On 2nd January 1963, a major battle took place between the South Vietnamese Army, supported by US transport helicopters, and the Viet Cong at Ap Bac, in what was then the Republic of Vietnam’s province of Dinh Tuong.
In late December 1962, American intelligence detected the presence of a group of at least 120 guerrillas of the People’s Liberation Armed Forces’ 261st Battalion gathered in the hamlet of Ap Than Thoi. The ARVN’s American advisers devised a three prong attack plan under which the South Vietnamese 7th Infantry Division and the province’s Civil Guard battalion, supported by armoured personnel carriers, would surround and destroy the Communist force. However the VC, alerted by their own spy network within the South Vietnamese authorities, had learned of the planned attack and had readied themselves for it. Therefore when the Civil Guards launched the assault, they soon found themselves pinned down by fire from PLAF soldiers entrenched around the village of Ap Bac. ARVN infantry who joined the battle in support of the Guards found themselves similarly pinned down. Reinforcements were called in, arriving in US transport helicopters, only to be met by a hail of concentrated Communist small arms fire, which resulted in the destruction of five of the transports. Despite the further deployment of the APCs and South Vietnamese Airborne troops, the VC held their ground against an ARVN force now grown to over 1400 men. The guerrillas broke off the engagement overnight and withdrew from Ap Bac, having inflicted over 190 casualties, including three American helicopter crewmen killed.