Operations Malheur I and Malheur II

Part of the Vietnam War (1967)

Operations Malheur I and Malheur II

Part of Vietnam War

Task Force Oregon Operational Area April - July 1967
| Date| 11 May – 2 August 1967

|

Location|

Quảng Ngãi Province

Result|  US operational success
Belligerents
United States
South Vietnam|  North Vietnam
Viet Cong
Commanders and leaders
Salve H. Matheson
Casualties and losses
81 killed|  US body count 869 killed
314 weapons recovered

* v
* t
* e

Military engagements during the Vietnam War

1959–1963: Guerrilla phase

* Laos
* Biên Hòa
* Đồng Khởi
* Chopper
* Palace Bombing
* Sunrise
* Shufly
* Ấp Bắc
* Go Cong
* Hiep Hoa
* 34A

1964–1965: Viet Cong offensive and American intervention

* Long Dinh
* Kien Long
* Quyet Thang 202
* USNS Card
* Nam Dong
* Gulf of Tonkin
* An Lao
* Binh Gia
* Camp Holloway
* Qui Nhơn
* Highway 19
* Dan Chi 129
* Sông Bé
* Ba Gia
* Dong Xoai
* Starlite
* Piranha
* An Ninh
* Plei Me
* Hump
* Gang Toi
* 1st Bau Bang
* Ia Drang
* Bushmaster II
* Harvest Moon

1966 campaign

* Marauder
* Crimp
* Van Buren
* Masher/White Wing
* Double Eagle
* Mastiff
* Suoi Bong Trang
* New York
* Harrison
* Cocoa Beach
* Utah
* Silver City
* A Sau
* Oregon
* Texas
* Lincoln
* Fillmore
* Jackstay
* Buddhist Uprising
* Xa Cam My
* Georgia
* Birmingham
* Davy Crockett
* Austin IV
* Paul Revere
* Crazy Horse
* El Paso
* Hardihood
* Wahiawa
* Lam Son II
* Hawthorne
* Hill 488
* Nathan Hale
* Jay
* Macon
* Hastings
* Minh Thanh Road
* John Paul Jones
* Prairie
* Colorado
* Duc Co
* Long Tan
* SS Baton Rouge Victory
* Amarillo
* Byrd
* Sunset Beach
* Seward
* Thayer, Irving and Thayer II
* Attleboro
* Deckhouse IV
* Shenandoah
* Atlanta
* Paul Revere IV
* Geronimo
* Tan Son Nhut airbase
* Fairfax
* Firebase Bird

1967 campaign

* Deckhouse V
* Cedar Falls
* Desoto
* Gadsden
* Sam Houston
* Pershing
* Enterprise
* Tra Binh Dong
* Bribie
* Junction City (1st Prek Klok
* 2nd Prek Klok
* Ap Gu
* Suoi Tre
* 2nd Bàu Bàng)
* Francis Marion
* Lejeune
* Union
* Baker
* Manhattan
* The Hill Fights
* Beaver Cage
* Con Thien/DMZ
* Hickory
* Prairie II
* Prairie III
* Prairie IV
* Buffalo
* Kentucky
* Kingfisher
* Crockett
* Malheur I and Malheur II
* Kole Kole
* Barking Sands
* Union II
* Dragnet
* Akron
* Billings
* Concordia
* The Slopes
* Hong Kil Dong
* Diamond Head
* Coronado
* Coronado II
* Hood River
* Suoi Chau Pha
* Benton
* Coronado IV
* Swift
* Dragon Fire
* Wheeler/Wallowa
* Coronado V
* Kunia
* Bolling
* Medina
* Shenandoah II
* Ong Thanh
* 1st Loc Ninh
* MacArthur
* Dak To
* Osceola
* Lancaster
* Coronado IX
* Neosho
* Santa Fe
* Essex
* Kien Giang 9-1
* Napoleon
* Phoenix
* Manchester
* Saratoga
* Yellowstone
* Muscatine
* Badger Tooth
* Auburn

1968–1969: Tet Offensive and aftermath

* New Year's Day battle of 1968
* McLain
* Khe Sanh
* Ban Houei Sane
* Lang Vei
* Coronado X
* Tet Offensive
* Da Nang
* US Embassy
* Cholon and Phu Tho Racetrack
* Tan Son Nhut Air Base
* Joint General Staff Compound
* Bien Hoa and Long Binh
* Hue
* Quảng Trị
* Bến Tre
* Coburg
* Lo Giang
* Hop Tac I
* Coronado XI
* Houston
* Patrick
* Tam Kỳ
* Truong Cong Dinh
* Lima Site 85
* Quyet Thang
* My Lai massacre
* Walker
* Carentan
* Pegasus
* Cochise Green
* Toan Thang I
* Burlington Trail
* Scotland II
* Delaware
* Allen Brook
* May Offensive
* Dai Do
* West Saigon
* Landing Zone Center
* An Bao
* South Saigon
* Concordia Square
* Kham Duc
* Coral–Balmoral
* Jeb Stuart III
* Nevada Eagle
* Mameluke Thrust
* Toan Thang II
* Robin
* Binh An
* Thor
* Pocahontas Forest
* Quyet Chien
* Somerset Plain
* Phase III Offensive
* Duc Lap
* Champaign Grove
* Vinh Loc
* Thượng Đức
* Maui Peak
* Henderson Hill
* Sheridan Sabre
* Meade River
* Hat Dich
* Speedy Express
* Taylor Common
* Fayette Canyon

1969–1971: Vietnamization

* DMZ Campaign (1969–1971)
* Bold Mariner
* Dewey Canyon
* Toan Thang III
* 2nd Tet
* Iron Mountain
* Massachusetts Striker
* Wayne Grey
* Purple Martin
* Ben Het
* Maine Crag
* Atlas Wedge
* Frederick Hill
* Geneva Park
* Montana Mauler
* Oklahoma Hills
* Washington Green
* Virginia Ridge
* Apache Snow
* Hamburger Hill
* Lamar Plain
* Pipestone Canyon
* Binh Ba
* Montgomery Rendezvous
* Utah Mesa
* Campbell Streamer
* Idaho Canyon
* Nantucket Beach
* Fulton Square
* LZ Kate
* Toan Thang IV
* Randolph Glen
* Green River
* Texas Star
* FSB Ripcord
* Cambodian campaign
* Pennsylvania Square
* Clinch Valley
* Elk Canyon
* Pickens Forest
* Wolfe Mountain
* Chicago Peak
* Firebase O'Reilly
* Chenla I
* Imperial Lake
* Jefferson Glenn
* Tailwind
* Son Tay Raid
* Cuu Long 44-02
* Toan Thang 1/71
* Snuol
* Lam Son 719
* Finney Hill
* Middlesex Peak
* FSB Mary Ann
* Caroline Hill
* Long Khánh
* Chenla II
* Nui Le

1972: Easter Offensive

* Easter Offensive
* Cambodia and Mekong Delta
* 1st Quang Trị
* Loc Ninh
* An Lộc
* Mỹ Chánh Line
* Kontum
* Thunderhead
* 2nd Quang Trị
* The Vinh wiretap

1973–1974: Post-Paris Peace Accords

* War of the flags
* Cửa Việt
* Hồng Ngự
* Tong Le Chon
* Trung Nghia
* Ap Da Bien
* Quang Duc
* Tri Phap
* Svay Rieng
* Iron Triangle
* Duc Duc
* Thượng Đức
* Phú Lộc
* Phước Long

1975: Spring offensive

* Spring offensive
* Ban Me Thuot
* Hue–Da Nang
* Phan Rang
* Xuân Lộc
* Fall of Phnom Penh
* Fall of Saigon

* * *

Air operations

* Farm Gate
* Chopper
* Ranch Hand
* Pierce Arrow
* Barrel Roll
* Pony Express
* Flaming Dart
* Iron Hand
* Rolling Thunder
* Steel Tiger
* Arc Light
* Combat Skyspot
* Tiger Hound
* Shed Light
* Thanh Hoa
* Bolo
* Popeye
* Yen Vien
* Niagara
* Igloo White
* Commando Hunt
* Giant Lance
* Menu
* Patio
* Freedom Deal
* Proud Deep Alpha
* Linebacker I
* Enhance Plus
* Linebacker II
* Homecoming
* Tan Son Nhut Air Base
* Babylift
* New Life
* Eagle Pull
* Frequent Wind

Naval operations

* Yankee & Dixie stations
* Gulf of Tonkin
* Market Time
* Vung Ro Bay
* Game Warden
* Double Eagle
* Stable Door
* PIRAZ
* Sea Dragon
* Deckhouse Five
* Bo De River, Nha Trang, Tha Cau River
* Sealords
* Đồng Hới
* Pocket Money
* Custom Tailor
* End Sweep
* Paracel Islands
* East Sea
* Mayaguez incident

Lists of allied operations

* 1964
* 1965
* 1966
* 1967
* 1968
* 1969
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973–74
* 1975

Operation Malheur I and Operation Malheur II were a series of search and destroy operations conducted by the 1st Brigade 101st Airborne Division operating as part of Task Force Oregon in Quảng Ngãi Province, South Vietnam.[1]

## Operation Malheur I

[edit]

On 29 April, COMUSMACV General William Westmoreland ordered the 1st Brigade commanded by Brigadier General Salve H. Matheson to immediately join Task Force Oregon in I Corps. In early May the brigade put ashore at Razorback Beach in southern Quảng Ngai, established a base named Carentan, and prepared for action against the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN)/Viet Cong (VC)'s inland base areas-numbered 122, 123 and 124 which ran from north to south through the mountainous jungle overlooking the Ve and Tra Cau River Valleys. On 11 May, the 1st Brigade moved into the interior looking for the 1st and 2nd Regiments, both of which were thought to lurk there. Two of the three battalions conducted air assaults into the western part of Base Area 124, a tangle of tree-clad low hills overlooking the coastal plain. Resistance was light. The next morning Matheson committed his remaining battalion to a blocking position on high ground in the eastern part of the base area and ordered the other two battalions to sweep toward it. Encountering little opposition in the days that followed, Matheson decentralized his operations and conducted a more rigorous search. Matheson allowed each battalion commander to work his operational area as he saw fit, insisting only that companies operate within a two-hour march of each other. Most units kept constantly on the move and traveled with three to five days' worth of supplies, so the PAVN/VC would be less likely to pinpoint their location by observing resupply helicopters. Companies split into platoons for wider coverage of a search area, but remained close enough to reassemble quickly if they ran into a sizable force. These tactics often paid off. On 13 May, near the Tra Cau's headwaters, 12 separate firefights occurred, the largest against an entrenched VC company. By nightfall, the Americans had killed 29 VC at a cost of 1 American killed and 7 wounded, but the outcome was not always so one-sided. On 18 May Company B, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, moved well inside a large VC camp before realizing that the occupants had not yet fled. Confusion reigned during the firefight, and the Americans realized they were too close to their enemy to call in artillery or helicopter gunships. For six hours they fought, sometimes hand to hand, until reinforcements arrived and the VC pulled back. Left on the battlefield were 31 VC dead, while American casualties were 12 killed and 41 wounded. Matheson's men completed their scouring of Base Area 124 in early June, reporting that they had killed or captured over 400 VC, seized 125 weapons, and razed several base camps.[2]: 236–8 [1]

## Operation Malheur II

[edit]

Task Force Oregon commander General William B. Rosson then ordered Matheson to shift his attention slightly north, to Base Areas 123 and 122. Both were more mountainous than 124 and were often drenched by cloudbursts leftover from storms brewing around the inland peaks near the Laotian border. If Matheson failed to find VC there, he was to assist the Quảng Ngãi province chief with the evacuation of all civilians from the Ve and Tra Cau Valleys. Whatever their political loyalties, these civilians had provided food and recruits for the VC. Matheson sent two battalions into Base Area 123 on 8 June and another into 122 the following day. While the first day's fighting ended with 22 VC killed, it was apparent to the Americans that the VC were trying to avoid contact. With few enemy units to be found, Matheson turned to evacuating civilians. For two weeks trucks and helicopters moved over 7,000 people and 1,200 head of cattle to refugee centers in Đức Phổ and Nghĩa Hành Districts. When the operation ended in late June, the valleys had been laid waste by combat and herbicides, while several hundred tons of rice and salt were either destroyed or airlifted to refugee centers. In July, believing that the VC were re-forming in Base Area 124, the airborne brigade returned south. A week of searching, however, uncovered only small enemy units. Documents and prisoners revealed that both the 1st and 2nd Regiments had lost several commanders and that illness, desertions and heavy casualties had greatly diminished their effectiveness. When Matheson received a report in mid-July that the two units were converging on Base Area 123 to form a single combat-effective regiment, he called in B-52s. On the heels of the bombing, all three of his battalions air-assaulted back into the region, which they again swept clean through the rest of the month. Yet, once again, the VC evaded, though American sweeps killed over 100 VC, including a VC district chief and his aides.[2]: 238–9 [1]

## Aftermath

[edit]

When the operations closed, the 1st Brigade reported 869 VC and PAVN killed and 314 weapons captured, for the loss of 81 US killed.[1] The United States Agency for International Development reported 6,400 civilian casualties in the province for 1967 throughout the year, though obviously not all of these could be attributed to the Malheur operations or even to American military action.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "Combat After Action – Operation Malheur, conducted by 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division" (PDF). Department of the Army, Office of the Adjutant General. 3 October 1967. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2012. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. ^ a b MacGarrigle, George (1998). Combat Operations: Taking the Offensive, October 1966 to October 1967. United States Army Center of Military History. ISBN 9780160495403. Archived from the original on November 8, 2010. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

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