In my books of the “Advisor Series” I often talk about two Cambodian areas that bordered my Kiên Tường province in Vietnam, the Parrot’s Beak and the Crow’s Nest. The Parrot’s Beak was the northernmost portion of the border between, Kiên Tường, and the Cambodian border. The Crow’s Nest constituted the northwestern border of our province and the key boundary between US III and IV Corps. Both were key Cambodian border sanctuaries used by the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Việt Cộng (VC) for logistics, staging, and cross‑border operations, and they were central targets in U.S. and ARVN campaigns in 1970. Throughout both of my assignments both as the district intelligence officer for Kien Bhin (Kien Bing in my books) and as the province senior intelligence advisor at Moc Hoa (Moc Loi in my books) the capital of Kiên Tường (Kien Song in my books) Province These were intense areas a concern. Both represented major infiltration routes into my province. As a result, we were constantly attempting to locate their actual routs and improvised methods of stopping infiltration.
Over the years the Việt Cộng and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) had developed extensive infiltration routes out of these two areas of Cambodia and into the Mekong delta. They had established a major base area, Base Area 470, in the southeastern corner of our district. This base area contained hospitals supply depots, and rest areas for troops who had successfully evaded our operations. From the base area they would infiltrate further into the Mekong delta. Base Area 470 was also a major political refuge for the Việt Cộng Infrastructure (VCI). Many of their ranking political officials lived in this protected area and from there would infiltrate into the villages to distribute propaganda and be prepared to lead in various governmental roles with the collapse of the Saigon government.
Base Area 470 had been established by the Việt Minh during the French Indochina wars. It was a well-established area with many bunkers and protected areas. We often operated on the fringes of the base area, but it was well defended and heavily mined and a difficult area to get into to actually do any major damage there. It was known that the area was protected by 51-caliber machine guns and other anti-aircraft devices that had been smuggled across the border to protect the Base Area from American and Vietnamese attacks. It was always a thorn in our side, although fortunately for us we were out of range of any of their artillery or mortar fire from the Base Area directly.
The Parrot’s Beak was a salient of Svay Rieng Province, southeast Cambodia, jutting into Vietnam’s Hậu Nghĩa and Kiên Tường provinces about 65 km northwest of Saigon. During the Vietnam War it became a major PAVN/VC base and rest area and one of the terminus points of the Hồ Chí Minh Trail/Sihanouk Trail. PAVN established Base Areas 367 and 706 there. Its strategic value lay in its proximity to South Vietnam’s capital and its role in moving troops, supplies, and communications across the border. In April 30, 1970, U.S. and ARVN forces attacked it during the Cambodian Incursion as part of Operation Toan Thang 42. The goal was to destroy these bases and disrupt PAVN logistics.
The Crow’s Nest (also called the “Crow’s Nest area”) was another Cambodian border region, located in the Cambodian Battambang province near the Vietnamese border. It was also a PAVN/VC base area and a staging point for cross‑border operations, part of the broader network of sanctuaries used to support the war in South Vietnam. In the first book of my series, The Advisor, I talk about the attack on Long Khot (Long Thiu in my book). On December 3,1969 the District headquarters at Long Khot, situated about 600 meters from the Cambodian border was attacked by approximately 900 men of the 504th VC Battalion and four companies of the 8th and 9th Battalions, 88th NVA Regiment. They crossed the border behind a barrage of mortar and rocket fire. A quick, easy victory over a small Republic of Vietnam territorial force was anticipated.
The action was not quick, it was not easy and it was certainly not a victory. Hours later, the confused and defeated attackers were fleeing back over the Cambodian border in disorder leaving one hundred and sixty of their dead on the battlefield at Long Khot.
During the 1970 Cambodian campaign, the Crow’s Nest was targeted in Operation Cuu Long/Toan Thang 41. Like the Parrot’s Beak, it provided a secure location for PAVN forces to rest, resupply, and launch attacks into South Vietnam.
Both areas were logistical hubs for the PAVN and Việt Cộng, enabling them to freely move troops and supplies along the Hồ Chí Minh Trail. They served as a staging area for cross‑border raids into South Vietnam and provided them secure bases for political and military operations.
For U.S. and ARVN forces, they represented critical targets in the 1970 Cambodian campaign, aimed at disrupting PAVN supply lines, destroying the Central Office for South Vietnam (COSVN) headquarters and reducing the cross‑border threat.
COSVN was officially known as the Central Executive Committee of the People’s Revolutionary Party from 1962 until its dissolution in 1976. It was the American term for the North Vietnamese political and military headquarters inside South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was envisaged as being in overall command of the communist effort in Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), encompassing the efforts of both the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN, or NVA to the Americans), and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam or Việt Cộng (VC), as well as the Peoples Revolutionary Party. Some questioned its existence, but in his memoirs, General Westmoreland, commander of Military Assistance Command. Vietnam (MACV), insisted its existence and importance were not in doubt.
At the time of this operation I was stationed at Ap Bac, to the South of the border. Our biggest involvement in the operation was the collapse of the bridge over the Grand Canal. A large Vietnamese truck carrying ammunition and soldiers got too close to the edge of the bridge to avoid a broken board and the extra weight on the side of the bridge caused it to collapse into the canal. We had a large contingent of Vietnamese military forces that were stranded on the road waiting for something to happen to get them across the canal. A temporary pontoon bridge was established and the units moved up to Moc Hoa for their staging. The bridge was repaired relatively quickly by U.S. Army engineers who built the frame for the bridge on land and then airlifted it into place.
The Cambodian campaign (also known as the Cambodian incursion and the Cambodian liberation) was a series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia in mid-1970 by South Vietnam and the United States as an expansion of the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Civil War. Thirteen operations were conducted by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) between April 29 and July 22 and by U.S. forces between May 1 and June 30, 1970.
The objective of the campaign was the defeat of the approximately 40,000 troops of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Việt Cộng (VC) in the eastern border regions of Cambodia. Cambodian neutrality and military weakness made its territory a safe zone where PAVN/VC forces could establish bases for operations across the border. With the US shifting toward a policy of Vietnamization and withdrawal, it sought to shore up the South Vietnamese government by eliminating the cross-border threat.
A change in the Cambodian government allowed an opportunity to destroy the bases in 1970, when Prince Norodom Sihanouk was deposed and replaced by pro-U.S. General Lon Nol. A series of South Vietnamese–Khmer Republic operations captured several towns, but the PAVN/VC military and political leadership narrowly escaped the cordon. The operation was partly a response to a PAVN offensive on March 29 against the Cambodian Army that captured large parts of eastern Cambodia in the wake of these operations. Allied military operations failed to eliminate many PAVN/VC troops or to capture their elusive headquarters, known as the Central Office of South Vietnam (COSVN) as they had left a month earlier, but the tons of captured material in Cambodia prompted claims of success.
The 1970 operations temporarily destroyed or degraded these bases, but PAVN quickly re‑established them. The Parrot’s Beak, in particular, remained a strategic point in later conflicts, including the 1977–78 Vietnam-Cambodian border war.
The Parrot’s Beak and Crow’s Nest were vital Cambodian sanctuaries for North Vietnamese and Việt Cộng forces during the Vietnam War, serving as logistical and operational hubs, and were central to U.S. and ARVN efforts to disrupt PAVN operations in 1970.
On 20 April 1970, elements of the ARVN 9th Infantry Division attacked 4 miles into Cambodia west of the “Crow’s Nest” in Operation Cuu Long. The ARVN claimed 187 PAVN/VC killed and over 1,000 weapons captured for a cost of 24 killed. Thirty CH-47 “Chinook” sorties were flown to remove captured weapons and ammunition before it was decided to destroy the remainder in place. The ARVN force returned to South Vietnam on 23 April.
On 28 April, Kiên Tường Province Regional Forces with support from the 9th Division attacked 2 miles into the “Crow’s Nest” again in a two-day operation, reportedly killing 43 PAVN/VC and capturing two for the loss of two killed. During the same period the Regional Forces also raided northwest of Kampong Rou District killing 43 PAVN/VC and capturing 88 for the loss of 2 killed.
When I took over as the Province Senior Intelligence Adviser for Kiên Tường Province in the fall of 1970 We found that we had really not done a lot of operational damage to the NVA/VC inside of the Parrot’s Beak area. Nor had we fully disrupted operations inside the Crow’s Nest during the Cambodian incursion. We continue to have cross-border operations directed at South Vietnamese forces and villages that originated inside of Cambodia.
Next week I’ll talk about some of the things that we actually did to disrupt infiltration in and out of Vietnam into Cambodia. We began using some interesting technology, very advanced for that particular time to significantly reduce infiltration into South Vietnam. By the time I left in 1971 infiltration had moved far to the southwest of our province. We had also conducted a number of major operations one of which was a massive incursion into the Base Area 470.
If you’re interested you can read all about those significant operations in my book “The Province Senior Intelligence Advisor, Kien Song Province 1970 – 1971.”
If you’re enjoying these blogs, please drop me a comment or if you have any questions that I might answer, submit a comment on the comment pages. I’m always glad to hear from you.
Again, please look at all my books that I have listed. They can be reviewed and/or purchased from Amazon.com with the click of a button directly from my website: http://www.ptaylorvietnamadvisor.com, at Authors Published Works.
The Advisor Series:
- “The Senior Army Instructor; The Paul Tyler Saga Begins” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/BOGSXJ2ZHC)
- “The Advisor, Kien Bing, South Vietnam, 1969-1970. A Novel” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09L4X5NQ3)
- “The Province Senior Intelligence Advisor, Kien Song Province 1970-1971; A Novel” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHL2XCX5)
- “The Hardchargers,” Vietnam 1972-1973; A Novel” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7SPR1JY)
- “The Tuscarora Trail” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3QY2GM6)
Civil War History/Fiction:
- “A Civil War History of Harrison County West Virginia 1861-1865” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/ B0B1CLL28Q
- “The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/ B0C6429M1X
Science Fiction: (Chuck Neighbors author, Taylor *editor/**co-author)
- *“Destiny” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6WGWHLS
- *“HomeFall” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJN1JLWF
- **“The Planet’s Revenge; The Katy Sterling Saga Continues” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYQBHC6C
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