Operation Hong Kil Dong
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| Operation Hong Kil Dong | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Vietnam War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 South Korea |
 North Vietnam Viet Cong | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Lt. Gen.Chae Myung Shin | Unknown | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
Capital Division 9th Infantry Division |
5th Division 85th Regiment 95th Regiment | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 27 killed |
Korean body count claim: 638 killed 88 captured[1] 359 individual and 98 crew-served weapons recovered | ||||||
| 20,000 civilians displaced, reportedly high civilian casualties | |||||||
Operation Hong Kil Dong (홍길동작전) was the largest South Korean operation of the Vietnam War.[2] The 48-day-long operation was claimed by South Korea as a major success as they claimed to have thwarted People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN)/Viet Cong (VC) infiltration into friendly areas. The results of the operation were a claim of a kill ratio of 24:1 in the Korean's report primarily killed by heavy artillery, aerial bombardment and B-52 Arclight strikes with 638 PAVN/VC. 98 crew-served and 359 individual weapons were found in the aftermath.[3]
In June 1967, a rested and refitted PAVN 95th Regiment, 5th Division left its base area for the coast, attacking South Vietnamese and Korean forces not far from Tuy Hòa in Phu Yen province. The 95th Regiment's traditional redoubt was an area known as the "Hub", northwest of Tuy Hoa. In November 1966 US areas had attacked the area in Operation Geronimo with good results.[4]: 311–3
Operation
Lieutenant general Chae Myung Shin vacillated before deciding to strike back. Leaving some 60% of his forces on the plains for security, the operation began on 9 July when four battalions of the Capital Division deployed south of Dong Tre to attack southeast, and three battalions of 9th Division staged at Cung Son to assault northeast. While the Korean troops moved out, B-52s blanketed the target, and two battalions from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam 47th Regiment, 22nd Division, manned blocking positions to the east, on the fringes of the populated coast. On the first day the Koreans encountered a few of the enemy, but resistance was slight and easily handled. Pressing forward methodically, no more than one or two kilometers a day, the Koreans trapped several enemy companies in small base camps and caves, claiming over 500 PAVN dead by 25 July. All seven battalions then swept east through the Hub, meeting strong resistance at first and then almost nothing in the two weeks that followed. The first phase of the offensive end ed with the troops eliminating bypassed pockets of PAVN.[4]: 313
On 12 August the second phase began with the two divisions conducting separate offensives. In the north, the four battalions of the Capital Division moved northwest into the Ky Lo Valley, searching for the headquarters of the 5th Division. The drive ended on the morning of the 25th, when they reached the Phu Yen-Phú Bổn province border without locating either the headquarters or any of the 5th division's rear service units and installations. Meanwhile, the 9th Division sent three battalions into a base area along the Phu Yen-Khánh Hòa province border. But they too were unsuccessful, finding no trace of their target, the PAVN 188th Regiment.[4]: 313
