Battle of Song Be

Battle of Sông Bé
Part of the Vietnam War
Date May 10–15, 1965 Location Sông Bé, South Vietnam UTM Grid YU 19-11 Result South Vietnamese and American victory; Vietcong successfully retreats
Belligerents
Viet Cong	South Vietnam United States
Strength
2,500	Unknown
Casualties and losses
85 killed	49 killed 5 killed

The Battle of Sông Bé was a major action between the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in May 1965.

Planned as a major show of force against the ARVN forces, the Viet Cong attempted to capture the fortified capital of Phước Long Province, Sông Bé. Perhaps to their surprise, ARVN forces in the area rallied and re-took the town by the end of the second day of combat. Several additional days of chasing the Viet Cong forces involved proved fruitless, as they escaped.

A series of political and military setbacks starting as early as 1962 had been gradually eroding the combat effectiveness of the ARVN forces, originally more than a match for the Viet Cong with their United States supplied helicopters and armored personnel carriers. The Viet Cong forces had been left to train in relative safety and had developed new tactics and been supplied with new weapons that upset the balance of power. By 1964 ARVN morale was collapsing and the Viet Cong was in nominal control of much of the countryside. To capitalize on this, the Viet Cong was planning ever-larger operations.

On April 16, 1965, the U.S. Special Forces SF B-34 Detachment was sent to Song Be to reinforce the ARVN forces, joining an existing MACV team headquarters in the town. They set about building up a fortified area on a nearby hill and were joined by the POW intelligence team, 120 ARVN, and several light tanks manned by local militiamen.

At 01:45 on May 10, the Viet Cong 761st and 763d Regiments consisting of two thousand five hundred infantry attacked the city from multiple directions, first using mortar barrages and then rushing in their forces. Even though the American positions were still being constructed, the special forces and ARVN were able to stop them from overrunning their positions and the area of the town around them. Hung up on the defenses, many of the Viet Cong became easy targets for U.S. snipers. At 03:45 helicopter gunships arrived but were unable to see the ground because of fog and low clouds. They instead attacked supporting artillery (likely 82mm mortars) west of the town. Attempts to evacuate casualties by helicopter were repeatedly driven off by 50-caliber machine guns, until these were suppressed by F-4 Phantoms using special cluster munitions. The machine guns silenced, the evacuation finally took place at 08:00.

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