Channel: Dark Docs

Category: Education

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Description: Colonel William P. Doyle was sleeping on March 28, 1971, when mortar shelling outside his bunker awakened him. As he tried to figure out what was happening, tear gas started to choke and blind him. Firebase Mary Ann was under heavy attack, and the Americans and South Vietnamese allies were taken entirely by surprise. The savage perpetrators were the infamous group known as the sappers, North Vietnamese soldiers tasked with undermining their adversary’s strengths and harassing American bases in South Vietnam with all their might, instilling fear and generating invaluable losses. The stealthy agents continually wreaked havoc in US facilities by planting bombs and throwing grenades, then leaving before their victims could respond. There was nothing the Americans could do when they stumbled upon the sappers but fight back with all their strength. In the words of senior sapper commander Bach Ngoc Lien, they sought: “To allow the few to fight the many; the weak to fight the strong.” Still, the sappers’ usually relied on inside information to plan their attacks, and little did the Americans know that most of the times the enemy was well within their ranks… - As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -