No, I haven't forgot this thread. I am getting down to the end of things, though...but not quite yet.
This entry is about Joe Kubert's Dong Xoai, Vietnam, 1965 graphic novel, published in 2010, by DC Comics. It was one of Kubert's last original works and one of his last solo projects. In many ways, it kind of brings us back to the beginning of Vietnam, in the comics, since it takes Kubert back to US Special Forces....The Green Berets.
We have talked about the Green Berets and, more specifically, the syndicated newspaper strip, based on their roles and exploits, originated by Robin Moore, the author of the novel, inspired by his time observing the Green Berets. Moore had little to do with the strip, as actual writing was done by others, while Kubert (and assistants) handled the art chores. Kubert tweaked the scripts, here and there, to cut down on some of the propaganda, in favor of the adventure elements. It is no surprise, then, that this reads like an unused series of strips from the comic, with Kubert plotting as well as drawing. Really, the only major difference is that Kubert tells the story via what looks like a sketchbook journal, rather than a comic strip or comic book page. Each page features anywhere from one to 3 images, with text dialogue and narration and other than being a bit more explicit with some of the montagnard customs and dress and battle scenes, this could have easily been a sequence in the origial strip.
The story follows an A-Team detachment, sent into the Bu Gia Map area, in the Phuoc Long province, near the Cambodian border. It's a deeply rural area, in Southeastern Vietnam, with Nha Trang and Cam Ranh Bay to the East and Saigon to the South.
The series starts out by introducing us to the A-Team detachment, as they travel by C-118 cargo plane to South Vietnam, instead of a 707, as originally briefed. This is just the start to the change in mission. They are to land in Nha Trang, to be briefed by the area commander, then be transported to the CIDG camp, in Bu Gia Map, to take over the training of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group, overseeing the improvements to the existing camp and conduct offensive operations against the VC. The team have been together for a while and 5 members of the team have had tours in Vietnam. The change in aircraft is their first notice that things aren't going to plan and the second is that their Intelligence NCO, Daniels, has been reassigned, before they have even begun their transit to the camp. The team is transported by Australian C-7 Caribou, a smaller cargo plane, to their destination. They decide to take advantage of some parachutes on board and conduct an airborne jump, to the site....
They get orientated with the team they are relieving and the local CIDG personnel, which includes mainly montagnard families and some Cambodians. The montagnards are tough, spirited fighters and they get along well with the Americans, as they are respectful to their culture and customs, even if it means loading up on anti-viral meds, before partaking in a celebration that involves drinking a murky fruit concoction, through a communal bamboo straw. The drink has an intoxicating effect and the soldiers cut loose with the montagnards in their celebrations....
They are not impressed with their ARVN counterparts, as they seem to lack good leadership and have contempt for the rural tribes. At one point, an ARVN Aspirant (a sort of warrant officer) refuses to give permission for ARVN forces to join a recon mission, to scout out VC activities. He defers to the absent ARVN lieutenant. The team bypasses him and goes to the CIDG chief and recruits members from it to join two members of the team, on the mission.
The team is then assigned to strengthen a camp in Dong Xoai, to the south, which is at a cross section of major roads and is of interest to the VC and PAVN, for moving in men and supplies from across the Cambodian border.
The team arives and gets a briefing. The camp had been harassed by intermittent mortar attacks, but no sustained attack. Another camp was hit by VC attack and the ARVN withdrew, while the advisor team remained. The VC made no move to try to occupy the camp. They fear Dong Xoai is a prime target. They set about assessing the camp defenses and note many things that need work. They set about strengthening the earthen defensive berms and barb wire entanglements, as well as servicing the artillery and crew-served machine gun and mortar positions. A detachment of 9 Seabees joins them, but without heavy equipment.
The team conducts recon patrols and spots plenty of evidence of VC activity, including a burned out village, wiith villagers and foodstuffs gone. They meet with their counterparts to try to prepare for the inevitable attack, and find cooperation with the LLDB detachment 9ARVN Special Forces), but not with the ARVN commander of an armored unit, that they feel will be needed to protect the camp. They work with what they have, instead.
They receive reports from montagnards of VC activity and capture a VC spy, who is subjected to harsh interrogation.
At this point, I question Kubert's objectivity, as he acknowledges that prisoner abuse occurred on both sides of the conflict, but he says the SF soldiers were only observers and not participants. I have no idea whether or not this was true with the real team, but there is a ton of evidence that US personnel engaged in torture and mistreatment of prisoners, or at least cooperated with the ARVN units conducting it, with the CIA actually training them in methodology. It is no secret that the infamous School of the Americas, which was noted for training counter-guerrilla tactics to friendly Latin American nations (such as Honduras and El Salvador) is located at Ft Bragg (both of which have since been renamed), along with the 5th Special Forces Group. Special Forces were not angels, then or now. Generally speaking, the interrogation methods taught are more psychological than physical, as experience has shown that physical torture can strengthen the resolve to resist, or lead to intelligence of questionable value. However you want to sugarcoat it or spin it, the US Army and the US Government has engaged in the torture and harsh interrogation of prisoners and trained others in such techniques.
After calls for increased support and air assets, a small ARVN detachment is sent by helicopter to assess the situation. The officer in charge disagrees with the Americans and refuses additional supplies or support. Mortar harassment continues, in a build-up to an attack. An LLDB patrol encounters a small VC force and captures one, killing two others. The CO gathers his men and assesses their strengths and weaknesses. They expect the atatck to come from the forested area, in the West and concentrate on reinforcing their defenses in that direction. They lack sufficient heavy weapons and air support.
Heavy rains come and the VC gather for the attack, some 500 strong, with 75mm artillery, flame throwers, pole charges, grenades and small arms. The VC launch their attack with preliminary mortar strikes, targeting the masonry buildings in the camp, with the command hut and team & striker billets seemingly scoped out with great accuracy, suggesting inside information (as expected). The CO is wounded, but ambulatory. The radio wire has been cut and a mortar barrage hits teh team hut. The CO's leg collapses and the others have to support him....
The CO is set up at a machine gun position and the other members attend to the crews manning the walls, to bolster their courage and lead the defense. The mortar barrage slows and the attack begins in earnest. Sgt Allison leads the defense, calmly ignoring the blare of the VC bugles and returning sustained fire. he is hit in the chest and head, but keeps firing and his men fight on, following his example. One of the Seabees emerges from a destroyed billet to meet a VC horde charging at him and fights them until he is killed. Another American mans an 81 mm mortar, alone, and keeps up fire, in an exposed position, until he is overrun and killed.
Sgt barton continues to direct the defense along the walls, moving here and there, providing encouragement and direction, oblivious to the rounds hitting around him. Barton becomes a rallying point for the defense.
The CO is able to use his weapon sparingly, but effectively. Most of the team has been hit or killed and the CIDG personnel have scattered. Two of the Seabees slide out of the camp, to safety. Two Seabees join Barton, in mounting a continued fight, against overwhelming odds. The stubbornly fight their way towards District HQ, sustaining wounds, but alive, unlike their comrades. They get the CO to the command hut, but have no morphine to treat him and they have to leave him there, at his order. The VC have penetrated the perimeter at multiple points and are pouring in. The Green Berets keep fighting and encourage the Vietnamese to stand their ground and fight. The defenders are outnumbered and low on ammunition, but Barton keeps them fighting. One of the Seabees is hit and taken to safety. The radio is working and they call for help, but the weather affects flying. Daylight does not bring hope, as the ARVN start abandoning their posts, leaving the Americans and a few others maintaining the defense. The VC start to penetrate the inner perimeter, ordering men to lay across the barbed wire so that others can cross it. The A-Team fires through gaps in their building to keep the VC at bay. They receive word that help is in the air and inbound.
Help comes in the form of 2 B-57s and a helicopter gunship, which fire rockets and drop bombs, but morning fog prevents accurate targeting. The effect, however, gives pause to the VC attack; but, not for long. A .51 cal machinegun, positioned in the old district school, opens fire on them. a couple of soldiers take a rocket launcher and work to get in position to take it out. They are successful, but the Seabee, Adams takes further wounds, while the Green Beret, Kelly is hit in the shoulder. He calls for help to get Adams to safety. Finally, helicopters bring in an ARVN force, but they are ambushed by the VC....
The ARVN take heavy losses and the rescue fails. They continue on the radio and patch wounds, but Adams needs a medevac.
Barton and his team work to take out a VC flame thrower. They finally spot the man carrying the tank and target their weapons on the tank itself, finally piercing it and spraying the inflammable mixture across the defenders, who are then engulfed in flames.
The inner group has to evacuate the HQ building and move to the howitzer pits, taking the wounded first. Their ammo is dwindling and they are being concentrated into a small area. The howitzer pit is their final stand. Barton and Smith finally meet up with them. They all prepare for the final firefight. They pour it on, as the VC attack en masse...
They keep fighting, until the sound of "whooping" causes pause in the attack, as Hueys move in and start engaging the VC from the air, with door guns, and gunships with rockets. The men prepare for extraction as the helos make their runs across the VC horde. a helo lands and the men move rapidly to load the wounded and get aboard, while the other helos keep the VC at bay. They lift off. The two Seabees who had taken refuge in the village are still under cover and wounded and miss the choppers, but are able to get out, on foot.
A counter-atatck is assembled and a helo-based assault is launched on the VC occupiers. They are able to overwhelm the VC and recover the dead and missing wounded and retake the camp.
The Battle of Don Xoai, in 1965, was precipitated by the instability within the Republic of Vietnam government, in 1964. General Khanh had ousted Gen Van Minh as leader of the ruling junta and tightened controls and censorship, leading to mass protests. His favoritism of the Buddhists drew anger from the Catholics and unsettled the US government, as the Buddhists sought a political resolution with the Communists, rather than a military defeat, leaving the Communists in some form of power, in a coalition or similar arrangement. Khanh was eventually deposed and went into exile.
The North increased offensive operations in the South, seeing the instability as the perfect distraction, that would allow them to flow in and cut off parts of the country, isolating Saigon from the rest. Dong Xoai was a key traffic point for this effort, leading to the battle to take the CIDG camp. The ensuing battle was pretty much as Kubert depicted, with some slight differences. The ARVN 52nd Ranger Battalion was able to push out the VC, but at a high cost. Intelligence assessments suggested that the VC still had great strength in the area and could launch further attacks. gen Westmoreland ordered in a battallion from the 503rd Infantry regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, to reinforce the area. After 5 days, it became clear that the VC had completely withdrawn and the battalion was withdrawn.
In the actual advisory detachment, consisting of 11 Green Berets and 9 Seabees, all received Purple Hearts for wounds, 2 Green Berets and 7 Seabees were awarded Bronze Stars, 4 Berets and 2 Seabees won Silver Stars, 3 Berets wond the Distinguished Service cross, and one Beret and one Seabee were awarded the Medal of Honor. It doesn't take to much math to realize that some receievd multiple awards for their actions. The two Medal of Honor winners were Lt Williams, of the Special Forces team, and and Petty Officer Third Class Marvin Shields was a member of the Seabee detachment. They went out under heavy fire, with a rocket launcher, to try to take out the VC .51 cal machine gun. Shields was badly wounded and died of his wounds during the air evac. Williams had assumed command of the defense after the team captain was incapacitated by his leg wounds. He was all over the camp, directing the defense, bringing ammo and encouraging the defenders, under constant enemy fire. Williams was present his medal of Honor in a ceremony, in Washington, by President Johnson, with the surviving members of the team present. Charles Williams remained in Special Forces, serving in staff billets, at Ft Bragg, until his retirement, in 1978, as a major. He died in 1982, at the age of 49. He was wounded 4 times during the Battle of Dong Xoai.
The story here is a fictionalized version of events, but it gets the main points right. Like more later works on this area, it chooses to ignore the politics of the war and focus on the role of the men and their heroism during the fighting. Kubert was a master of the war comic and his pencils were adept at capturing the humanity of the characters and it is on fine display here. his technique is similar to his work on Yossel, looking like a sketch diary, rather than a comic narrative. It lends an authenticity to the piece that a standard color comic might lack and given that it is based on fact, it is very appropriate. it also allows the power and mood of Kubert's pencils to shine through. Kubert doesn't break any new ground with his narrative, as it could have easily been a Tales of the Green berets strip. However, he does a fantastic job of introducing us to the team and their mission, their day-to-day activities, the culture of the montagnards, the lack of professionalism and leadership in the ARVN officers, the ineffectiveness of the AVN forces in the absence of strong leadership, and the desperation of battle. He also helpfully supplises layouts of the camp, to give you an idea of the geography and defenses; but, if you have no background in the history or the tactics employed, it can be a little hard to grasp the flow of battle. wisely, Kubert focuses on individual actions to keep the narrative flowing.
Here are sketches of the camp and the area....
In the first, you can see that the camp and the local village were separated by two intersecting roads, a key reason why it was targeted by the VC, as it would give them avenues for further troop transport and attack. The camp is surrounded by open field, preventing an enemy from sneaking up on the perimter, but you can see the forest area that would hide the VC force, when the time came.
The compound itself is split into two sections, the Special Forces camp and the CIDG section. The walls you see are berms, made up of earth, compacted to strengthen it. You can see that their main weapons emplacements are aimed at the forest area, with machine gun bunkers at the corners, to allow a wide field of fire. You can see the two pits for the 105 mm howitzers, that provided the artillery support, until they were knocked out, in the attack.
Mortars hit their HQ building and troop billets, then other areas of the camp. Men manned the walls on the forest side, with team members there providing leadership and steadying the defense. As the battle raged, the advisory team was forced to retreat to the main compound and the District HQ building, until the VC pierced the walls at several points and pressed their attack. The defenses were in layers, as there were further barbed wire entanglements inside the compound and defenses around the buildings. The idea was to create strong points where the enemy would try to move and hit them with heavy fire, preventing their movement, ultimately allowing for flanking troops to cut them off and decimate them. If that is not possible, the strong points delay the attackers and try to inflict as many casualties as possible, to whittle away at them. It becomes a battle of attrition and resolve. If the resolve of the defenders wanes, the attackers can overwhelm the strongpoints and pour through. If the attackers lose their resolve, they withdraw and redirect their attack or flee the scene.
As the battle became more desperate, the VC were able to set up the machine gun in the village and direct long range fire at the HQ building. Lt Williams and Petty Officer Shields; or, as named here, Lt Kelley and Petty Officer Adams, use a recoilless rifle to take out the machine gun position, with Shields/Adams mortally wounded. They fall back to the artillery pits, to get out of the building, which has them trapped. At this point, they have nowhere to retreat. They have walls on two sides and the attackers coming from the building areas. The VC can come at them from three main points, though they could try to outflank them by getting men up on the berm walls. Finally, air support arrives and slows down the attacks, then decimates them, with strikes, while the slicks land and load the team. They had to maneuver in to an area large enough and close enough to land, get the wounded and the other men aboard, while the gunship provided cover, keeping the VC from advancing.. They then lifted off and left the camp to the VC.
The two Seabees had gotten cut off in the fighting and were able to get to the village and hide out and remained there until the ARVN launched their counter-attack to retake the camp. All of the dead were recovered and the base was retaken.
This is Joe Kubert doing what he did best, depicting human beings, in conflict, and giving it a personal point of view. It doesn't overly glorify, though it doesn't give the truly grim details, either. It lacks the personal experience of Doug Murray and Don Lomax, much as Sgt Rock lacked the personal experience that Sam Glanzman brought to the USS Stevens feature. Kubert draws mostly WW2 Era weapons, and I didn't see anything resembling an M-16, which was in wide issue, at that point. The book ends with pictures and detail from the real team and the weapons seen in the photos consist of M-16s and at least one or 2 M-1 carbines. He shows one of the team using a Thompson SMG, which would have been unlikely. An M-3 Grease Gun or Swedish K SMG would be more likely. The CIDG and ARVN would have been armed with M-1 carbines, Garands and other weapons like that, plus some armed with M-16s, as the war progressed (or M-14s). The VC would be armed with a combination of French, American, and Chinese weapons, depending on what they got their hands on.
Kubert is a fitting end to discussion about the fighting during the war, as we next pivot into those displaced by the war, with two different works that examine the people caught up in the war and their suffering and escape. The first which we will examine looks at the lives of those forced to flee the area and seek new lives, on the other side of the world, both in the United States and in France. The second examines the life and experiences of a Cambodian pop icon, who found herself being used as a symbol, during the conflict, and a prisoner, after the Khmer Rouge came to power and her fate. Both of these works originated outside the US, which gives us a different perspective on both the war and the people who lived through it and survived it.