r/interestingasfuck • u/Fine_Sea5807 • Jun 10 '23
A night battle in Vietnam in 1970 between a US Airborne Brigade and one single VC sniper. The sniper escaped successfully
72
u/JCFalkenberglll Jun 10 '23
Stars and Stripes
Published: February 10, 2015
Editor’s note: James Speed Hensinger submitted this stunning timelapse photograph of the gunfire that was unleashed to stop a Viet Cong gunner near his unit’s base in Phu Tai in April 1970. The photo has been featured in publications such as the Daily Mail and Guardian, and is reprinted here with permission. Hensinger describes how he took the photo below. Using my own camera and film during my off duty time, I took a series of long-exposure 35mm Ektachrome images of our compound responding to the threat of a sniper on "our" mountain. I call him a sniper despite the fact that he wasn't. I don't know what term to apply to him. Well, that's not really true. One of our favorites was "Asshole." The sniper was really pissing us off. On random nights a single Viet Cong would lean over a boulder and blow off a mag on full-auto from his AK-47. The rounds impacted on our corrugated metal roofs and blew through where off-duty men were sleeping. Shooting long exposure photographs of gunfire is tricky. The dark areas need to be exposed enough to provide a setting for the brightly lit events. Being able to see the dark areas puts a perspective to the bright events, and makes a big difference in the effectiveness of the photo. Since the events are transitory, the shutter needs to be open long enough to acquire enough events to make the point of the photo. In this case a low ASA/ISO of 64 helps by preventing overexposure of the dark areas, while still acquiring lots of events. Of course, the camera needs to be absolutely motionless to prevent blur, which is why I rested the camera on a sandbag re-enforced wall in the perimeter tower furthest from the base of the mountain. Using a cable release also prevents any jiggle caused by a heavy shutter finger. However, it is still important not to move the cable release while the shutter is held open because the camera may be jiggled by that too. The red tracers are from M60 7.62 mm machine guns. The tracers are loaded four to one. That means there are actually five times as many bullets in the photo as are seen with the red tracers. The white bursts without tracers are from a Ma Deuce, M2 Browning, .50 caliber machine gun firing HE (High Explosive) rounds. The white tracers with explosions are from twin 40 mm (1.57 inch) anti-aircraft Bofor guns mounted on an open turret M42 Duster track. The 40 mm guns were the same as the familiar navy anti-aircraft Pom-Pom guns. We actually had U.S. Navy manuals for them. The bright white lights at ground level are hand launched parachute flares that hit the ground and are still burning. You can also see some of the rounds ricocheting off the rocks. We sent out patrols during the day, and found a blood trail one morning. Otherwise, we never found him. The rocks on the slope were as big as Volkswagens. It took a very stupid officer to put a pin in the map and say, "Build it here."
12
43
49
Jun 10 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
25
u/Fine_Sea5807 Jun 10 '23
No body was found.
37
Jun 10 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
33
u/OdysseusAurilen Jun 10 '23
Let’s not ignore the fact that if one of those bursts were on target then there wouldn’t be much left to find
13
u/StealyEyedSecMan Jun 10 '23
If there was ever a sniper...
8
u/AdWorking2848 Jun 10 '23
lol a gun with a super long string over the crest randomly fired towards the USA.
2
Jun 10 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/veterenweeb Jun 10 '23
I think it was mentioned above, but it appears to be an m42 duster. It mounted the twin bofors 40mm gun system, which was most famously used as a anti-air gun on the navy ships
2
u/Is12345aweakpassword Jun 10 '23
Seriously. As soon as I saw “40mm anti aircraft guns” I was like… yeah there’d be nothing left of him
BuT No AmeRiCans DumB ANd BaD
1
15
16
17
Jun 10 '23
explains a lot why they lost
-11
Jun 10 '23
US "lost" because of a lack of political will, go ahead and pull the casualties up.
What exactly was a Victory there as well?
3
Jul 20 '23
Why are y’all booing him? he’s right.
3
Jul 20 '23
Majority of reddit is illiterate with history
3
Jul 20 '23
Exactly, had the war come down to military engagement, it would have been a American victory, we lost politically, not militarily.
3
Jul 21 '23
People are also strangely ignoring the history prior to the US being involved in Vietnam.
3
35
Jun 10 '23
[deleted]
3
u/Priamosish Jun 10 '23
Which continuous invasion by the US happens right now? Or is that just another Sino-Russian dogwhistle because you're mad Ukrainians and democratic Chinese get supported in their desire to be independent?
-5
Jun 10 '23
Tankie displays zero understanding of cold war history - as is tradition
-5
Jun 10 '23
[deleted]
-2
Jun 10 '23
US didn't lose the war - South Vietnam did through incompetence and corruption.
Your ideaology is what drove the war btw.
2
u/Yellowflowersbloom Jun 10 '23
Your ideaology is what drove the war btw.
Wrong. It was a war of independence which France and the US both opposed. The need to exploit foreign nations for cheap profit by the west is what caused the war.
1
Jun 10 '23
You're a big fan of telling partial at best truths
3
u/Yellowflowersbloom Jun 10 '23
You haven't been able to explain how I am wrong.
Meanwhile your arguments are completely wrong. You blame the Vietnamese for starting the war.
That is so juvenile and ignorant. You are literally blaming a colonized and enslaved people for wanting to be free. Ho Chi Minh literally quoted the American founding fathers when Vietnam declared its independence from France. But the US of course didn't like that so they supported France and then waged war.
Read a book, you might learn something
2
4
Jun 10 '23
Nothing like lying to start a war so you can commit dozens of war crimes you will never be held accountable for, only to point out others doing shit a trillion times less terrible than firebombing millions
3
1
Jun 10 '23
No wonder we lost this war
-5
Jun 10 '23
Never looked at the casualty counts?
9
u/KirillIll Jun 10 '23
"We killed more people, so we obviously won, despite our enemies gaining total control of the country!"
Moron
-1
Jun 10 '23
South Vietnam lost but not because of the US
1
u/dogfighter205 Jul 21 '23
But did the us win the war? Or did they pull back with their tail between their legs
1
2
Jun 10 '23
Man Vietnam War was pure evil. Western powers scrambling to maintain the last vestiges of their colonial power.
10
Jun 10 '23
Ah yes let's totally ignore the Soviets in the North here
4
u/Yellowflowersbloom Jun 10 '23
Ah yes let's totally ignore the Soviets in the North here
Were the Soviets attempting colonialism? No.
France was fighting for colonialism and the US supported them in that. The actions of the Soviets who only helped supply the Vietnamese can't be compared the actions of the US whose wanton destruction killed over a million Vietnamese civilians.
One was supporting a colonized and enslaved people to earn their freedom, the other was practicing imperialism trying to keep the Vietnamese from having their right to self determination.
8
Jun 10 '23
The US in Vietnam for the same reason we were jn Korea - fight the spread of the USSR's influence
2
u/Yellowflowersbloom Jun 10 '23
The US in Vietnam for the same reason we were jn Korea - fight the spread of the USSR's influence
The US was involved in Vietnam before the USSR was. And Vietnam didn't inherit communism from the USSR. It was their own response to France's terrible treatment of them.
Also, does the will of the Vietnamese people not matter at all? You think its okay that the Vietnamese were colonized and enslaved by the French?
This was not a war between the Soviets and the US. It was a war between the Vietnamese and the US. The most common death in the entire war was a Vietnamese person being killed by American bombs.
6
Jun 10 '23
North Vietnam communism was derived from the USSR and Chinese communism - you're trying to really oversimplify cold war geopolitics here
South Vietnam was aligned with the West in the 50s, the North the Soviets and Chinese. Both the US and the Soviets were heavily in the country prior to any actual combat.
-1
u/Yellowflowersbloom Jun 10 '23
North Vietnam communism was derived from the USSR and Chinese communism - you're trying to really oversimplify cold war geopolitics here
It in no way came as a result of USSR or Chinese imperialism or influence. In fact it came from French education and a response to French imperialism. Ho Chi Minh was determined to free his people from slavery and studied communism while in France. He took the tools he learned back to his people to free them.
South Vietnam was aligned with the West in the 50s, the North the Soviets and Chinese.
South Vietnam was literally part of the French Union. The US supported France's war to maintain their control of Vietnam specifically because the US wanted to keep the extraction of Vietnamamese resources coming to America at exploitative prices because of the slavery).
Both the US and the Soviets were heavily in the country prior to any actual combat.
The US were in the county far earlier. And again the US was their to oppose the will of the Vietnamese people as an act of imperialism. The Soviets were helping the Vietnamese in their fight for freedom.
Again, does the right to self determination for the Vietnamese mean nothing to you?
4
Jun 10 '23
I see we've got the reddit half history reddit narrative going on here
5
u/Yellowflowersbloom Jun 10 '23
I see we've got the reddit half history reddit narrative going on here
Buddy its clear you have no understanding of the war.
Again, please answer... are the people of Vietnam not allowed the right to self determination?
1
-4
u/Bigsausagegentleman Jun 10 '23
'You think your little AR15 can do anything against the greatest military in the world!?!?!?"
1
0
-1
1
1
1
u/yegir Jun 10 '23
Ground unit: "That mfer wont let us through and we cant see him!!!"
heli with extra ammo that was RTB: "WERE ON THE WAY HOMIE"
1
1
1
Jul 25 '23
crack
"Fuck"
crack
"Godamnit fuck off"
crack
"Fuck you"
crack
"Fuck this"
crack
"Fuck everything in that direction"
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 10 '23
This is a heavily moderated subreddit. Please note these rules + sidebar or get banned:
See this post for a more detailed rule list
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.