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Battle of Trà Bình

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Battle of Trà Bình
Part of the Vietnam War
DateFebruary 14–15, 1967
Location
Trà Bình village, Trà Bồng District, Quảng Ngãi, South Vietnam
Result South Korean victory
Belligerents
 North Vietnam
Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam Viet Cong		  South Korea
 South Vietnam
Commanders and leaders
Unknown commander South Korea Jeong Kyung-Jin
Strength
2,400+ 600
Casualties and losses
Unknown
(South Korean reported 246 killed and 2 captured, but only 38 weapons were captured)		 15 killed
33 wounded[1]

The Battle of Trà Bình (Template:Lang-vi;[2] Template:Lang-ko) was probably the most famous battle fought by the South Korean Marines during the Vietnam War. It was fought in the Trà Bình village, Trà Bồng District, in February 1967. The battle took place after a Viet Cong defector, former commander of a training camp, revealed that the North Vietnamese Army were planning an attack on the ROKMC's 11th Company. On February 14, the North Vietnamese 40th and 60th Battalions moved into their positions in the forest surrounding the perimeter of the South Korean 11th Company. The regular VPA battalions were also supported by one VC local force battalion from Quang Ngai. With their troops built up around the area, the Communist forces planned to cut all communication lines and wipe out the South Korean forces in the area.

History

At dawn on February 15, the battle began with the Viet Cong attempting to cut through the wires of the South Korean base. The South Korean marines were dug in and waiting with requests for air-support. But due to foggy weather, AC-47s couldn't commence attack on the Viet Cong, so they only had the artillery support. When the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong had penetrated Korean positions, heavy fighting immediately followed. Initially the outnumbered South Koreans, though vastly superior in firepower, were pinned down, but Communist forces' ranks soon started to break up in heat of the battle as the South Koreans counterattacked. When the fighting ended, South Korean reported 246 enemy bodies were left behind. However, ony 3 flamethrowers, 5 antitank rocket launchers, 2 machine guns, 28 rifles, 100 pieces of dynamite, and over 6,000 rounds of ammunition were captured by the South Koreans (a ratio of bodies were claimed to weapons seized of 6:1).

Order of battle

Democratic Republic of Vietnam

Vietnam People's Army

2nd Division
1st Regiment
60th Battalion
21st Regiment
40th Battalion

Vietcong

Republic of Korea

Republic of Korea Marine Corps

2nd Marine Brigade (Blue Dragon)
1st Battalion
1st Company
3rd Platoon
3rd Battalion
11th Company - Cpt. Jeong Kyung-jin (정경진; 丁京鎭)

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]. For addiction, multiple Korean articles quotate a book 파월한국군전사(can be translated as 'Battle History of Korean Army sent to Vietnam') published by Ministry of National Defense of Korea say it was 15
  2. ^ Trận Quang Thạnh - Battle of Tra Binh Dong, 15/2/1967Template:Vi

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