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The war in Vietnam is generally perceived as a war fought against an unseen enemy conducting "hit and run" raids from bases deep in the jungles or swamps. There were certainly jungles and swamps in Vietnam: however, there were also mountains coastal plains and the rolling hills of the Central highlands. In fact, because of the diversity of the terrain, several different wars were fought in Vietnam. Soldiers who fought in the swamps of the Mekong Delta fought under different circumstances than the men of the First Air Cavalry, who fought amid the hills and pine trees of the Central Highlands. No matter where the battles were fought, Americans operating in the field required a lot of ammunition, food, and supplies. In fact, during Vietnam, every infantryman in the field required the services of five or six support soldiers to keep him going. If the enemy could cut off that support, the American infantryman would be defeated quickly.
The truck drivers of the 8th Transportation Group carried supplies and ammunition to combat units. Massive truck convoys of seventy, or more, trucks traveled Route 19 on a daily basis to deliver supplies. Highway 19 was the only major hard surfaced highway that led from Qhi Nhon to An Khe and points west. As the road climbed west into the Central Highlands, it crossed through An Khe Pass. The pass was a series of hairpin turns climbing five miles, and trucks carrying heavy loads often had great difficulty negotiating the long climb. Mang Giang Pass was another two miles of winding, torturous, climbing roadway. Besides the roads, the truckers had to deal with the heat and with the Monsoon weather, which turned unpaved roads into quagmires.
The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army soon discovered the convoys to be an inviting target. Convoy security was initially provided by armed escort jeeps. The planned ratio of gun-jeeps to trucks was to be one per every ten trucks. It became apparent that the escort jeeps were too lightly armed to be effective against a serious ambush. If the convoys were going to continue along Route 19, they were going to need a better form of protection and different tactics.
Men’s lives were on the line and the difference between life and death was the ability of the American truckers to adapt. For the young American soldiers of the 8th Transportation Group it was simply a matter of applying "American Ingenuity" to the task at hand. It did not take long for the ingenious and innovative American soldiers to merge the idea of armor plating and heavy firepower. Within days, armor plate scrounged from various sources began to appear on the doors and floors of convoy vehicles. The modification was designed to protect the drivers and crews of the trucks from small arms fire and mines. It assured their safety during the vital first few seconds of an ambush and allowed them to bring their individual weapons to bear on the enemy. The military frowned on modifying the trucks, maintaining that altering the trucks by adding armor and multiple machine guns might throw off the specifications and destroy truck components, such as the suspension. The 8th Transportation Group began converting some of its standard cargo trucks to gun trucks. At first, the trucks were simply built by the individual units within the group. One or two cargo trucks from each company were pulled off the line and given armor plate and weapons. Maintenance men and drivers located the armor plate and cut it to fit their trucks. Long sheets of quarter to half inch armor plate was cut to cover the sides and back of the trucks. Next, the weapons were added. Initially, the standard load was two 7.62mm M60 infantry machine guns, mounted on each side of the vehicle, about midway down the bed. This gave each machine-gun good field of fire and allowed the gunners to engage the enemy along the side of the road as soon as an ambush was initiated. As more and heavier weapons became available, the weapons arrangement changed. Some trucks maintained M60s, while others replaced the light M60s with heavier Browning M2 50 caliber machine guns. The ability of the truck driver to recover and repair weapons went to a new level when they began to retrieve the weapons off "downed" helicopters. Soon twin M60 mounts and 5.56mm XM134 General Electric Miniguns were appearing on the trucks and jeeps of the 8th Group.
Finally, the men needed to operate the weapons had to be found and trained. Although the duty of a gunner was dangerous work, there was no shortage of volunteers. Drivers, mechanics, armorers, and administrative clerks all volunteered for gunner duty. However, despite the number of volunteers, the soldiers quickly found the importance of having the same men assigned to a truck. For a gun truck to be an effective weapon, confidence and teamwork were essential.
With the trucks, and crews, armed and ready, the soldiers put the finishing touch on their trucks. Each of the vehicles was given its own name, picked out by the crew. The name was painted in bold letters on the flat sides of the truck. The artwork rivaled some of the best "steel art" of the Second World War.
The power of the gun trucks was not lost on enemy commanders. Word filtered back to the Americans that the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army had put a bounty on each of the gun trucks and their crews.
from http://www.guntrucks.com/brutus.htm
Gun
Truck photos
This one includes a shot of Eve of Destruction, my favorite gun truck
More
List of gun truck and their crews
Anyone interested in these beasts should contact: [email protected] to get the book "A Hard Ride". I'm ordering it soon myself.
The war in Vietnam is generally perceived as a war fought against an unseen enemy conducting "hit and run" raids from bases deep in the jungles or swamps. There were certainly jungles and swamps in Vietnam: however, there were also mountains coastal plains and the rolling hills of the Central highlands. In fact, because of the diversity of the terrain, several different wars were fought in Vietnam. Soldiers who fought in the swamps of the Mekong Delta fought under different circumstances than the men of the First Air Cavalry, who fought amid the hills and pine trees of the Central Highlands. No matter where the battles were fought, Americans operating in the field required a lot of ammunition, food, and supplies. In fact, during Vietnam, every infantryman in the field required the services of five or six support soldiers to keep him going. If the enemy could cut off that support, the American infantryman would be defeated quickly.
The truck drivers of the 8th Transportation Group carried supplies and ammunition to combat units. Massive truck convoys of seventy, or more, trucks traveled Route 19 on a daily basis to deliver supplies. Highway 19 was the only major hard surfaced highway that led from Qhi Nhon to An Khe and points west. As the road climbed west into the Central Highlands, it crossed through An Khe Pass. The pass was a series of hairpin turns climbing five miles, and trucks carrying heavy loads often had great difficulty negotiating the long climb. Mang Giang Pass was another two miles of winding, torturous, climbing roadway. Besides the roads, the truckers had to deal with the heat and with the Monsoon weather, which turned unpaved roads into quagmires.
The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army soon discovered the convoys to be an inviting target. Convoy security was initially provided by armed escort jeeps. The planned ratio of gun-jeeps to trucks was to be one per every ten trucks. It became apparent that the escort jeeps were too lightly armed to be effective against a serious ambush. If the convoys were going to continue along Route 19, they were going to need a better form of protection and different tactics.
Men’s lives were on the line and the difference between life and death was the ability of the American truckers to adapt. For the young American soldiers of the 8th Transportation Group it was simply a matter of applying "American Ingenuity" to the task at hand. It did not take long for the ingenious and innovative American soldiers to merge the idea of armor plating and heavy firepower. Within days, armor plate scrounged from various sources began to appear on the doors and floors of convoy vehicles. The modification was designed to protect the drivers and crews of the trucks from small arms fire and mines. It assured their safety during the vital first few seconds of an ambush and allowed them to bring their individual weapons to bear on the enemy. The military frowned on modifying the trucks, maintaining that altering the trucks by adding armor and multiple machine guns might throw off the specifications and destroy truck components, such as the suspension. The 8th Transportation Group began converting some of its standard cargo trucks to gun trucks. At first, the trucks were simply built by the individual units within the group. One or two cargo trucks from each company were pulled off the line and given armor plate and weapons. Maintenance men and drivers located the armor plate and cut it to fit their trucks. Long sheets of quarter to half inch armor plate was cut to cover the sides and back of the trucks. Next, the weapons were added. Initially, the standard load was two 7.62mm M60 infantry machine guns, mounted on each side of the vehicle, about midway down the bed. This gave each machine-gun good field of fire and allowed the gunners to engage the enemy along the side of the road as soon as an ambush was initiated. As more and heavier weapons became available, the weapons arrangement changed. Some trucks maintained M60s, while others replaced the light M60s with heavier Browning M2 50 caliber machine guns. The ability of the truck driver to recover and repair weapons went to a new level when they began to retrieve the weapons off "downed" helicopters. Soon twin M60 mounts and 5.56mm XM134 General Electric Miniguns were appearing on the trucks and jeeps of the 8th Group.
Finally, the men needed to operate the weapons had to be found and trained. Although the duty of a gunner was dangerous work, there was no shortage of volunteers. Drivers, mechanics, armorers, and administrative clerks all volunteered for gunner duty. However, despite the number of volunteers, the soldiers quickly found the importance of having the same men assigned to a truck. For a gun truck to be an effective weapon, confidence and teamwork were essential.
With the trucks, and crews, armed and ready, the soldiers put the finishing touch on their trucks. Each of the vehicles was given its own name, picked out by the crew. The name was painted in bold letters on the flat sides of the truck. The artwork rivaled some of the best "steel art" of the Second World War.
The power of the gun trucks was not lost on enemy commanders. Word filtered back to the Americans that the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army had put a bounty on each of the gun trucks and their crews.
from http://www.guntrucks.com/brutus.htm
Gun
Truck photos
This one includes a shot of Eve of Destruction, my favorite gun truck
More
List of gun truck and their crews
Anyone interested in these beasts should contact: [email protected] to get the book "A Hard Ride". I'm ordering it soon myself.
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