Battle for Plei Me - Divided Ground - Vietnam

The attack on the Plei Me Camp started at 11:00PM on October 19, 1965. It began with accurate NVA 82mm mortar fire into the Plei Me compound. The mortar barrage was followed by numerous ground assualts by NVA infantry and sappers who managed to penetrate the perimeter wire on the south side of the triangular-shaped camp. Accurate 57mm recoilless rifle fire managed to destroy two of the three anchor bunkers located at the points of the triangle. The enemy commander dispatched just enough infantry to threaten the base, but not eneough to actually overrun it since the objective of the operation was to surround and beseige the camp in order to lure the ARVN relief column into an ambush on Provincial Route 5. The NVA basically sent their men into a slaughter. U.S. A-1E Skyraider aircraft made numerous and deadly strikes on the attacking NVA infantry causing heavy NVA casualties. A C-123 Provider aircraft from the 309th Air Commando Squadron based at Bien Hoa Airbase dropped parachute flares to illuminate the battlefield for the Skyraiders