Operation Speedy Express

Fire Support Base Danger, headquarters of an element of the 1st Brigade, 9th U.S. Infantry Division, Định Tường Province

Date	December 1968 – May 11, 1969
Location	Mekong Delta provinces Định Tường, Kiến Hòa and Gò Công, Republic of Vietnam

Belligerents

United States

National Liberation Front of South Vietnam

Commanders and leaders

Julian Ewell

Unknown

Strength

8,000+

Undetermined

Casualties and losses

242 killed
312 wounded

U.S. report: 10,889 killed (more than 5000 may have been civilians)
748 weapons seized

Operation Speedy Express was a controversial United States military operation of the Vietnam War conducted in the Mekong Delta provinces Kiến Hòa and Vĩnh Bình. The operation, led by Julian J. Ewall, was part of a US military "pacification" efforts against the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Viet Cong). The US military sought to interdict lines of NLF communication and deny them the use of base areas by using brutal repression and counterinsurgency tactics. The broader context of the campaign was the effort combat communism, under the Cold War-era Domino Theory.

The combined ground and air operation resulted in thousands of deaths. U.S. military claims that 10,889 of these deaths were NLF soldiers, but this claim was undermined by on-the-ground reports and the much lower number of weapons seized than enemy soldiers reported killed. The US Army Inspector General estimated there were 5,000 to 7,000 civilian casualties from the operation.

In 1969 the 1st Brigade, 9th U.S. Infantry Division continued the operation in Định Tường Province, using night ambush tactics while the 2nd Brigade continued its mission with the Mobile Riverine Force. Although engagements in the Operation Speedy Express were typically small, the 9th Infantry Division fought several sizeable engagements. The objective was summarized by a U.S army publication to take the "war to the enemy in the Delta and sever his supply lines from Cambodia".

The U.S. military used 8,000 infantrymen, 50 artillery pieces, 50 helicopters and extensive aerial bombardment. The United States Air Force carried out 3,381 tactical air strikes by fighter bombers.

The U.S. military claimed 10,889 enemy dead, with only 242 soldiers killed in this operation from the period of December 1968 to 31 May 1969 (a kill ratio of 45:1), but only 748 weapons were recovered (a ratio of enemy killed to weapons seized of 14.6:1). The U.S. Army after-action report attributed this to the fact the high percentage of kills made during night hours (estimated at 40%), and by air cavalry and other aerial units, as well as asserting that "many of the guerilla units were not armed with weapons". The commander of the 9th Division, Major General Julian Ewell, was allegedly known to be obsessed with body counts and favorable kill ratios and said "the hearts and minds approach can be overdone....in the delta the only way to overcome VC control and terror is with brute force applied against the VC".

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Wikipedia