Details

This film was made by the US Department of Defence in 1968 to tell the story of the Battle of Khe Sanh.

A force of some 6,000 US Marines and SOuth Vietnamese Rangers battled North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces number some 20,000 men during January and February, 1968. US aircraft including F-4s, F-100s and F-105s, dropped some 100,000 tons of bombs down on the North Vietnamese, while C-123 Providers and C-103 Hercules flew in medical supplies and food with LAPSE extractions as well as flew out the wounded in medivac services, from an airfield that was right in the middle of the fierce conflict.

Although some 500 servicemen tragically lost their lives in this battle, it is believed that nearly 10,000 enemy soldiers were also killed in the battle.

Historians classify the battle of Khe Sanh as one of the most important battles of the Vietnam War. It is believed that the North Vietnamese and Vietcong used the battle of Khe Sanh as a diversionary tactic to deflect US efforts and attention away from their Tet Offensive, which also was mounted in early 1968.

The Tet Offensive saw a force of 70,000 North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers simultaneously attack some 100 small villages and cities in South Vietnam in an effort to turn the tide of the war in their favour, and overwhelm the US military presence.