The Vietnam War has become one of the largest conflicts of the 20th century. It officially lasted from 1955 to 1975, culminating in the fall of Saigon. Also known as the Second Indochina War. In the period from 1965 to 1973, American troops actively participated in the war, organizing a full-scale military intervention in the conflict.
In total, almost 3.2 million American soldiers passed through Vietnam during this time. In 1968, at the height of the conflict, there were 540,000 American troops in the country. In this war, the United States lost more than 58 thousand people killed and missing, and more than 303 thousand received various injuries. 64 percent of Americans killed in the war were under the age of 21.
In American society, the war was not popular and gave rise to a powerful anti-war movement within the country. The war was especially unpopular among young people. In October 1967 alone, up to 100 thousand young people gathered in Washington who were opposed to the continuation of the Vietnam war.
The war left unhealed scars in American society, and its unpopularity contributed to the fact that many individuals and entire divisions were forgotten and practically unknown to the common man today.
One of these units was the special operations unit MACV-SOG. Meanwhile, it was one of the most secret and elite units in the entire American armed forces of those years.
The emergence and number of MACV-SOG
MACV-SOG stands for Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group. Literally from English, this can be translated as "Command for the provision of military assistance to Vietnam - research and observation group."
In fact, this special unit, formed on January 24, 1964, was a top-secret unit of the American special forces.
The unit was created to carry out special operations in various countries of Indochina. Fighters MACV-SOG operated in South and North Vietnam, in Laos, Cambodia, Burma and even in the border areas of China. The importance of this unit is evidenced by the fact that the final tasks for it were approved at the level of the White House or the Department of State. Also, MACV-SOG fighters were used in missions initiated by the CIA.
To assess the elitism of a unit, it is enough to talk about its size. For eight years of participation in hostilities from 1964 to 1972, a little more than two thousand American special forces served as part of the special forces, of which only about 400-600 people participated in direct action operations.
For comparison: the total number of Americans who served in Vietnam during the war years is estimated at about 3.2 million people, of which about 20 thousand were "green berets", of which the MACV-SOG special forces were largely recruited. The composition of the secret special forces was recruited exclusively from special forces soldiers and only on a voluntary basis.
In addition to the Americans, in 1966 the MACV-SOG included about 8 thousand Vietnamese and local residents of other nationalities. Indigenous support was vital for cross-border operations.
Special forces from the MACV-SOG carried out strategic reconnaissance and conducted operations in the territory of the Republic of Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Among other things, they were engaged in the search and rescue of downed American pilots, training agents among the rebels, reconnaissance operations, attacks and sabotage behind enemy lines, propaganda and psychological warfare. During the eight years of their stay in Vietnam, the special forces of the secret unit managed to take part in all major operations of the Vietnam War.
Interesting facts about the special forces MACV-SOG
The main field of combat work of the MACV-SOG fighters was the famous Ho Chi Minh trail. The problem was that this path went through the territory of formally neutral states, including Laos and Cambodia. The operations carried out by the MACV-SOG fighters were carried out precisely in those areas where American troops were not supposed to be. The US administrations have replaced one another, but claims that the US military does not operate outside South Vietnam remained unchanged.
For this reason, the special forces from the MACV-SOG did not wear any name tags, ranks, insignia or insignia on their uniforms that would help identify them as American military personnel. Even the weapons of the fighters of this secret special forces did not have serial numbers. In total, up to the moment of its disbandment on April 30, 1972, the unit managed to carry out approximately 2, 6 thousand cross-border operations.
A feature of the unit was the great involvement of the indigenous population, who knew the area well and could act as guides. As we have already noted, at the peak in the MACV-SOG units, up to 8 thousand Vietnamese and representatives of other local peoples, tribes and ethnic groups who were dissatisfied with the communists served.
They made up the majority of the intelligence groups involved in cross-border operations. Typically, such groups consisted of 2-4 Americans and 4-9 local residents. Their skills, abilities, knowledge of the terrain played a huge role in reconnaissance exits.
Some MACV-SOG fighters believed they possessed supernatural powers - a sixth sense that allowed them to detect danger. There was nothing supernatural, of course, in their actions. They just grew up and spent most of their lives in the area and in the environment in which they had to act.
The statistics of the losses of the soldiers of the top-secret unit looks curious. As noted in the American media, SOG had a 100 percent loss rate. This means that all the fighters who took part in direct action operations were either wounded (some many times) or died.
Most often, reconnaissance groups were small enough, but for raids and ambushes they could combine into larger units. Typically, such units were the size of a rifle platoon and could include up to 5 American soldiers and 30 local military personnel. Sometimes several of these units would join together to form a company-sized unit. In this composition, the special forces could effectively act against the identified headquarters and logistics centers of the enemy.
Before completing the mission, special forces from the SOG groups went through a special quarantine. For a certain time, the fighters ate the same food as their opponent from North Vietnam. These were mainly rice and fish. Today it may seem extravagant, but the special forces did everything to ensure that the smell of soldiers and even the products of their vital activity did not stand out in the jungle, where the special forces were operating surrounded by enemies many times outnumbering them.
Special forces MACV-SOG used "air cavalry"
Helicopters have become one of the symbols of the Vietnam War. Rotary-wing aircraft can be found in a huge number of photographs, videos from the conflict zone, they are widely represented in numerous films. The commandos of even the most secret American units could not do without the support of helicopters. Attack helicopters were often used to send reconnaissance groups behind enemy lines.
Several air squadrons, including those from the South Vietnamese army, provided decisive support to the reconnaissance operations of MACV-SOG. So, together with the special forces, fighters from the 20th Special Operations Squadron of the US Air Force, which was known as the "Green Hornets", actively worked. The squadron flew Sikorsky CH-3C and CH-3E and Bell UH-1F / P Huey helicopters.
The pilot of this squadron, Senior Lieutenant James P. Fleming, was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest American military award, for rescuing one of the SOG reconnaissance groups in 1968. To understand the contribution of the pilots, it is worth noting that in just 8 years, only six fighters from the MACV-SOG were awarded the Medal of Honor.
The helicopters used by the Green Hornets squadron were armed with 7.62mm M-60 machine guns, 7.62mm GAU-2B / A multi-barreled machine guns, including containerized ones, and unguided aircraft missiles. At the same time, when ammunition was exhausted (and such situations arose), pilots and weapons operators could switch to fire from personal weapons - assault rifles, as well as dropping conventional fragmentation grenades from helicopters.
From the South Vietnamese Air Force, the 219th Squadron, which flew the not the most modern, but rather reliable, H-34 Kingbees helicopters, worked closely with the MACV-SOG special forces. The silhouette of this helicopter is usually not associated with the Vietnam War in the minds of the average person, but it remains very recognizable.
The operations carried out by MACV-SOG were practically unparalleled in the US military and special operations forces in terms of risk and effectiveness. The study of the experience of their combat use in the eight-year period of the war from 1964 to 1972 became an incentive for the further development of such units in the United States and laid the seedlings from which the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) would later grow.
