer Rouge. In 2000, the bodies of the soldiers originally buried on the island were transferred to the United States.

Effects

Political reactions

President Ford meets his staff during the crisis

The liberation operation led to severe tensions between the United States and Thailand, as American troops used the Thai base of Utapao as a base for the attack, contrary to the instructions of the Thai government. Newspapers and left-wing politicians in Thailand have sometimes called for the immediate withdrawal of all US units and the closure of all US military facilities in the country. There were demonstrations against the US presence in the country in front of the Prime Minister's palace and in front of the US embassy in Bangkok . The Thai government withdrew its ambassador from Washington . Observers saw fear of a Cambodian retaliation in this partially exaggerated reaction to the actual ally.

The communist governments in Beijing and Hanoi condemned the liberation operation as an "act of piracy", and Beijing also called for the United States to be condemned by the UN Security Council . The Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun criticized the effort as excessive:

"Why did [the US] have to use a cannon to shoot a chicken?"

"Why does the [United States] have to shoot a chicken with a cannon?"

The reactions in West Germany and the United Kingdom were rather positive, the London Times called the operation “both right and effectively executed”.

The reaction in the American Congress was mostly positive, with representatives from both sides praising the President for his quick and prudent action in the course of the crisis. The New York Times rated the operation as a success and the situation as a welcome opportunity for the government to reaffirm its claim to leadership after the Vietnam defeat. While there were some voices criticizing the violent liberation of the occupation , especially among representatives of the Democrats , these were in the minority.

Military reactions

Based on the experience gained during combat and the experience gained during the air operations of the Vietnam War, the US Air Force initiated more realistic, combat-oriented exercises and training opportunities. The Red Flag maneuver was launched, during which pilots and crews can practice dangerous missions in a safe environment.

The planning of operations was also reconsidered. More importance was attached to more precise and extensive intelligence and military reconnaissance. When planning the attack, one and a half to three dozen lightly armed militias were assumed; in fact, there was about a battalion of well-trained Cambodian marines on the island. It also became clear that sufficient reserves had to be available for an emergency. The massive damage and the associated loss of operational capability of the transport helicopter put the entire mission at great risk.

Experience from the incident and the hastily planned rescue operation that followed led to the establishment of the United States Special Operations Command , together with Operation Eagle Claw , which failed five years later and attempted to rescue American hostages from Iranian hostage custody . This should plan this type of operation centrally in the future. At the same time, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment was founded, whose pilots are trained for this type of mission and whose equipment is designed for special missions.

Additional information

literature

Ralph Wetterhahn: The Last Battle. The Mayaguez Incident and the End of the Vietnam War. Carroll & Graf Publishing, New York NY 2001, ISBN 0-7867-0858-1 .
John F. Guilmartin: A Very Short War. The Mayaguez and the Battle of Koh Tang. Texas A & M University Press, College Station TX 1995, ISBN 0-89096-665-6 ( Texas A & M University Military History Series 46).
Daniel P. Bolger: Americans at War, 1975–1986: An Era of Violent Peace. Presidio Press (November 1988), ISBN 978-0891413035