Battle in the Ia Drang Valley

Battle of the la Drang valley

Helicopter in the X-Ray landing zone

date	November 14-18, 1965
place	la Drang Valley
output	Victory is claimed on both sides

Parties to the conflict
Vietnam North 1955 North Vietnam	United States United States
Commander
Nguyen Huu An	Harold G. Moore
Troop strength
2,000 to 4,000 soldiers	3 battalions in total, ~ 1500 men, including LZ X-Ray: 1 battalion, 495 soldiers
losses
837 dead 1,365 wounded	total: 234 dead 242 wounded of which LZ X-Ray: 79 dead 121 wounded

The battle in the Ia Drang Valley was the first major military clash between American and North Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War . The battle, which can be divided into two parts, took place from November 14 to 18, 1965 near two landing zones in the central highlands of Vietnam. The name of the battle is derived from the Drang River, which flows through the valley where the battle took place.

The American units consisted of parts of the 1st and 2nd Battalion of the 7th Air Cavalry Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Air Cavalry Regiment . On the communist side, the 33rd, 66th and 320th regiments of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) started , supported by parts of the FNL's H15 battalion .

The theme of the battle was presented from an American perspective in a book (Moore & Galloway: We Were Soldiers Once… And Young , Random House, 1992) and the film adaptation We Were Heroes (2002) with Mel Gibson .

background

Development in Indochina 1964 to 1967

During 1963 and 1964, the forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which was pro-Western, were severely weakened by a series of military and political failures. Before his fall in 1963, the then President Ngô Đình Diệm had ordered under no circumstances to attack the FNL in major skirmishes, which allowed the resistance to build up large troops relatively unmolested. Even after his fall, the commanders were more concerned with overthrowing one another than with fighting the FNL.

In this power vacuum, their troops could move relatively unhindered and carry out major military operations. At first they only cared about building an army , but from the end of 1964 they dared to undertake larger military operations, so that slowly but surely a real war developed. The FNL (Viet Cong) was superior to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in all respects. With the exception of a few large cities, almost all areas were in the hands of the FNL, which were increasingly supported by North Vietnam.

General William Westmoreland , Commander of the MACV

Because of these problems, the American military advisors of the MACV urged that command be handed over to American generals. The representative for Vietnam, General William C. Westmoreland , however, saw it as better to send your own troops to Southeast Asia. After the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, deliberately hyped up by the US administration, and the arrival of marines in Vietnam in March 1965, he began to reinforce the troops and prepare them for major operations.

In the summer of 1965, the FNL were not only the unrestricted masters of a large part of the rural areas, they had also developed a larger area northeast of Saigon into a military assembly point, as the region was relatively difficult to reach. There were hardly any ARVN missions there, and so many FNL and NVA bases were set up. The area later became known as the Iron Triangle. In the summer of 1965, large units of the NVA gathered there to split the Republic of Vietnam in two with an attack in the south-west.

The US Army saw this as an ideal opportunity to try out newly developed tactics in which helicopters played a large role. These were supposed to transport larger troop units to the combat area, supply them and bring them back again. Since no heavy weapons could be carried, the ground troops should be supported with coordinated air and artillery strikes. For this, the 1st US Cavalry Division (airmobile) was relocated to Vietnam. In July 1965, she moved to camp at Camp Radcliffe , An Khe. In November it was almost completely operational.

In early November, the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division was sent on a Search and Destroy mission to destroy FNL combat units that had tried unsuccessfully to capture a camp near Plei Me. The enemy was not found and Westmoreland ordered the search to be extended in the direction of the Cambodian border . However, the commander of the 7th Cavalry Regiment returned to Pleiku as he was unsure where to find the enemy. There he learned about a troop concentration on Chu Pong Mountain, 22 kilometers southwest of Plei Me. He sent a heavily armed reconnaissance team to the region to check the information.

Harold G. Moore (May 10, 2010)

The battle

Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore , commander of the 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Regiment , was to lead the operation. He was specifically ordered not to storm the mountain. There were some possible landing zones in the area, Moore chose "X-Ray", a flat meadow surrounded by small trees at the northern foot of the mountain. It was bordered by a dry river bed . The La Drang River was about 2 kilometers away, as was the Albany Landing Zone , which later played a role. Artillery support was given from the Fire Support Base "Falcon", about 8 kilometers to the northeast. The landing zone was about the size of a football field. There, four companies were to be dropped off at intervals of 30 minutes by 16 helicopters of the type UH-1 "Huey" .

Moore's plan was for Alpha and Bravo Companies to advance northwest towards the river, Charlie south towards the mountain. Delta was to remain at the landing zone as a reserve , as this company had mortars and machine guns .

Landing on November 14th

Show map South Vietnam with Ia Drang valley

At 10:48 a.m. on November 14, the first troops of Bravo Company hit the ground. Before that, the area was prepared for about 30 minutes with air strikes and artillery fire. Moore and his officers were also on the road with Bravo Company. Instead of securing the entire landing zone with a few soldiers, Moore ordered small groups to scout the area. Most of Bravo stayed in the center of the landing area.

After Alpha arrived, the company was sent west across the river bed. After about 30 minutes, the soldiers took a first prisoner, an unarmed FNL fighter from the 33rd regiment. He explained that there were a total of three battalions at Chu Pong Mountain, each with a strength of around 1,600 men. At that time there were only about 200 Americans facing them.

By 12:10 p.m. the third wave had already arrived when the first shots were fired at units of Bravo, which were northwest of the river bed. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd platoon were sent forward, with the 3rd platoon serving as a reserve.

The 1st platoon was taken under heavy fire at around 1 p.m. and suffered initial losses. The train was nailed down, and at that moment the train driver received a radio message from the leader of the 2nd platoon, Lieutenant Henry Herrick, that he was also under fire and that he was chasing a group of enemies on the right flank.

Herrick's train is surrounded

In pursuit of the opposing fighters, Herrick's platoon had been dispersed and was already a few meters away from the rest of the battalion. When he was crossing a clearing with his train, several waves of NVA troops attacked him. During the first minutes of the firefight, his men could inflict heavy losses on the enemy. Herrick recognized the impending danger and tried to get to the first train to avoid being surrounded. However, a larger enemy group had already positioned themselves between the two platoons. So his train was included. Several men from his unit fell within a short time. Herrick himself was fatally wounded, but was still able to give important orders, e.g. B. destroy the radio codes and request artillery support.

In the chaos of the moment, Sergeant Ernie Savage took command as he was closest to the radio and senior soldiers had also died. He asked for artillery support around his position to stop the enemy. At this point in time, the train had eight fallen and 13 wounded. However, through the guidance of Savage and the use of the medic, the platoon was able to consolidate its position and hold the rest of the day.

Battle for the river bed

While Herrick's platoon was separated from the rest, the latter tried to hold a defensive ring. Because a helicopter with a liaison officer had arrived and was circling over the battlefield, Moore was able to order air strikes on the mountain to stop the enemy. These attacked the river bed, which was defended by Alpha, with about 150 soldiers from the south. The troops were ordered to counterattack, but this quickly fell into enemy fire. The leader of the 3rd platoon, Lieutenant Bob Taft, was killed and several soldiers were wounded. After retreating into the river bed, the attack was finally repelled.

The soldiers of North Vietnam then attacked the right flank of the 3rd platoon. The attack could be stopped. The identification tag of the fallen officer Taft, who had failed with his counterattack, was found on a dead FNL fighter . After the guerrillas were all killed, some soldiers fought their way to their own dead and brought them back. Meanwhile Bravo was trying to fight his way to Herrick's cut train.

At 2:30 p.m. the last of Charlie's troops reached the landing area. This was already under heavy fire, both the helicopter crews and the soldiers who had arrived suffered losses.

Delta was on the left flank of Alpha. Charlie was meanwhile the target of a hostile mass attack by 175 to 200 FNL fighters. With a clear view, heavy fire could be set on the attackers, causing devastating losses. At 3 p.m., about an hour after the attack began, the North Vietnamese withdrew.

Attack on Alpha and Delta

At the same time, Alpha and parts of Delta were also heavily attacked. The left flank was covered with two machine guns, these alone were responsible for the fact that the attack could not reach the position and interrupt the connection between Charlie and Alpha. The machine gunmen were seriously wounded and taken to the center of the landing zone, where the other wounded were waiting to be evacuated .

At Delta, most of the officers were now absent after the FNL troops carried out an assault .

Due to the heavy defensive fire, the helicopters were only able to evacuate two wounded, then the landing zone was closed for the time being. A little later, however, attack helicopters offered to take over this work, and many wounded were flown out. An officer was killed while he was hoisting a comrade into the Huey.

Defensive position

Delta should now secure the southeast side of the landing zone against the enemy. At 3:20 p.m. the last men arrived on the battlefield. A helicopter crashed near the defensive ring at the command post . The crew was quickly rescued.

The Americans' heavy weapons were grouped together to support Alpha and Bravo. Delta's reconnaissance group now also covered the northern and eastern areas of the landing zone. If the Vietnamese had bypassed the Americans beforehand and attacked them from there, they would not have encountered any resistance.

Advance to the cut train

After the attack on Alpha slowly subsided, Moore ordered another attempt to rescue the cut off soldiers. In addition, at 3:45 p.m., Alpha and Bravo were ordered to withdraw and break off contact with the enemy. Then they advanced across the river bed, but quickly suffered losses due to a well-developed machine-gun position. After the position could not be destroyed even with an M72 LAW , Second Lieutenant Marm stormed the position alone and killed the crew, seriously injuring him. The next day, a dozen FNL fighters were found dead. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor for this.

The attack had almost reached the trapped people when the soldiers came under fire from an M60 that came from a dead soldier on Herrick's platoon. In order not to be cut off themselves, the troops withdrew to the landing zone after 30 minutes.

Preparations for the night

The situation in the evening

Reinforcements arrived at 5 p.m. and consisted of parts of the Bravo Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry. With the help of these troops, a defensive position was set up for the night. As night fell, Moore's battalion had suffered heavy losses: Alpha suffered 34, Bravo 47 and Charlie four failures. Throughout the night, the US troops were fully prepared to repel attacks by smaller enemy groups. You should shoot as little as possible so as not to reveal your own positions. This was especially true of the MGs.

During the night, the cut off train was attacked three times (at 11:50 p.m., 3:15 a.m., and 4:30 a.m.). With the help of flares and artillery fire, the Vietnamese were pushed back and the train suffered no casualties throughout the night.

Attack at dawn

At 6:20 a.m. Moore ordered scouting parties to determine the strength of the enemy. Just a few dozen meters outside the positions, the soldiers came under heavy fire and withdrew. Shortly afterwards, the Vietnamese advanced south and, despite air support, quickly approached the line of defense. The fight was already beginning to develop towards the command post. The situation was finally resolved by two M60s, but the affected groups suffered heavy losses.

Another attack

At 7:45 am, the FNL troops launched another attack against Alpha, on the dividing line with Charlie. Several soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire at the command post, including Moore's radio operator. The battalion was now under fire from three sides, and many soldiers were known for their bravery. For example, Specialist Willard Parish killed around 100 soldiers with his MG and then his pistol, for which he was later awarded the Silver Star . Because the fighting in the southern area intensified more and more, Moore transmitted the code word Broken Arrow to the air traffic control officer over the battlefield. He signaled that an American unit was in danger of being overrun. All available aircraft in the country were alerted, enabling strong close air support .

In the Charlie area, the FNL unit had managed to storm parts of the line. There they killed wounded Americans and took away weapons and equipment. Moore ordered their own positions to be marked with smoke and then directed artillery fire at the enemy, including Charlie's position.

Shortly thereafter, Moore's command post was almost the victim of self-fire when two F-100 Super Sabers approached their positions. The first jet threw napalm into its own ranks and the second flew straight towards the command post. His position was saved only because Moore was able to get the plane to turn off just in time over the radio. Even so, some soldiers died and many were injured in the incident.

The attack ends

At 9:10 a.m., reinforcements again reached the landing zone by air transport. They reinforced the positions that were held by Charlie. At 10:00 am, the North Vietnamese began to gradually withdraw, but there were still fierce exchanges of fire. During the attack in the morning, Charlie Company had 42 dead and 20 wounded.

Reinforcement

Reinforcement on November 15, 1965

Due to the harshness of the battle, additional units of the 1st Cavalry Division were ordered into the area. The units landed in the Viktor landing zone at around 8:00 a.m. and moved to the US position. The way was uneventful until there was some exchange of fire shortly before the X-Ray landing zone. At 12:00 noon the troops had reached Moore's command post.

3. Advance to the cut train

The reinforcements were combined and tried again to reach the soldiers who had been cut off. With the help of support fire, the troops could slowly advance towards the goal. At the destination they found nine dead Americans, 13 wounded and seven uninjured. At 3:30 p.m., the survivors were brought back to the landing zone, accompanied by sporadic fire from enemy snipers .

There the troops prepared for the next night. The wounded were flown out and the positions reinforced. However, a major attack did not occur until 4 a.m. against Bravo. The company had installed booby traps and flares so that they were warned in good time. At 4:22 am, 300 Viet Cong began their attack. Through cleverly used artillery and machine gun fire, heavy losses could be inflicted on the enemy. After 20 minutes the attack was repeated, but now an airplane had dropped flares so that the Americans could see the battlefield clearly. The opponent was rejected again after 30 minutes of fighting. At 5:30 a.m., the Vietnamese launched their next unsuccessful attack. At 6:30 a.m. the command post was targeted, but the attack was repulsed by the use of heavy weapons. Bravo Company had not lost a single man during these attacks.

Rest day

On the morning of November 16, the units were reinforced again. The Americans now had three battalions in the area. In the afternoon the 1st Battalion withdrew from the combat area. At this point the battle was as good as over. The Vietnamese had lost many hundreds of soldiers and could no longer fight. At this point in time, the Americans had fallen victim to 79, and 121 were wounded. Their strength was now so great that they no longer had to fear further attacks.

Since the mission was successfully completed, there was no longer any reason to remain in the region, especially since further FNL elements had been sighted at the border. However, Westmoreland ordered two battalions to remain at the landing area.

Ambush on November 17th

The next day, the two remaining battalions set out for two landing zones near la Drang. Since B-52 bombers were to be used in the region , the US troops had to go to a security zone by 1 p.m.

The 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry had now had no recovery phase for days and the terrain was extremely difficult. In order not to exceed the time limit, no guards were posted and the troops moved in marching formation . The unit was thus an easy target for an ambush by the FNL and was almost completely wiped out. The battle for the Albany landing zone lasted all day and all night. The battle quickly turned into a struggle for survival, in which the soldiers were often involved in brutal hand-to-hand combat . In this battle, the battalion had 155 killed and 124 wounded in one day. The losses were higher than in the three-day battle at the X-Ray landing zone.

consequences

The Americans recorded a total of 234 killed and 242 wounded in the fighting at X-Ray and Albany. The November 17th ambush was the worst of the entire Vietnam War. The Vietnamese lost 837 soldiers and 1,365 were injured.

The battle had demonstrated the operational capability of helicopters and air support and was typical of the conflict. The Vietnamese had realized that they could bring the technically superior Americans into dire straits if they got close enough. With this tactic, American losses should at some point become so high that they would no longer be sustainable and a withdrawal would be the result. By then, however, the attempt to split South Vietnam in two had failed.

Three soldiers received the Medal of Honor , the highest honor for bravery in the US armed forces , for their service during the battle .

Major Bruce Crandall flew 22 times in his unarmed helicopter into the landing zones to deliver ammunition and supplies, and to evacuate the wounded.
Captain Ed Freeman flew 14 times in his unarmed helicopter into the landing zones to deliver ammunition and supplies, and to evacuate the wounded. He was wounded four times himself.
Second Lieutenant Walter Marm ran through enemy fire across open terrain and overran a machine gun position in close combat, killing at least five soldiers and being wounded himself.

In the media

The battle was the template for the movie We Were Heroes with Mel Gibson (2002).

literature

Joseph L. Galloway, Harold G. Moore: We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young . Thorndike Press 2002.
Neil Sheehan: The Big Lie. John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam . Europaverlag 1992, pp. 573-582.

Web links

Commons : Battle of the Ia Drang Valley - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/vietnam-mz.html

[1] ttp://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/vietnam-mz.html