~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association Vietnam History Project ~
June 1967 ~ Battalion Time Line
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Last Updated
16 January 2012
18th MP
Brigade
89th MP
Group
720th MP
Battalion
At the start of the year Battalion HQ Detachment and its letter companies were headquartered subordinate to the 18th MP Brigade, 89th MP Group, III Corps Tactical Zone, Bien Hoa Provence, Long Binh Post,  South Vietnam.
1 June
5th US Campaign Begins Vietnamese Counter-offensive Phase III, (1 June 1967 to 29 January 1968).
9 June
Operation BILLINGS
   Elements of C Company, 720th MP Battalion provided direct combat support to the 25th Infantry Division and elements of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Corps Tactical Zone III, at Di An, Phu Loi, Lai Khe, Phuoc Vinh, Long Kahn and Quan Loi from 9 June through 25 June 1967.
 

   The first corps-sized American operation of the war as well as the first major combined US-Army of The Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) operation involving formal planning.

   The Iron Triangle was a 60 square mile area generally bounded by the Saigon and the Thi Thinh Rivers, and the Thanh Dien Forest of Binh Duong Province. The plan had the 25th Infantry Division and the 196th Light Infantry Brigade on the Saigon River to form an anvil. The 1st Infantry Division, the 173 Airborne Brigade , the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment assisted by 720th MP Battalion, plus ARVN units the 1st Airborne Brigade, the 7th and 8th ARVN Regiments from the 5th ARVN Infantry Division and one ranger battalion would then crash through the area from its eastern side, splitting it in two and hammering the enemy against the anvil.

 

   The 9th Viet Cong (VC) Division and the VC Military Region IV Headquarters eluded the sweep which claimed 720 known enemy casualties, 576 VC "ralliers," 3,294 tons of rice, 429 small arms and 18 crew served weapons, ammo and sampans. Air-dropped leaflets advised the civilian population to leave before it was pounded by B-52 bombers for 4 days . During the operation the village of Ben Suc was evacuated.

   U.S. Losses: 282 killed; 1,587 wounded; 3 tanks destroyed; 21 Armored Personnel Carriers destroyed; 12 trucks destroyed; 4 helicopters destroyed; 5 howitzers destroyed; 2-quad 50's and carriers destroyed.
25th Infantry
Division
196th Infantry
Brigade
173rd Airborne
Brigade
1st Infantry
Division

   VC/NVA Losses: 2,728 killed; 34 prisoners; 139 defectors to allied forces in response to 9,768,000 air-dropped leaflets and 102 hours of aerial loudspeaker appeals; 65 suspected VC detained.
25 June
   The C Company elements assigned to Operation BILLINGS completed their mission and returned to Long Binh Post.
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