Task Force Barker

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Task Force Barker was a military US - special command in the Vietnam War and was set up on January 1, 1968th The unit only existed for a few months. The TF Barker was set up on the Son My district in the Quảng Ngãi province on the Batangan Peninsula . It was named after Lieutenant Colonel Frank Akeley Barker , battalion commander of the My Lai massacre , but he died on June 13, 1968, before the massacre became public.

My Lai is one of three small villages in the community of Son My Village , the other two being Co Luy and My Khe .

Composition and structure

This force of about 500 men was composed of three companies of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, the so-called Americal Division . The Americal Division had the honorable reputation of being " the first unit in the US Army to successfully conduct offensive operations against the enemy in all of the global events of World War II ."

In detail these were:

  • The A, B, and C companies of 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry (1 / 20th) Americal Division
  • The D Company, a composite artillery unit of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, the 6 / 11th Artillery Battalion
  • For this purpose 9 transport helicopters and gunships , " DOLPHINS & SHARKS ", of the 174th Assault Helicopter Company together with the B Company of the 23rd Aviation Battalion from Hunter Army Airfield were used for logistical support

Command

mission

The TF Barker's mission was to be a planned, temporary strike against the Viet Cong on the coast of the South China Sea , which was believed to be a stronghold of the political and military wing of the Viet Cong. The order for this was " Search and destroy ", a US military tactic that was increasingly used in the course of the Vietnam War. The TF operated from LF Dottie , about 10 km north of Quang Nhai on Vietnamese National Highway 1 .

Because the operational plan was not put on paper, it is no longer possible to clarify exactly which job TF Barker had in detail. It is certain, however, that she would pursue the remnants of the 48th Viet Cong Local Force Battalion in a three-day operation, Operation Muscatine . The operation was named by Major General Sam Koster, who chose this name based on a neighboring town in his home village in Iowa (see: Muscatine County ). This Vietnamese battalion, which had been severely decimated during the fighting for the town of Quảng Ngãi at the time of the Tet Offensive , was suspected to be in the extensive settlement area of Son My . This operation lasted from March 16-18, 1968.

In addition, while combing through the villages, the political functionaries should be tracked down and liquidated if necessary. The " black lists " drawn up by the CIA and other military secret services speak for this . Whether the task force was even aware of or in possession of these blacklists remains to be seen.

The officers of TF Barker were able to proceed at their own discretion when carrying out their mission . This offered a welcome opportunity for the management team to put themselves in the limelight and possibly to combine successes that could promote a career. The troop leaders then gave their soldiers a license to kill indiscriminately. A message on the day before the operation read: “ All residents of“ Son My Village ”are sympathizers or supporters of the Viet Cong and thus second class civilians. "

On the morning of March 16, 1968, around eight o'clock local time, several companies of the TF Barker were deployed in the Son My district to comb this terrain in the province of Quảng Ngãi, because a battalion of the Viet Cong was suspected there. When the helicopters returned to pick up the troops around eleven, My Lai was erased. Between 490 and 520 dead women, children, middle-aged men, old people and babies, as well as the villagers' cattle, lay in or around the village on dirt roads, rice fields or in moats.

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