Battle of A Sau

The Battle of A Shau (Vietnamese: trận A Sầu) was waged in early 1966 during the Vietnam War between the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the forces of the United States and South Vietnam. The battle began on 8 March and lasted until 10 March with the fall of the U.S. Army's Special Forces camp of the same name. The battle was a strategic victory for the PAVN in that they were able to take control of the A Shau Valley and use it as a base area for the rest of the war.

The A Shau Special Forces Camp was located in the A Sầu Valley, about 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Huế and 2 km east of the Laos border in Thừa Thiên Province. The valley was strategically important for the PAVN as a major infiltration route because it served as a bridge from the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos into populated coastal areas of Thừa Thiên Province. The camp had been established in 1963. Defending the camp were 10 Green Berets from the 5th Special Forces Group and 210 South Vietnamese Civilian Irregular Defense Group, supported by Air Commando units equipped with vintage A-1 Skyraiders and AC-47 Spooky gunships.

Deputy COMUSMACV General William Westmoreland inspected the camp in May 1964. As his CV-2 Caribou aircraft was departing the camp's airstrip, it was hit by PAVN fire wounding six of the 14 aboard, including the pilot and copilot, Westmoreland was uninjured.

Two South Vietnamese camps at A Lưới and Ta Bat in the A Shau valley had been abandoned on 8 December 1965. The special forces camp was routinely harassed by small Vietcong formations leading up to the battle. Throughout February and March, 1966, platoon-sized troops from the camp were sent out to conduct reconnaissance patrols in the surrounding area. On 5 March two PAVN defectors turned up at the camp. Under interrogation, they indicated that four battalions of the PAVN 325th Division were planning to attack the camp.

Based on that information, night patrols were dispatched to confirm the enemy positions but no sightings were made. However, Air Commandos conducting reconnaissance flights observed large build-ups of PAVN troops along with anti-aircraft emplacements. As a result, airstrikes were ordered against enemy positions.

On 7 March the A Shau camp was reinforced with seven U.S. Special Forces personnel, nine interpreters, and a MIKE Force Company in anticipation of the North Vietnamese attack.

On 8 March the camp was placed on general alert and the camp's defenders had taken up their positions. A PAVN assault was launched during the night, but it was beaten back. Because of poor weather conditions that would hinder tactical air and resupply efforts, the PAVN decided to continue despite their heavy casualties. The second attack began during the early morning hours of 9 March with mortar bombardment, damaging communications and reducing many defensive positions to rubble. At 13:00 an AC-47D "Spooky 70" from the 4th Air Commando Squadron, circling the camp, fired on the attacking PAVN formations. However, the slow moving aircraft was shot down and crashed about five kilometers north of the camp. All six crewmen survived, but they were promptly attacked by the PAVN. Three crewmen were killed, though the others were eventually rescued by a USAF HH-43.

Between 16:30 and 17:00, supplies of ammunition were flown in by C-123 and CV-2 aircraft, but the resupply drops often landed outside of the camp perimeter and could not be retrieved. At the same time, helicopters were called to evacuate the wounded. However, reinforcements from Huế and Phu Bai could not be deployed because of the bad weather, leaving the camp's defenders to repair their defensive wall and dig in for the night.