Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [58]
Left behind to bring up the rear of the regimental attack, Maj. Joe G. Driskill, XO, 3-11, K Troop (Capt. John C. Speedy III), and the Howitzer Battery (Capt. Bennett Wood) were still in the staging area, South II, which was several kilometers east of South I, awaiting Chinooks to back-haul the hundreds of howitzer rounds that had not been needed after all.
In general, things were proceeding smoothly for the Blackhorse Regiment. Likewise for most of the 10,000 U.S. and 5,000 ARVN troops of Task Force Shoemaker boiling across the border as Operation Toan Thang 43/Rockcrusher began to unfold. From 0410 to 0545, 1 May 1970, six serials of B52 bombers had passed over the objective area, unleashing their tonnage from a height where the bombers were unseen and unheard, and in such amounts that the Sheridans and ACAVs waiting on the other side of the border vibrated as the shock waves rolled under them. Fifteen minutes after the last sticks of bombs streamed down, the lanyards were pulled on nearly a hundred U.S. and ARVN artillery pieces, with a priority of fires in the proposed landing zones of the 3d Brigade, ARVN Airborne Division.
At 0630, the 1st ARVN Cavalry Regiment left its staging area and began rolling for the border. At the same time, the USAF dropped two Commando Vault bombs four miles north of the border to clear two LZs for the ARVN Airborne. Also known as Daisy Cutters, each bomb weighed 15,000 pounds. With long detonators extending from their noses, they were designed to explode seven feet above the ground. By the sheer force of their detonations they formed a clearing large enough for helicopters, the flattened trees pointing away from the center of impact like the spokes on a wheel. The new clearings were dubbed LZ East and LZ Center.
At 0700, U.S. Air Force FACs began orbiting LZs East and Center, directing an hour of air strikes into the surviving trees around them while the artillery shifted its priority of fires to the 11th Armored Cavalry.
At 0730, 2-11 and 3-11 ACR, along with 2-47 Mech and 2-34 Armor, crossed their lines of departure after a brief contact by 2-11 ACR.
At 0740, 1-9 Air Cav, conducting aerial reconnaissance in advance of the ARVN Airborne insertion, rolled in on an NVA two-and-a-halfton truck and, in the operation's first contact on Cambodian soil, destroyed the truck and killed five NVA soldiers.
At 0810, the 1st Battalion, 3d ARVN Airborne Brigade, combat assaulted into LZ East from Quan Loi without opposition.
At 0945, C/2-47 Mech and A/2-34 Armor became the first American ground combat units to enter Cambodia.
At 1000, 2-11 crossed the border followed by 3-11 ACR.
At 1005, the 5th and 9th Battalions, 3d ARVN Airborne Brigade, landed without opposition, while Pink Teams from 1-9 Air Cav spotted two hundred NVA withdrawing from the area in a dozen different directions in groups of from ten to thirty. In the ensuing turkey shoot, the Cobras expended most of their rockets and minigun ammunition; before nightfall, they would claim 157 NVA killed. The sky literally buzzed with Cobras and Loaches, as well as Huey C&Cs and strings of Huey lift ships, more helicopters arriving when it became clear that the NVA antiaircraft batteries were not in place. There was a nearly constant whistle as the artillery of the 1st Cavalry Division, supported by batteries from II Field Force Vietnam, pounded each step of the way.
At 1600, the first U.S. airmobile combat assault was conducted at LZ X-Ray by C Company, 2-7 Cavalry, under Capt. Al Rice. (After being embarrassed by CBS-TV a month earlier, during a celebrated combat refusal, Rice was still accompanied by Mr. Laurence, who told his viewers this time that,