1969 9th Infantry Division Collection of Manuscript Maps of the Vietnam War Battle of Thanh Phu

A one-of-a-kind archive of manuscript maps accompanied by a report by Viet Cong prisoner of war, Pham Xuan Quy, and the U.S. Army 9th Infantry Division Col. Ira Hunt, to illustrate conflicting perspectives on the 1969 Vietnam War Battle of Thanh Phu, fought in the Mekong Delta southwest of Saigon. The collection consists of a large manuscript map, drawn by the Vietnamese Kot Mai, that provides an overview of the battle from start to finish, supplemented by 8 smaller manuscript maps detailing the battle's progression. The archive is significant for being a comparison of both the western and the Viet Cong perspective on the same battle - both of which are preserved in this, the Harris Report.

The Large Map

The large map, entitled '9th U.S. Inf. Div. Contact with 261. B Bn From 111255H to 120600H March 69', is compiled from both Viet Cong and U.S. Army perspective. It provides a visual overview of the battle based not only on U.S. Army data, but also on interviews with a high-ranking Viet Cong POW, Pham Xuan Quy. Helicopters mark insertion points for U.S. soldiers, while blue text encompasses areas where U.S. troops were deployed. Combat points are annotated to identify the Viet Cong companies engaged. Red highlights Viet Cong positions and their evasive retreat through the American encirclement. The network of booby traps, which first alerted the U.S. soldiers to the Viet Cong position, is emphasized in green. The map, signed by Kot Mai (unknown), is based an aerial reconnaissance, per an annotation.

The Small Manuscript Maps

The smaller maps are partial manuscript drafts later incorporated into the official 'Army History of the Battle of Thanh Phu', compiled on May 29, 1969 (included). The maps illustrate progressive battle lines, booby traps, American insertion points, troop movements, and more. Typewritten excerpts from Phan Xuan Quy's report are paperclipped to each, providing commentary on the battle's progression from the Viet Cong perspective. Red marks Viet Cong positions and blue marks U.S. Army positions, with the yellow dots signifying Viet Cong booby traps. Insertion points are labeled with helicopters.

The Army Report

The official report, entitled 'History of the Battle of Thanh Phu, 11 - 12 March 1969' incorporates sanitized printed renditions of the above manuscript maps. It also includes an eight-page transcript of Phan Xuan Quy's account, which he provided under interrogation. The report further includes a one-page text by Phan Xuan Quy entitled 'Reflections of a Prisoner'. This is followed by a twelve-page history of the Battle written by commanding officer of the First Brigade Col. Ira A. Hunt, along with analysis.

The Battle of Thanh Phu, March 11 - 12, 1969

The Battle of Thanh Phu took place in the Mekong Delta village of Thanh Phu, in the vicinity of My Phuoc Tay. My Phuoc Tay also hosted a South Vietnamese special forces base. The '2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division' was conducting 'jitterbug' operations on the morning of March 11 when they were dropped into an area along the Nguyen Van Tiep Canal. On deployment, the battalion encountered 'a withering fusillade of fire', revealing a significant Viet Cong base. American forces proceeded to engage with an encirclement or 'doughnut' tactic. Eight companies under protection of aerial bombardment were inserted by helicopter to encircle the Viet Cong position.

The U.S. forces hoped to prevent retreat, but continuous Viet Cong probing revealed a fifty-meter gap in the American lines through which the besieged Vietnamese slipped out. By 1 a.m. on the morning of the 12th, they were completely gone. Unaware, American forces continued firing into the 'doughnut' for several hours.

Pham Xuan Quy

Pham Xuan Quy, the Vietnamese officer who informed this archive, was born in Saigon in 1949. His mother was imprisoned for unknown reasons under the Bao Dai regime, was released in 1954, and died a few days later. On her deathbed, she asked Quy to avenge the wrongs done to her by the Bao Dai regime - doubtless a profound influence on his later decisions. He attended school in Saigon from 1958 until 1963, after which he moved to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) where he attended private school, mastering Cambodian and French. On graduation in 1966, Quy began working for the neutralist Phnom Penn based Doc Lap Newspaper. A year later he joined the Viet Cong 'to fight for the country he loved so much'. In July 1967, he was assigned to the VC 502d Battalion and made a squad leader. He was transferred to the 261 B Battalion in August 1968, at which point he was promoted to platoon leader, then in March 1969, to Battalion Headquarters Secretary. The 261 B Battalion was decimated by the U.S. 9th Infantry at Thanh Phu on March 11-12, 1969, when, according to Quy, 203 of the 268 men were either killed or deserted. He was wounded by a booby trap on April 10, and was recovering in a Viet Cong hospital when taken prisoner by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam on April 11. During interrogation, Quy provided the account of the action between the 261 B Battalion and the U.S. Army 9th Infantry Division, leading to the current combat analysis.

Provenance: Major General Ira A. Hunt

These documents are from the archive of Major General Ira Augustus Hunt Jr. (1924 - 2022), an American Army officer, historian, and author. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Hunt entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1945, at which point he became a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He was sent overseas, where he served in several post-war engineer assignments in Europe. A distinguished military and academic career followed, including multiple prestigious degrees. Pertinent to the current archive, during the Vietnam War (1955 - 1975), he served as Chief of Staff of the 9th Infantry Division and as Commanding Officer of its 1st Brigade. After Vietnam, he was made Assistant Commandant of the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, then Deputy Chief of Staff for Training and Schools at Headquarters TRADOC, Fort Monroe, Virginia. He retired in 1978, after which he wrote three books: The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam: Unparalleled and Unequaled, Losing Vietnam: How America Abandoned Southeast Asia, and My Lai Cover-Up Deceit and Incompetence.