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PATROL BASE DIAMOND - Dawn's first light shows sweat, dirt and exhaustion engraved on their faces. Some try to sleep, others stare blankly into the distance. A few talk. A deep weariness prevails over the sweet smell of gunpowder.

Four hours ago an estimated two battalions of North Vietnamese Regulars swept across the Cambodian border and hurled themselves at the Fire Brigade's 2nd Battalion 27th Infantry in this tiny patrol base on a dry open plain. The Wolfhounds fought for their lives and now it shows.

The men of Alpha and Delta Companies killed 198 NVA regulars in a battle they will talk about for years and remember for a lifetime. Twenty five hours ago they dismantled Diamond II and moved it, gun, beam and sandbag to this new position, a job which would normally require three days.

Working swiftly against time the entire battalion carved a defensive position which had to hold. The enemy had attacked on the first night in the previous position and would likely attack again here.

As the guard changed at 0300 movement was detected 800 meters to the southwest of the perimeter. The command post was notified and the first of nearly 2000 rounds of artillery was called in. Gunships from B Company, 25th Aviation Battalion were called in and the battle began .

The mortars started at 0315. It was the most intense mortar attack that I have ever experienced, twice as bad as the attacks on Diamond I and Diamond II," said 1st Lieutenant James J. Sullivan, Chaton, N.J.

Specialist Five Eino Honkala, Vancouver, Wash., reported: "The shells really rained in. It sounded like automatic mortar."

Few were injured as an estimated 500 mortar shells exploded against the overhead cover constructed that afternoon. A lull fell on the battlefield. The NVA had lifted the mortar attack to allow their assault troops to move closer.

Earlier that evening, three listening posts had been established, one to the west, one to the north, and one to the south. Wolfhounds at the western LP took advantage of the lull to break for the patrol base.

They made it. The post to the east suffered several casualties, while the post to the north held, kept low, and had no injuries.

Experienced troopers knew that the time had come to get out of their bunkers and fight from the prepared positions. "Getting out of that bunker," said Specialist Four Paul Gaither of Elkins, No. Carolina, "was one of the hardest things I have ever done. But I kept remembering what could happen if I remained."

The NVA regulars proved themselves creatures of habit as, true to form, they launched the second phase of the attack with a hail of RPG's and small arms fire. The NVA Battalion had moved forward under the mortar fire and were launching their deadly rockets from within 30 meters of the perimeter.

Major Calvin Swenson, Diamond's Commander, from Wilson, No. Carolina, estimated that 400 RPG's struck around the base. Time after time positions took direct hits, but none were knocked out.

The men, fighting outside their bunkers, kept the enemy from getting close enough to accurately fire their weapons. Each bunker had an M-60 machinegun, and many had 90mm recoilless rifles. The Wolfhounds knew how to use them.

As the RPG's rained in, sapper squads closed on the perimeter's defensive wire armed with bangalore torpedoes and AK-47's in a desperate attempt to breech the line. Specialist Four William Baumgardner of Huntington, Pa., recalled: "They blew the wire to the front and right of my position. So we put a lot of fire in that direction. We were ready for them, and they never got inside."

Flare ships and night lighting aircraft circled above illuminating the scene as dust and debris rose from rounds impacting on both sides.

The beleaguered infantrymen were not alone here, last night. All the firepower the Tropic Lightning Division could call on was here in support. Artillery, gunships and air strikes broke the back of the advancing enemy as automatic weapons cut him down in front.

As the fight continued, eight gunships circled overhead constantly spitting their fire onto the plain below. The Air Force came in with jet air strikes on the staging area used by the enemy.

The two 105mm howitzers from C Battery, 1st Battalion Eighth Artillery fired an incredible 300 rounds and, during the height of the battle, lowered their tubes and fired point blank into the charging NVA.

The heavy fighting continued until the rising moon warned the NVA of the coming dawn. They broke contact and, leaving a few behind to continue the fire, retreated to their sanctuary across the border. The fighting subsided shortly before 6:30 a.m.

The gunships have returned to base, the guns are quiet. Patrol Base Diamond III is intact. The men have a right to be exhausted, they have fought hard. Victory does not come easily, or cheaply. Thirteen Americans lost their lives in the battle.

On April 5th and 6th in the second round of battle for the Diamond Patrol bases along the Angel's Wing, two companies of the 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry Wolfhounds wrecked two battalions of the North Vietnamese Army, killing 117.

Soldiering is a profession, and you must be a professional. Know the tools of your profession - weapons and explosives and treat them with respect. Share your knowledge with those you work with, and don't be afraid to ask questions of them. Remember that the next mistake you make could be your last.

Shortly after 1 a.m. April 5, troops detected a small group of people 800 meters from the perimeter. Specialist 5 Harold T. Gillespie of Compton, Calif., said, "They were moving around in one location, and were apparently setting up a mortar position. Other detected groups moving around the base drew artillery fire."

Then, at 1:30 a.m., the enemy began mortaring a listening post 200 meters west of the base's wire. This fire was quickly shifted into the perimeter.

"We got up to look around," said Specialist 4 Kenneth Brink of Laingsburg, Mich., "and the first thing I saw was a whole bunch of enemy soldiers running right at us. It reminded me of an end run going through my position in a football game."

"The NVA had apparently 'been planning on using the cover in the listening post's site to place fire on the perimeter," said Specialist 4 Algher Griffin of Rochester New York. "They were carrying a heavy weapon of some sort. We changed their plans when we opened up on them."

From their vantage point, the Wolfhounds saw the enemy thunder at the perimeter in vain. None reached the wire, deadly rounds fired from leveled howitzers, devastating airstrikes of pinpoint accuracy and fierce small arms fire saw to that.

Five a.m. found the enemy blasted by Wolfhounds and retreating from the coming dawn. "The battle was actually over almost before it get started," 1LT Robert Nebiker of Maywood, N.J., said. The enemy was starting to carry away his dead within ten minutes after the attack started."

Another lieutenant said the biggest problem was the dust raised by the enemy mortars. He reported the Wolfhounds could hardly see the enemy advancing through the dust.

With the coming of full light the Wolfhounds policed up the debris of their victory. Found were 81 Chi-Com grenades, 9 bangalore torpedoes, 34 RPG rounds, 14 RPG launchers and 21 AK assault rifles. The enemy, normally scrupulous about taking his dead from the battlefield, had left behind 81 bodies in his flight.

On April 6th an even more abortive attempt was launched on Patrol base Diamond II, as artillery and gunships killed 36 NVA. They got no closer to the wire than l,200 meters.

CU CHI - Seconds after the first enemy fire slammed into Patrol Base Diamond III, three-minute alert gunship crews of the 25th Aviation Battalion's Bravo Company were sprinting for their aircraft. Responding to the base's 3 a.m. call, the Diamondheads guided their Cobras through gathering overcast toward the action and were quickly directed in to the assistance of the embattled infantry.

They found the scene of the action covered with low clouds and were forced to work down in the cauldron of fire that Patrol Base Diamond III had become. Swooping in by the light of flares flickering eerily on the low clouds, the Diamondheads scourged the attacking NVA with mini-gun and rocket fire. Under direction of the ground commanders, the gunships engaged the enemy right up to the edge of the perimeter.

With the pressure on the infantry eased, the Diamondheads pounced on .51 caliber machine gun positions that had been trying to break up the helicopter attacks. Eight were suppressed with rocket fire. Diamondhead fire teams alternated on station over Diamond III all through the attack. By 5:15 a.m. all the NVA who weren't on the ground were going some place else, and the firing died down. The gunships continued to orbit protectively over the base until 9 a.m.

TAY NINH (25 APR) - Two North Vietnamese Army battalions were torn apart when they attempted to overrun the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Manchus' Patrol Base Frontier City, 16 miles south of here, early this morning.

A tough, combat-hardened infantry company, artillery, and air support killed 213 enemy, smashing the attackers back across the Cambodian border less than a mile from the 25th Division outpost. No Americans were killed, none of the seven GIs wounded were seriously hurt.

It was the fifth time in the last four months NVA forces have been beaten in set-piece battles against Tropic Lightning soldiers, and was one of the most lopsided victories of the war.

A shower of mortars had greeted the Manchus' much-decorated Charlie Company and two 105mm howitzer crews B Battery of the 7th Battalion, 11th Artillery as they arrived at the base site two days ago.

“We were ready for them,” said Major Harry D. Ray Jr. Dillon, Mont., the Manchus' operations officer. “We really had expected them to hit us the first night, in fact.”

Rocket-propelled grenades had flashed in Ray's face all night as he and First Lieutenant Kenneth A. Montoya, Oak Harbor, Wash., an artillery forward observer, crouched atop a 50-foot observation tower, directing the battle.

Private First Class Richard Boeseth, Bergland, Mich., was still shaking his head with disbelief as he praised the two Manchu officers:

“We might have been in trouble if the Major and Lt. Montoya hadn't stayed up there. Even with all that stuff going up at them, they kept calling the artillery and gunships in right on target.”

An ambush patrol, hidden in thick woods 1100 meters from Frontier City, gave the first alert around 2000 hours. Reports of increasing activity on all sides of the patrol base hissed from radios for more than four hours. Then the attack began.

Slicing through the darkness to slam around the Manchus' hastily dug but well-fortified bunkers, the first of 20 107mm rockets hit at 1235 hours. One hundred fifty rocket-propelled grenades and 250 82mm mortar rounds pounded the base before the battle ended.

Scrambling out to their parapets while the first incoming rounds were still exploding around them, the Manchus' 81mm mortar crews hit back, their rounds not only helping to break up the NVA attack but serving as marking rounds for four helicopter gunships from the 25th Aviation Diamondheads and the Centaurs of D Troop of the 3d Squadron, 4th Cavalry, who joined an Air Force Spooky gunship to provide air support.

Staff Sergeant Joseph Kern, a specialist four two months ago was the acting mortar platoon leader, and Ray said he did “a fantastic job.”

Artillery roared in from Tay Ninh base camp, and from every fire support base within range while the two guns from the 7/11 battery lowered to fire more than 400 rounds, all of them at targets within 1000 meters.

When an NVA sapper squad approached the wire at one point, the artillery led a surge of fire power that filled the gap with flying metal.

The Manchus' C Company commander, Captain Ramon T. Pulliam, Chattanooga, Tenn., also responded to the danger of the enemy's breakthrough attempt. Pulliam, a rugged, no-nonsense professional who has successfully led his company through three fiery nighttime battles, went to the bunker line to man an M-60 machinegun as the ground attack reached its peak.

Private First Class Floyd Sinclair, Union, S.C., recalled it this way, “The CO did a great job in keeping everything running smooth, and then when we saw him over that `60', it made us want to fight that much harder.”

The main ground attack lasted about an hour, from 0100 to 0200. From then until 0500, there was sporadic fire, then a heavy quiet that weighed down on the dawn. The Manchus saw enemy bodies scattered around the base's perimeter, as they came out at first light.

When they had built Mole City - what is officially “Sedgwick” is forever “Mole City” to the men who fought there - the battalion's soldiers had been told by their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Leo L. Wilson, Salina Kans., that it must be an especially well-fortified, well-entrenched base.

They had dug, and dug, and used PSP and timbers, and dug some more. It was four months from the founding of Mole to the digging of Frontier City, but more than a few of Charlie Company's men were alive two days ago because they had worked hard and were ready when Mole was hit.

Pulliam, who's not known for saying things he doesn't mean, said: “These men did an outstanding job.”

Ray, describing the fighting as “the most fierce I've ever seen,” called the air and artillery support the base received “tremendous.”

“We had air support on three sides, artillery on the fourth,” Ray said. “We couldn't have had better indirect fire support; we couldn't have been better prepared.”

The battle proved to anyone who had forgotten Mole City that the infiltration routes from Cambodia above the “Angel's Wing” are no longer open, that the Vietnamese who live in that area are no longer at the mercy of the Viet Cong-NVA forces.

“This was just another example of how well U.S. troops react to a crucial situation,” Wilson said. “We have shown to the people of this area our ability to fight and our determination to stay and protect them.”

A month ago Specialist 4 Joseph P. Kern graduated from the lightning Combat Leadership Course and became a Staff Sergeant in a single bound; In Frontier City he took over the mortar platoon like an old pro.

Dubbed the `Mad Manchu' by his troops, Major Harry D. Ray, Jr., coordinated the battle from a large tower and came down grimly satisfied.


		Captain Ramon T. Pulliam, Charlie Co commander, moves to the sound of guns - at a critical point in the defense he manned an M-60 on the perimeter.

TAY NINH - Patrol Base Frontier City, the scene of an impressive U.S. victory over the North Vietnamese, is now history.

Tropic Lightning infantrymen from Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Manchus and two 105mm howitzer gun sections from “Battling Bravo” Battery, 7th Battalion, 11th Field Artillery, pulled out of the small patrol base May 15.

Located sixteen miles south of Tay Ninh on the northern edge of the “Angel's Wing” sector of the South Vietnam-Cambodia border, Frontier City was situated in a key tactical location. Their second night there, the men took on two battalions of enemy troops. Two hundred and thirteen North Vietnamese soldiers lost their lives that night in what was one of the hardest fought battles of the Vietnam War.

Seven other times during their three week-stay, Frontier City was hit with enemy mortars or rockets. No American casualties resulted from any of the attacks. One night Frontier City was surrounded by an estimated North Vietnamese battalion. This time, however, fast artillery fire sent the enemy soldiers fleeing back to their sanctuary.

To the very end, the enemy harassed the men of Frontier City. The morning of the clearance operation, the men rose at 4:00 a.m. to begin the move. Chinook helicopters from the 25th Aviation Battalion's Muleskinners began airlifting everything out. Eighteen sorties were flown in all. At 12:30 p.m. just as one of the last sorties was about to be picked up, mortars began exploding in and around the practically deserted patrol base. Over twenty mortars came in as the enemy harassed Frontier City for the last time.

Artillery fire was called in from nearby Fire Support Base Sedgwick. Cannoneers from Charlie Battery, 7th Battalion, 11th Field Artillery, poured out fast, accurate fire and again silenced the enemy mortar tubes, but not before eleven more North Vietnamese were killed by the fire.

Specialist 4 Daniel E. Scott, a Bravo Battery cannoneer from Bell Gardens, Calif., said, “The memories I have of Frontier City will stay in my mind forever.”

Staff Sergeant Ronald Weers of Louisburg, Kan., who was in charge of the two howitzers that serviced Frontier City, stated, “We definitely taught the enemy a lesson while we were here and proved that effective artillery fire along with the infantry and gunships all working together is an unbeatable combination against enemy ground forces.”

TROPIC LIGHTNING ARTILLERYMEN load 105mm artillery rounds onto a Chinook before departing Patrol Base Frontier City.

FRONTIER CITY FALLS - The NVA couldn't do it. The GI had to. After throwing back attack after attack, Frontier City finally dies.

The battalion, whose motto is “We Fly for the Troops,” was organized in 1957. It earned its first battle streamer in Vietnam.

The youngest of the division's infantry and artillery battalions is the 2d Battalion, 34th Armor, which was organized at Fort Knox, Ky. in 1941. The Dreadnaughts earned two battle streamers during five World War II campaigns, and was assigned to the Tropic Lightning Division in 1957.