Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [115]
Thien Ngon was a Special Forces compound, with an airstrip, that sat five miles east of BA 354, and just west of Highway 22, which cut north through War Zone C from Tay Ninh. The base, which sat in a flat clearing in the defoliated jungle, was to serve as the marshaling and logistical platform for the thrust across the border, recorded with a nod toward Vietnamization as Operation Toan Thang 44 but better known as Operation Bold Lancer to the men of the Tropic Lightning. While the 1st Brigade took over the area from the 1st Cav, the 2d Brigade was to begin closing into War Zone C from its former positions to the east. The 3d Brigade was to provide additional manpower to the operation, even as it overextended itself to cover the gaps caused by the reshuffling of the division to the Cambodian frontier.
Bautz told Mueller to make plans for an assault into BA 354 hard on the heels of the move to Thien Ngon, then climbed back aboard his C&C Huey for the last part of the ride to Cu Chi. The staff work continued during the night, and the next morning Bautz flew up again to the Lancer Brigade. Aerial reconnaissance had been conducted along the Rach Cai Bac. Mueller planned to use USAF Commando Vault bombs to blow a landing zone out of the jungle on the Cambodian side of the river, into which one company of his own 3-22 Infantry would combat assault to secure the shoreline. The remainder of the battalion would land four miles inland near a crossroads village called Tasuos, while his own 1-5 Mech and the attached 2-22 Mech would escort B and E Companies, 65th Engineers, from the staging areas around Thien Ngon to the Vietnamese side of the Rach Cai Bac opposite 3-22 Infantry's position. Once the combat engineers had completed a pontoon bridge, the mech battalions were to roll across and pass through the leg battalion's bridgehead, while the attached 2-14 Infantry was CA'd in between the rolling battalions. Bautz assured Mueller that II FFV would provide heavy helicopter support to their division, which had only a single aviation battalion and a single air cavalry troop. Mueller commented that once the bridgehead had been expanded and the nebulous situation appraised, they would play it by ear with what seemed an overwhelming force.
Bautz concurred with Mueller's plan, and the next afternoon Thien Ngon was awash in red dust as helicopters, supply planes, and convoys choked the airstrip and the eighteen miles of dirt highway from Tay Ninh to what was being built up as the major forward supply point. Bautz, concerned with developing the division's next two thrusts into other areas of Cambodia, did not remain at Thien Ngon but turned over direct supervision to his ADC, Greene, who was on hand at the airstrip before dawn when the roar of propellers and engines had finally petered out. In the dark, Greene heard a tremendous roar to the west, across the border river, where the USAF had just dropped the first of two Commando Vaults to clear LZs in Cambodia for the sunrise assault. Moments after the explosion, the shock wave reverberated under Greene's feet. He had never before been on hand for such a bombing.
Instead of detailing one assistant division commander to supervise operational matters and the other support matters, Bautz retained the structure established by his predecessor, Maj. Gen. Harris W. Hollis, in which each ADC supervised certain units. Among other responsibilities, ADC-Alpha oversaw the 1st and 3d Brigades, DISCOM, 65th Engineer Battalion, and F Company, 75th Infantry (Rangers), while ADC-Bravo oversaw the 2d Brigade, DivArty, and the 25th Aviation Battalion.
Chapter 21: THE ELECTRIC STRAWBERRY