It was at Ben Het in March 1969 that American and North Vietnamese armor clashed for the first and only time. The Ben Het Special Forces Camp in the central highlands of the II Corps Tactical Zone overlooked the Ho Chi Minh Trail where the borders of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam come together. In an effort to mask nearby North Vietnamese troop movements, the enemy had subjected the camp to intense indirect fire attacks during February. To counter an apparent enemy buildup, elements of the 1st Battalion, 69th Armor, were sent to the area.4 Captain John P. Stovall's Company B, the forward unit of the battalion, occupied strongpoints and bridge security positions along the ten-kilometer road link between Ben Het and Dak To. One platoon of tanks was j stationed in the camp. Free world forces at Ben Het included three Vietnamese infantry companies and their Special Forces advisers, an American 175-mm. artillery battery, and two M42's, tracked vehicles mounting 40-mm. twin guns on an M41 tank chassis. The M42's and the 175-mm. battery were in the main camp, while most of the newly arrived tank platoon took up dug-in positions on a hill facing west toward Cambodia. One tank, located in the main camp, occupied a firing position guarding the left flank overlooking the resupply route. Through February the platoon endured heavy enemy shelling by taking cover in its armored vehicles and moving from bunker to bunker during quiet periods. The crews fired their 90-mm. guns at suspected North Vietnamese gun sites and bunkers on the rugged slopes. When the tank platoon leader was wounded I and evacuated, Captain Stovall moved the company command post to Ben Het. Enemy shelling decreased in March, allowing defensive positions to be strengthened and improved, and making the entire camp ready for instant action. For three full days enemy fire abated, but at 2100 on 3 March 1969 the camp once again began to receive mortar and artillery fire in crashing volleys. Both Sergeant First Class Hugh H. Havermale and Staff Sergeant Jerry W. Jones heard the sound of tracks and heavy engines through the noise of the artillery. With no free world tanks to the west, the probability of an enemy tank attack sent everyone into action. High explosive antitank (HEAT) ammunition was loaded into tank guns and from battle stations all eyes strained into the darkness. In his tank, Sergeant Havermale scanned the area with an infrared searchlight, but could not identify targets in the fog. Sergeant Jones, from his tank, could see the area from which the tank sounds were coming but had no searchlight. Tension grew. Suddenly an antitank mine exploded 1,100 meters to the southwest, giving away the location of the enemy; the battle for Ben Het now began in earnest. Although immobilized, the enemy PT76 tank that had hit the mine was still able to fight. Even before the echo of the explosion had died, the PT76 had fired a round that fell short of the defenders' position. The remainder of the enemy force opened fire, and seven other gun flashes could be seen. The U.S. forces returned the fire with HEAT ammunition from the tanks and fire from all other weapons as well. Specialist 4 Frank Hembree was the first American tank gunner to fire, and he remembers: "I only had his muzzle flashes to sight on, but I couldn't wait for a better target because his shells were landing real close to us." The muzzle flashes proved to be enough for Specialist Hembree; his second round turned the enemy tank into a fireball. Capital Stovall called for illumination from the camp's mortar section and in the light of flares spotted another PT76. Unfortunately, the flares also gave the North Vietnamese tanks a clear view of the camp's defenses, and as Captain Stovall was climbing aboard Sergeant Havermale's tank, an enemy high explosive round hit the loader's hatch. The concussion blew Stovall and Havermale from the tank, and killed the driver and loader. Damage to the tank was slight. Sergeant Jones took charge, dismounted, and ran to another tank which was not able to fire on the enemy main avenue of approach. Still under hostile fire, he directed the tank to a new firing position where the crew quickly sighted a PT76 beside the now burning hulk of the first enemy tank. The gunner, Specialist 4 Eddie Davis, took aim on one of the flashes and fired. "I wasn't sure of the target," Specialist Davis said, "but I was glad to see it explode a second later." Every weapon that could be brought to bear on the enemy was firing. Having exhausted their basic load of high explosive antitank ammunition, the tank crews were now firing high explosives with concrete-piercing fuzes. Gradually, the enemy fire slackened, and it became clear that an infantry assault was not imminent. In the lull, the crews scrambled to replenish their basic load from the ammunition stored in a ditch behind the tanks. Tank rounds were fired at suspected enemy locations but there was no return fire. The remainder of the night was quiet; the tension of battle subsided, and the wounded were evacuated. The battle for Ben Het had not gone unnoticed by the remainder of the 1st Battalion, 69th Armor. Company A and the battalion command post moved to Polei Kleng to reinforce ground elements and be in a position to counterattack population centers. The 2d Platoon of Company B assembled and moved by night to Ben Het, where a search of the battlefield the next day revealed two PT76 hulls and an enemy troop carrier that had not been noticed during the battle but now lay burned out and abandoned on the edge of the battlefield. The enemy vehicles were part of the 16th Company, 4th Battalion, 202d Armored Regiment of the North Vietnamese Army. Intelligence later revealed that the main object of the attack on Ben Het was to destroy the U.S. 175-mm. guns. Whatever the enemy's intention, the camp was held by American tanks against North Vietnamese tanks. Not until March 1971, when South Vietnamese M41tanks battled North Vietnamese tanks in Laos, would tanks clash again.
) (Đức cho phi công lái máy bay LX cướp dc ném bom Hungari để kéo Hungari vào đánh nhau với LX 
(có luôn số liệu chi tiết tới 45)
