"Son Tay Berets: Vietnam War POW Rescue Raid" Topic
6 Posts
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Tango01 | 19 Dec 2019 9:33 p.m. PST |
…November 1970 "In the early morning hours of 21 November 1970, arguably the first modern special forces operation was launched at the Sơn Tây Prison Camp in North Vietnam. Code named Operation Ivory Coast, US Army Special Forces with aerial support from the Navy and Air Force, launched a raid to rescue American prisoners of war held by the North Vietnamese military. Just 56 Green Berets would attempt to storm the compound, roughly twenty miles north of Hanoi, an area dotted with anti-aircraft, SAM missile sites, and guarded by 40,000 or more North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and irregulars. The impetus for a planned raid on Son Tay was the belief that 60-70 American prisoners of war were being held in this compound. Additional intelligence suggested that by the summer of 1970, more than 500 POWs (not counting those who were MIA) were being held in NVA captivity. Some, including USAF Major Wes Schierman, had been in captivity suffering immense physical and psychological cruelties since 1965. Military and public opinion was strongly in favor of rescuing any POWs that were being held and eventually both President Richard M. Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger supported a Special Forces operation to rescue at least some of these prisoners held in North Vietnam…"
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Amicalement Armand |
Legion 4 | 20 Dec 2019 8:11 a.m. PST |
Yes, one of our ROTC SF NCOs told us all about it too. Don't think he was there but some of his fellow SF comrades were. And he knew Bull Simons. Albeit the US POWs had been moved. The SF Raiders did kill a number of NVA and even it was said a number of PRC "advisors" … With only minor losses/1 WIA to the Raiders. I've read the book & it's still in my library. |
Garryowen | 20 Dec 2019 8:25 a.m. PST |
A truly magnificent story. I have re-read multiple times all of the books I have on the subject. For whatever shortcomings Nixon had as a president, I give him great credit for ordering that raid when it was known that the camp was probably empty. He thought the POWs deserved the attempt if there was any chance at all they were still there. It was not difficult to see the political bad press he would get if the raid was not a complete success. But, he went ahead with it. And he did get the bad press for another "failure" in Vietnam. But the POWs later said their treatment improved after the raid. North Vietnam was so embarrassed by the raiders getting in and out so easily, that the Communists did not want another raid to be made. It also raised the morale of the POWs. Tom |
Tango01 | 20 Dec 2019 11:33 a.m. PST |
Thanks!. Amicalement Armand
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Zephyr1 | 23 Dec 2019 10:13 p.m. PST |
"The POW's were not there and had seemingly been moved quite some time before the raid." If the South Vietnamese were briefed on the operation (as was done with almost all US LRRP operations), the NV spy network embedded in it would have reported it to Hanoi almost in real time, and the move would have been made in anticipation of the raid… |
Legion 4 | 24 Dec 2019 7:52 a.m. PST |
Yes, the NV had spies almost everywhere. E.g. the honcho at the cab stand in front of the US Embassy was rumored to be an NV spy. |
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