to drop one of his airborne battalions behind the M113 formation on the west side instead. Vann accused Cao of wanting to let the VC escape in order to avoid further South Vietnamese casualties. However, Cao argued that a surrounded and well-entrenched enemy would fight more fiercely than a retreating one, so he wanted the VC units inside the hamlets of Ap Bac and Ap Tan Thoi to expose themselves by retreating through the eastern side of the battlefield, where he could destroy them with artillery and air power. Cao had also lost confidence in Vann, because Cao felt Vann had placed the lives of many South Vietnamese soldiers at risk to save the lives of a handful of Americans. Major-General Tran Thien Khiem, Chief of the ARVN Joint General Staff, was present during the argument. He did not object to Cao's plan because it was consistent with President Diem's objective to save Vietnamese lives through the Rural Revolutionary Development and Chieu Hoi Programs, which encouraged VC fighters to join the South Vietnamese military. Insertion of the airborne battalion Believing it was useless to continue arguing with Cao, Vann climbed back into his L-19 reconnaissance aircraft and left Tan Hiep. Throughout the afternoon, he continued to press Cao to deploy the South Vietnamese paratroopers quickly. He was fearful that the battle would be the most significant defeat of South Vietnamese forces up to that point of the war. Cao promised to deploy the second Civil Guard battalion, which had just arrived at the southwest flank of Ap Bac, and to drop the ARVN 8th Airborne Battalion at around 16:00 behind Ba's armored personnel carriers. Late in the afternoon, a flight of C-123 Providers, with about 300 South Vietnamese paratroopers aboard, closed in on their objective and quickly drew machine gun fire from the hamlet. The C-123 pilots changed course to avoid the ground fire. However, either the South Vietnamese jumpmaster or the American flight leader did not compensate for the change. As a result, the paratroopers landed right in front of the entrenched VC positions, instead of behind the 4th Mechanized Rifle Squadron and the Civil Guards. The VC were able to pick off one South Vietnamese paratrooper after another, some as they descended and others when their parachutes became stuck in the trees. Those paratroopers who reached the ground and survived tried to move forward, but the VC soldiers