and 120mm mortars. To ensure consistency in survey and firing, the only maps authorized for use in the 208th Artillery were the 1:50,000 series printed in Hanoi. The PAVN 205th Infantry Regiment, with the 429th Sapper Regiment attached, arrived in assembly areas near Bu Prang in mid-October and on 23 October the 208th Artillery began a five-day rehearsal preparatory to the attack. Meanwhile, the 271st Regiment with the 46th Reconnaissance Battalion moved toward Dak Song. Battle The 208th Artillery began softening up Bu Prang and Bu Bong on 30 October. Each day 122 mm rockets and mortar and artillery shells fell on the two camps. The camp commander kept his four RF battalions outside the perimeter, patrolling near the Tuy Đức crossroads and the local defense of the two positions was the responsibility of an RF company, an engineer platoon and the two platoons of artillery. The attack began just before dawn on 4 November. The PAVN 205th Regiment, with the 429th Sappers and two companies of tanks and armored personnel carriers, overran the badly outnumbered and outgunned defenders. They destroyed two ARVN howitzers, towed the other two away and outside the camps dispersed the four RF battalions. During the assault on Bu Bong, the commander of the PAVN 205th Regiment was seriously wounded and had to be evacuated. General Toàn responded rapidly to the situation in Quang Duc Province, although he had only sketchy information concerning the PAVN's strength and dispositions. He immediately ordered the ARVN 23rd Division to pull the 53rd Infantry out of western Kontum Province and get it started toward Ban Me Thuot. As this order was being executed the PAVN attacked Dak Song on Route 8B, the only land access to Quang Duc from Ban Me Thuot. The defenses at Dak Song crumbled under assault of the PAVN 271st Regiment and Gia Nghĩa, the province capital, was cut off. But the 53rd Infantry was on the way and by 8 November, its 1st Battalion was approaching Dak Song. The 2nd Battalion, 53rd Infantry, was flown into Nhon Co airfield () west of Gia Nghĩa and began moving north on Highway 14 toward Bu Prang and Bu Bong. Meanwhile, the PAVN 205th Regiment began executing the next phase of its orders: it turned over the defense of the newly won positions at Bu Prang and Bu Bong to another element of the task force and began