Fall of Lang Vei

The week's only successful Communist stab was made at Lang Vei, a hilltop U.S. Special Forces camp four miles southwest of Khe Sanh on Route 9. Basically a post for interdicting Communist movement into the South and for overseeing allied patrols into nearby Laos, Lang Vei was defended by some 400 South Vietnamese and Montagnard irregulars and 24 Green Berets, operating out of a deeply dug bunker made of three feet of rein forced concrete and two-inch steel plate, complete with its own ventilation system. As much as any place can be in Viet Nam, it seemed an ideal outpost, immune to artillery attack and so situated that ground troops would form a carpet of corpses if they dared attack up its hillside.

Crucial in a Sense. But Giap had a surprise for Lang Vei: nine Soviet light tanks, equipped with thin armor but powerful guns, the first Communist use of tanks in the entire war. The tanks deployed in classic fashion east and west of the outpost, then rolled right through the camp's wire and up onto the bunker roofs, followed by North Vietnamese infantrymen. "We heard them," says a Green Beret, "but we never thought they were tanks. We thought they were our generator acting up." Soon the Communists started shoveling satchel charges, grenades, napalm and tear gas down the air vents in an effort to dis lodge the defenders.

The allied force fought back fiercely, firing from the bunkers and even rushing out in the open to face the tanks; they knocked out several of them with bazookas and recoilless rifles. But the defenders were badly outnumbered and scrambled back inside to call down air and artillery strikes directly on top of their own bunkers, built to withstand 250-lb. bombs. Finally, the Green Berets called for mock bombing feints by U.S. planes; while the NVA were ducking, they broke and ran, escaping from the camp. Some were picked up by helicopters and others worked their way back to Khe Sanh on foot, but Lang Vei had fallen, and with it ten of the Green Berets and 225 of the irregulars, all presumed dead. Its loss did not materially affect the defense of Khe Sanh itself, said a top U.S. officer, but "it is crucial to us in the sense that we want to know what's coming over the Laotian border." And he added: "We thought we could hang onto it."

During the attack on Lang Vei, Communist gunners poured nearly 1,500 rounds inside Khe Sanh's perimeters as a diversion--some six shells a minute in the heaviest NVA bombardment of the war. Giap also launched probing artillery and ground attacks on Marine outposts on surrounding Hills 861 and 558, both supporting positions of the Marines at Khe Sanh. His men were beaten back twice, suffering 106 dead the first time and 124 the second.

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