Special Forces Battle Tanks at Lang Vei
by Mikhail Nikiporenko
"Special Forces Battle Tanks at Lang Vei" recreates the historical night battle at Lang Vei where the enemy forces used tanks against American Infantry for the first time in the Viet Nam War. Special Forces A Team 101 from the 5th Special Forces Group occupied a key piece of terrain near the heavily defended Marine Corps Base at Khe Sahn. Shortly after midnight on February 7, 1968, two enemy divisions launched an attack against the Special Forces camp with overwhelming numbers of infantry spearheaded by eleven Soviet made PT 76 tanks. After a valiant defense that destroyed several enemy tanks and killed many enemy infantry troops, the camp was overrun. Most of the still defiant Green Beret defenders were forced to take cover in the main command bunker in the compound. In spite of enemy tear gas and fragmentation grenades dropped down the air shaft the Americans refused to come out. Next, came repeated attempts to blast their way into the compound but the enemy could not get at the defenders inside. Mikhail Nikiporenko has vividly portrayed the scene just seconds before one of the surviving tanks was put on the roof to crash it in. Even though the tank broke through the roof the defenders were shielded by the collapsed roof. The scene portrays the wounding of Medal of Honor winner, SFC Eugene Ashly Jr., who was mortally wounded while leading a sixth straight assault on the North Vietnamese soldiers in order to rescue the pinned down defenders.
