The base defenders surfaced from their dugouts and bunkers each morning at first light, and did as much as they could in the four to five hours during which fog blanketed the area and screened them from NVA observation. They then hunkered down the remainder of the day, except when it was absolutely necessary to move about. At night they came out and warily accomplished needed tasks. Both sides used night vision devices.

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Throughout the siege, the North Vietnamese Army made several attempts to storm one of the major outposts or the main base itself, but such attacks were widely spaced. At the end of January, 45 B-52s bombed a suspected NVA headquarters in Laos that had been identified through radio intercepts. Soon afterward the airstrip, which had been closed to C-130 use, was reopened. On February 5 the NVA launched an attack against Hill 861. The battalion-size assault was beaten back by a fierce counterattack; artillery and air strikes broke up a follow-on attack by a second battalion.

On February 7, the Lang Vei Special Forces camp was attacked and overrun. The next day, just after dawn, a forward observation post 500 meters west of the Khe Sanh Combat Base perimeter was overrun but was retaken by a Marine relief force heavily supported by fighter aircraft. Three days later a Marine C-130 carrying a load of helicopter fuel bladders was hit by ground fire, broke in half and exploded, killing or fatally wounding eight on board. A second C-130 was damaged on the ground later the same day, leading to the suspension of C-130 landings, but C-123s and helicopters continued to operate from the strip.

On February 23, the base took a record 1,307 incoming rounds, one-third of them fired by North Vietnamese artillery. Two days later, Marine patrols located enemy trenches approaching the perimeter. On the 29th, the NVA launched three unsuccessful attacks against the South Vietnamese Ranger battalion defending the eastern end of the perimeter. Prior to the attacks, with remote sensors indicating a buildup, artillery, fighter aircraft and B-52s hit the assembly areas and possibly broke up what was to have been a major assault.

As the weather around Khe Sanh improved in March, NVA trenches approaching the perimeter began to form Ts, creating jumpoff points for a forthcoming attack. At the same time, probes and sniping against the base increased. On March 1, two C-123s were destroyed on the ground by shellfire, and five days later a C-123 was hit by groundfire while on a go-around from an aborted landing, killing all 49 on board. A Marine helicopter also crashed shortly thereafter, killing all 22 aboard.

The shelling of the base continued unabated through the second week in March, but other North Vietnamese Army activity, including probes, sniping and trench digging, significantly decreased. By the end of the month a reduction in enemy forces was confirmed and the Marines reinitiated aggressive patrolling. A three-hour firefight on March 30 was the last major ground combat action of the siege.

On April 1, the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division Airmobile launched Operation Pegasus to lift the siege and open Route 9. The NVA mounted only light resistance to the advance for several days and then ceased all opposition. Fresh South Vietnamese forces were airlifted into Khe Sanh Combat Base on April 6, followed by elements of the 1st Cavalry Division two days later.

The distinctive feature of the siege of Khe Sanh was the overwhelming firepower that the U.S. forces directed against the North Vietnamese Army. Estimates place the total number of enemy shells fired at 25,000 to 30,000 rounds in 77 days. The U.S. return fire from batteries at the base and from the Rockpile and Camp Carroll totaled some 150,000 rounds. Added to the artillery firepower was the weight of munitions dropped by aircraft. High-flying B-52s, guided by ground radar and flying in V-shaped formations of three aircraft, appeared daily over Khe Sanh. Each formation dropped 75 tons of 500-pound bombs and saturated an area 1⁄2 mile wide by 11⁄2 miles long.

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