Page:Airmobility 1961-1971.pdf/238

been decided that a combined task force would make the initial assaults into Cambodia. Command and control of this operation was given to the Assistant Division Commander for Maneuver of the 1st Cavalry Division, Brigadier General Robert M. Shoemaker. A combined U.S. and Army of the Republic of Vietnam staff was assembled at this time and prepared the final plans for the operation.

For Bob Shoemaker, this would be the culmination of years of dedicated effort to prove the airmobility concept. Ever since the early days of the 11th Air Assault Division and the movement of the 1st Cavalry to Vietnam, he had been recognized as one of the foremost tacticians of airmobility.

The concept of the operation was that Task Force Shoemaker, consisting of the 3d Brigade with one mechanized infantry battalion and one tank battalion under operational control, the 3d Army of the Republic of Vietnam Airborne Brigade, and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, would conduct air assaults and ground attacks into the "Fishhook" of Cambodia. Following an intensive preparation phase of B-52 strikes, tactical air strikes, and artillery bombardment, the 3d Army of the Republic of Vietnam Airborne Brigade would air assault into the area north of the objective to seal escape routes and begin operations to the south. Simultaneously, the task force (—) would attack north across the Cambodian Border with the 3d Brigade on the west and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment on the south and east. The 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry (—) would conduct screening operations in the task force area of operations while elements of the 9th Army of the Republic of Vietnam Regiment and the 1st Army of the Republic of Vietnam Armored Cavalry Regiment would screen to the east in Binh Long Province adjacent to the objective area. All elements would then conduct search and interdiction operations to locate and exploit enemy lines of communication and cache sites in the objective area.

In the early hours of 1 May, six serials of B-52's dropped their heavy ordnance on hard targets within the primary objective area. The last bomb went off at 0545. Fifteen minutes later an intense artillery preparation began with the priority to the proposed landing zones in the 3d Army of the Republic of Vietnam Airborne Brigade's objective area. D-day had arrived.

At 0630 the 1st Army of the Republic of Vietnam Cavalry Regiment began its movement from the northwest of An Loc toward the border. At the same time a 15,000 pound bomb, with an extended fuse designed to detonate about seven feet above the ground,