Operation Francis Marion

The 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division , officially called Operation Francis Marion, carried out a series of search-and-destroy activities in the mountain forests near the Cambodian border from April 5 to October 12, 1967 and became a series involved in five bitter skirmishes known as " The Nine Days in May Border Battles". The majority of the US soldiers who participated in Operation Francis Marion were very young and newcomers to Vietnam. The soldiers' inexperience in the jungle war led to criticism of the commander.

The operation was carried out in the extremely inaccessible jungle area west of Pleiku and in Kontum Province and involved eight major military operations against the Vietnamese People's Army .

Target of the 2,000 US soldiers deployed, including soldiers of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 8th Infantry Division , the 1st Battalion of the 18th US Infantry Division , the 3rd Battalion of the 12th Infantry Division and of the 173rd US Airborne Brigade was to prevent the 32nd and 66th NVA regiments from moving out of the available space at Ia Drang and building further bunker positions in the north. Francis Marion was the follow-up operation of Sam Houston and was supposed to secure the territorial claims of the US Army in the Central Highlands and prevent the supply via the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the Kontum Province.

The operations brought the 4th US Infantry Division to the limit of their logistical capacity, as it was almost impossible to adequately supply the ground troops in the rainforest from the air. The mountain forests and the multitude of gorges were almost impenetrable and slowed down the advance of the US ground forces decisively.

Heavy fighting broke out with the 1st and 10th NVA divisions on the Cambodian border. After the NVA withdrew across the border, more than 1,200 North Vietnamese soldiers were counted. At the end of the fighting, three US soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor and the entire 1st Brigade received a so-called Presidential Unit Citation . The 1st Brigade of the 4th US Infantry Division lost 79 soldiers and had to withdraw from the inaccessible forests shortly after the end of the operation.

The commanders of the operation were later criticized for subjecting inexperienced recruits to the rigors of the jungle war and not leaving the operation to the Special Forces (Green Berets) as originally planned .

As a result of the operation together with Operation Greeley, it came from November 3, 1967 to the Battle of Dak To (Operation MacArthur).

Operation Francis Marion

Web links