Battle of Bến Tre

Battle of Bến Tre
Part of the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War
Date 31 January-5 February 1968 Location Bến Tre, South Vietnam 10°14′11″N 106°22′26″E / 10.2364°N 106.374°E / 10.2364; 106.374 Result US/South Vietnamese victory
Belligerents
United States  South Vietnam	Viet Cong
Commanders and leaders
Anthony P. DeLuca
Units involved
MACV Advisory Team 93 U.S. Navy River Section 534 39th Infantry Regiment 60th Infantry Regiment	518th Main Force Battalion 516th Local Force Battalion
Casualties and losses
150 killed [1]	US body count: 328 killed
528 civilians killed and over 5,000 homes destroyed

The Battle of Bến Tre took place during the

In the United States, the battle is best remembered for a quote from an unnamed American Major, reported by journalist Peter Arnett, that "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it." This quote has often been paraphrased as "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." The veracity of the original quote has often been questioned.

Background

Wedged between two branches of the

Despite the heavy VC presence in the Kien Hoa Province countryside, Bến Tre itself was relatively peaceful just months before Tết.^[2]: 292

Battle

On 31 January the VC attacked 13 of the 16 provincial capitals in the

PBRs 7-20 and 7-21 were patrolling along the Hàm Luông River not far from Bến Tre when they heard gunfire coming from the city. They first thought that Vietnamese soldiers might be celebrating Tết, but soon noticed the telltale green VC tracer rounds and moved down the Bến Tre River to investigate. About 1 mile (1.6 km) down the river they came across six Republic of Vietnam Navy LCVPs along the north bank firing at targets on the south bank. Shortly thereafter, the MACV Compound requested gunfire support from the PBRs, and the boats headed up the river to assist. They soon came under fire from the VC, but low tide and high riverbanks made it difficult for the VC gunners to hit the PBRs, and most of the rounds passed harmlessly over the boats. The PBRs' .50-caliber machine guns returned fire with a combination of full-metal jacket, red tracer and armor-piercing incendiary (API) rounds at the VC. Less than a minute after the firefight began the VC guns went silent and the shooting subsided. The two PBRs then idled offshore from the MACV compound before being relieved by PBRs 7-13 and 7-14, and they headed to USS Harnett County, anchored on the Hàm Luông River, for more fuel and ammunition.^[2]: 294

PBRs 7-13 and 7-14 got as far as the Bến Tre Bridge when they were hit by fire from the south bank of the canal. A rocket or mortar round hit PBR 7-14, lightly wounding several crewmen. Other PBRs, some from other river sections, soon began arriving on-scene, and their gunfire began killing VC trying to cross the bridge from the south to the north bank near the Bến Tre Marketplace (10°13′25″N 106°22′34″E / 10.2235°N 106.376°E / 10.2235; 106.376). PBR 7-18 a Mark II PBR outfitted with a 60mm mortar, shelled targets near the MACV compound with white phosphorus and high explosive rounds. Sailors equipped with M72 LAW rockets fired on VC hiding in buildings, setting them on fire. Other buildings were burned down with API and tracer rounds.^[2]: 294 VC Rocket-propelled grenades hit PBR 7-18, knocking out its controls. PBRs 7-17 and 7-16 soon rushed to the aid of the crippled boat, expending nearly all of their machine-gun ammunition trying to neutralize fire from the south bank. All boats were hit by small arms fire, and the 7-18 took over 40 hits before it was finally towed to safety by PBR 7-16.^[2]: 296

Air support began arriving just after the marketplace attack. Among the first to reach the scene were Navy helicopters from

On 7 February Associated Press journalist Peter Arnett flew into Bến Tre to report on the fighting there. In a report he filed he quoted an unnamed US Major as saying "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it."^[5] Arnett's quote rapidly disseminated throughout the American media and, according to William H. Hammond, a historian with the United States Army Center of Military History, soon "passed into the lore of the war to become one of the most serviceable icons of the anti-war movement."^[2]: 299 Arnett never divulged which officer he was quoting; according to a 2018 Bloomberg News article, "Among some on the right, it's become an article of faith that Arnett invented the quote." The article cites several historical uses of the "destroy in order to save" phrasing and suggests that rather than inventing the metaphor, the unnamed major was employing one long in use.^[6]

References