Page 305 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

Kontum

A.. GENERAL

Konturn province has rnany tirnes been the scene of big
battles. Even during the First Indochina War, this particular part
of the highland witnessed sorne of the rnost vicious rrar actions that
resulted in the fall of Konturn City to Cornrnunist control a little before
the end of the first Vietnarn conflict.
A little before the signing of the Geneva agreernents
on Vietnarn in July 1954, three rnobile groups under the cornrnand of
Col.onel Nguyen Khanh (GM 1l), Sockell (cM 41) and Jaud (cM 42) were
destroyed in this part of the country. A better understanding of the
situation would be arrived at iJ one knows that these rnobile groups
were elite units with glorious achievernents in the past.
A fourth rnobile group, GM 100, which carne here frorn
Korea also wa6 to be cornpletely destroyed during its retreat frorn
An Khe to Pleiku. lts destruction took place along the Mang Yang pass,
which was to rernain farnous ever since.

Following the withdrawal of t}e French Arrny frorn
Indochina, this very irnportant region carne under control of the First
Vietnarnese Infantry Division. It was thought at the tirne that at
least a division-sized force was needed to keep this part of the coun-
try secure and help with its econornic developrnent.
Many years later, in 1960, C ornrnunist troops again
tried to rnake their presence felt in this area. It wa6 to take the forrn
of a big battle at Dak Rota, that rocked the nation when it took place.
At the tirne, only a battalion was destroyed but the Second Indochina
War had barely started and the developrnent was viewed in Saigon aa
indicating a rnost terrible trend,

Three years later, another battle took place at the
'listrict of Tournorong resulting in heavy darnages to Battalion 1/40
and the death o{ the district chief,

Following the arrival of US troops in Vietnarn, the war
grew rnore intense with such battles as those fought at Con Tien, Loc
Ninh, Phuoc Qua. Konturn again was to aerve as the scene of a rnost
irnportant battle in Novernber 1967. It thia encounter which took place

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