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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. 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 derives its name from the Ia Drang River which runs through the valley northwest of Plei Me, in which the engagement took place. It was 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 primary source from which this article is composed. In 2001, screenwriter Randall Wallace depicted the first part of the battle in the film We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson.
Part one: LZ X-Ray
On the morning of November 14, the 1st Battalion/7th Cavalry, approximately 450-men strong under Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, began operations in the Ia Drang Valley approximately 14 miles northwest of Plei Me in South Vietnam. The mission was simple: engage the enemy. Helicopter air mobility tactics had only recently been developed, and the 7th Cavalry was derived from the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) for the specific purpose of testing and developing these tactics. Air mobility called for battalion-sized forces to be delivered into, supplied, and extracted from an area of action using helicopters. For the Americans, the operation was to be an early test for air mobility tactics and the coordination of heavy ordinance support (air, artillery, and aerial rocket strikes) with infantry units. For the PAVN, who hoped to split South Vietnam in two and were massing their forces in the Valley, the arrival of the Americans was an opportunity to test their tactics for weaknesses.
There were few reliable roads into the area, making it an ideal place for the communist forces to form bases as well as for U.S. forces to test their new air mobility tactics.
Moore's battalion was to be shuttled by 16 Huey transport helicopters into LZ X-Ray, a flat clearing surrounded by low trees at the northern base of the Chu Pong Mountain. X-Ray was approximately the size of a misshapen football field, some 100 yards in length (east to west) and bordered by a dry creek bed on the northwest. It was estimated that only eight Hueys could fit in the clearing at a given time. Given that 16 Hueys were available to the battalion, American forces would have to be delivered at a rate of just under one company per trip (called a "lift").
Arrival at Landing Zone X-Ray
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 rocket artillery, and air strikes. Accompanying Captain John Herren's Bravo Company were Moore and his command group. Alpha Company was to arrive next, followed by Charlie and then Delta companies. 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 centre of the LZ was a small group of trees that was to become Moore's command post.Following their arrival, Herren ordered his men 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.
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. Savage was technically a lower rank than 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: }}
Sergeant Savage later recalled of the repeated PAVN assaults: }}
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 for 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.
First push to the lost platoon
With the intention of recovering Herrick's lost platoon, Moore had ordered Captain Nadal to lend Herren one of his platoons from Alpha to allow Herren's Bravo Company to fight its way through to Herrick's position. Herren would be joined by Lieutenant Joe Marm's platoon of Alpha Company, and assembled his forces to make a push toward Herrick's men. Herren's men moved abreast towards Herrick's position, but soon found the enemy moving between themselves and the rest of the battalion. After becoming pinned down from heavy fire, Herren's men were forced to abandon the effort and regroup with the battalion.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 ordinance 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.
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 with 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: }}
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.
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.
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).
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 — a Ukrainian by birth) 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 full 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.
Attack at dawn
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 later). 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).
At 7:15 a.m., the H-15 Viet Cong Main Force Battalion launched its first assault of the battle, fiercely engaging Delta's line on the eastern side of X-Ray. Delta's ranks, consisting largely of mortar teams, employed hand grenades and M-79 rounds to hold the line.
In response to the assaults, Moore shifted Alpha's 2nd Platoon (now under Sergeant George McCulley) to reinforce Charlie's vulnerable positions. During the heavy attacks on the south and east, a smaller firefight erupted at Bravo's (2nd/7th) position in the northeast section of X-Ray. This assault was suppressed when Specialist Jon Wallenius and Specialist 4 Virgil Hibbler silenced a PAVN machine gun position with grenades.
Moore later estimated that the PAVN attacked X-Ray with upwards of 1,000 men over the course of a 25-minute period during the attack at dawn. He credits the reconnaissance patrols with having thwarted the enemy from collapsing the battalion's defenses.
A three-pronged attack
At 7:45 a.m., the PAVN launched an assault on Alpha, near its connection with the beleagured 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, the battalion's forward air controller, Lieutenant Charlie Hastings, transmitted the code "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 ordinance 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 later, 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, Lieutenant 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.
The attack ends
At 9:10 a.m., the first elements of Alpha Company (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: }}
Third push to the lost platoon
At about the same time, some 800 yards to the east of the LZ, Lieutenant Colonel Bob Tully's 2nd Battalion of the 5th Cavalry encountered resistance in its march through the bush to X-Ray. At approximately 12:05 p.m., Tully's forces had arrived at the LZ.Using a plan devised by Moore, Tully commanded Bravo (1st/7th) and his own Alpha and Charlie 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.
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 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.
Part two: LZ Albany
The battle lasted from November 14 to November 17. The initial engagement ended when PAVN and Viet Cong forces withdrew from X-Ray. On November 16, the 1st Battalion was reinforced by the remaining elements of 7th Cavalry's 2nd Battalion and 1st Battalion from the 5th Cavalry. That afternoon, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav. withdrew from the battle zone while the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cav. and 1st Battalion, 5th Cav. took up defensive positions for the night. The next day, the 17th, the two battalions withdrew and began a tactical march to new landing zones. 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 safe from the B-52 bombardment. The 2nd Battalion had not slept for days and the terrain was more difficult than anticipated. Normal security formations were sacrificed to meet the deadline. The exposed unit was nearly annihilated when they were ambushed by remaining PAVN forces between X-Ray and the nearby smaller landing zone Albany. The battle around landing zone 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 casualites than it did in any other battle of the long Vietnam War.
Aftermath
The U.S. lost 234, with 242 wounded in the X-Ray and Albany battles. In addition, November 17th was the deadliest day for Americans in the entire Vietnam War, with 155 killed and 126 wounded. The PAVN lost 1,037 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 an American victory in the arithmetic sense, with a nearly 5-to-1 casualty ratio in their favor, Moore considers the battle to have been a draw.
References
External links
Battles and operations of the Vietnam War
Иа Дранг (битка) | Battaglia di Ia Drang | Slaget ved Ia Drang | Ia Drangin taistelu
"Battle of Ia Drang"