Rangers ambushed by North Vietnam regulars near Lai Khe base camp (Visnews production number 9964-72)

A battalion of South Vietnamese Rangers, caught in an ambush by North Vietnamese forces only two miles (3.2 km) from Lai Khe Base Camp - headquarters of the South Vietnamese Fifth Division near Saigon - was saved from almost certain annihilation on Tuesday (15 August) when government pilots made a daring counter attack. The Rangers were on patrol, looking for North Vietnam regulars who have been moving south over the Khmer frontier via the Mekong Delta, when they walked right into the trap. The ambush was most unexpected, as Fifth Division soldiers had supposedly swept the area shortly beforehand. It was effective also, and the Rangers found themselves unable to retreat, being pinned in from all sides by intensive North Vietnamese gunfire. Only one way of escape was possible, and that was an airstrike to disperse and destroy the opposition. And this proved a tough assignment for the South Vietnamese Skyraider pilots, who had to drop their bombs with unfailing accuracy to avoid hitting their own troops. The strikes were successful, and gave the Rangers time to retreat in fairly orderly fashion. According to government reports, the casualties amongst the Rangers were mercifully light - only one dead and eight wounded. That Tuesday night the war got even closer to Saigon as giant B-52 bombers pounded suspected North Vietnamese troop concentrations northwest and southwest of the capital, sending massive shockwaves through the city.