Operation Starlite

American Marines troops

date	August 17 to August 24, 1965
place	Chu Lai, Van Tuong Peninsula, Quảng Ngãi Province
output	Both sides announced the victory

Parties to the conflict
National Liberation Front	United States
Commander
N / A	General Lewis W. Walt
Troop strength
1,500–2,000 soldiers	8,500 soldiers
losses
US data: 688 dead, 9 prisoners	45 dead, 203 wounded

Operation Starlite was the first all-American military offensive in Vietnam in 1965. The operation was carried out on the basis of intelligence information provided by the South Vietnamese General Nguyen Chanh Thi . Lieutenant General Lewis W. Walt planned to counterattack positions on the Liberation Front to avoid threats to the Chu Lai base .

The attack was carried out from land units, helicopters and ships. Some of the fighting marines were brought into the combat area by helicopter, others attacked with amphibious vehicles from the sea.

Units involved

American

The operation began on August 17, 1965. 5,000 Marines of the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade and III Marine Amphibious Force were deployed. The goal was an NLF base near Van Tuong . In addition, an artillery unit was deployed in the area. Two warships supported the ground troops with their guns from the sea.

Vietnamese

The Vietnamese units consisted of the 1st Regiment of the People's Liberation Army, which included a battalion with heavy weapons. Their strength was between 1,500 and 2,000 men.

The battle

In order to surround the guerrillas in the area, some units of the marines should attack from the sea first. The opponents should then be pushed towards three landing zones. A little later a whole battalion would be deployed there by helicopter . In order to guarantee confidentiality, the commanders of the ARVN were not informed about the operation. The reason was that corruption and supporters of the liberation front were suspected among the members of the ARVN.

Prisoners are waiting to be removed

At first the partisans offered little resistance when attacking. The Americans were able to eliminate over 100 opponents by deploying artillery in the early phase of the battle. However, during the attack on the village of An Cuong, a company lost its leader in an ambush from the huts. At the same time, the helicopters landed and were immediately attacked by enemy troops who, as expected, had retreated inland.

A little later, a unit on the beach in an area actually occupied by the American side was surprised by larger units. The supply column was taken under fire by anti-tank weapons and had to be replaced by marines who had set up a defensive position on the beach. The soldiers came under heavy fire from mortars and machine guns , which resulted in 5 dead and 17 wounded. The losses that had already occurred were replaced by reserve units from ships.

In the evening, the US troops dug into their positions. There were only a few attacks during the night and a new battalion reached the beach. The next morning their major attack found the NLF positions abandoned and the Vietnamese units had fled. There were only a few pockets of resistance that did not pose a threat. The last resistance was broken at sunset.

Result

According to American sources, the various units of the Marines killed 688 enemy soldiers and took 9 prisoners, plus 40 suspects. A variety of weapons were also captured. The 1st Regiment of the People's Liberation Army had been wiped out but not completely destroyed, as the commanders had hoped.

On the American side there were 45 dead (other sources speak of 52) and 203 wounded. Two soldiers, Corporal Robert E. O'Malley and Lance Corporal Joe C. Paul, received the Medal of Honor for their actions during the field.

Important military conclusions were also drawn from the battle: it turned out that the soldiers needed far more water than originally planned. The soldiers also complained that the M14 was too unwieldy for troop transports . The victory boosted American morale significantly, as a clear victory was achieved in the first major battle with the guerrillas.

Questionable information

The course of the battle described above was modeled exclusively on the basis of the US military. It should not be ignored, however, that the American reports were in many ways questionable, at best imprecise. Among other things, the Americans concealed the fact that more than three quarters of the NLF units had been able to escape the clutches. In addition, it is largely unknown how many guerrillas actually fell during the battle. Because although 688 enemies are said to have been killed, only 109 weapons were captured. The fighting took place in a densely populated area, the inhabitants consisted mainly of fishermen and their families.

The only detailed report that was not written by the US Army is from journalist Neil Sheehan. He visited one of the fishing villages in Quang Ngai in November 1965 and found that within a few weeks at least 180, possibly 600 civilians had been killed by artillery fire and air strikes. The American Army believed that the fishermen had challenged their fate by not giving up their homes in a guerrilla area of operation. "The five hamlets of this parish, once a prosperous settlement with 15,000 inhabitants, consisted only of rubble." These figures correspond to those of the American armed forces. For example, the 1st Marines Battalion reported that the village of Van Tuong was completely destroyed during the fighting and that many residents needed medical care. In that light, it is actually uncertain whether the battle was a victory for the Americans at all.

Individual evidence

↑ [Frey, History of the Vietnam War, p. 63]
^ [Greiner, War without Fronts, p. 210]
^ [Lewy: America in Vietnam, p. 25]

Web links

literature

Guenter Lewy: America in Vietnam . Oxford University Press, New York 1978
Summers, Harry G .: Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War . New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Otto Lehrack: FIRST BATTLE: Operation Starlite and the Beginning of the Blood Debt in Vietnam
Marc Frey : History of the Vietnam War. The tragedy in Asia and the end of the American dream . Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-45978-1
Bernd Greiner: War without fronts - The USA in Vietnam . Verlag Hamburger Edition, 1st edition, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-86854-207-3

[1] [Frey, History of the Vietnam War, p. 63]

[2] [Greiner, War without Fronts, p. 210]

[3] [Lewy: America in Vietnam, p. 25]