During the Vietnam War. the United States became aivare that the Viet Cong were infiltrating portion of their supplies and weapons into the southern portion Of South Vietnam through the region known as the Mekon Delta. This area amounted to ten thousand square miles containing over 3800 miles of navigable waterways, both natural and man made. The main river in the area was the Mekong, starting in the highlands of Tibet, along the borders of Burma and Laos, through Cambodia. and finally through South Vietnam into the South China Sea. It branches into the Bassae. My Tho, Harn Luong, and Cho Chien branches as it wanders through Cambodia and South Vietnam. A separate river, the Nhon Trach, defines the eastern edge of the delta. Passing through the Rung Sat (translation: Forest of Assassins) area, a dense mangrove swamp that was used as a hideaway by pirates from ancient times. Other notable geographical features are the Plain of Reeds in the northern section of the Delta. and the U Minh forest on the West Side. The Plain of Reeds is a treeless section filled \vitli dense vegetation that could be ten feet under water during the wet season. The U Minh was another dense forest, located on the West Side of the delta. and used as a sanctuary and infiltration route by the Viet Cong. One third of the delta is made of marsh. swamps. and forests, the balance being devoted 10 agriculture, especially rice growing and fishing. It contained about forty percent of South Vietnam's population, while only accounting for twenty-five percent of its land area. The multitude of waterways, both large and small, are lined with vegetation. Other than the main channels. the waterways were very tight and generally shalow, the depth changing with the tides. Some where choked with weeds. While others were full of fishing traps. making navigation hazardous at best. Due to the makeup of the terrain, there were few roads in the delta, making the waterways the highways used by the peasants. The Viet Cong. and the South Vietnamese to move people and supplies. Villages tended to be close to the waterways. The Viet Cong used the waterways to move troops and supplies into the Mekong Delta. where they slockpile them for future offensives. They used motorized junks on the main waterways, and sampans on the smaller ones. They used porters. and conscripted villagers to carry supplies from island to island when the channels Could be forded, especially at low tide. Unprepared The United States Navy was unprepared for river warfare, not having fought any river battles for a hundred years. When the decision was made in 1965 to start interdicting the flow of supplies and troops entering South Vietnam through the delta region. they had to scramble to find suitable craft, converting both existing military platforms. as well as commercial boats into usable river craft. Since much of the activity involved patrolling the waterways, the largest danger was that of being ambushed by the Viet Cong. The first boat created was the ASP13 (Assault Support Patrol Boat) which was 50' long, weighed 36 tons, had a speed of 15 knots, a crew of 6, and mounted a front turret with a 20mm cannon, a turret amidships with 2 .50 cal. MGs and a 81mm direct fire mortar in an open compartment in the rear. It wa slightly armored. It was not particularly successful, its crew suffering from the open aft area. and light armor and slow speed. It did not have enough armor or enough firepower to stand and fight. or enough speed to escape. The second main type of patrol craft used in the delta was the PBR (Patrol Boat River). This was a fiberglass hulled boat 32' long. propelled by waterjets. with a speed of 26 knots. It was armed with a turret mounting 2 .50 caliber heavy rnachineguns in the front. a pedestal mounted .50 caliber MGs in the rear. and a M-60 MMG and an automatic grenade launcher, mounted amidships. The weapons stations had armored shields, but the boat relied primarily on its speed to keep it safe. Its draft of only 1 foot at speed allowed it to go in many smaller channels that other craft could not traverse. They were used to insert and retrieve Seal patrols. patrol the waterways. ambush Viet Cong shipping. and support amphibious operations. They almost always operated in pairs. The other main vessels used in the delta were the derivatives of the LCM's (Landing Craft Medium), which were highly modified for assaults oil the riverbanks. All had the following armament in the rear of the boat in armored turrets. A 20mm cannon faced aft, and .50 caliber turrets faced right and left. The front of the boats was modified for the specific job as follows. The ATC (Armored Troop Carrier) had the front open to carry a platoon of infintry for landing on shore. Some had the top of the troop compartment plated over to like a landing, deck for a Huey helicopter for evacuation of casualties. and resupply of ammunition. The Monitor was basically an ATC with the front deck plated over mounting a turreted 40mm cannon. Amidships. in the well area. a direct fire 81mm mortar and 50cal HMG combination was mounted, as well its several pintle mounted MMGs and automatic grenade launchers. The third was the CCB (Command & Control Boat) which was the same as the monitor. except the mortar and medium MGs were removed and the area was plated over and filled with radio and communication equipment. The other variants were the "Zippo" which replaced the 40nun turret with 2 flame-throwers to burn the foliage at the edge of the river. The amidships sections of the boat served as an armorrd fuel tank. Another version had high pressure water hoses similar to a firefighting ship that were capable of demolishing structures up to 300m from the river bank. In addition, LCVP's (Landing Craft Vehicles Personnel : Landing Craft Medium). and other commercial small craft were used in brown water fighting. The riverine force recognized that they needed air cover officer to protect their assets once contact was made. HAL-3 (Light Helicopter Attack Squadron) was created with 22 Huey B gunships borrowed from the army. they operated in pairs.and were on call from the riverine force, based upon converted barracks ships stationed on the main rivers. They were armed with 4 M-60 medium machineguns firing forward. 2 M-60 door guns. and two 7-round rocket pods. Gaming Due to the size of the actions that occurred involving the riverine forces. this is probably best gamed using rules that have 1:1 figure ratio. and would work well for skirmish rules. There are several possibilities for wargame scenarios for this type of warfare. The most common type of occurrence involved a Viet Cong, ambush of patrolling PBR's. Each player could have control of a boat or a pair of boats The Unipire or other players Could control the Viet Cong. Another scenario could have the riverine Force patrolling and chasing, sampans and other river traffic, sorting the Viet Cong from the common fisherman. A sweep through a section of riverbank could be arranged with ATC's dropping of troops at several places to surround the Viet Cong. with the PBRs and Monitors providing fire support along with it pair of Sea Hueys on call. It could be something as simple as a pair of PBR's trying to pick up a SEAL patrol that is in contact with the enemy. With a little imagination. a large variety of scenarios call be generated. I only know of two rule sets that cover the riverine portion of the Vietnam conflict. The first, called Mekong Vietnam, was published by GHQ/Simtac in 1987. and as I haven't seen it recently. It may be out of print. The second is called Free Fire Zone. Published by Firebase Games. I have the second edition. published in 1996, and I believe this is still available. As far as miniatures go. right now there is only one line available. SDD front England makes a line of resin cast boats that include the PBR. Swift Boat, and ATC. They have announced plans to release the Monitor, CCB, and Zippo in the future. They also make the STAB for any SEAL forces that you may want to include in scenarios. SDD is available in this country through Brookhurst Hobbies. although it may also be available through other stores. As far as ground troops. there are several lines of Vietnam-era. troops in 20mm that make most of the combatants used in the war. In l5mm, Peter Pig (through Brookhurst) sells the STAB and PBR and Qualitv Casting in makes a LCVP and has announced a LCM in the future. Yucca Miniatures. Quality Casting. and Peter Pig all make line of Vietnam era figures. The following is a list of references I used in writing this overview of riverine warfare. Brown Water. Black Berets by Lt. Cdr. Thomas Cutler. USN. and Riverine by Don Sheppard. are two books about the exploits of the authors when they served in PBR's in Nam. Seawolves - First Choice by Daniel F. Kelly chronicles his time as a door gunner on a SeaWolf gunship. There are also two excellent photo books available. The first is Riverine - A Pictorial History of the Brown Water Navy put out by the Vietnam Studies Group. The second is The Vietnam Brown Water Navy - Riverine and Coastal Warfare 1965-69. by Concord Publishing. This is just a quick overview of the river war. The above listed books go into more detail. and provide many more ideas for scenarios for your wargame table. Back to Dispatch Jan. 99 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com