Ben Het Camp

Ben Het Airfield
Ben Het Airfield
	IATA: none; ICAO: none;
Summary
Elevation AMSL	2,198 ft / 670 m
Runways

Ben Het Camp
Ben Het Camp
	Ben Het Camp
Coordinates	14.688°N 107.661°E
Type	Army Base
Site history
Built	1966
In use	1966-73
Battles/wars	; Vietnam War; Battle of Ben Het; Battle of Kontum
Garrison information
Occupants	5th Special Forces Group

Ben Het Camp (also known as Ben Het Special Forces Camp, Ben Het Ranger Camp and FSB Ben Het) is a former U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base northwest of Kon Tum in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The camp was notable for being the site of a tank battle between the U.S. Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), one of the few such encounters during the Vietnam War.

History

1966-71

The 5th Special Forces Group Detachment A-244[1] first established a base at Ben Het, then a hill tribe village, in the early 1960s to monitor communist infiltration along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The base was located approximately 13 km from the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia tri-border area, 15 km northwest of Đắk Tô and 53 km northwest of Kon Tum.[2]

One of two PT-76s from the PAVN 202nd Armored Regiment, destroyed by US M48 Pattons from the 1/69th Armored battalion, during the battle of Ben Het, March 3, 1969, Vietnam

On 3 March 1969, Ben Het was attacked by the PAVN 66th Regiment, supported by armored vehicles of the 4th Battalion, 202nd Armored Regiment. One of the attacking PT-76s detonated a land mine, which alerted the camp and lit up the other PT-76s attacking the base. Flares were sent up, exposing the attacking tanks, but by sighting in on muzzle flashes, one PT-76 scored a direct hit on the turret of an M-48 of the 1st Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, killing two crewmen and wounding the other two. Another M-48, using the same technique, destroyed a PT-76 with their second shot. At daybreak, the battlefield revealed the wreckage of two PT-76s and one BTR-50 armored personnel carrier.[3][4]^:150–2

CO of Team A-244, watches as members of 3rd Battery, 14th Artillery perform a fire mission, 4 November 1969

The PAVN 28th and 66th Regiments continued to besiege the base from May to June 1969.[2]

On 24 May 1969, the PAVN ambushed the 212th Company of the 1st Mobile Strike Force Battalion near Ben Het. Warrant Officer Class Two Keith Payne of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions that day.

Other units stationed at Ben Het included:

6th Battalion, 14th Artillery

1972-3

Following the departure of the U.S. forces the base was used by the ARVN 85th Border Rangers.[2]

Since January 1972 it had become clear that the North Vietnamese were building up for offensive operations in the tri-border region. ARVN forces had been deployed forward toward the border in order to slow the PAVN advance and allow the application of airpower to deplete North Vietnamese manpower and logistics. To counter the possible threat from the west, two regiments of the 22nd Division were deployed to Tân Cảnh and Đắk Tô and the 1st Squadron, 19th Armored Cavalry Regiment equipped with M41 tanks was deployed to Ben Het. On 24 April, the PAVN 2nd Division, elements of the 203rd Tank Regiment, and several independent regiments of the B-3 Front attacked Tân Cảnh and Đắk Tô rapidly overrunning both bases with their T-54 tanks.[4]^:212–4 On 9 May 1972, elements of the PAVN 203rd Armored Regiment assaulted Ben Het. ARVN Rangers destroyed the first three PT-76 tanks with BGM-71 TOW missiles, thereby breaking up the attack.[4]^:215–217 The Rangers spent the rest of the day stabilising the perimeter ultimately destroying 11 tanks and killing over 100 PAVN.[5]

Current use

The base has been returned to farmland and housing.

References

Stanton, Shelby (2003). Vietnam Order of Battle. Stackpole Books. p. 246. ISBN 9780811700719.
Kelley, Michael (2002). Where we were in Vietnam. Hellgate Press. p. 5–49. ISBN 978-1555716257.
Dunstan, Simon (1992). Vietnam Tracks-Armor In Battle. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0891411712.
Starry, Donn (1978). Mounted Combat In Vietnam Vietnam Studies. Department of the Army. ISBN 978-1780392462. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
"U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Command History 1972, Annex K. Kontum, 1973. MACV" (PDF). p. K-14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

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[Stanton-1] Stanton, Shelby (2003). Vietnam Order of Battle. Stackpole Books. p. 246. ISBN 9780811700719.

[Kelley-2] Kelley, Michael (2002). Where we were in Vietnam. Hellgate Press. p. 5–49. ISBN 978-1555716257.

[3] Dunstan, Simon (1992). Vietnam Tracks-Armor In Battle. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0891411712.

[Starry-4] Starry, Donn (1978). Mounted Combat In Vietnam Vietnam Studies. Department of the Army. ISBN 978-1780392462. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[5] "U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Command History 1972, Annex K. Kontum, 1973. MACV" (PDF). p. K-14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.