while the above was taking place the mechanics who were in the bunkers on the south edge of the perimeter were under heavy attack,The wire had been breached on both of the mechanic's flanks; however they prevented a break in their sector and they attempted to keep the breach closed with fire even though some of the enemy had managed to break through and were attacking bunkers 86 and 88 from the rear. the mechanics knowing the importance of maintaining their position held out under overwhelming odds. Many of the men were wounded and one man had been killed by an RPG which hit the rear of the bunker. The platoon of Co B which had been moved to the airstrip was ordered to reinforce. Co B was ordered to send another platoon to reinforce the Dau Tieng Bridge and Co A was ordered to move to the vicinity of the Ben Cui along Route 19 to block.
Braving intense fire the reaction platoon inside the base camp was able to reinforce the bunkers. The perimeter was once again restored. As the platoon from Co B approached the Dau Tieng Bridge they were met with heavy RPG and automatic weapons fire. Breaking through the enemy positions they were able to reach the bridge and help drive the enemy off. The bunkers in the vicinity were becomming extremely low on ammunition; seeing this, the men began to resupply them from the ammunition on the tracks. Throughout the night all elements bravely fought in the face of overwhelming odds and were able to hold.

At first light a Chinook which was to evacuate casualities was unable to land because the LZ was not secured. Learning of this, mechanics, clerks, and supply personnel volunteered to take a VTR, a 3/4 ton truck and a 2 1/2 ton, all with machine guns mounted to the LZ. Moving through heavy sniper fire they were able to secure the LZ and the wounded were evacuated.

Throughout the night countless deeds of heroism and valor went almost unnoticed as the aggresseveness, devotion to duty, professionalism and complete disregard for personal safety appeared to be the rule rather than the exception.

From the moment of contact all the medics volunteered to assist in the area of contact although it was outside of the battalion area of responsibility. Braving almost impossible odds they crawled, ran, and drove through enemy fire to assist and evacuate the wounded.

Shortly after BMNT Co A was ordered to move from its blocking position and conduct a RIF around the outside of the perimeter while the platoon of Co B at the bridge was moved into the base camp to help find and destroy the enemy still remaning inside the wire. At the same time Co C was ordered to move from

DAU TIENG - Lifting an all-night siege of Dau Tieng base comp, infantrymen, cooks, clerks and other support soldiers of the 3d Brigade killed 73 enemy who had overrun portions of the installation. There were 14 detainees.

By the time a red alert was called, shortly after midnight, portions of the camp’s perimeter had already been overrun. For more than eight hours North Vietnamese Army soldiers held a rubber forest near the south end of the camp and a part of the camp near the east end of the Dau Tieng air strip.

At the height of the fighting, when the enemy flanked brigade headquarters from two sides, Major General Ellis W. Williamson, 25th Infantry Division commanding general, flew his helicopter into Dau Tieng personally and led the counterattacks that drove off the enemy.

Colonel Louis J. Sehelter, Jr., brigade commander, of Columbus, Ga., said, “The troops performed magnificently. In every respect they did the job that had to be done.”

The North Vietnamese troops, attacking in a force of two battalions, hit the base camp from four sides, storming the perimeter at two points and also entering by way of a tunnel. They surrounded portions of the bunker line and trapped a number of Tropic Lightning soldiers behind the lines. During the attack hundreds of rounds of rockets, mortars, and RPG’s struck the base camp.

Some of the heaviest fighting centered around an area of French buildings and swimming pools just south of brigade headquarters. The NVA mounted a machinegun on the porch of the base library while a group of five infantrymen huddled inside with rifles trained on the doors.

All night long the NVA kept a force of combat engineers and infantrymen pinned down in ditches alongside a road in front of the old house belonging to the Michelin family of French rubber planters.

At dawn, a group of enemy snipers had holed up inside the Michelin house and were laying down fire into areas controlled by the military police and brigade headquarters.

Special Forces troops and a 40mm duster leveled portions of the second floor of the house killing some of the snipers.

Meanwhile armored personnel carriers of the 2d Battalion (Mechanized), 22d Infantry, and Wolfhounds of the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, along with an assortment of support personnel, blasted the main enemy force away from the area near the swimming pools. Four dead NVA lay in a road beside the officers’ pool when the fighting stopped.

The enemy retreated past the post exchange and into the woods near the base camp communications center of the 587th Signal Company’s White Platoon. Heavy fighting drove this force of NVA toward the perimeter.

Meanwhile other Triple Deuce armored personnel carriers drove the enemy off the east end of the air strip, but not before several spotter planes and a helicopter had been damaged with satchel charges.

With the coming of daylight and the driving out of enemy main forces, there remained the job of cleaning out snipers from many of the base camp’s trees. This job took almost until noon. Shortly after one p.m., a group of eight soldiers was found hiding inside a culvert near the (Continued on Back Page)

east end of the runway and were detained. During the long night there were many instances of individual heroism.

“As the fighting became savage we had to commit our reaction forces into the hottest areas,” said Captain Joseph Heeney of Fords, N.Y., assistant brigade operations officer. “We formed small reaction forces from cooks, clerks mechanics engineers, and military policemen. It’s amazing how such an amalgam of units that are trained primarily for other jobs were able to function so well.”

Meanwhile helicopter gunships and an AC-47 dragonship provided illumination and additional fire power to infantrymen on the ground.

The fighting was the heaviest in and around the base camp in the three years that American infantrymen have used it as a jumping-off point for large-scale operations near War Zone C.

Sergeant First Class Preston Rowser, Detroit, Mich., moved to a position during the attack where he could see the advancing enemy, knocking back any who dared advance.

Grenadier Specialist 4 Bruce Brauman, Baltimore, Maryland, located a bunker held by the NVA soldiers and poured fire on the enemy.

A final, powerful punch was provided by Tropic Lightning artillery and gunships. The big guns pounded the advancing enemy throughout the assault.

Fighting got so close at one time that according to artilleryman Specialist 4 John Jasinkski, St. Paul, Minn., “When I turned around and saw them on top of our protective berm, we traversed the gun on them and started firing point blank. It was just like a firefight but we were using 105’s.”

Helicopter gunships poured walls of lead on the enemy making low level passes in the midst of enemy fire. Air strikes brought their powerful bombs up to the perimeter forcing the enemy to retreat.

U.S Officers and men
in the 25th infantry division

As you know:
   
At night of 23 and 25 February, 1969 The People’s Liberation

Armed Forces launched a attack on Dautieng, Dong du base
 
camp and twice attacked against Ben-tranh group of encampments 

of the 3rd Brigade of 25th Inf. Div. Near 3,000 U.S. men were

killed, or wounded, more than 100 aircrafts 200 military 

vehicles demolished including tanks and armored cars and 30

artillery pieces and various military equipments destroyed.
 
    How many of your buddies falled down and tax funds of the U.S. 
people wasted by the dirty war in South Vietnam?

    When day, the Nixon government still obsnate to prolong the
 aggressive war against South Vietnamese people then the People’s 
Liberation Armed Forces still continue to launch many attacks which
 fiercer than these. Like that your life will be strickly threaten.

    The Vietnamese people have no hate for the American people we are
 fighting for independence and freedom of our people like the U.S. people
 did in the 18th century.
 
     We have sympathized and supported and welcome the U.S. anti war men
 who love peace and refuse to die for weapon-dealers in White and Pentagon house.

     Don’t fold your arms to yield to Death!

     For your own life, for future and happiness of your family, for the 
prestige and honour of United States, you should:

     ----Refuse to go out to the field.

     ----Demand a immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops home 
  
     ----If you are forced to go out, when in contact, quickly

         lay down your arms, you will receive humane and lenient treatment.
     ----Seek for chance to cross over to the L.A.F, you will receive fair
     treatment and help to safe coming home.
 
                                                           North Gia-Dinh
     
                                          PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMED FORCES