Interview with NVA General Tran Van Tra

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VN: How specifically did the first major battles with U.S. Army forces in November 1965 — along Route 13, near the Michelin plantation and in the Central Highlands — affect your approach to fighting the Americans? What tactical lessons did you draw from these engagements?

Tra: Let me tell you about four battles. First, the Battle of Nui Thanh in Quang Nam province [possibly the October 28-29, 1965, attack on the Marine Corps Marble Hill helicopter facility on the Tiensha Peninsula, Quang Nam province]. We were aware that a U.S. Army [Marine Corps] force was in encampment on top of a small hill. We used our well-trained forces, and we won the battle. In the Battle of Van Tuong, in Quang Ngai province [against U.S. Marines during the Corps' Operation Starlight, August 1965], the U.S. used amphibious forces. In this battle we were able to destroy some of the tanks and helicopters of the U.S. Army [Marines]. In another battle in Ben Cat district one platoon of guerrillas fought a very strong unit of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. In the battle our platoon did not take casualties and defeated the U.S. force [Battle of Hill 65 in Operation Hump, November 8, 1965]. In the battle at Bau Bang on Route 13, the U.S. 1st Infantry Division planned to stay near Bau Bang for one night and then attack at Dau Tieng the next day [November 12, 1965]. I was at Bau Bang at the time. So I sent two regiments, the 1st and 2nd of the 9th [NVA] Division, to attack the Americans. We destroyed the American force. [In the Battle of Bau Bang, the American force -- made up of a battalion command group, an armored cavalry troop and a rifle company -- killed about 200 of the enemy while losing 20 men. Nonetheless, despite grossly misstating the results of these engagements, Tra's reading of the general outcome for the Communist troops -- a feeling that his men could hold their own against the Americans -- rings true.] In these four battles there were four different styles of fighting and we used four different tactics. In the Bau Bang battle the United States used B-52 bombers to clear the battlefield. That was the first time B-52s were introduced into the Vietnam theater. [Actually, the first Boeing B-52 mission in South Vietnam had been launched in June 1965.] Our conclusion was that the United States carried out a classic and conventional war relying mainly on U.S. firepower — ground and air. We concluded that our army could cope with U.S. forces even though the U.S. Army was superior regarding weapons and number of troops and had control of the air. These four battles led to our adjustment to the tactics of the U.S. Army.

VN: Is it fair to say that you and General Thanh were proponents of the big unit, Main Force war? Various articles and speeches by Thanh in 1965 and 1966 led most American analysts to believe that this was so.

Tra: This is right. We based this approach on our own experience in the war against the French. In our war [against the Americans] we used the old regular forces, the Main Force units.

VN: Did a difference develop between the B-2 Front — that is, General Thanh — and Hanoi — General Vo Nguyen Giap — over how to prosecute the war during or after the 1965-66 dry season campaign? Again, from our reading of speeches made and articles published by General Thanh and others in Hanoi, it seems that as the main unit war faltered, Thanh continued to argue that his approach was the best way to fight the Americans, while those in Hanoi argued that a reversion to guerrilla war might be the best strategy for the moment.

Tra: Not correct. There was agreement between Hanoi and our people in the South. In the South there were different opinions, but General Thanh and I did not hold different opinions. No, it is not the case. I administered the building of main force units and the use of those units. General Thanh as political commander was in charge of political affairs of the Front. General Thanh did agree with me [on the main force war], but there were others in the South — they were not military people — who wanted to go back to guerrilla war.

Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures, Vietnam War

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