Battle of Ia Drang
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Battle of Ia Drang | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Second Indochina War/Vietnam War | |||||||
 1/7 Cavalry at LZ X-Ray |
|||||||
|
|||||||
| Combatants | |||||||
 North Vietnam |
 United States |
||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Nguyen Huu An | Thomas Brown (3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division) Hal Moore (1st Battalion 7th Cavalry) Robert Mcdade (2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry) |
||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 837 dead, 1,365 wounded[citation needed] |
234 dead, 242 wounded |
||||||
| Vietnam War |
|---|
| Ap Bac – Binh Gia –Pleiku – Song Be – Dong Xoai – Gang Toi – Ia Drang – Hastings – A Shau – Duc Co –Long Tan – Attleboro – Cedar Falls – Tra Binh Dong – Junction City – Hill 881 – Ong Thanh – Dak To – 1st Tet – Khe Sanh – 1st Saigon – Hue – Lang Vei – Lima Site 85 – Kham Duc – Dewey Canyon – 2nd Tet – Hamburger Hill – Binh Ba – Cambodia – Snuol – FSB Ripcord – Lam Son 719 – Ban Dong –FSB Mary Ann – Easter '72 – 1st Quang Tri –Loc Ninh – An Loc – Kontum – 2nd Quang Tri –Phuoc Long – Ho Chi Minh – Buon Me Thuot – Xuan Loc – Truong Sa –2nd Saigon – Rolling Thunder – Barrell Roll – Pony Express – Steel Tiger – Tiger Hound – Tailwind – Commando Hunt – Linebacker I – Linebacker II – Chenla I – Chenla II – SS Mayagüez |
The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major battle of the Vietnam War between the United States Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). The two-part battle took place between November 14 and November 18, 1965, at two landing zones (LZ's) northwest of Plei Me in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. The battle derives its name from the Drang River which runs through the valley northwest of Plei Me, in which the engagement took place. "Ia" means "river" in the local Montagnard language.
Representing the American forces were elements of the 1st Battalion 7th Cavalry, the 2nd Battalion 7th Cavalry, and the 1st Battalion 5th Cavalry of the United States Army. The communist forces included the 33rd, 66th, and 320th Regiments of the North Vietnamese Army, as well Viet Cong of the H15 Battalion.
The battle is the subject of the critically acclaimed book We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young by Harold (Hal) Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, which serves as the principal source from which this article is composed. In 2002, screenwriter Randall Wallace depicted the first part of the battle in the film We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson.
[edit] Background
Through 1963 and 1964 a series of political and military mishaps had seriously affected the capabilities of the ARVN main forces in South Vietnam. ARVN commanders were initially under direct orders by President Ngo Dinh Diem to avoid pitched combat at all costs, allowing the NLF forces to train and grow without significant opposition. Even after Diem's overthrow in a 1963 coup, the new military leadership largely consisted of commanders put in place by Diem prior to the coup. They proved equally uninterested in fighting the NLF, spending their time in a series of coups and counter-coups.
In this vacuum the NLF units (known in the US as the Viet Cong, or simply "VC") were able to mount increasingly larger military operations. At first these were limited to building up larger formations (battalions and regiments) but by late 1964 they had evolved into an all-out war against ARVN units they now outperformed in all ways. By early 1965 the majority of rural South Vietnam was under limited NLF control, increasingly supported by PAVN regulars from North Vietnam. By 1965 ARVN units in the field were hopelessly outclassed and being ambushed and slaughtered constantly. Morale was disastrous.
U.S. advisers in the field had long been pushing for the ARVN forces to be "taken over" by US commanders. In addition to actually getting the men to fight, something they generally seemed willing to do when allowed, the better training and leadership of the U.S. command was expected to be more than enough to make up for the existing deficiencies in the ARVN command. However, the newly-appointed commander of the Vietnam efforts, General William Westmoreland, felt the direct application of US forces was a more appropriate solution; perhaps the ARVN units wouldn't fight, but the same was certainly not true of U.S. Army regulars. By early 1965 he had secured the commitment of upwards of 300,000 U.S. regulars from Lyndon B. Johnson, and was actively trying to get them into the field as soon as possible. Buildup of combat-ready forces took place throughout the summer of 1965.
By this point the NLF forces were not only in nominal control of most of the countryside, but had set up a major military infrastructure in the Central Highlands northeast of Saigon. There were few reliable roads into the area, making it an ideal place for the communist forces to form bases that were relatively immune from attack by the generally road-bound ARVN forces. Over the year they fortified the area and turned it into what the US referred to as the Iron Triangle. During 1965 large groups of North Vietnamese regulars of the PAVN moved into the area in order to conduct major offensive operations. Attacks to the southwest from these bases threatened to cut South Vietnam in two.
The U.S. command saw this as an ideal area to test their newly developed air mobility tactics. Air mobility called for battalion-sized forces to be delivered into, supplied, and extracted from an area of action using helicopters. Since heavy weapons of a normal combined-arms force could not follow, the infantry would be supported by coordinated air, artillery, and aerial rocket fire arranged from a distance and directed by local observers. They had been practicing these tactics in the US in the newly-created 11th Air Assault Division (Test). The 11th was formed from the 1st Cavalry Division, and on completion of their experimental training (much of it taking place with in concert with the 101st Airborne Division) they became the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), or as they called themselves, the "Air Cav". Starting in July 1965 they began deploying to Camp Radcliffe, An Khe, Vietnam. By November most of the Division's three brigades were in-field and ready for operations.
In early November the 7th Cavalry Regiment's 3rd Brigade was sent into combat on a search-and-destroy mission in order to track down a force that had unsuccessfully attempted to overrun the Special Forces base at Plei Me, about 25 miles south of the 7th's base of operations at Pleiku. The 3rd had searched around the base for several days, but had found nothing so far. Westmoreland sent word to continue the search westwards toward the Cambodian border, but unsure of where to look, the 3rd's commander, Col. Thomas "Tim" Brown, returned to Pleiku in an attempt to gather additional intelligence. Here he learned of some sort of concentration of forces on Chu Pong Mountain, 14 miles (22.4 km) northwest of Plei Me. Brown decided that this was likely the only lead they had, and decided to test the intelligence with a reconnaissance in force.
[edit] The Battle
Brown selected his 1st battalion, led by Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, for the mission, with the explicit orders to not attempt to scale the mountain. There were a number of clearings in the area that had been designated as possible helicopter landing zones, typically named for a letter of the phonetic alphabet. Moore selected LZ "X-Ray" as his landing zone, a flat clearing surrounded by low trees at the northern base of the Chu Pong Mountain and bordered by a dry creek bed on the west. The Ia Drang itself was about 2 km to the northwest, with the related LZ's Albany to the north, Columbus, just east of Albany, Tango about 2 km to the north, Yankee a similar distance south, and Whiskey and Victor about 4 km to the south-southeast. Artillery support would be provided from firebase FB Falcon, about 8 km to the northeast.
X-Ray was approximately the size of a misshapen football field, some 100 meters in length (east to west). It was estimated that only eight Hueys could fit in the clearing at a given time. The 1st battalion was typical for US Army units of the time, consisting of three rifle companies (Alpha through Charlie) and a heavy weapons company (Delta), with about 450 men in total. They were to be shuttled by 16 Huey transport helicopters, which could generally carry 10 to 12 equipped troops, so the battalion would have to be delivered in several "lifts" carrying just less than one complete company each time. Each lift would take about 30 minutes. Moore arranged the lifts to deliver Bravo company first, along with his command team, followed by Alpha, Charlie, and finally Delta.
Moore's plan was to move Bravo and Alpha northwest past the creek bed, and Charlie south toward the mountain. Delta Company, which comprised special weapons forces including mortar, recon, and machine gun units, was to be used as the battlefield reserve. In the center of the LZ was a small group of trees that was to become Moore's command post.
[edit] The Landings, Sunday November 14
At 10:48 a.m. of 14 November, the first elements of Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion/7th Cavalry touched down at LZ X-Ray, following around 30 minutes of bombardment via artillery, aerial rockets, and air strikes. Accompanying Captain John Herren's Bravo Company were Moore and his command group. Instead of attempting to secure the entire landing zone with such a limited force, most of Bravo was kept near the center of the LZ as a strike force, while smaller units were sent out to reconnoiter the surrounding area. This was the first major battle between U.S. and N.V.A forces in Vietnam.
Following their arrival, Herren ordered Alpha to move west past the creek bed. Within approximately 30 minutes, one of his squads under Sergeant John Mingo surprised and captured an unarmed PAVN soldier of the 33rd PAVN Regiment. The prisoner revealed that there were three North Vietnamese battalions on the Chu Pong Mountain — an estimated 1,600 communist forces compared to less than 200 American forces on the ground at that point.
At 11:20 a.m., the second lift of the battalion arrived, with the rest of Bravo Company and one platoon of Alpha Company, commanded by Captain Tony Nadal.
At 12:10 p.m., the third lift of American forces arrived, consisting of most of Alpha Company. Alpha took up positions to the rear and left flank of Bravo along the dry creek bed, and to the west and to the south facing perpendicular down the creek bed.
At 12:15 p.m., the first shots were fired on Bravo Company's three platoons that were patrolling the jungle northwest of the dry creek bed. At 12:20 p.m., Herren ordered his 1st Platoon under Lieutenant Al Devney and 2nd Platoon under Lieutenant Henry Herrick to advance abreast of one another, and the 3rd (under Lieutenant Dennis Deal) to follow as a reserve unit.
Devney's platoon led approximately 100 yards west of the creek bed, with Herrick's men to his rear and right flank. Just before 1:00 p.m., Devney's platoon was heavily assaulted on both flanks by the North Vietnamese, taking casualties and becoming pinned down in the process. It was around this point that Herrick radioed in that his men were taking fire from their right flank, and that he was pursuing a squad of enemy forces in that direction.
[edit] Herrick's platoon is isolated
In pursuit of the North Vietnamese on his right flank, Herrick's platoon was quickly spread out over a space of around 50 yards, and became separated from the rest of the battalion by approximately 100 yards. Soon, Herrick radioed in to ask whether he should enter or circumvent a clearing that his platoon had come across in the bush. Herrick expressed concerns that he might become cut off from the battalion if he tried to skirt the clearing, and therefore would be leading his men through it in pursuit of the enemy.
An intense firefight quickly erupted in the clearing, during the first three or four minutes his platoon suffered no casualties and inflicted heavy losses on the North Vietnamese that streamed out of the trees. Herrick soon radioed in that the enemy were closing in around his left and right flanks. Captain Herren responded by ordering Herrick to attempt to link back with Devney's 1st Platoon. Herrick replied that there was a large force between his men and 1st Platoon.
The situation quickly disintegrated for Herrick's 2nd Platoon, which began taking casualties as the North Vietnamese attack persisted. Herrick ordered his men to form a defensive perimeter on a small knoll in the clearing. Within approximately 25 minutes, five men of 2nd Platoon were killed, including Herrick who radioed Herren that he was hit and was passing command over to Sergeant Carl Palmer. Herrick gave a number of vital instructions to his men before he died, including orders to destroy the signals codes and call in artillery support.
Sergeant Ernie Savage assumed command after Sergeant Palmer and then Sergeant Robert Stokes were killed. The platoon was technically under the command of Sergeant First Class Mac McHenry, who was positioned elsewhere on the perimeter. Savage assumed command by virtue of being close to the radio, and began the process of calling in repeated bombardments of artillery support around the platoon's position. By this point, eight men of 2nd Platoon had been killed and 13 wounded. Under Savage's leadership, and with the extraordinary care of platoon medic Charlie Lose, the men would hold the knoll for the duration of the battle at X-Ray.
Specialist Galen Bungum of Herrick's Platoon later said of the stand at the knoll:
| “ | We gathered up all the full magazines we could find and stacked them up in front of us. There was no way we could dig a foxhole. The handle was blown off my entrenching tool and one of my canteens had a hole blown through it. The fire was so heavy that if you tried to raise up to dig you were dead. There was death and destruction all around.[1] | ” |
Sergeant Savage later recalled of the repeated PAVN assaults:
| “ | It seemed like they didn't care how many of them were killed. Some of them were stumbling, walking right into us. Some had their guns slung and were charging bare-handed. I didn't run out of ammo - had about thirty magazines in my pack. And no problems with the M-16. An hour before dark three men walked up on the perimeter. I killed all three of them 15 feet away.[2] | ” |
[edit] Battle for the creek bed
With Herrick's platoon cut off and surrounded, the rest of the battalion fought to maintain a perimeter.
At 1:32 p.m., Charlie Company under Captain Bob Edwards arrived, taking up positions along the south and southwest facing the mountain.
At around 1:45 p.m., through his Operations Officer flying above the battlefield (Captain Matt Dillon), Moore called in air strikes, artillery, and aerial rocket artillery on the mountain to prevent the North Vietnamese from advancing on the battalion's position.
Lieutenant Bob Taft's 3rd Platoon of Alpha Company confronted approximately 150 communist forces advancing down the length and sides of the creek bed (from the south) toward the battalion. 3rd Platoon's troops were told to drop their packs and move forward for the assault. The resulting exchange was particularly costly for 3rd Platoon, as its lead forces were quickly cut down. 3rd Platoon was forced to pull back, and Taft himself was killed. Sergeant Lorenzo Nathan, a Korean War veteran, took command and 3rd Platoon was able to halt the PAVN advance down the creek bed.
The communist forces shifted their attack to 3rd Platoon's right flank in an attempt to flank Bravo. Their advance was quickly stopped by Lieutenant Walter "Joe" Marm's 2nd Platoon (Alpha Company) situated on Bravo's left flank. Moore had ordered Captain Nadal to lend Bravo one of his platoons, in an effort to allow Herren to attempt to fight through to Herrick's position.
From Marm's new position, his men killed some 80 PAVN troops with a close range machine gun, rifle, and grenade assault. The PAVN survivors who were not mowed down made their way back to the creek bed, where they were cut down by additional fire from the rest of Alpha Company. Lieutenant Taft's dogtags were discovered on the body of a PAVN soldier that had been killed by 3rd Platoon. Upset that Taft's body had been left on the battlefield amidst the chaos, Nadal and his radio officer, Sergeant Jack Gell, brought Taft and the bodies of other Americans back to the creek bed under heavy fire.
[edit] Attack from the south
At 2:30 p.m., the last troops of Charlie Company arrived, along with the lead elements of Delta Company under Captain Ray Lefebvre. The insertion took place with intense PAVN fire pouring into the LZ, and the Huey crews and newly arrived Battalion forces suffered a number of casualties.
The small contingent of Delta took up position on Alpha's left flank. Charlie Company, now assembled along the south and southwest in full strength, was met within minutes by a head-on assault. Edwards radioed in that an estimated 175 to 200 PAVN troops were charging his company's lines. With a clear line of sight over their sector of the battlefield, Charlie Company was able to call in and adjust heavy ordnance support with precision, inflicting devastating losses on the communist forces. By 3:00 p.m., the attack had been quelled and the PAVN ended up withdrawing from the assault approximately one hour after it had been launched.
[edit] Attack on Alpha and Delta
At approximately the same time, Alpha and the lead elements of Delta (which had accompanied Alpha at the perimeter in the vicinity of the creek bed) were met by a fierce PAVN attack.
Covering the critical left flank from being rolled up by the North Vietnamese were two of Alpha's machine gun crews positioned 75 yards southwest of the company's main position. Specialist Theron Ladner (with his assistant gunner Private First Class Rodriguez Rivera) and Specialist 4 Russell Adams (with a-gunner Specialist 4 Bill Beck) had positioned their guns 10 yards apart from one another, and proceeded to pour heavy fire into the communist forces attempting to cut into the perimeter between Charlie and Alpha companies. Moore later credited the two gun teams with single-handedly preventing the PAVN from rolling up Alpha Company and driving a wedge into the battalion between Alpha and Charlie.
Their stand was costly, as Adams and Rodriguez were severely wounded in the enemy onslaught. After the two were carried to the battalion's collection point at Moore's command post to await evacuation by air, Beck, Ladner, and Private First Class Edward Dougherty (an ammo-bearer) continued their close range suppression of the communist advance.
Beck later said of the battle:
| “ | When Doc Nall was there with me, working on Russell, fear, real fear, hit me. Fear like I had never known before. Fear comes, and once you recognize it and accept it, it passes just as fast as it comes, and you don't really think about it anymore. You just do what you have to do, but you learn the real meaning of fear and life and death. For the next two hours I was alone on that gun, shooting at the enemy.[3] | ” |
Delta's troops also experienced heavy losses in repelling the PAVN assault, and Captain Lefebvre was wounded soon after arriving to X-Ray. One of his platoon leaders, Lieutenant Raul Taboada was also severely wounded, and Lefebvre passed command to Staff Sergeant George Gonzales (who, unknown to Lefebvre, had also been hit).
While medical evacuation helicopters (medevacs) were supposed to transport the battalion's growing casualties, only two were evacuated by medevacs before the pilots called off their mission under intense fire from the PAVN. Casualties were soon loaded onto the assault Hueys (lifting the battalion's forces to X-Ray), whose pilots courageously carried load after load of wounded from the battlefield.
In a particularly tragic incident, the battalion's Intelligence Officer, Captain Tom Metsker (who had been wounded), was fatally hit when helping his wounded comrade Ray Lefebvre aboard a Huey.
[edit] A 360-degree perimeter
Captain Edwards ordered Sergeant Gonzales to position Delta Company on Charlie's left flank, extending the perimeter to cover the southeast side of X-Ray.
At 3:20 p.m., the last of the battalion arrived, and Lieutenant Larry Litton assumed command of Delta. It was during this lift that one Huey, having approached the LZ too high, crash-landed on the outskirts of the perimeter near the command post (those on board were quickly rescued by the battalion).
With Delta's weapons teams on the ground, its mortar units were massed with the rest of the battalion's in a single station to support Alpha and Bravo. Delta's reconnaissance platoon (commanded by Lieutenant James Rackstraw) was positioned along the north and east of the LZ, establishing a 360-degree perimeter over X-Ray. Had the PAVN forces circled around to the north of the US positions prior to this point, they would have found their approach unhindered.
[edit] Second push to the lost platoon
As the PAVN attack on Alpha Company diminished, Moore organized for another effort to rescue Herrick's lost platoon. At 3:45, Moore ordered Alpha and Bravo to evacuate their casualties and pull back from engagement with the enemy.
Shortly after, Alpha and Bravo began their advance toward Herrick's lost platoon from the creek bed. The force soon suffered casualties. At one point, Bravo's advance was halted by a firmly entrenched North Vietnamese machine gun position at a large termite hill. After firing a light anti-tank weapon (LAW) into it with no effect, Lieutenant Marm attacked the position single-handedly. Under fire, Marm charged the enemy gun, eliminating it with grenade and rifle fire. The following day, a dozen dead PAVN troops (including one officer) were found in the position. Marm was wounded in the neck and jaw in the assault and was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his lone assault.
The second push had advanced just over 75 yards toward the lost platoon's position before reaching a stalemate with the PAVN. At one point, the PAVN were firing on Alpha's 1st Platoon (which was leading the advance and was itself at risk of becoming separated from the battalion) with an American M-60 machine gun that had been taken off a dead gunner of Herrick's platoon. The stalemate was to last between 20 and 30 minutes before Nadal and Herren requested permission to withdraw back to X-Ray (to which Moore agreed).
[edit] The Americans dig in for the night
Near 5:00 p.m., the lead elements of Bravo Company of the 2nd Battalion/7th Cavalry (the "sister battalion" of the 1st/7th under Moore) arrived at LZ X-Ray to reinforce the embattled battalion. In preparation for a defensive position to last the night, Moore ordered Bravo's (2nd/7th) commander Captain Myron Diduryk to place two of his platoons between Bravo (1st/7th) and Delta on the northeast side of the perimeter. Diduryk's 2nd Platoon was used to reinforce Charlie Company's position (which was stretched over a disproportionately long line).
By nightfall, the battle had taken a heavy toll on Moore's battalion. Bravo had taken 47 casualties (including one officer) and Alpha had taken 34 casualties (including three officers). Charlie Company was, at this point, comparatively healthy (having taken only four casualties).
The American forces were placed on full alert throughout the night. Under the light of a bright moon, the enemy probed every company on the perimeter (with the exception of Delta) in small squad-sized units. The Americans exercised some level of restraint in their response. The M-60 gun crews, strategically positioned around the perimeter to provide for multiple fields of fire, were told to hold their fire until otherwise ordered (so as to conceal their true location from the PAVN).
The lost platoon under Sergeant Savage's command suffered three sizeable assaults of the night (one just before midnight, one at 3:15 a.m., and one at 4:30 a.m.). The PAVN, using bugles to signal their forces, were repelled from the knoll with artillery, grenade, and rifle fire. Miraculously, the lost platoon would survive the night without taking additional casualties.
[edit] Attack at dawn, Monday November 15
Just before dawn at 6:20 a.m., Moore ordered his companies to put out recon patrols to probe for enemy forces.
At 6:50, patrols from Charlie Company's 1st Platoon (under Lieutenant Neil Kroger) and 2nd Platoon (under Lieutenant Jack Geoghegan) had advanced 150 yards from the perimeter before coming into contact with PAVN troops. A firefight broke out, and the patrols quickly withdrew to the perimeter.
Shortly after, an estimated 200-plus North Vietnamese troops charged 1st and 2nd platoons on the south side of the perimeter. Heavy ordinance support was called in, but the PAVN were soon within 75 yards of the battalion's lines. Their fire began to cut through Charlie Company's positions and into the command post and the American lines across the LZ.
1st and 2nd platoons suffered significant casualties in this assault, including Kroger and Geoghegan. Geoghegan was killed while attempting to rescue one of his wounded men, Private First Class Willie Godboldt (who died of his wounds shortly after). Two M-60 crews (under Specialist James Comer and Specialist 4 Clinton Poley, and Specialist 4 Nathaniel Byrd and Specialist 4 George Foxe) were instrumental in suppressing the enemy advance from completely overrunning Geoghegan's lines.
Following this attack, Charlie's 3rd Platoon was soon met with a PAVN assault. Captain Edwards was wounded, and Lieutenant John Arrington assumed command of the company (and was himself quickly wounded).
[edit] A three-pronged attack
At 7:45 a.m., the PAVN launched an assault on Alpha, near its connection with the beleaguered Charlie Company. At this point, fire started to penetrate the battalion command post, which suffered a number of wounded at this point (including Moore's own radio operator, Specialist 4 Robert Ouellette).
Now under heavy attack on three sides, the battalion fought off repeated waves of PAVN infantry. It was during this battle that Specialist Willard Parish of Charlie Company, now situated on Delta's lines, earned a Silver Star for suppressing an intense enemy assault in his sector. After expending his M-60 ammunition, Parish resorted to his .45 sidearm to repel PAVN forces that advanced within 20 yards of his foxhole. After the battle, over 100 dead North Vietnamese troops were discovered around Parish's position.
As the battle along the southern line intensified, Moore ordered the battalion's forward air controller, Lieutenant Charlie Hastings, to transmit the code phrase "Broken Arrow", which relayed that an American combat unit was in danger of being overrun. In so doing, Hastings was calling on all available support aircraft in the country to come to the battalion's defense, drawing on a significant arsenal of heavy ordnance support.
On Charlie Company's broken lines, PAVN troops walked the lines for several minutes, killing wounded Americans and stripping their bodies of weapons and other items. It was around this time, at 7:55 a.m., that Moore ordered his lines to throw colored smoke grenades over the lines to identify the battalion's perimeter. Aerial fire support was then called in on the PAVN at close range — including those along Charlie's lines.
Shortly after, Moore's command post suffered a near-death experience from friendly fire. Two F-100 Super Sabre jets approached X-Ray, the first dropping napalm inadvertently on American lines, the second approaching the command post in a similar manner. The command post was only saved when, at Moore's urging, Hastings frantically radioed for the second jet to change course. Despite Hastings' best efforts, a number of Americans were wounded and killed by this strike.
[edit] The attack ends
At 9:10 a.m., the first elements of Alpha Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry under Captain Joel Sugdinis arrived at X-Ray. Sugdinis' forces reinforced the remains of Charlie Company's lines.
By 10 a.m., the North Vietnamese had begun to withdraw from the battle — although occasional fire would continue to harass the battalion. Charlie Company, having inflicted scores of losses on the PAVN, had suffered 42 KIA's (Killed In Action) and 20 WIA's (Wounded In Action) over the course of the two-and-a-half-hour assault. Lieutenant Rick Rescorla of Diduryk's Bravo Company, having policed up the battlefield in Charlie Company's sector following the assaults, later remarked:
| “ | There were American and NVA bodies everywhere. My area was where Lieutenant Geoghegan's platoon had been. There were several dead NVA around his platoon command post. One dead trooper was locked in contact with a dead NVA, hands around the enemy's throat. There were two troopers — one black, one Hispanic — linked tight together. It looked like they had died trying to help each other.[4] | ” |
[edit] Reinforcements
Given the tempo of combat at LZ X-Ray and the losses being suffered, other units of the 1st Cavalry Division planned to land nearby and then move overland to X-Ray. The 2nd Battalion of the 5th Cavalry was to be flown into LZ Victor, about 3.5 kilometers east-southeast of LZ X-Ray. They flew in at 8:00 AM, and quickly organized to move out, the trip taking about 4 hours. Most of this was uneventful until they were approaching X-Ray. At about 10 AM, some 800 yards to the east of the LZ, the 2nd's Alpha company received some light fire and had to set up a combat front. At approximately 12:05 p.m., Tully's forces had arrived at the LZ.
[edit] Third push to the lost platoon
Using a plan devised by Moore, Tully commanded Bravo/1st/7th and his own Alpha/2nd/5th and Charlie/2nd/5th companies in a third major effort to relieve the lost platoon under Sergeant Ernie Savage. Making use of fire support, the relief force slowly but successfully made its way to the knoll without encountering PAVN elements. 2nd Platoon had survived, but at a significant cost; nine KIA's and 13 WIA's of 29 men. At this point, around 3:30 p.m., the relief force began to encounter sniper fire, and began the process of carrying the wounded and dead of the lost platoon back to X-Ray.
The expanded force at X-Ray, consisting of Moore's weakened 1st Battalion of the 7th, Tully's 2nd Battalion of the 5th, and two companies of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th consolidated at X-Ray for the night. At the LZ, the wounded and dead were evacuated, and the remaining American forces dug in and fortified their lines.
[edit] The second night
While the American lines at X-Ray were harassed at various times during the night by PAVN probes, it was shortly before 4:00 a.m. that grenade booby traps and trip flares set by Captain Diduryk's Bravo Company began to erupt. At around 4:22 a.m., the PAVN launched a fierce assault against Diduryk's men.
Bravo fought off this attack by an estimated 300 PAVN in minutes. A decisive factor in this stand, in addition to rifle and machine gun fire from Bravo's lines, was the skilled placement of artillery strikes by Diduryk's forward observer, Lieutenant Bill Lund. Making use of four different artillery batteries, Lund organized fire into separate concentrations along the battlefield, with devastating consequences for the waves of advancing PAVN.
The PAVN repeated their assault on Diduryk's lines some 20 minutes after the first, as flares dropped from American C-123 Provider aircraft flying above illuminated the battlefield to Bravo's advantage. For around 30 minutes, Bravo fought off the PAVN advance with a combination of small arms and Lund's skilled organization of artillery strikes.
Shortly after 5:00 a.m., a third attack was launched against Diduryk's forces, which was repelled by Lieutenant James Lane's platoon within 30 minutes.
At almost 6:30 a.m., the PAVN launched yet another attack on Diduryk's men — this time in the vicinity of the company command post. Again, Lund's extraordinary precision in ordering artillery strikes cut down scores of PAVN forces, while Diduryk's men repelled those who survived with rifle and machine gun fire.
At the end of these attacks, with daybreak approaching, Diduryk's Bravo Company would count only six lightly wounded among its ranks — with none killed.
[edit] A Day of Rest
By the morning of November 16, the 1st Battalion had been reinforced by the remaining elements of 7th Cavalry's 2nd Battalion and 1st Battalion from the 5th Cavalry. Unattrited this would have put the US forces on rough parity with the original PAVN forces, three battalions, or about one complete brigade each. That afternoon, 1st/7th Cav. withdrew from the battle zone while the 2nd/7th Cav. and 1st/5th Cav. took up defensive positions for the night.
At this point the battle was ostensibly over. The PAVN forces had suffered thousands of casualties and were no longer capable of a fight. At this point the U.S. forces had suffered 79 killed and 121 injured, and had been reinforced to levels that would guarantee their safety. Given the situation there was no reason for the U.S. forces to stay in the field, their mission was complete and arguably a success. Moreover, Col. Brown, in overall command, was worried about reports that additional PAVN units were moving into the area over the border. He wanted to withdraw the units, but Westmoreland demanded that the 2nd/7th Cav. and 1st/5th Cav stay at X-Ray in order to avoid the appearance of a retreat.
[edit] Extraction and ambush, Wednesday November 17
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since March 2007. |
The next day, the 17th, the two remaining battalions withdrew and began a tactical march to new landing zones, 2nd/5th to LZ Columbus about 4 km to the northeast, and 2nd/7th to LZ Albany about 4 km to the north-northeast, close to the Ia Drang. Part of the plan was to employ B-52 bombers in a close air support role for the first time in combat. The U.S. ground forces had to move into a safety zone by 1:00 p.m. to be clear of the bombardment.
The 2nd/7th Cav. had not slept for days and the terrain was more difficult than anticipated. Normal security formations were sacrificed to meet the deadline, and troops were not posted to either side of the line of advance to ward off an ambush. The exposed unit was nearly annihilated when they were ambushed by remaining PAVN forces between X-Ray and Albany. The battle around LZ Albany raged all day and throughout the night. The engagement quickly descended into a hand-to-hand fight for survival. In the end, 2nd Battalion suffered more casualties than it did in any other battle of the long Vietnam War, 151 dead, 126 wounded, and 4 MIA. These were higher causalties than the entire three days at X-Ray.
[edit] Aftermath
The U.S. lost 234 dead, with 242 wounded in the X-Ray and Albany battles. In addition, November 17th was the deadliest ambush for Americans in the entire Vietnam War, with 155 killed and 126 wounded. The PAVN lost 837 killed with an estimated 1,365 wounded.
The battle served as a microcosm for the war as a whole. The combination of air mobility with air and artillery firepower proved to be an extremely effective means for the Americans to accomplish tactical objectives. The PAVN and Viet Cong forces learned that they could mitigate the effectiveness of that firepower by engaging American forces at very close range. The North Vietnamese would later refine this tactic, calling it "getting between the enemy and his belt." With it they would achieve a ratio of attrition that the Americans would find politically unsustainable in the long term. At the moment, however, the NVA thrust to split South Vietnam in two had been defeated.
While it was an American victory in the arithmetic sense, with a nearly 4-to-1 casualty ratio in their favor, Moore considers the battle to have been a draw since the US Army left the field allowing the PAVN to reassert control over the area that it had held prior to the battle.
[edit] References
- ^ Moore, Harold G. & Joseph L. Galloway (1992). We Were Soldiers Once...And Young. HarperTorch, 117-118. ISBN 0-679-41158-5.
- ^ Moore, Harold G. & Joseph L. Galloway (1992). We Were Soldiers Once...And Young. HarperTorch, 168. ISBN 0-679-41158-5.
- ^ Moore, Harold G. & Joseph L. Galloway (1992). We Were Soldiers Once...And Young. HarperTorch, 133. ISBN 0-679-41158-5.
- ^ Moore, Harold G. & Joseph L. Galloway (1992). We Were Soldiers Once...And Young. HarperTorch, 215. ISBN 0-679-41158-5.
