Berets Smash NVA Road

NHA TRANG Detachment B-52 (Project Delta) a joint U.S. and Vietnamese Special Forces reconnaissance unit, recently received the Valorous Unit Award for helping smash an NVA attempt to cut a road into the Hue-Phu Bai area.

Lt. Gen William R. Peers, former commanding general, I Field Force Vietnam, presented the award to Project Delta, the most decorated long range patrol unit of the Vietnam War, at a ceremony in the quadrangle of the 5th Special Forces Group Headquarters here.

Project Delta received the award for extraordinary heroism during an operation near the A Shau Valley.

The unit had to locate and interdict a new road system the NVA had developed which left the Hue-Phu Bai area open to an all-out attack supported by enemy armor.

Early in the operation, elements of Project Delta discovered the road extremely well-hidden beneath a stretch of triple canopy jungle leading from the A Shau Valley. They monitored the extensive traffic on this road which ranged from motorcycles to Soviet-built trucks, tanks, and heavy earth-moving equipment.

Then, in a daring daylight raid, elements of Project Delta and the 81st ARVN Airborne Ranger Bn. thrust deep into enemy territory and ambushed a convoy of eight Russian-made cargo trucks. After the initial blow was dealt, helicopter gunships from Deltas air elements, the 281st Assault Helicopter Co., completed destruction of the vehicles and extracted the raiding force.

Having had their own ambush tactics used against them, the NVA greatly curtailed the use of their new road. Soon after Project Deltas successful operation, an Allied operation in the A Shau Valley was launched to complete the denial of this avenue of approach for the enemy.
 

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