Project CHECO Southeast Asia Report. The Siege at Plei Me

Abstract

To insure that actions involving applications of accepted Air Force doctrine, concepts, and policies are promptly documented and circulated, the following special study on the Siege at Plei Me has been prepared. As brought out in the study, it represents the largest air-to-ground battle of the Vietnam conflict up until that time. The results of the action and the comments of the participants are of significant value in an evaluation of the role of airpower in the conflict. It is planned that an overview for the period will be prepared, at which time all such individual actions will be compiled into a single document. The practice of reporting significant actions that demonstrate certain concepts and principles will be continued. The largest air-ground battle of the South Vietnam conflict began at sunset on 19 October 1965 with light probing fire from the Viet Cong (VC) on the Plei Me Special Forces camp. Plei Me is a Jarai Montagnard village in the central highlands of Vietnam, about 25 miles southwest of Pleiku and just 20 miles east of the Cambodian border. It was guarded by four Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) companies and a 12-man Special Forces advisory team headed by U.S. Army Captain Harold M. Moore. For the next 10 days, air power played a key role in breaking the attack. In 696 day and night strike sorties, B-57s, A-1Es, F-100s, and F-8s rained 866,300 pounds of GP bombs, 250,380 pounds of frag bombs, 485,880 pounds of napalm, plus rockets, CEUs and cannon fire on VC positions as close as 35 meters from the outpost walls. When it was over, the enemy had lost 326 killed in action by body count, and the camp's defenders estimated that up to another 700 dead had been carried off. This was the largest close air support operation of the war, and perhaps the most effective.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 24, 1966
Accession Number
ADA487855

Entities

People

  • Melvin F. Porter

Organizations

  • Pacific Air Forces

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Air Strikes
  • Aircrafts
  • Anti-Aircraft Weapons
  • Armored Personnel Carriers
  • Automatic Weapons
  • Close Support
  • Combat Operations
  • Control Systems
  • Guns
  • Machine Guns
  • Military Organizations
  • Small Arms
  • Special Forces
  • Tactical Air Support
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Library and Information Science/ Studies, Southeast Asia Studies, Bibliography of Vietnam and Lao Studies.
  • Military Science

Technology Areas

  • Space