Combat· Vietnam War
Operation Piranha
Operation Piranha was a regimental amphibious and heliborne sweep of the Batangan Peninsula on the central Vietnamese coast, mounted in the weeks after Starlite as the Marines pressed their advantage against the Viet Cong in the Chu Lai area.
Acting on intelligence that elements of the battered 1st Viet Cong Regiment had withdrawn to the peninsula, Marine battalions landed by sea and helicopter alongside Vietnamese forces to trap and destroy the enemy in a coordinated converging assault. The Marines swept the hamlets and cave complexes of the peninsula, uncovering bunkers and tunnels and fighting scattered actions against an enemy who largely chose to evade rather than stand. The operation killed and captured numbers of Viet Cong and destroyed fortifications and supplies, though much of the main force slipped away. Piranha reflected the early Marine pattern of large search-and-destroy operations along the coast, following up the success at Starlite.
Record no. 82