Platoon leader

I'm sure some if you must gave read/seen Platoon leader and/or maybe seen our wargame rendition on the FoF Facebook page.....does anyone know if those little triangular forts were a US or French initiative? It's not important, we're just curious.

TBH mate triangle shape forts were being used for hundreds of years by nations not just the french and US in vietnam .

Well aware of that Thom, it's my understanding that there were buckets of these conforming to a general pattern of 20m long on each side, specifically housing a platoon and providing a secure base for small local patrols. The French build 100s of concrete towers/bunkers with even smaller garrisons, but I can't find any references to the larger triangular jobs. There is a well-illustrated paper on Wordpress 'Bunkers in French Indo-China' and presumably at least some of those bunkers were used by the US?

The US had a couple of small triangular CIDG forts in IV Corps in the early 60's, but to my knowledge other permanent triangular bases were not built by US forces. Some units might make a temporary patrol base that was triangular as it required fewer troops to be on the line (I know this was a common practice in IV corps as well about the time Beckworth took over his unit) out of trenches and sandbags.
The French did like the triangular shape though, so most were probably relics from the trouble in the 50's.

uglyfatbloke wrote:Well aware of that Thom, it's my understanding that there were buckets of these conforming to a general pattern of 20m long on each side, specifically housing a platoon and providing a secure base for small local patrols. The French build 100s of concrete towers/bunkers with even smaller garrisons, but I can't find any references to the larger triangular jobs. There is a well-illustrated paper on Wordpress 'Bunkers in French Indo-China' and presumably at least some of those bunkers were used by the US?

chris sent you via facebook messenger the osprey firebases pdf book

Cheers Thom!

Chris,
My two cents. The French used triangular forts on a regular basis across Indochina, for road security and pacification. When the French withdrew in 1954/55, these forts were taken over by the ARVN and RF/PF units (for the same purpose).

Tim

This. See p122 of this little gem:

https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_memoranda/2005/RM5271.pdf

A very useful document.

That's the sort of thing; McDonough's one was just a great deal smaller - 20m on each face. We've just had a couple of 'true scale' games based on one -- 1 inch on the table being roughly 5 foot of real life. Some pics on the FB group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199959893884563

Platoon leader map of base

The Plei Me Special Forces camp, with its CIDG troops, was a triangular fort. The fight there was the main opening event of the campaign in Pleiku Province which led to the battles of LZs Xray and Albany.

Tom

Garryowen wrote:The Plei Me Special Forces camp, with its CIDG troops, was a triangular fort. The fight there was the main opening event of the campaign in Pleiku Province which led to the battles of LZs Xray and Albany.

Tom

Cheers for that.

Death in the Highlands is an excellent book on Plei Me.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Highlands-Siege-Special-Forces/dp/0811738817/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13N05TUI0RWB5&keywords=death+in+the+highlands+book&qid=1682258478&sprefix=DEATH+IN+THE+HIGHLANDS%2Caps%2C227&sr=8-1

Tom

Garryowen wrote:Death in the Highlands is an excellent book on Plei Me.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Highlands-Siege-Special-Forces/dp/0811738817/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13N05TUI0RWB5&keywords=death+in+the+highlands+book&qid=1682258478&sprefix=DEATH+IN+THE+HIGHLANDS%2Caps%2C227&sr=8-1

Tom

Much obliged.