heavy fighting, friendly casualties numbered only three Marines and a PF with minor wounds. Marine sources listed 21 dead Viet Cong in the area.41
The enemy offensive reached a crescendo on the night of 2-4-25 November. Communist rocket and mortar fire tell on Da Nang Airbase, Marble Mountain Air Facility, the 5th Special Forces Group compound in east Da Nang, and Hoi An. Enemy company-sized units carried out ground assaults against Dien Ban, Liberty Bridge, and three bridges spanning the Song Cau Lau and the Song Vinh Dien along Highway 1. U.S. Marines, Korean Marines, and South Vietnamese soldiers fought oft the enemy attacks, and 25 November dawned with all of the enemy's objectives still in friendly hands.42
The attacks of 24-25 November were the last gasp of the Communist
November offensive. Fifteen kilometers south of Da Nang, in the infamous
Dodge City Area, the 1st Marine Division had begun an offensive of its
own, the largest "County Fair" operation conducted up to that time:
Operation Meade River.
Operation Meade River
On 1 November, the Government of Vietnam announced the start of a
country-wide "Accelerated Pacification Campaign," named "Le Loi"
in Vietnamese. Scheduled to last three months, the campaign's objective
was to extend the legitimate government's influence into many hamlets
still afflicted by the three major Communist offensives launched during
1968. Of the 1,000 hamlets targeted for the campaign throughout the
country, 141 were in ICTZ.43*
The 1st Marine Division planned Operation Meade River to support the
Le Loi campaign. It was to be a cordon and search operation
under the 1st Marines,
* For additional coverage of the Le Loi Campaign, see Chapter 29. The
three enemy offenses were Tet, the May Offensive, and the Third Offensive
in August.