[Listy]

Each company was assigned to carry a mortar with maximum ammo loaded inside the Huey, and the all mortars were given to the command of Co D.

What was the total number of the mortars assigned to Co D (3 from Co A, B & C and those that Co D was carrying = ?) ?

Gen Moore says that All the battalions mortars where lumped under D Co for the op. However D co lost most of it's officers and some managed to revert back to the line companies as they where found by the Line officers.

Did any additional mortars arrive as reinforcements?

Not that I know of, the only reinforcement I can remember is that of a Co (B?) from the 2/7th.

I am certain that some regimental 8" arty has participated in the battle; can you find anything on this?

There is no mention in the book about 8", only 105's. However there was almost constant Arty falling.

At the moment of "Broken arrow" what was the quantity & quality of the incoming support?

Quote:
"... And we received all available aircraft in South Vietnam for close air support. We had Aircraft stacked at 1,000-foot intervals from 7,000 to 35,000 feet, each waiting to receive target and deliver their ordnance."

That was at 0715 on the 15th.

About an hour later there was the friendly fire incident, the planes involved where F-100's armed with napalm.

I haven't yet found anything about any NVA mortars and/or any NVA AA assets... Did the NVA use any mortars at all?

I believe they may have had a few 12.7mm's AAA weapons.
What Gen Moore says the unit captured at the end of X-ray.
57x AK47, 44x SKS, 17x Degtyarev 4x maxim HMG's, 5x RPG-2, 2x 82mm mortars, 2 9mm pistols.
Destroyed on site:
100 "rifles and Machine guns"

Make of that list what you will.

What was the TAC AIR used during the battle?

A1E Sky Raiders of the 1st and 602nd Air commando squadrons.
F-100's as mentioned above. Beyond that, it is not mentioned. However that early in the war, a search of what squadrons where deployed to that theatre and what aircraft they where equipped with should provide an answer. It would include USMC air as well...

(On a side note, the building where I am at the moment has just been buzzed at 150 feet by a Catlina flying boat...)

Number of ARA and Gunships assigned in the battle?
ARA: C bat, 2nd battalion, 20th arty. Commanded by Maj Roger Bartholomew. 6x ARA, possibly another ARA, being flown by the battery commander.

4x UH-1 Gunships

What could be a good model for the ARA

Well the ideal solution is a Cluster weapon to pin troops in a large target area. However, with out the custom OOB (That comes later) the next best model would be a normal UH-1 with all 4 weapons slots with 4x7.25" rockets, and 12 rounds of HE each, oh and a very high ROF. The normal practice was to fire half the rockets in one big salvo, and save the rest for emergencies.

And now A question for you. The battle should last about 250-300 turns, if you go by the numbers... Obviously this IS to huge a number.
So how are we going to manage it?