Nguyễn Trọng Luật
Nguyễn Trọng Luật | |
---|---|
Born | French Indochina |
Allegiance | South Vietnam |
Service/ | Vietnamese National Army Army of the Republic of Vietnam |
Battles/wars | Siege of Plei Me Operation Lam Son 719 First Battle of Quảng Trị Battle of Ban Me Thuot |
Nguyễn Trọng Luật was an officer in the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).
Military career
During the October 1965 Siege of Plei Me Luật commanded the 1,400 man ARVN armored task force that was sent to relieve Plei Me camp. The column was ambushed by People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces on the evening of 23 October suffering heavy casualties, but the ambush was repelled with US air support. The column eventually reached Plei Me on 25 October, breaking the siege. Luật kept his unit in place at the ambush site on the 23rd and 24th, refusing to move until resupplied because he feared another attack. In fact he wanted to return to Pleiku rather than proceed to Plei Me, and could only be persuaded to continue by a promise of US artillery support. With that in hand, he finally started his men toward Plei Me at 13:00 on the 25th. Experiencing only harassing small-arms fire, he and his men reached the camp at dusk.[1]: 103
During the 1968
During the 1971 Operation Lam Son 719 Luật commanded the 1st Armored Brigade which was attached to the Airborne Division.[3] During the retreat from A Luoi on 18 March an 18 vehicle 1st Armored Brigade convoy was ambushed 4 km east of A Luoi with the lead vehicles destroyed by direct fire, blocking Route 9. M41 tanks and three M113 armored personnel carriers each towing a 105mm gun were among the vehicles stranded and Luật called in airstrikes to prevent them being used by the PAVN.[4]: 114 On the night of 21 March the 1st Armored Brigade and 1st and 8th Airborne Battalions abandoned their positions south of FSB Bravo and began moving east. When informed by a prisoner that two PAVN regiments waited in ambush ahead, Luật, notified Airborne commander General Dư Quốc Đống of the situation. Đống landed forces and cleared the road, but never bothered to inform Luật.[3] In order to avoid destruction on Route 9, Luật then ordered the column to abandon the road 5 miles (8.0 km) from the South Vietnamese border and plunged onto a jungle trail looking for an unguarded way back. The trail came to a dead end at the steep banks of the Sepon River and the force was trapped. Two bulldozers were finally helilifted into the ARVN perimeter to create a ford. The armored-Airborne column crossed into South Vietnam on 23 March.[4]: 117–8
On 2 April 1972 during the Easter Offensive, Luật's 1st Armored Brigade headquarters assumed command of all armored, infantry and Marine forces in the Đông Hà area. Those units included the 20th Tank Regiment, two squadrons of the 17th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the 2nd and 57th Regiments of the 3rd Division, the 3rd Battalion of the 258th Marine Corps Brigade and the survivors of the 56th Regiment from Camp Carroll.[5]: 208 After a PAVN operational pause, the PAVN renewed their assault on 27 April, all along the defensive line, units were being overrun or pushed back. By 28 April it was obvious to Luật that the 1st Armored Brigade units were threatened with encirclement and he ordered his units into a fighting retreat south.[5]: 211
In early 1975 he was the
References
- ^ Carland, John (2000). Combat Operations Stemming the Tide, May 1965 to October 1966. Army Center of Military History. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- .
- ^ ISBN 9780440200444.
- ^ ISBN 978-1984054463. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 25, 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ .
- ISBN 978-1-4102-2542-9. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.