Ha Mai Viet - Steel and Blood: South Vietnamese Armor and the War for Southeast Asia

Also by Ha Mai Viet

Thep Va Mau: Thiet Giap Trong Chien Tranh Viet Nam, 2005

Coauthored works:

Blind Design: Why America Lost the Vietnam War, 1996

South Vietnam 19541975: Nhung Su That Chua He Nhac Toi, 1990

An Association of the U.S. Army Book

South Vietnamese Armor and the

War for Southeast Asia

By Ha Mai Viet, Former Colonel, ARVN

NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS

Annapolis, Maryland

The latest edition of this work has been brought to publication with the generous assistance of Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest.

Naval Institute Press

291 Wood Road

Annapolis, MD 21402

2008 by the United States Naval Institute

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-61251-433-8 (eBook)

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

H, Mai Vit.

Steel and blood : South Vietnamese armor and the war for Southeast Asia / Ha Mai Viet.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Vietnam War, 1961-1975Tank warfare. 2. Vietnam War, 1961-1975Campaigns. 3. Vietnam War, 1961-1975Regimental historiesVietnam (Republic) 4. Vietnam (Republic). Qun luc. Thit gipHistory. I. Title.

DS558.9.A75H4 2008

959.7043325dc22

2008015590

Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First printing

Dedicated to the memory of my beloved father, Ha Mai Anh, and in honor of the heroes of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces who valiantly fought until the last days in the Vietnam War.

CONTENTS

M ost wars are followed with an unending number of books about the exploits and heroism of the participants. One need only consider World War II, about which books continue to be written at an amazing rate. Such is not the case with our longest war to dateVietnam. There have been a number of books written about the role of the American armed forces in that conflict, but because of the wars unpopularity, many of these books do not truly represent the war in its reality, as experienced by the millions of American servicemen and -women who served there.

The millions of Vietnamese who served with honor in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF) during the conflict have had much less written about their service. As a result, too many believe they did not fight with determination to preserve the freedom of their country. This unfortunate perception exists even among many American veterans of the Vietnam War who did not serve with, or alongside, RVNAF units.

Colonel Ha Mai Viet has written an excellent history of one important element of the RVNAF, the Armor Force. It was not an easy book to document and write because few RVNAF historical records of the long conflict survived the North Vietnamese conquest of South Vietnam. Colonel Viet thus spent eight years of hard work and traveled thousands of miles conducting research and interviews in an attempt to resurrect the history of RVNAF armor units. His work is unique in that it does not present just the good side of the RVNAF armor units and their leaders, but also their weaknesses. He tells the story with unflinching honesty. When the units or their leaders performed well, he tells us that, and why; when they failed, he also describes that. You seldom find this in a history of a conflict.

I have a perspective on the RVNAF that many do not because I served two tours as a senior adviser to their units. During the period 196465 I was the senior adviser to the 5th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, RVNAF. During this period, the 5th Regiment was involved in constant heavy fighting with large well-trained and well-equipped Viet Cong units in the northern provinces, the area where U.S. Marines eventually operated, beginning in 1965. The 5th Regiment was in that period of the war well led, but poorly equipped with shot-out weapons and nearly no artillery fire support. In spite of this, they fought well, while suffering many dead and wounded.

In 197172 I was the senior adviser to the 51st Infantry Regiment and the 1st Armor Brigade, again in the northern provinces. Because of the Vietnamization program, which began in 1969, both units were equipped with weapons and other equipment on par with U.S. forces, with the exception of artillery and aviation. This upgrade made a tremendous difference in combat effectivenessso great that it is hard to imagine unless one had served with the RVNAF during both periods.

I will not dwell on the Easter Offensive of 1972 because it is well covered in this book. I will only add that a majority of the RVNAF units with which I served fought well. Always outnumbered, they stopped and eventually defeated a well-equipped and well-trained North Vietnamese Army. American airpower, coordinated by army and marine advisers, played a key role in their success, compensating for deficiencies in artillery and aviation assets, which still characterized South Vietnamese forces.

Sadly, because of the antiwar sentiment in our country, Congress cut off aid to South Vietnam while the North Vietnamese were being rebuilt and massively supplied by the former Soviet Union. The rebuilt North Vietnamese army invaded and defeated South Vietnam in 1975. Many of my South Vietnamese comrades in arms died in that conflict or were incarcerated for long, cruel years in so-called re-education camps. It is not a period in the history of our country of which I am proud.

The story in Steel and Blood is one that needs to be told. I hope that it may inspire other former RVNAF soldiers to add their voices and testimony in countering the unfortunate derogatory myths of the RVNAF that still exist.

I am proud of the time I spent serving alongside the soldiers of the RVNAF.

LOUIS C. WAGNER JR.

General, U.S. Army (Ret.)

S teel and Blood aims at honoring the noble sacrifices of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam and the heroic acts of the brave troops of the Armor Branch. This work especially seeks to contribute historical facts to the military archives so that later generations can better understand the Vietnam War.