33rd Regiment (Vietnam People's Army)

33rd Regiment
Allegiance  North Vietnam
Branch North Vietnamese Army
Role Infantry

The VPA 33rd Regiment was a Vietnam People's Army regiment that served during the Vietnam War.

History

The regiment or elements participated in the famous battles of Ia Drang and Plei Me in the Central Highlands in 1965 against US forces, attacked Buon Me Thuot during the 1968 Tet Offensive,[1] and fought against Australian forces in Phuoc Tuy Province at Binh Ba, Long Khanh and Nui Le, as well as a number of other actions.[2][3] In the South, the 33rd Regiment was subordinate to the 304th Division/B3 Front in the Central Highlands, and later under Military Region 7 and the 5th Division in Bien Hoa, Long Khanh, and Phuoc Tuy Province, and its strength averaged about 1,300 men.

A 33rd Regiment memorial near Binh Ba lists 2,100 killed in the war,[4][Note 1] out of an estimated 4,000 Vietnamese killed in two provinces occupied by Australian troops from 1966 to 1972.[6] Dr Bob Hall, a former infantry officer and Vietnam veteran who heads Operation Wandering Souls that aims to identify all Vietnamese soldiers killed in clashes with Australian forces, has so far identified 3,009 burial sites and has passed on the names of over 600 Vietnamese soldiers believed to be buried there.[7]

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ↑ In fact the 33rd Regiment history published in mid-2016 lists 3,050 of its soldiers killed in the South, and a further 500 killed in Cambodia after 1975.[5]

Citations

References

  • Chamberlain, Ernest (2016). The 33rd Regiment - North Vietnamese Army: Their History (1965–1989): (including the battles of Binh Ba - 1969 and Nui Le - 1971). Point Lonsdale, Victoria: Ernest Chamberlain. ISBN 9780975035061.
  • Coulthard-Clark, Chris (2001). The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles (Second ed.). Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-634-7.
  • Odgers, George (1999). 100 Years of Australians at War. Sydney: Lansdowne. ISBN 1-86302-669-X.

Further reading

  • Chamberlain, Ernest (2014). The 33rd Regiment, North Vietnamese Army: Their Story: (and the Battle of Binh Ba - June 1969). Point Lonsdale, Victoria: Ernest Chamberlain. ISBN 9780975035054.
  • Ekins, Ashley; McNeill, Ian (2012). Fighting to the Finish: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1968–1975. The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975. Volume Nine. St Leonards, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865088242.
  • Taylor, Jerry (2001). Last Out: 4 RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion's Second Tour in Vietnam. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865085618.
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