Operation Saratoga was a search and destroy operation during the Vietnam War conducted by the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division that took place in northeastern Hậu Nghĩa, southern Tây Ninh and western Bình Dương Provinces, lasting from 8 December 1967 to 11 March 1968. During this period the Tet Offensive took place and US forces were used for the defense of Saigon.
Background The purpose of the operation was to conduct combined operations with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 5th and 25th Divisions to neutralize Vietcong (VC) bases in the Filhol Plantation and the Ho Bo Woods, control resources and prevent VC rice taxation.
Operation 1967 The operation commenced on 8 December with the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment landed in the Ho Bo Woods and the Filhol Plantation to secure the area for a Rome plow sweep to clear more than 5,250 acres of land. The battalion encountered no serious resistance. That same day, the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, escorted the division engineers and their plows out of the Iron Triangle and back across the Saigon River via barges, reaching Cu Chi Base Camp without incident. On 11 December 1/27th Infantry conducted an air assault and a supporting gunship was shot down, they later overran a VC bunker position killing nine VC for one US killed and later killed another VC and captured one while gunships killed another VC. On 12 December, the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 1st Battalion, 101st Regiment, attacked the 1/27th Infantry as it was setting up a night defense position in the Filhol Plantation. They repulsed the assault with help from artillery crews based at Cu Chi, twelve kilometers to the south, killing 39 PAVN. On 14 December 4/23rd Infantry lost two killed by small arms fire and booby-traps.
After several days passed without further sign of the 101st, General Fillmore K. Mearns decided to put Saratoga on hold so he could launch a new operation known as ‘’’Operation Camden’’’ to trap the PAVN 101st Regiment. On 17 December, the 1st and 2d Battalions, 27th Infantry, and several companies from the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, began a sweep through the Ho Bo and Boi Loi Woods. The 3rd Brigade established a blocking force along the eastern side of the Saigon River to prevent the PAVN regiment from escaping into the Trapezoid base area located just north of the Iron Triangle. Two battalions from the ARVN 49th Regiment, 25th Division, also joined the operation. The first major contact occurred on 21 December when a battalion-size VC force ambushed Company A, 2/27th Infantry and several M48 tanks that were searching the Ho Bo Woods. The Americans sustained four killed, while also losing two tanks destroyed, while VC losses were 42 killed. The next day on the eastern side of the river, the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment found the 101st Regiment while combing through the Trapezoid, stumbling onto a pair of bunker complexes manned by PAVN soldiers, resulting in an all-day fight that left 14 US dead. The PAVN withdrew during the night, carrying away all but three dead. Mearns spent another week searching for the 101st, finally terminating Operation Camden on 31 December. During the operation, the US/ARVN had killed over 100 PAVN/VC, captured 29 detainees and 19 tons of rice, and destroyed another 35 tons of rice that could not be easily relocated.
All of the attention devoted to degrading the PAVN/VC main forces and bases along the Saigon River corridor in November and December necessarily pulled troops away from maintaining Hậu Nghĩa’s day-to-day security. Usually the 2nd Brigade could muster only one battalion for security duties, and sometimes none. The ARVN had also removed two battalions from Hậu Nghĩa and sent them to Tây Ninh Province to participate in Operation Yellowstone. When US troops were available, they performed ground patrols, small airmobile raids, search-and-destroy operations, and hamlet cordon-and-search actions. One of the hamlet searches, conducted by the 2/27th Infantry, and Vietnamese Police Field Force on 16 December apprehended 100 VC suspects. Forty Kit Carson Scouts assisted in most of these operations. Meanwhile, the Division’s military police continued to perform resource control operations with their South Vietnamese counterparts, netting 100,000 piasters worth of contraband, almost a kilogram of marijuana, and 53 deserters and draft dodgers in December. The brigade’s training and civic action activities likewise continued unabated, while the Combined Reconnaissance and Intelligence Platoon (CRIP) vigorously harried the VC. By year’s end, the platoon had killed 92 VC, captured 36, and destroyed twenty tunnels since its formation in the spring.
Reports of PAVN/VC troop movements began to filter into allied intelligence centers during the final days of 1967. The focal point of these movements was the VC-dominated Đức Huệ District and the Vàm Cỏ Đông River. Several small clashes occurred during the last weeks of December that indicated that the VC intend to attack the provincial capital. On the night of 12 December, the VC lobbed 35 mortar shells into the city, while a platoon unsuccessfully attacked a Popular Forces post north of town. Two weeks later, a CRIP patrol located 50 VC outside Bao Trai and dispersed them by calling in artillery. Far more serious than these skirmishes were indications that the VC in Hau Nghia were refitting both their local forces and the guerrillas with AK-47 assault rifles, weapons that would give them a significant advantage in any firefight with government forces.
1968 On 1 January Company C, 1/27th Infantry engaged a VC force killing three and later that day Company D engaged six VC killing two. On 4 January Company C, 1/27th Infantry killed one VC while supporting gunships killed five VC. Later that day Companies B and C lost six US killed by small arms fire, Company B attacked a VC position killing two VC and Company A lost one killed by sniper fire and killed three VC. Company A later lost several killed in a friendly fire incident while Companies C and D each lost one killed by small arms fire. On 5 January gunships and aircraft supporting 1/27th Infantry killed 10 VC. Later that day Company B, 1/27th Infantry found 10 VC graves, while 2/27th Infantry found numerous VC graves and dead. On 6 January 1/27th Infantry found 10 VC graves/dead, while 2/27th Infantry found five VC dead.
On 8 January Company C, 1/27th Infantry engaged nine VC killing one and later found two VC killed by artillery fire. A 4/23rd Infantry M113 armored personnel carrier hit a land mine destroying the vehicle. On 9 January 1/27th Infantry engaged three VC killing one. On 10 January 1/27th Infantry’s night defensive position was attacked resulting in five US killed, artillery and air support was called in killing 33 VC with one captured. Gunships killed two VC and captured one and Companies C and D found 30 VC dead. Later that day gunships killed a further four VC and Company D killed one. The same day gunships supporting 2/27th Infantry found 23 VC graves and one gunship was shot down. On 11 January Company B, 2/27th Infantry killed five VC and captured two. On 12 January gunships supporting 1/27th Infantry killed two VC. Gunships and aircraft supporting 2/27th Infantry killed five VC while a Company C soldier was killed by sniper fire. On 13 January gunships supporting 2/27th Infantry killed two VC and Company C located nine dead VC. A Rome plow escorted by 4/23rd Infantry received RPG fire and troops responded killing one VC.
On 16 January Recon platoon, 1/27th Infantry killed one VC, Company C killed 10 VC and supporting gunships killed four VC. On 17 January a mortar attack on 1/27th Infantry’s night defensive position killed seven US and a Company B, 4/23rd Infantry soldier was killed by friendly artillery fire. On 18 January a 4/23rd Infantry M113 was destroyed by a mine and Company D killed three VC. On 19 January Company A, 2/34th Armor lost one killed by small arms and RPG-2 fire. On 20 January Company D, 1/27th Infantry killed one VC while losing two killed and a Company A, 4/23rd Infantry M113 was destroyed by a mine. On 21 January Company A, 2/27th Infantry found three VC graves, while Companies A and C, 4/23rd Infantry engaged a VC force killing 30 for the loss of three US killed.
On 22 January gunships supporting 2/27th Infantry killed three VC. Company A killed two VC, Company B killed two VC and found one grave, Company D killed three VC and found five graves and gunships killed a further three VC. On 23 January a Company C, 4/23rd Infantry M113 was destroyed by a mine and numerous mines caused minor damage to Rome plows. On 24 January 1/27th Infantry units found a VC base camp area, while Company B, 2/27th Infantry found 5,000lbs of rice. Companies B and D, 4/23rd came under small arms and RPG fire losing three killed and two M113s destroyed, Company C later located graves containing 38 VC and a Company A M113 hit a mine killing one US. On 25 January gunships supporting 1/27th Infantry killed a VC on a sampan. Rome plows detonated numerous antitank mines and Company A, 4/23rd killed two VC. On 26 January 2/27th Infantry killed several VC while supporting gunships killed two. Gunships supporting 4/23rd Infantry killed two VC, Rome plows detonated numerous antitank mines and one M113 was destroyed and helicopters and artillery killed six VC. On 27 January a UH-1 supporting 2/27th Infantry crashed and was destroyed and another was damaged by crash debris and forces to land and Company D found one dead VC. 4/23rd Infantry Rome plows hit three mines with minimal damage. 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment received small arms fire resulting in one dead, battalion companies killed seven VC and found three graves and had a further two US killed while supporting gunships killed three VC. On 28 January a 1/27th Infantry unit detonated a dud artillery round killing two soldiers. Company C found several VC killed by gunships and Company C, 3/22nd Infantry found one dead VC and supporting artillery destroyed a sampan killing two VC. On 29 January 4/23rd Infantry Rome plows detonated numerous mines resulting in minimal damage. 3/22nd Infantry received heavy small arms fire killing one US and returned fire killing five VC and supporting gunships killed five VC.
At the start of the Tet Offensive on 30 January 2/27th Infantry conducted a night airmobile assault to support Troop D, 3rd Battalion, 4th Cavalry Regiment, gunships killed 25 VC and in a sweep of the perimeter found 43 dead VC were found and one captured. 4/23rd Infantry found VC hiding in tunnels killing two and capturing six. 3/22nd Infantry found 3 dead VC and killed 1. On 31 January Company B, 1/27th Infantry engaged a VC force losing 2 killed and in a later engagement killed 22 VC and captured a 75mm recoilless rifle and four weapons. 1/27th Infantry later conducted an airmobile assault to support ARVN units heavily engaged at Hóc Môn District and the battalion was placed under the operation control of II Field Force, Vietnam. 2/27th Infantry conducted an airmobile assault to support the 3/4th Cavalry moving towards Saigon to counter the attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base and was placed under the operation control of the Capital Military District. 4/23rd Infantry and 3/22nd Infantry moved to secure Cu Chi Base Camp and the surrounding area.