BATTLEFIELD VIETNAM Siege at Khe Sanh The defense of the
American combat base at Khe Sanh... ...was given the
codename Operation Scotland. Khe Sanh was one
of the most remote outposts in Vietnam... ...but by January 1968 even
the American President, Lyndon Johnson, ...had taken a personal interest. With the Marines facing a full scale
siege by the North Vietnamese Army, the question was
being asked “Should the base be held?... ...or should it be quietly abandoned?”. Many in Washington
worried that defending Khe Sanh... ...could invite a
costly and humiliating defeat. General Westmoreland, the U.S. Commander
in Vietnam, dismissed all such fears. Already Khe Sanh was tying up
20,000 North Vietnamese troops... ...and there might be a chance
of winning a major American victory. General Rathvon Tompkins, the new
commander of the 3rd Marine division, was also convinced that
the base could and should be held. To boost the defenses,
he had sent a third battalion... ...of the 26th Marines as reinforcements. They were directed to hill 558,
from where they could provide fire support. There were now 5,000
American troops at Khe Sanh. The combat base
at Khe Sanh was built around... ...the 3,900 foot airstrip. Beside the strip
was the Marine Air Traffic Control unit. Nearby was the
26th Marines Command Post... and the Fire Support Coordination Center. At the Eastern end of
the base was the main Ammunition Dump, with a secondary dump to the west. The Base perimeter
was manned by the first battalion... ...and a company of the third. There was also a Forward
Operating Base run by Special Forces. The infantry were
backed by tank and anti-tank units, and an artillery
battalion of the 13th Marines. Outside the Khe Sanh base the Marines held... hill 881 South, hill 861, ...and a radio relay station at hill 950. The whole
second battalion occupied hill 558... ...to block the Rao Quan River valley. Beyond 881 South,
the North Vietnamese 325C division... ...had secretly fortified a chain of hills. On January 20th 1968, the Americans
thwarted an attempt to take 881 South... and just after midnight
the next day, 861 was partially overrun, but the attackers were also driven off. At 5:30am Khe Sanh
base itself was hammered... ...by a massive North
Vietnamese Artillery bombardment. The shattering barrage
of shells, mortars and rockets... ...would slam in to the Marine
combat base at 05:30 on January 21st... ...signaled the start
of the battle for Khe Sanh. The North Vietnamese gunners
had targeted their bombardment... ...with unerring accuracy. As Marines had
dived for cover, one of the first rounds... ...had scored a direct hit
on the main ammunition store. The number 1 dump stored
1,500 tons of artillery and mortar rounds... ...90% of the base's
entire stock, or 10,000 rounds. All of it was lost. 18 men were killed instantly and 40
were wounded as the ammunition exploded... ...and shells and mortar
rounds flew in every direction. The explosions
would go on for another 48 hours. Even at the height
of the chaos, the Marines were still able... ...to fire their mortars
and guns against the enemy batteries. They also called
in Air support, and very quickly, fighter-bombers were
blasting the suspected locations... ...of the North
Vietnamese artillery, which, in return, ...scored 300 direct
heavy artillery hits on the fire base. As the bombardment
of the base reached a crescendo... ...the 26th Marines commander
Colonel David Lownds expected... ...a massive North
Vietnamese ground attack at any moment. But the attack didn't come. The North Vietnamese
infantry had a different objective. The target was Khe Sanh village,
3 miles from the Marine combat base. At dawn on January 21st,
NVA troops attacked Khe Sanh village... ...where 200 Marines and
South Vietnamese troops were stationed. The North Vietnamese attackers were a
400 men battalion of the 66th regiment. The battalion attacked twice, but in the face of powerful
American artillery and air strikes, ...failed to take the village. An attempt at reinforcement
by a South Vietnamese unit... ...went disastrously wrong
and the whole force was destroyed. Later in the day the village was
evacuated and abandoned to the NVA. Later that evening,
Khe Sanh base itself was probed... ...by a North Vietnamese assault unit. L company of the
third battalion drove off the attack. The following day the
base's western flank was reinforced... ...by the newly arrived
1st battalion of the 9th Marines, ...deployed at a quarry
a mile from the perimeter. A platoon was detached from
the battalion to occupy the nearby hill 64. For the Marines inside the Khe Sanh base... ...the days were
now filled with feverish activity. There were sudden heavy
bombardments from NVA guns and rockets. The massive damage done by
the first barrage still had to be repaired. The biggest worry was ammunition. The first aircraft
to land all carried shells. More than 130 tons
were delivered in just two days. Reinforcements
arrived too, the Marines were joined... ...by 300 South Vietnamese Army Rangers, and Colonel Lownds now had
more than 6,000 men inside the compound ...and the seven defended
positions on the surrounding hills. While the Marines
at Khe Sanh braced themselves... ...for the attack that was surely coming, General Westmoreland warned
Washington that the battle could be... ...the turning point for the whole war. In the United States, president Johnson
was getting more and more worried... ...about what might happen. The last thing he wanted was
an American version of Dien Bien Phu. But he was determined
to support his commander. Westmoreland would be
allowed to fight the battle he wanted. There would be no U.S. withdrawal
from Khe Sanh despite the fact... ...that the NVA were still raining between
150 and 300 shells a day on Khe Sanh. OPERATION NIAGARA It was the awesome
potential of American air power... ...that convinced U.S. military
leaders that Khe Sanh could be defended. Before the battle
had started, on 5th January, ...Westmoreland and
U.S. tacticians devised a plan... ...for defending Khe Sanh by bombing. It was already being unleashed
on the North Vietnamese divisions... ...with devastating effect. The Americans called it Operation Niagara. The first part of Niagara was to pinpoint
North Vietnamese troop concentrations. Information from air reconnaissance,
Special Forces teams, radio interception... ...and every other possible source
was fed into the intelligence system. Niagara also
deployed the most advanced and secret... ...surveillance technology in the world. Aircraft and helicopters
scattered hundreds of electronic sensors... ...across the enemy's main lines of approach. They could detect the movement of troops... ...and send signals to alert the Americans. As the intelligence picture built up, ...Operation Niagara
quickly gathered momentum. In spite of rivalry
between the Air Force and the Marines... ...over who should control operations... ...every available
warplane in the area was standing by. At the peak of the siege, American planes
dropped triple the tonnage of bombs... ...delivered on
a peak day during World War II. Added to this, fighter bombers would
deliver 54,500 tons of Napalm alone. Although fighter bombers were flying
the vast majority of Niagara missions, most of the sheer weight
of bombs was being delivered by B-52's... ...as part of an ongoing
operation codenamed Arc Light. The strikes were flown around the clock. A cell of three B-52 arrived
over the Khe Sanh area every 90 minutes. The giant heavy bomber was able
to carry a massive 27 tons of bombs. The aircraft
dropped their loads from 30,000 feet, high enough so that the planes
couldn't be seen or heard from the ground. The only warning most
North Vietnamese troops got of a raid... ...was the shattering
detonation of the first bombs. Over the 77 days of the
siege, B-52s flew over 2,500 sorties ...dropping more than 53,000 tons of bombs. The biggest Arc Light
raid of the Vietnam War so far... was launched as part
of Operation Niagara on January 30th. American Radio Direction
Finding seemed to have discovered... ...the North Vietnamese Army
headquarters for the Khe Sanh offensive. Whether it was or not no one is sure, ...but the site was annihilated
by two B-52 raids in a single day. TET! Early in the morning of January 30th
and 31st 1968, the general offensive... ...the Vietcong had been
planning for more than six months... ...drove with shattering
force all over South Vietnam. As tens of thousands of Vietcong attacked
towns, cities and military installations, American commanders were
stunned by the sheer scale of the assault. While most of South Vietnam erupted in
violence, Khe Sanh was uncannily quiet. A North Vietnamese
Army defector had confirmed... ...that there was to be a major
attack but nothing had happened yet. Some U.S. commanders
believed that the Arc Light raids... ...had shattered the
North Vietnamese command system. There was no way of telling. As the tide of the Vietcong's
Tet offensive swept over South Vietnam, ...most of the advance was being
countered by the South Vietnamese Army. The Americans had been
heavily committed in only a few places, ...mainly around Saigon and in Hue. General Westmoreland
was holding back his forces, still convinced that the
main attack would come at Khe Sanh. By this time, the weather in
the Khe Sanh area had deteriorated badly. Heavy cloud cover
had limited American air strikes. The battle for the combat base
had settled into a straight fight... ...between American
and North Vietnamese gunners. The busiest time for
the American guns was after dark, when the NVA were most active. Every night, the Marines laid down... ...concentrated patterns
of fire on likely areas. Sometimes, in bombardments
known as mini Arc-Lights, ...an intense artillery barrage was
combined with radar guided air strikes... ...to saturate a target completely. As for the North Vietnamese
artillery, most of the guns, ...rockets and mortars were by now in place. Getting them into
position had been a massive job. Northern troops had also
sided hundreds of ammunition dumps... ...around Khe Sanh
and across the border in Laos. The North Vietnamese
had placed large numbers... ...of their shorter
range guns and mortars... ...within two miles of the Khe Sanh base. Most of the big rockets
were fired from hill 881 North. The heavy guns were
much further away, on hill 305... and in caves and slopes of the Co Roc
mountain across the border in Laos. While they could hit the Americans, ...the Marine guns
didn't have the range to hit back. Even the Army's big guns
at the Rockpile and Camp Carroll... ...couldn't reach the NVA's heavy batteries. By now,
more than two weeks into the battle, ...over 150 North Vietnamese
artillery rounds were hitting... ...the Khe Sanh
base and its outposts every day, ...rising to a
peak on February 23rd of 1,300. For the Marines, building
the best possible protection... ...was a matter of life and death. Orders were that every
man had to have access to a bunker... ...able to stop an 82mm mortar round. Command posts were to withstand a 120mm hit. As for the heavy
shells of the NVA biggest guns... ...nothing could stop those. The North
Vietnamese artillery hitting Khe Sanh... ...and the Marine
outposts was all indirect fire. Spotters on the hills
corrected the gunners aim by radio, but the gunners
themselves could never see the targets. What NVA commanders wanted most of all... ...was to place guns
on the hills overlooking the base. From there they could pour devastating
fire straight down onto the Americans. On February 5th 1968 the
American chain of electronic sensors... ...detected a large scale NVA movement. The activity seemed to point
to an imminent attack on hill 881 South. The U.S. reaction
was a massive Niagara raid. Whole North Vietnamese
units were caught in the open... ...as the entire area around the hill was
devastated in a massive storm of bombs. Although the North Vietnamese
attack on hill 881 South had been blocked, the Americans
had failed to detect a battalion... ...closing on an outpost called 861A. There, a single Marine company
drove off two determined assaults... ...as artillery fire destroyed
the follow-on waves of NVA troops. On the night of February 6th,
the North Vietnamese 304th Division... ...began to clear ground
approaches to Khe Sanh from the West. The first objective was the American
Special Forces camp at Lang Vei... manned by a handful of U.S. troops and a
battalion of South Vietnamese local militia. The attack was launched
by the 66th regiment, 1,500 men, ...backed for the first time by tanks. In less than three hours,
the Lang Vei camp was overrun... and only 74 of the 400 U.S. and
South Vietnamese defenders survived. The next target for the NVA was hill 64... ...occupied by a single American platoon. A two pronged infantry
attack was launched against the hill, but a relief platoon, supported
by fierce air and artillery fire, drove the North Vietnamese to the West. There they were again hammered
by a massive American bombardment. Even though the NVA had again failed... ...to take any
more American hill outposts... ...and it lost hundreds
of men in the attempt, they had at least captured Lang Vei. A thorn in their side had been eliminated... ...and they had
cleared route 9 for their own use. Artillery reinforcements,
including 130mm guns, ...could now be brought
much closer to the Khe Sanh base. The Americans were sure the NVA was
finished building up their forces at Khe Sanh ...and were ready for the main attack. But to their surprise,
the expected assault still didn't come. Instead the siege
settled down to a deadly daily duel... ...fought by artillery and aircraft. At the same time,
the North Vietnamese began to launch... ...frequent small scale
probes against the base perimeter. THE AIR BRIDGE In Washington, anxiety about the fate
of the Marines at Khe Sanh was mounting. A relief operation was being planned
but it would demand powerful forces... ...and couldn't be mounted for weeks. The weather was still too poor. Meantime, if the base's air bridge was cut, it would be all over for Khe Sanh. The troops manning the base
needed ammunition, food and medicines. Casualties had to be evacuated. Men finishing their tours of duty had to
be flown out and replacements brought in. The main base alone
needed 160 tons of supplies a day, just to keep on fighting. The supply effort depended above all
on the huge load carrying ability... ...of the C-130 Hercules transport. The aircraft was able
to carry up to 20 tons of cargo, but for that very reason it
needed most of the strip to land... ...and took time to turn around. Every plane met a storm
of anti aircraft fire, mortars and artillery. On February 11th 1968, the North
Vietnamese anti aircraft gunners scored... ...their first major success against a
Marine KC-130 Hercules landing at Khe Sanh. The plane was carrying a cargo of
helicopter fuel and burst into flames. Six of their crew were burned to death. The loss of the C-130
marked the end of attempts... ...to land very
large aircraft at Khe Sanh. Smaller, more nimble
planes like the C-123 provider... ...as well as Marine
helicopters would still come in. But without the big loads of the
Hercules, the base would never survive. Other methods would have to be tried. The most successful
new method was called LAPES... ...the Low Altitude
Parachute Extraction System. The Hercules flew only five feet
above the runway while a parachute... ...snatched the cargo
pallets out of the hold. Another technique
used a hook and a raster cable... ...to drag the load from the aircraft. In February 1968, appalling
weather with ground fog and low cloud... ...stopped all low altitude deliveries. The only option was to parachute supplies... ...into a drop zone
just outside the perimeter. Several thousand
tons would arrive this way... but still, for the Marines, bad
weather invariably meant tighter rations. Although the battle to supply
the main base was being won, the hill outposts
were a much bigger problem. A fifth of Khe Sanh's
manpower was stationed on the hills. The men were suffering almost 50% casualties and the posts depended
completely on helicopters for supply. For the crews of helicopters
supplying the hill outposts, every mission was a gamble with death. North Vietnamese gunners
were quick to target the approaches... ...and the landing zones. Anti aircraft fire followed the
helicopters in and as soon as they landed, ...mortar crews and
machine gunners opened up. As the slopes of the hills became
a graveyard for American helicopters... the Marines realized that
the survival of the hill outposts... ...was under serious threat, ...and if they fell, the
main base couldn't last for long. Air commanders worked
frantically to devise new tactics... ...for getting helicopters
in and out of the hill top bases safely. The tactics the Americans
devised depended on swamping... ...the enemy anti aircraft guns
and mortars around the landing zone... ...with a high speed assault. 12 skyhawk fighter bombers, 4 Huey
gunships, up to 16 supply helicopters... ...and an airborne command and
control aircraft all acted together. The first stage was for 4 Skyhawks
to hit North Vietnamese positions... ...with bombs and NAPALM. Two more laid tear gas. Next, two skyhawks droppped
smoke bombs to create a corridor... and 30 seconds later,
the transport helicopters swooped in... ...covered by the Huey gunships. Meanwhile, four more
Skyhawks with rockets, bombs and guns, ...made close in attacks. The whole operation
was over in less than 5 minutes. The new tactics quickly
earned the title "Super Gaggle"... ...because the helicopters
looked like an over sized flock of geese. With the fighters and gunships on the air too, ...the method took incredible
timing to pull off successfully. But it worked. Only two more helicopters would be
shot down supplying the hill outposts. By now, the strain of the long siege... ...was beginning to tell
on the troops at Khe Sanh. Being under shell fire every day meant... ...a steady drain of
casualties and constant tension. Food was often down
to two C-Ration meals daily. Conditions were appalling, the bunkers
were knee deep in filth and mud... ...and overrun by rats. In addition it was impossible to
forget that up to 20,000 enemy soldiers... ...were waiting for
the signal to storm the base. To stop the men
brooding about their possible fate, officers and NCOs kept
the troops as busy as possible. Digging trenches, filling
sandbags and improving bunkers... ...was a big part of every day. There was some patrolling too, although
not more than 500 yards from friendly lines. Colonel Lownds had no intention
of sending his men into certain ambushes... ...and in any case they had to be
kept clear of the Niagara bombing raids. On the base perimeter,
the watchword was constant vigilance. The North Vietnamese were probing the
defenses with infantry and sapper teams. The Americans were facing
assaults of up to 200 men at a time... ...as the enemy tested
for weaknesses in the line. The Marines were also
plagued by hidden machine gun nests... ...which could open up
at any moment, day or night. THE GROUND ASSAULT By now the attention of the American public
was riveted by the battle of Khe Sanh. The story was being
covered by dozens of journalists... ...and was featured on
Network Television every day. Stories about Khe Sanh accounted
for 25% of all filmed news reports... ...about the war on U.S.
networks and up to 50% on CBS. Arguments raged over the rights
and wrongs of trying to hold the base. In Washington, president
Johnson was deeply worried... ...about the fate
of the Marines at Khe Sanh. He was constantly demanding
the latest information on the battle. A model of the base had even been brought
into the White House situation room. For the first time in the Vietnam War... ...the room was
on full alert, 24 hours a day. A multitude of doubts and fears
haunted the president and its advisors. Should nuclear weapons be used
to save the base, as some had suggested? What if the enemy diverted or
poisoned the base's water supply? Most worrying of all, What if enemy jets... ...mounted a sudden
bombing attack on Khe Sanh? It would be a massive
propaganda victory for the North. Although North
Vietnamese aircraft did penetrate... ...to within striking distance of Khe Sanh... ...they made no attempt
to attack the Marine base. American air defenses
over the DMZ were far too strong. The biggest threat
to the Marines at Khe Sanh ...did not come from modern fighter aircraft. It came from one of the
most primitive weapons in warfare. The North Vietnamese besieging
Khe Sanh were digging mile upon mile... ...of trenches and bunkers
just as they had at Dien Bien Phu. They were fast approaching
the perimeter of the combat base itself. Already there was a major
system of North Vietnamese fortifications ...on hill 471, less than two miles
to the South of the Khe Sanh base. Now at incredible speed, the trench lines
were being extended Northwards... ...until they reached to within
25 yards of the American perimeter. Another line of trenches and bunkers
was creeping across from the South East. The NVA plan was for the infantry to mass... ...under cover of the trenches
before launching their final assault. By the last week of February 1968,
few Americans inside Khe Sanh doubted... ...that the big North Vietnamese
ground assault would have to come soon. The moon was in its darkest phase,
and a night infantry attack... ...would have a good chance
of overwhelming the perimeter defenses. Smashing the enemy
trench lines was an absolute priority. The Americans tried every conceivable
method to destroy the trenches. Napalm and bombs
were rained down in huge quantities. The Marines fired
countless artillery barrages. But the Americans had little success. The discouraging fact,
learned from other wars... ...was that it could take 1,000 hits
to destroy 100 yards of trenches. In the end the answer lay with the B-52's. Up to now, Arc Light raids
had been kept more than two miles... ...away from the base perimeter. On February 27th 1968,
the restriction was lifted. For the first time,
the B-52's, under close radar guidance... ...dropped their bombs to within
1,200 yards of the Khe Sanh base. The effect was shattering. There was massive damage to the North
Vietnamese trenches and bunkers. It was a turning point
in the battle for Khe Sanh. From now on, close-in bombing by B-52's... ...would play a major part in the defense. The sudden increase in North
Vietnamese activity around Khe Sanh... ...had left no one in any doubt
that the climax of the battle was near. A few days before, a Marine
patrol trying to get information... ...had been almost wiped out. North Vietnamese traffic along route 9
from Laos had also risen to a new peak. Enormous quantities
of supplies were being rushed... ...to the Khe Sanh
divisions for the final assault. The 66th regiment of
the North Vietnamese 304th division... ...was assembling near a plantation
to the South the Khe Sanh base. Units were also
massing near an old French fort. On the night of February 29th,
a battalion of the 304th NVA division... ...assaulted the 37th ARVN Rangers
at the Eastern edge of the camp, a diversion to cover the
unexpected and imminent withdrawal... ...of all NLF troops from Khe Sanh. The American defense
was to coordinate strikes by artillery, fighter bombers and B-52's
on three main areas... ...through which
the attacking NVA had to pass. Then, as the final assault
waves approached the base, Khe Sanh's own
defensive fireplan was unleashed. The base perimeter at
the point of attack was manned... ...by the 37th South
Vietnamese Ranger battalion. As the lead NVA units advanced,
the base fired an artillery pattern... ...forming the sides of an open box. A creeping barrage
was then walked up and down inside. At the same time, two NVA
battalions cut off behind the box... ...were hit by fighter bomber strikes, while long range artillery
from the Rockpile and Camp Carroll... ...created a moving outer cordon. The North Vietnamese
troops who survived to emerge... ...from the open end of the box
then faced the direct fire... ...of the South Vietnamese Rangers. Over the next week,
despite continued aerial bombardment, and the barrage of artillery fire,
the trenches came even closer. Then, for no apparent reason they stopped. On March 6th, with the Marines
still waiting for the final assault, many of Giap's troops stumbled away
through what was left of the jungle... ...an area of land that
had received 100,000 tons of bombs. The heaviest aerial
bombardment on a single piece of land... ...in the history of warfare. The next three weeks
were relatively quiet around Khe Sanh. American air activity increased
steadily as the weather improved, and more NVA units
began to withdraw into Laos. But the battle
for Khe Sanh was not yet over. On March 22nd 1968 there
was a sudden explosion of violence. Without warning, a massive
North Vietnamese bombardment... ...including huge numbers of heavy shells
from the Co Roc mountain... ...slammed into Khe Sanh. More than 1,000 rounds
hit the base at a rate of 100 every hour. At the same time the
electronic sensors around Khe Sanh... again indicated NVA movements and
the Americans replied with heavy bombing. As the weather steadily improved, U.S. air attacks... ...around the Khe Sanh base,
grew fiercer by the day. Further afield over the North Vietnamese
rear areas, fighter bombers roamed... ...with orders to pounce on any movement. For the North Vietnamese
the situation could only get worse. General Giap was forced to concede
that Khe Sanh could not now be taken. By this time, the Marines were
mounting small but aggressive attacks... ...out of the base. General Giap now ordered the remainder
of his units to pull back from Khe Sanh. One by one, the NVA
regiments around the base melted away. Only 6,000 troops were
left behind to continue the siege... ...of the Marine combat base. Although fighting would go on,
the worst of Khe Sanh's ordeal was over. OPERATION PEGASUS On April 1st 1968 the Americans
formally ended Operation Scotland, the defense of Khe Sanh, and seven days
later began Operation Pegasus. April 9th was the first time in 45 days
that no shells fell on Khe Sanh. The aim of Pegasus was to reopen route 9... ...the road linking Khe Sanh
to the other American bases... ...along the Demilitarized Zone. As well as the Marines, Pegasus
deployed the 1st Air Cavalry Division, the most mobile American unit in Vietnam. The Air Cavalry had more
helicopters and airborne fire power... ...than any other U.S. unit. It was perfectly suited to the rugged
and demanding terrain near Khe Sanh. For Pegasus, the Division's commander,
Major General John Tolson... was also given the 1st Marine regiment,
a South Vietnamese airborne Task Force... ...and the 26th Marines in Khe Sanh. The entire length of route 9 was still
dominated by North Vietnamese Army units... especially elements of
the 66th and 29th regiments. For Operation Pegasus
the Americans built a main base... ...for the Air Cavalry at Landing Zone Stud. The Marines would operate out of Ca Lu. The plan was for air assaults to
seize Landing Zones and fire bases... North and South route 9,
while other forces pushed down the road. Although the weather
was poor for fighter-bombers, the weight of American firepower
supporting Pegasus was still enormous. In a single day the Americans fired
more than 10,000 artillery rounds. Before the operation was over,
B-52's launched 45 Arc Light strikes. The American offensive was unstoppable. By April 5th 1968, the Air Cavalry
had forged past Khe Sanh... ...and established landing zones
West and South of the combat base. While the Cavalry
consolidated their new positions, the Marines in Khe Sanh mounted
their own break out assaults. There was strong resistance from battalions
of the North Vietnamese 66th regiment... ...which mounted fierce counterattacks, ...but the Marines
succeeded in taking hill 471. It was the first
of a string of NVA hills... ...recaptured over the next few days. On April 8th 1968, the Air Cavalry
and the 26th Marines of the combat base... ...linked up, formally
ending the siege of Khe Sanh. In fact the Marines
were less than pleased... ...to be seen as being rescued by the army. In their view, they had long since
guaranteed their own survival. AFTER THE BATTLE The 77 day siege of Khe Sanh... ...had turned into the biggest
single battle of the Vietnam war. The official assessment of
the North Vietnamese Army dead... ...was just over 1,600
with two divisions all but shattered. But thousands more
were probably killed by bombs... ...and left no trace of ever having existed. By the end of Operation Pegasus,
American and South Vietnamese units... ...had suffered
1,000 dead and 4,500 wounded. But official figures state
that under 250 had been killed... ...at the Khe Sanh
combat base and its outposts. In the aftermath of the battle,
General Westmoreland had high hopes... ...that the next phase would be
the thrust into Laos he had long advocated. He now had the forces he needed. But Westmoreland's
hopes for a great campaign... ...to follow up his victory
at Khe Sanh were soon dashed. In the United States, by the spring of 1968, American public opinion had turned
sharply against the war in Vietnam. The shock of the Tet
offensive had led many to believe... ...that the U.S. would have
to withdraw sooner or later. Under severe pressure,
President Johnson had promised to search... ...for a negotiated peace. He ruled out any big troop increases
and any widening of the conflict. In June 1968, General Westmoreland
approved the destruction... ...of the Khe Sanh combat base. The President's decision
not to widen the war... ...had meant there would be
no offensive into Laos. Nor was the base needed for defense... ...as there were now strong and highly
mobile American forces in the area. In any case, as both sides
were slowly beginning to realize, even as the battle had raged at Khe Sanh... ...the war had changed
out of all recognition. Subtitling: DeStrangis
