Battle of Ia Drang

• 1. Strategic Origins And Deployment

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  In the summer of 1965, General William C. Westmoreland secured a commitment from President Lyndon B. Johnson for upward of 300,000 U.S. regulars to enter South Vietnam. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam established its headquarters in Saigon while Viet Cong forces maintained nominal control over most rural areas. The People's Army of Vietnam had operated in the Central Highlands during the previous decade against French forces. They won a notable victory at the Battle of Mang Yang Pass in 1954 before establishing military infrastructure there. By early November 1965 three PAVN regiments , the 32nd, 33rd and 66th , and the H15 Local Force Battalion had been assembled in the area. The B3 Front commander, Maj. Gen. Chu Huy Mân, planned to target South Vietnamese positions in Kon Tum and Pleiku provinces. The city of Pleiku was the location of the South Vietnamese II Corps headquarters, commanded by Maj. Gen. Vĩnh Lộc. He had nine South Vietnamese battalions under his command: four Ranger, three Airborne and two Marine units. The U.S. command saw this region as an ideal place to test new air mobility tactics. Air mobility called for battalion-sized forces to be delivered, supplied and extracted using helicopters. Since heavy weapons could not follow infantry into these zones, they relied on coordinated close air support from distant locations. The new tactics had been developed in the U.S. by the 11th Air Assault Division (Test), which was renamed as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Their troopers dubbed themselves the "Air Cav" and began deploying to Camp Radcliff, An Khê, Vietnam in July 1965. By November most of the division's three brigades were ready for operations. The U.S. deployment caused the B3 Front Command to bring forward an attack on the U.S. Army Special Forces Plei Me camp. This assault launched October 19 with only two Regiments instead of the planned three before Air Cavalry troops were combat ready.

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• 2. The X-Ray Perimeter Defense

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  On the 14th of November 1965 at 10:48 the first troops of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry arrived at LZ X-Ray after about 30 minutes of bombardment via artillery, aerial rockets and air strikes. The troops were inserted about 200 meters from the position of the PAVN 9th Battalion, 66th Regiment. Within approximately 30 minutes one squad under Sgt. John Mingo surprised and captured an unarmed deserter from the PAVN 33rd Regiment. The prisoner revealed there were three PAVN battalions on the Chu Pong Massif , an estimated 1,600 troops compared to fewer than 200 American soldiers on the ground. At 12:15 the first shots were fired on three platoons of B Company patrolling jungle northwest of the dry creek bed. Just before 13:00 Devney's 1st Platoon was heavily assaulted on both flanks by the PAVN taking casualties and becoming pinned down. Herrick's platoon became separated from the rest of 1/7 by approximately 100 meters during pursuit of enemy forces. An intense firefight erupted in a clearing where Herrick's men inflicted heavy losses while suffering none initially. Within 25 minutes five men including Herrick himself were killed as his platoon formed a defensive perimeter on a small knoll. Eight men of the platoon had been killed and 13 wounded by that point. Under Sgt. Ernie Savage's leadership the platoon held the knoll for the duration of the battle at X-Ray. Spec. Galen Bungum later said they gathered all full magazines stacked up in front with no way to dig foxholes because fire was too heavy. By nightfall near 17:00 the lead elements of Bravo Company of 2nd Battalion arrived to reinforce the embattled 1st Battalion. The company closed in at 18:00 hours. Around this time Colonel Brown ordered the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry to be heli-lifted to LZ Victor about 5 kilometers away to reinforce the next morning. At 16:00 precisely the first wave of B-52 carpet bombings fell at YA 8702 about 7 kilometers west of LZ X-Ray aiming mainly to strike units of the 32nd Regiment located 5 kilometers further west.

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• 3. The Albany Ambush And Casualties

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  On November 17 at 13:15 an American column moving toward LZ Albany came under attack from PAVN forces who ran down the length of the column engaging in hand-to-hand combat. The close quarters battle lasted for 16 hours as PAVN troops struck head on and spread down the right side of the column in an L-shaped ambush. Alpha Company had been in the LZ about five minutes when small arms fire began. Charlie and Alpha companies lost 70 men in the first few minutes with Charlie Company suffering 45 dead and more than 50 wounded. This represented the heaviest casualties of any unit that fought on Albany. By 13:26 they had been cut off from the rest of the column since the area whence they had come was full of PAVN soldiers. All the while noise of battle could be heard in woods as other companies fought. The 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry had been reduced to a small perimeter at Albany composed of survivors from Alpha Company, recon platoon, survivors from destroyed Charlie and Delta Companies plus command group. There was also a smaller perimeter at rear of column about 500, 700 yards due south where Capt. George Forrest's Alpha Company held position. USAF A-1E Skyraiders soon provided support by dropping napalm bombs but because of fog of war inter-mixing likely killed NVA and American soldiers indiscriminately. During battle Lê Xuân Phôi field commander of 8th Battalion mortally wounded around one hour into battle died from wounds after nightfall. He was only high-ranking officer on either side killed in action during fight at LZ Albany. The battle cost United States Army 155 men killed or missing and 124 wounded with casualty rate over 50% before being extricated.

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• 4. Tactical Innovations In Warfare

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  The Battle of Ia Drang established blueprint for Vietnam War with Americans relying on air mobility artillery fire and close air support while PAVN neutralized that firepower by quickly engaging American forces at very close range. It is notable for being first large scale helicopter air assault and also first use of Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers in tactical support role. At 16:00 precisely first wave of B-52 carpet bombings fell at YA 8702 about 7 kilometers west of LZ X-Ray aiming mainly to strike units of 32nd Regiment located 5 kilometers further west. General DePuy stated this was fastest strike of this nature ever laid-on. Air Cavalry units reported seeing three .50 caliber machine gun positions firing at aircraft directly in path of strike. Around midnight Moore received message saying Westmoreland's headquarters wanted him to leave X-Ray early next morning for Saigon to brief staff. He vehemently objected and allowed to remain with battalion until withdrawal planned for next morning. On November 18 U.S. soldiers began gathering up dead comrades taking better part of two days as American and PAVN dead scattered all over field. Rescorla described scene as long bloody traffic accident in jungle. While securing battlefield Rescorla recovered large battered old French army bugle from dying PAVN soldier. The battle popularized U.S. concept of body count as measure of success since U.S. claimed kill ratio nearly 10 to 1. Vast majority casualties inflicted on US forces came through small-arms and light-mortar fire with Moore noting PAVN accurate shooting well-placed ambushes coordinated targeting officers overwhelmed U.S. positions in small-unit tactics.

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• 5. Media Documentation And Historical Legacy

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  The battle at LZ X-Ray documented in CBS special report Battle of Ia Drang Valley by Morley Safer and critically acclaimed book We Were Soldiers Once... And Young by Hal Moore and Joseph L. Galloway. In 1994 Moore, Galloway and men who fought on both American and North Vietnamese sides traveled back to remote jungle clearings where battle took place. At time U.S. did not have diplomatic relations with Vietnam so risky trip took year to arrange was part award-winning ABC News documentary They Were Young and Brave produced by Terence Wrong. Randall Wallace depicted battle at LZ X-Ray in 2002 movie We Were Stars starring Mel Gibson and Barry Pepper as Moore and Galloway respectively. Galloway later described Ia Drang as "the battle that convinced Ho Chi Minh he could win". News reporter Joe Galloway helped carry one badly wounded man dying two days later to aid station discovering soldier's name was Pfc. Jimmy Nakayama from Rigby Idaho who had been 2nd Lt. in National Guard. Galloway shared how same week Nakayama became father noting at LZ XRay 80 men died and 124 were wounded many terribly. Death toll entire battle was 234 Americans killed perhaps as many as 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers according to estimates. The U.S. military confirmed 305 killed and 524 wounded including 234 killed and 242 wounded between November 14 and 18 1965 claiming 3,561 PAVN killed and more than 1,000 wounded during engagements with 1st Cavalry Division troops.

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