Army Transportation Corps History: Lam Son 719; the Cargo Must Get Through - 1971 Vietnam War Offensive Campaign Conducted in Laos by Vietnamese Troops to Disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail

This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. The official historian of the Army Transportation Corps provides a great history of the Vietnam War offensive known as Lam Son 719, or Operation Dewey Canyon II.

Accumulating intelligence indicated that the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) was building up their logistical bases across the Laotian border. General Creighton Abrams, Commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), anticipated that the NVA were planning a large offensive to coincide with the US national elections scheduled in 1972. To do so, the enemy had to stockpile supplies early in 1971 before the rainy season slowed down traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Abrams wanted to strike first and disrupt the buildup. Since US Congress had passed a law after the US Cambodian incursion preventing US ground troops from crossing the border again, the Army of the Republic of Vietnamese (ARVN) would have to conduct the cross-border operations. Three ARVN divisions would attack into Laos just south of the DMZ to sever the enemy supply line south. The 5th Mechanized and 101st Airborne Divisions would reopen and secure Route 9 to the border. The American artillery would be able to provide the ARVN troops indirect fire support from Khe Sanh and the law did not restrict American combat helicopters from providing support to ground troops across the border, so helicopters and artillery from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) would support the operation. With American aviation and artillery providing direct support to the ARVN, all other American support was to these units.

While convoy ambushes were frequent threats during the Vietnam War, only two times did the enemy make a serious attempt to shut down any main supply route in Vietnam. The first attempt occurred along Route 19 in the Central Highlands as a prelude to the 1968 Tet Offensive and the second was closing down Route 9 during Lam Son 719. This latter operation would result in an intense period of convoy ambushes for anyone who drove the roads of I Corps Tactical Zone.

From previous experience, truck drivers had quickly learned they could not depend upon the combat arms units to keep the route clear of enemy, since the infantry just could not cover every mile of road. Instead, the truck companies needed a form of immediate security to protect their convoys in the event of an ambush, until the nearest combat arms unit or gunships could respond. So starting in late 1967, the truck companies of 8 Transportation Group in the Northern II Corps Tactical Zone began building gun trucks. By 1970, the gun truck design and doctrine had reached fruition. Experimentation had ended. Convoy ambushes had made the truck drivers of Vietnam front line combat soldiers and Military Assistance Command, Vietnam recognized this in 1969 with the awarding of the Line Haul tab. It was the equivalent of the Combat Infantry Badge for an infantryman.