Southern Cross information
for 196 BDE 23 INF
4/31 INF 23 INF
For date 700626
196 BDE 23 INF was a US Army unit
4/31 INF 23 INF was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Quang Tin Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, LZ SIBERIA
Description: The following is an edited version of an article titled "POLAR BEARS HIT FOE'S MORTAR PIT" by SP4 Gerald Lamb 196th INF BDE IO.
LZ WEST - In a sharp encounter 22 miles northwest of Tam Ky, 196th Infantry Brigade soldiers killed three NVA and silenced a mortar position which had been harassing a nearby Firebase. During a battle against a large NVA force in Hiep Duc Valley, LZ Siberia, fire support base of 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, was being sporadically hit by mortar fire. "We were humping up to Siberia to be lifted across the river," said 1SG James Brown, Eatontown, N.J., Company B, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, "when the rounds started coming in again." They had swept through an area west of the base on the previous day and found a recently used enemy mortar position on a nearby hill. "The NVA were hack in the same abandoned position we had found the day before," said SP4 Lou Efta, Red Lake Falls, Minn. The infantrymen dropped their rucksacks and moved up the hill cautiously. The enemy tried to evade, moving down the other side. "They had snipers waiting for us," said SGT Brown. "We advanced on them using the tall elephant grass as cover." Spotting a group of NVA at the foot of the hill, the M-60 machinegunner opened up, killing three. Suddenly the air was laced with .51 caliber machinegun fire. The infantrymen dug in and called in an air strike. Then the enemy was silent.
The source for this information was 7006_323_scr supplied by Les Hines 12/19/2000
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
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Last updated
12/24/2000
Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023