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Operation Hump was a search and destroy operation initiated on 8 November 1965〔 by the 173rd Airborne Brigade, in an area about north of Bien Hoa. The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment〔(Bodies of two Vietnam MIAs may come home – Breaking News – National – Breaking News )〕 deployed south of the Dong Nai River while the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, conducted a helicopter assault on an LZ northwest of the Dong Nai and Song Be Rivers. The objective was to drive out Vietcong fighters who had taken position in several key hills. Little contact was made through 7 November, when B and C Companies settled into a night defensive position southeast of Hill 65, in triple-canopy jungled hill.〔Conetto, Al, "In the Beginning, there was the Hump," ''Vietnam'' magazine, (Jun. 2015):27-33.〕 ==Battle== At about 0600 on the morning of 8 November C Company began a move northwest toward Hill 65, while B Company moved northeast toward Hill 78. Shortly before 0800, C Company was engaged by a sizeable enemy force well dug in to the southern face of Hill 65, armed with machine guns and shotguns. At 0845, B Company was directed to wheel in place and proceed toward Hill 65 with the intention of relieving C Company, often relying on fixed bayonets to repel daring close range attacks by small bands of masked Vietcong fighters.〔Conetto, Al, "In the Beginning, there was the Hump," ''Vietnam'' magazine, (Jun. 2015):27-33.〕 B Company reached the foot of Hill 65 at about 0930 and moved up the hill. It became obvious that there was a large enemy force in place on the hill, C Company was suffering heavy casualties, and by chance, B Company was forcing the enemy's right flank. Under pressure from B Company's flanking attack the enemy force—most of a People's Liberation Armed Forces (Vietcong) regiment—moved to the northwest, whereupon the B Company commander called in air and incendiary artillery fire on the retreating rebels. The shells scorched the foliage and caught many rebel fighters ablaze, exploding their ammunition and grenades they carried. B Company halted in place in an effort to locate and consolidate with C Company's platoons and managed to establish a coherent defensive line running around the hilltop from southeast to northwest, but with little cover on the southern side. Meanwhile, the Vietcong commander realized that his best chance was to close with the US forces so that the 173rd's air and artillery fire could not be effectively employed. Vietcong troops attempted to out-flank the US position atop the hill from both the east and the southwest, moving his troops closer to the Americans. The result was shoulder-to-shoulder attacks up the hillside, hand-to-hand fighting, and isolation of parts of B and C Companies; the Americans held against two such attacks. Although the fighting continued after the second massed attack, it reduced in intensity as the PLAF troops again attempted to disengage and withdraw, scattering into the jungle to throw off the trail of pursuing US snipers. By late afternoon it seemed that contact had been broken, allowing the two companies to prepare a night defensive position and collect their dead and wounded in the center of the position. Although a few of the most seriously wounded were extracted by USAF helicopters using Stokes litters, the triple-canopy jungle prevented the majority from being evacuated until the morning of 9 November.〔Conetto, Al, "In the Beginning, there was the Hump," ''Vietnam'' magazine, (Jun. 2015):27-33.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Hump」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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