No Satisfaction: Operation Hump, November 5-8, 1965

“Heavily engaged by overwhelming numbers, 1st Battalion 503rd Infantry, proved the superiority of the American Paratrooper beyond any question or doubt.”—Excerpt from 173rd Brigade’s after-action report.

The 173rd Composite Airborne Brigade was composed of units from the USA, Australia and New Zealand. Following the US intervention in April, the unit was deployed to Đồng Nai Province to protect the Bien Hoa Airbase. The 173rd was a “showcase” unit that embodied what was to have been an international effort to combat the spread of Communism in South Vietnam. From the start the unit was engaged in battles with the National Liberation Front’s 9th Division for control of the province.

In November two battalions, one from the 503rd US Airborne Regiment and another from the Royal Australian Rifles, were deployed to once again “search and destroy” the elusive Viet Cong. The offensive was dubbed Operation Hump, as many of the participants optimistically felt that once this fight was over they would soon be going home. This time, however, the Communists elected to stand and fight as their brethren had done further north earlier at the A Shau Valley. What resulted was one of bloodiest and violent fights to that point in the war, sowing the first doubts among the US and Allied forces that perhaps victory for them was not “just around the corner”... Perhaps you can do as well or better?

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