The Siege of Con Thien: Rare Footage of the Hill of Angels Under Fire | Vietnam Documentary

Discover the Siege of Con Thien, the brutal four-month artillery bombardment from May to November 1967 where U.S. Marines defending a small hilltop combat base near the DMZ endured over 3,000 artillery shells per day at peak intensity—the most concentrated and sustained enemy fire American forces faced during the entire Vietnam War. Con Thien sat just 2 miles south of the Demilitarized Zone on a barren hill Marines called "The Hill of Angels" because so many died there. The base was strategically positioned to detect North Vietnamese infiltration across the DMZ and anchor the McNamara Line—a proposed barrier of sensors, mines, and fortifications designed to stop enemy movement south.
The siege began when North Vietnamese forces positioned artillery, rockets, and mortars in the DMZ and across the border in North Vietnam—positions American forces couldn't attack due to political restrictions—and began systematic bombardment of Con Thien. For months, Marines lived in bunkers and trenches under near-constant shelling that turned the hilltop into a lunar landscape of craters, destroyed fortifications, and mud. Artillery fire was so accurate that North Vietnamese gunners could target individual bunkers, supply dumps, and landing zones. Resupply helicopters faced withering fire attempting to land, casualties mounted as shrapnel tore through defensive positions, and Marines endured psychological torture of knowing the next shell could land in their bunker at any moment with no warning.
American forces responded with Operation Neutralize—the largest artillery and air bombardment of the war directed against North Vietnamese gun positions. B-52 strikes, tactical air support, naval gunfire, and Army artillery fired over 40,000 rounds at suspected enemy positions in coordinated counter-battery operations. By November 1967, the intensity decreased as North Vietnamese artillery was destroyed or displaced, and Marine casualties—approximately 200 killed and 1,700 wounded during the siege—finally stopped mounting at catastrophic rates. The strategic value remains debated: Con Thien anchored the northern defense line but the McNamara Line was never completed, and Marines endured months of hell for terrain abandoned shortly after. This is the Hill of Angels where Marines lived and died under the heaviest sustained artillery fire in the war, proving that courage under bombardment can't be measured by ground taken or enemies killed—only by the willingness to endure when survival itself is victory.

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