US Paratrooper - US Airborne - United States Army
Operation Junction City - Original Subdued Patch
Patch - 75th Infantry Regiment
Measures - 3.6 x 2 inches (9 x 5 cms)
173rd Airborne Brigade - United States Army
Elite Airborne Paratroopers - Operation Junction City
Operation Junction City
OperationJunction City was an 82-day military operation conducted by United States and ARVNforces.
The Operationcommenced on 22 February 1967.
It was thelargest U.S. airborne operation since Operation Varsity in March 1945, the onlymajor airborne operation of the Vietnam War, and one of the largest U.S.operations of the war.
The operationwas named after Junction City, Kansas, home of the operation\'s commandingofficer.
The stated aimof the almost three-month engagement involving the equivalent of nearly threedivisions of U.S. troops was to locate the elusive \'headquarters\' of theCommunist uprising in South Vietnam, the Central Office of South Vietnam(COSVN).
By someaccounts of U.S. analysts at the time, such a headquarters was believed to bealmost a \"mini-Pentagon,\" complete with typists, file cabinets, andstaff workers possibly guarded by layers of bureaucracy. In truth, after theend of the war, the actual headquarters was revealed by Viet Cong (VC) archivesto be a small and mobile group of people, often sheltering in ad hoc facilitiesand at one point escaping an errant bombing by some hundreds of meters.
JunctionCity\'s grand tactical plan was a \"hammer and anvil\" tactic, whereuponairborne forces would \"flush out\" the VC headquarters, sending themto retreat against a prepared \"anvil\" of other forces.
The U.S.forces included most of the 1st Infantry Division and the 25th Infantry Divisionincluding the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, the airborne troops of the 173rdAirborne Brigade and large armored elements of the 11th Armored CavalryRegiment (11th ACR).
Although theobjective of the Operation was never achieved it was still considered a successby Allied Forces.
Results of thebattle as claimed by US Forces was - Allied Forces sustained, 282 killed, 1576wounded,3 tanks destroyed, 21 AFVs destroyed, 5 howitzers destroyed and 11trucks destroyed.
The Viet Congclaimed considerably different results of, 13,500 U.S./ARVN Killed or Wounded, 800armored vehicles destroyed, 119 howitzers destroyed.
The Viet Congreleased no figures on their own losses with the US claiming they had killedmore that 2,700 Viet Cong.
Both the VietCong and the United States claimed Operation Junction City as a Victory.
The Viet Congadopted the name Operation Junction City for their part in the battle (The onlytime they did this during the war and in April 1967 awarded a Badge toparticipants of the campaign, the only badge they ever issued in English. Thebadge is bannered across the top ‘Chien Thang’ – Triumph.)
