THE

12 DECISIVE BATTLES
OF THE

THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION

WAS PREPARED BY

DAVE SABBEN
THREE INDO-CHINA
WARS
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ON CREATIVE CONTENT

presented by
DAVE SABBEN MG

02 - Operation Starlite

BACKGROUND
The Geneva Accords of 1954 demanded that free
elections take place in the South. By 1959,
this had not happened. The Diem regime remained
unstable and demonstrably corrupt. In 1959, North
Vietnam renewed infiltration and subversion of the
South, thus starting the Second Indo-China War.

ARVN:
Army of the
Republic of
Viet Nam

USA offered political & financial aid, not military,

THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION
other than advisers and intelligence-sharing. At
WAS PREPARED
BY Viet Nam (SVN) contained the invasion,
first, South
but by the mid 60s it was obvious that they would
DAVE SABBEN
not be able
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to survive without outside help.
ON CREATIVE CONTENT
The US offered to assist with the defence and
security of key installations major air & sea ports to free up ARVN troops for offensive operations.
The largest and busiest air and sea base was
Da Nang. The US committed two Battalions of
Marines to defend the Da Nang facilities.
Start of US involvement
in the 2nd Indo-China War.

SCOPE

DAY 1

This presentation deals with the escalation of

US commitment to SVN from the first few
troops sent in to defend key facilities in March
1965 to the first large-scale offensive
by US-only units in August 1965.
Marines land

The US Marines were sent to Viet Nam

initially to bolster the defences of the
Da Nang air base and sea port,
thus freeing up ARVN (Army of the
Republic of Viet Nam) units to mount more
mobile and aggressive operations.

THIS
The August operation
wasSLIDE
namedAND PRESENTATION 8 MARCH 1965
WAS PREPARED BY
OPERATION STARLITE
09:03hrs Eleven Landing Craft, each with
DAVE
SABBEN
but, since it was the build-up as
well as the
34 armed Marines, dropped their ramps on
operation which becameWHO
decisive,
this COPYRIGHT
RETAINS
II a few miles from Da Nang city.
Red Beach
presentation will deal with
ONboth.
CREATIVE CONTENTThe Marines stormed ashore
to be met by a crowd of Vietnamese girls
The operation was originally called Satellite,
handing out garlands of flowers.
but a power blackout led to a clerical error
The heavy weapons arrived shortly later.
and a clerk working by candlelight
typed "Starlite" instead.
Thus started a tradition of even the most
Vietnamese historians mostly mistake the
secret of operational orders being leaked
name of the operation, calling it Anh sang sao
to civilians and the enemy well in advance of
which is a translation of Star Light
the date of the execution
3
at Red Beach II
of those orders

Da Nang Airbase

STILL DAY 1
15 minutes later, they loaded onto trucks
and tracked vehicles and drove to the
airbase. There, they secured the airfield and
flew in 3500 more Marines from Okinawa .
The US Marine Forces will not, repeat
will not, engage in day to day actions
against the Viet Cong.
THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION
WAS PREPARED BYGeneral Westmoreland was already in

DAVE SABBEN
Saigon, in command of all MACV forces

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Assistance Command, Vietnam)
(Military
ON CREATIVE CONTENT
(incl 23,000 advisers). He too expected a
Low Profile Marine deployment.
1 APRIL 1965
However, seeing the benefit of Marines
guarding vital bases, he persuaded
President Johnston to increase the Marine
force to 33,000 to extend protection to the
Top Secret Army Security Agency at
4
Phu Bai, just south of Hue.

BY MID-APRIL
With the experience of frequent probes and
minor attacks on their defended perimeters,
the Marines obtained approval for more
aggressive action. Priority 1 would still be
base defence, but protective recce ops
were approved around bases and with cooperation with ARVN forces if necessary.

Chu Lai

THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION

22 APRIL 1965
WAS PREPARED BY
In their first firefight, the Marines killed 1 VC.
DAVE SABBENThe US shooting war had started.
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ON CREATIVE CONTENT
24 APRIL 1965
President Johnson declares Viet Nam a
designated combat zone for US forces.
More bases would be built - more protective
forces would be required.

Marines land at Chu Lai

CHU LAI to the south of Da Nang was next.

The Marines landed and a new air base was
set up - a new base to defend
5
and to patrol from

END APRIL 1965

All Intelligence indicated that VC and NVA
forces were building up. There were more
frequent and heavier attacks.
Gen Wallace Green, Commandant of the
Marine Corps, visited VN and approved
more perimeter patrols and operations:
you dont defend a place
THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION
by sitting on your ditty box.
WAS
BY
Marble Mountains,
Da PREPARED
Nang
EARLY MAY 1965
DAVE SABBEN
Westmoreland
asked for and got more
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173rd Airborne Arrives

marines to defend and patrol from more
ON CREATIVE CONTENT
bases. 7 May Marines land at Chu Lai.
Marines could now do clearing missions, to
break up suspected enemy concentrations pre-emptive escalation.
3500 men of 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived
at Bien Hoa to protect another huge air
base north of Saigon. ANZAC units
headed by 1 RAR join the Brigade. 6

JUNE 1965
VC and NVA attacks on ARVN units inflicted
defeat after defeat. The ARVN was losing a
battalion a week.
SVN was close to collapse.
Johnson had no choice: send more troops.
10 13 JUNE 1965
A major battle at Dong Xoai about 85Km
Quy Nhon deep seaTHIS
portSLIDE AND PRESENTATION
north of Saigon was a major victory for the
WAS PREPAREDVC
BYand was only saved from disaster by US
air and man power.
DAVE SABBEN
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On 18 JUNE 1965, Air Marshall KY became
ON CREATIVE CONTENT
Premier of the Republic of Viet Nam the 10th government in 20 months.
01 JULY 1965
More Marines landed at Quy Nhon - another
deep sea port. Aggressive patrols the
concept of pure defence was not viable.
Dong Xoai

Johnson gave Westmoreland a green light

to use military resources
7
as he saw fit.

01 JULY 1965
VC sappers penetrate ARVN airfield
defence and destroy two C-130 transports
and a F-102 fighter bomber. Delay in
response was caused by chain of command
HQs in Saigon, Okinawa, Hawaii and
Washington, each one wanting a say.
Responsibility was then delegated forward.
THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION
The real significance of this was:
WAS PREPARED BY (a)press reporting of vulnerability,
DAVE SABBEN(b) Accusations of ARVN complicity,
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Outcome: Marines given a freer hand.
ON CREATIVE CONTENT
Kennedy had advocated special forces
operations to protect and assist villagers
by reform and aid. Marines were doing this
but these ops were slow to return results
and not the Marines style or culture.
When Intelligence predicted imminent VC
and NVA attacks, the Marines were
8
ordered to fight.

03 AUGUST 1965
Operation BLASTOUT I: Marines approached
the village of Cam Ne. By operational reports
the village was hostile. Under fire, they
advanced, finding booby traps, snipers, overt
civilian hostility and non-cooperation.
With 3 dead and 27 wounded, they took and
searched the village, exposing a huge
THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION
network of spider holes and tunnels. The
WAS PREPARED BY
Marines were ordered to burn the village.
DAVE SABBEN
A TV crew on hand filmed the actions.
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ON CREATIVE CONTENT
05 AUGUST 1965
The news report was repeated on TVs
around the world . US Marines were shown
burning peasant dwellings for no apparent
reason. The commentary told of light
opposition and compliant civilians thus
showing the scenes out of context.
Once set up, this became the template
for blatant media bias and error. 9

THE FIRST CONGRESSIONAL

MEDAL OF HONOR (CMH)
In mid-July, the first Viet Nam CMH was
given to Lt Frank REASONER for an action
at DUONG SON on 12 July.
Like the Victoria Cross, the CMH is usually
given against a political imperative.
On 28 July (but announced in August)
THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION
levels of US troops in Viet Nam were raised
WAS PREPARED BY
to 125,000. (ANZAC: 1200)
Offensive operations were approved.
DAVE SABBEN
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15 AUGUST 1965
ON CREATIVE CONTENT
A VC deserter revealed plans for a 1500
man VC/NVA assault on the US airbase at
CHU LAI, some 80 Kms south of Da Nang.
The VC base for the attack was to be VAN
TUONG 12 miles South of CHU LAI.
The Marines were authorized to attack:
Operation STARLITE was the first
US offensive operation of the war. 10

18 AUGUST 1965
OPERATION STARLITE
The Operation was very difficult
from the beginning.
It was a combined
land, sea and air operation.
The VC were in dispersed company
positions over a wide area.
THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION
They were in good defence positions.
WAS PREPARED BY
On attack they withdrew.
They were willing to let targets pass
DAVE SABBEN
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They were willing to initiate a fight then
ON CREATIVE CONTENT
withdraw., drawing their targets into prepared
ambushes.
These were the same tactics the Viet Minh
had used successfully against French.
Both sides claimed success
setting another trend for
the duration of the War.

11

Lessons learned on Starlite were applied

to subsequent Operations:
Battlefield Control,
Combined Arms,
Use of machines in difficult terrain,
The value of reconnaissance,
Importance of minor tactics & field craft,
Co ordination of resources during
multiple simultaneous actions,
THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION
Use of Naval gunfire for ground support,
WAS PREPARED BY
The value of caution in pursuit.

DAVE SABBEN

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to claim success was set:
The trend
ON CREATIVE CONTENT
The VC claimed 919 US casualties against
250 of their own;
The US claimed 45 US KIA (& 120 WIA)
for 614 VC KIA by body-count (& 9 POW).
(Body-count consistently underestimated.
VNs post-war casualty details showed
VC/NVA losses were over 1.5 million total
Allied body-counts were
12
less than 600,000.)

WHAT MAKES THE OCCUPATION

OF DA NANG AND THE PERIOD TO
OPERATION STARLITE DECISIVE?

Johnson, Westmoreland, Theiu, Ky

This presentation has demonstrated the

slow but inevitable progress from the
simple commitment of troops to base
defence into full operational deployment.
It has also shown that theTHIS
nature
of the
war PRESENTATION
SLIDE
AND
and the negativity surrounding itWAS
werePREPARED
there
BY
from the start : DAVE SABBEN
The vulnerability of military operations in
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an environment without front lines;
ON CREATIVE CONTENT
The limitations of a limited war;
The inability to trust the SVN government;
The inability to trust the ARVN;
The inaccuracy and bias of the Media;
The capacity of the VC/NVA to lie about
victory or defeat.
This period changed the conduct of the war
but not its nature.

13

THE

12 DECISIVE BATTLES
OF
THE
THIS SLIDE AND PRESENTATION

THREE INDO-CHINA
WARS
DAVE SABBEN
WAS PREPARED BY

WHO RETAINS COPYRIGHT

ON CREATIVE CONTENT

presented by
DAVE SABBEN MG

02 - Operation Starlite
Questions?

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS SLIDE

THE FINE PRINT
This Powerpoint show is copyright to Dave Sabben but is freely
available for any non-profit use. It may be downloaded free from
Daves website: www.sabben.com
It was prepared for presentation to those who join his Decisive
Battlefields and Long Tan Trek Tours of Viet Nam (see green
panel for the commercial) as introductions for the various
battles.

THE COMMERCIAL
As at 2011, Dave Sabben leads one tour per year (second half of
October) to visit some of the areas of Australian/ANZAC
operations of 1966-1971. The highlight of these tours is to walk
the Long Tan battlefield with Dave (a platoon Commander in that
battle). The walk takes about 4 hours about the time of the
battle so the group goes to all the key locations of the battle and
hears about what happened pretty much in real time.

For further enquiry into these tours, please visit:

Because the shows are live presentations, much more is in the
http://www.sabben.com/longtantrek/
THIS
AND PRESENTATION
narrative than is included in the text
on the SLIDE
slides.
and select VN%20Long%20Tan%20Trek%20Tours.html or
The shows are intended to be introductions and overviews
WAS PREPARED BY
VN%20Decisive%20Battlefields%20Tours.html
not detailed expositions or analyses. Views and conclusions
are the authors and are not offered as the only possible
An optional extension to the Long Tan Trek Tour takes in the main
or even as fully comprehensive views.
US battles of northern South Viet Nam including Da Nang, Hue,

DAVE SABBEN

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the DMZ (including Khe Sanh) and the A Shau Valley (Hamburger
Where possible, permissions have been obtainedON
to use
maps or
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Hill),
then visits both Hanoi (Hanoi Hilton, War Museum) and the
photos but some have been used without specific permission.
Copyright holders who want their material either not used or
credited, please contact Dave Sabben at
http://www.sabben.com/contact%20us.html

Anyone wishing to make an anonymous donation towards the cost and

time of putting this show together is invited to make a donation of any
amount to (Australian) Westpac bank account BSB# 733 000, Account#
853 546 (branch = 360 Collins St, Melbourne), or (Australian) CBA bank
account BSB# 063 550, Account# 1024 7640 (branch = Hampton,
Victoria), either account in the name of David Sabben.

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Dien Bien Phu valley (both Viet Minh and French positions).
As well as the once a-year-in-October tours, Dave can arrange a
similar tour at any time of year for a group of 20 or more. Dates,
durations, standards of accommodation, inclusions etc will be all
your call. Please contact Dave (with numbers and preferences) at
http://www.sabben.com/contact%20us.html
Note that these are battlefield-oriented tours they do NOT go to the
popular tourist sites. Tourist tours can be added before or after.

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please dont remove this slide .