Battle of Ong Thanh 1967
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 17 October 1967 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1967 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | Vietnam | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Vietnam War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 11.3730, 106.5430 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Ong Thanh was fought at the stream of that name (Ông Thành) on the morning of 17 October 1967, in Chơn Thành District, at the time part of Bình Dương Province, South Vietnam, today in Bình Phước Province.
During the first few months of 1967 the Viet Cong (VC) absorbed heavy losses as a result of large-scale search and destroy missions conducted by the United States Army. This prompted North Vietnamese leaders to review their war strategy in South Vietnam. In light of the setbacks which People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and VC forces had experienced in early 1967, PAVN General Trần Văn Trà suggested PAVN and VC forces could still be victorious if they inflicted as many casualties as possible on U.S. military units, hoping that the Americans would conclude that the war was too costly and withdraw from Vietnam. Thus, towards mid-1967 the VC 7th and 9th Divisions returned to the battlefield with the objective of inflicting casualties on U.S. military formations in III Corps. On 12 June the U.S. 1st Infantry Division launched Operation Billings to destroy elements of the VC 9th Division, which had built up strength north of Phước Vĩnh Base Camp in War Zone D.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Ong Thanh (revision 1370736221), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Ap Bau Bang 1965 · 21 km
- Battle of Tong Le Chon 1974 · 25 km
- Battle of Suoi Bong Trang 1966 · 26 km
- Battle of the Iron Triangle 1974 · 27 km
- New Year's Day battle of 1968 1968 · 30 km
- Battle of Loc Ninh 1972 · 30 km
Other battles of the Vietnam War
- Siege of Plei Me 1965
- Battle of A Sau 1966
- Battle of Long Tan 1966
- Battle of Suoi Bong Trang 1966
- Operation Crimp 1966
- Battle of Suoi Chau Pha 1967
- Battle of Tam Quan 1967
- Operation Bribie 1967
- Battle of An Bao 1968
- Battle of Ban Houei Sane 1968
All 54 battles of the Vietnam War →
Browse more: battles in Vietnam · Asia · Post-1945 battles