The Battle of Ia Drang (, ; in English ) was the first major battle between the United States Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), as part of the Pleiku campaign conducted early in the Vietnam War, at the eastern foot of the Chu Pong Massif in the central highlands of Vietnam, in 1965. It is notable for being the first large scale helicopter air assault and also the first use of Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers in a tactical support role. Ia Drang set the blueprint for the Vietnam War with the Americans relying on air mobility, artillery fire and close air support, while the PAVN neutralized that firepower by quickly engaging American forces at very close range.

Ia Drang comprised two main engagements, centered on two helicopter landing zones (LZs), the first known as LZ X-Ray, followed by LZ Albany, farther north in the Ia Drang Valley.

LZ X-Ray involved the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment and supporting units under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, and took place November 14–16, at LZ X-Ray. Surrounded and under heavy fire from a numerically superior force, the American forces were able to hold back the North Vietnamese forces over three days, largely through the support of air power and heavy artillery bombardment, which the North Vietnamese lacked. The Americans claimed LZ X-Ray as a tactical victory, citing a 10:1 kill ratio.

The second engagement involved the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment plus supporting units under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDade, and took place on November 17 at LZ Albany. When an American battalion was ambushed in close quarters, they were unable to use air and artillery support due to the close engagement of the North Vietnamese and the Americans suffered a casualty rate of over 50% before being extricated. Both sides claimed victory.

The battle at LZ X-Ray was documented in the CBS special report Battle of Ia Drang Valley by Morley Safer and the 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 the American and North Vietnamese sides, traveled back to the remote jungle clearings where the battle took place. At the time the U.S. did not have diplomatic relations with Vietnam. The risky trip which took a year to arrange was part of an award-winning ABC News documentary, They Were Young and Brave produced by Terence Wrong. Randall Wallace depicted the battle at LZ X-Ray in the 2002 movie We Were Soldiers 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".

Background

By early 1965, the majority of rural South Vietnam was under limited Viet Cong (VC) control, increasingly supported by People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) regulars from North Vietnam. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) General William C. Westmoreland had secured the commitment of upward of 300,000 U.S. regulars from President Lyndon B. Johnson and a build-up of forces took place in the summer of 1965.

VC forces were in nominal control of most of the South Vietnamese countryside by 1965 and had established military infrastructure in the Central Highlands, to the northeast of the Saigon region. Vietnamese communist forces had operated in this area during the previous decade in the First Indochina War against the French, winning a notable victory at the Battle of Mang Yang Pass in 1954.

The U.S. command saw this as an ideal area to test new air mobility tactics. On November 12, the 3rd Brigade was given orders by General Stanley R. Larsen, I Field Force, Vietnam Commander and General Richard T. Knowles, 1st Air Cavalry Division Forward Headquarters Commander to prepare for "an air assault near the foot of the Chu Pongs", at , west of Plei Me.

On November 13, 3rd Brigade Commander Colonel Thomas W. Brown, acting following the order issued by Gen. Larsen and Gen. Knowles, met with Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore the commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, and told him "to conduct an airmobile assault the following morning" and to conduct search and destroy operations through 15 November. Meanwhile, an ARVN intelligence source by intercept of radio communication indicated that some PAVN B3 Front recon elements and transportation units had already moved out of their assembly areas to attack the Plei Me camp.

;Landing zones

thumb|250px|right|The Battle of Ia Drang (1965)

Col. Brown selected Lt. Col. Moore and his men for the mission, with the explicit orders not to attempt to scale the mountain. There were several clearings in the area that had been designated as possible helicopter landing zones, typically named for a letter of the NATO phonetic alphabet. Moore selected:

  • LZ X-Ray: at as his landing zone, a flat clearing surrounded by low trees at the eastern base of the Chu Pong Massif and bordered by a dry creek bed on the west. The Ia Drang River was about to the northwest.
  • LZ Albany: about to the northeast of X-Ray at
  • LZ Columbus: about east of Albany at
  • LZ Tango: about to the north of X-Ray at
  • LZ Yankee: a similar distance south of X-Ray at . LZ Yankee was on sloping ground and could only fit about 6–8 helicopters at one time.
  • LZ Whiskey: south-east at
  • LZ Victor: at about to the south-southeast.

Artillery support would be provided from fire support base "FSB Falcon", about to the northeast of X-Ray at .

General Knowles stated that he had selected the initial landing zone used by Hal Moore and his troops, knowing quite well that the PAVN lacked anti-aircraft guns and heavy mortars that had been destroyed during the attack on the Plei Me camp and that the PAVN could have positioned on the hillsides overlooking the landing zone to gun down the helicopters and to decimate the cavalry troops landing on the ground.

At 10:48, the first troops of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry (1/7) arrived at LZ X-Ray with members of B Company touching down 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.

Accompanying Captain John Herren's B Company were Moore and his 1st Battalion command group. Instead of attempting to secure the entire landing zone with such a limited force, most of B Company was kept near the center of the LZ as a strike force, while smaller units were sent out to reconnoiter the surrounding area. Following their arrival, Herren ordered B Company to move west past the creek bed. Within approximately 30 minutes, one of his squads under Sgt. John Mingo surprised and captured an unarmed deserter from the PAVN 33rd Regiment. The prisoner revealed that 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 that point. At 11:20, the second lift from the 1st battalion arrived, with the rest of B Company and one platoon of Capt. Tony Nadal's A Company. Fifty minutes later, the third lift arrived, consisting of the other two platoons of A Company. A Company took up positions to the rear and left flank of B Company along the dry creek bed, and to the west and to the south facing perpendicular down the creek bed.

Herrick's platoon is cut off

In pursuit of the PAVN on his right flank, Herrick's 2nd Platoon, B Company, was quickly spread out over a space of around 50 meters, and became separated from the rest of 1/7 by approximately 100 meters. 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 inflicted heavy losses on the PAVN who streamed out of the trees, while his men did not take any casualties. Herrick soon radioed in that the enemy were closing in around his left and right flanks. Capt. Herren responded by ordering Herrick to attempt to link back with Devney's 1st Platoon. Herrick replied that there was a large enemy force between his men and 1st Platoon. The situation quickly disintegrated for Herrick's 2nd Platoon, which began taking casualties as the PAVN 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, before dying, radioed Herren to report that he was hit and was passing command over to Sgt. Carl Palmer, ordered the signals codes to be destroyed and artillery support to be called in. 2nd Platoon was technically under the command of SFC Mac McHenry, but he was positioned elsewhere on the perimeter. Sgts. Palmer and Robert Stokes were also dead, leaving Sgt. Ernie Savage, 3rd Squad Leader, to assume command by virtue of being close to the radio, and proceeded to call in repeated artillery support around the 2nd Platoon's position. By this point, eight men of the platoon had been killed and 13 wounded. The second push had advanced just over toward the lost platoon's position before being stopped by the PAVN. Alpha Company's 1st Platoon, leading the advance, was at risk of becoming separated from the battalion, and at one point it was being engaged by an American M60 machine gun that had been taken by the PAVN from a dead 2nd Platoon gunner. The impasse lasted between 20 and 30 minutes before Nadal (A Company) and Herren (B Company) requested permission to withdraw back to X-Ray (to which Moore agreed).

The American forces were placed on full alert throughout the night. Under the light of a bright moon, the PAVN probed every company on the perimeter (with the exception of D/1/7) in small squad-sized units. The Americans exercised some level of restraint in their response. The M60 gun crews, tactically 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). Second Platoon of B Company (1/7) under the leadership of Sgt. Savage, suffered three sizable assaults of the night (one just before midnight, one at 03:15, and one at 04:30). The PAVN, using bugles to signal their forces, were repelled from the knoll with artillery, grenade and rifle fire. Savage's "lost platoon" survived the night without taking additional casualties.

Day 2: November 15

Attack at dawn

At 06:00 J3/MACV notified 1st Air Cavalry that the time over target of the B-52 strike was set for 16:00. News reporter Joe Galloway, who helped carry one of the badly wounded men (who died two days later) to an aid station, tried to attach a name to the death occurring around him, discovering that this particular soldier's name was Pfc. Jimmy Nakayama of Rigby, Idaho who had been a 2nd Lt. in the National Guard. Galloway later shared how that same week Nakayama became a father. Galloway also noted "[a]t LZ XRay 80 men died and 124 were wounded, many of them terribly", and that the death toll for the entire battle was 234 Americans killed and perhaps as many as 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers.

At 08:00, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry set out on foot from LZ-Victor to reinforce LZ X-Ray. He intended to establish a 3rd Air Cavalry Brigade forward command post in order to take over the command of the battlefield with the presence of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry and the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry on the ground at LZ X-Ray. When Moore refused to relinquish the command of his battalion, Brown contented to notify him before leaving that the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry was withdrawn the next day.

Reinforcements

thumb|220px|Relief of LZ X-Ray on November 15

Given the tempo of combat at LZ X-Ray and the losses being suffered, other units of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) planned to land nearby and then move overland to X-Ray. The 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry (2/5), was to be flown into LZ Victor, about 3.5 kilometers east-southeast of LZ X-Ray. 2/5 flew in at 08:00 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 10:00, some to the east of the LZ, Alpha Company (2/7) received some light fire and had to set up a combat front. At 12:05, Lt. Col Tully's 2/5 troopers had arrived at the LZ. Lt. Col. Nguyễn Hữu An was on his way from his forward command post to the LZ X-Ray to meet with Lã Ngọc Châu, 66th Regiment Political Commissar, when he first saw the waves of B-52 carpet bombings raining down.

Around midnight, Moore received from Lt. Colonel Edward C. (Shy) Meyer, 3rd Brigade executive officer, a message saying that Westmoreland's headquarters wanted him to "leave X-Ray early the next morning for Saigon to brief him and his staff on the battle." He vehemently objected to the order and was allowed to remain with his battalion until its withdrawal planned for the next morning. At 09:15, Knowles wanted the cavalry units on the ground to organize an exploitation of B-52 strike target operation. Moore responded that he had plans to send in 1st Cav, although at the present time all units were engaged.

The battle was ostensibly over. The PAVN forces had suffered hundreds of casualties and were no longer capable of fighting. U.S. forces had suffered 79 killed and 121 wounded and had been reinforced to levels that would guarantee their safety. Given the situation, there was no reason for U.S. forces to stay in the field, their mission was complete and a success. Moreover, Colonel Brown (3rd Brigade commander), 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 2/7 and 2/5 stay at X-Ray to avoid the appearance of a retreat.

The U.S. reported the bodies of 634 PAVN soldiers were found in the vicinity and estimated that 1,215 PAVN were killed a distance away by artillery and airstrikes. Six PAVN were captured. Six PAVN crew-served weapons and 135 individual weapons were captured, and an estimated 75–100 weapons were destroyed.

At 12:53, Gen. Westmoreland enquired if the Cavalry had sufficient air support and if the troops were fine. With the two remaining battalions quietly abandoning the landing zone by land instead of by helicopters to make way for the B-52 strike, any PAVN troops of the 7th and 9th Battalions at the vacated X-Ray area were caught by surprise.

Events leading to an ambush

The first indication of PAVN presence was observed by the reconnaissance platoon's point squad, leading the American column. SSgt. Donald J. Slovak, the squad leader, saw "Ho Chi Minh sandal foot markings, bamboo arrows on the ground pointing north, matted grass and grains of rice." The 8th Battalion was led by Lê Xuân Phối.

Alpha Company noticed the sudden absence of air cover and their commander, Capt. Joel Sugdinis, wondered where the aerial rocket artillery choppers were. He soon heard the sound of distant explosions to his rear; the B-52s were making their bombing runs on the Chu Pong massif. Lt. D. P. (Pat) Payne, the recon platoon leader, was walking around some termite hills when he suddenly came upon a PAVN soldier resting on the ground. Payne jumped on the soldier and took him prisoner. Simultaneously, about 10 yards away, his platoon sergeant captured a second PAVN soldier. Other members of the PAVN recon team may have escaped and reported to the headquarters of the 1st Battalion, 33rd Regiment. The PAVN then began to organize an assault on the American column. As word of the capture reached him, McDade ordered a halt as he went forward from the rear of the column to interrogate the prisoners personally. The two captured PAVN soldiers were policed up about 100 yards from the southwestern edge of the Albany clearing, the report of which reached division forward at Pleiku at 11:57. PAVN troops ran down the length of the column, with units peeling off to attack the outnumbered American soldiers, engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

American reinforcements arrive

At 12:00, B-52s struck the areas further up north of LZ Albany and a battle damage assessment (BDA) was conducted by elements of the Cavalry in the afternoon. At 14:55, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry under Capt. Buse Tully began marching from LZ Columbus to the rear of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry column that was about away. By 16:30, they came into contact with the Alpha Company (1/5) perimeter under Capt. Forrest. A one-helicopter landing zone was secured and the wounded were evacuated. Tully's men in 2/5 then began to push forward toward where the rest of the ambushed column would be. PAVN soldiers contested their advance and the Americans came under fire from a wood line. Tully's men assaulted the tree line and drove off the PAVN. At 18:25, orders were received to secure into a two-company perimeter for the night. They planned to resume the advance at daybreak. After the battle, Westmoreland instructed his J2 and J3 Chiefs to gain more improvements and "to bring a B-52 strike down within seven hours after acquiring suitable intelligence".

As the fight at LZ Albany was coming to an end, the ARVN II Corps Command decided to "finish off" the campaign by introducing the ARVN Airborne Brigade into the battlefield on November 17 with the establishment of a new artillery support base at LZ Crooks, secured by the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry. and executed two ambushes: the first on November 20 at the north side and the second on November 24 on the south side of the Ia Drang River. The U.S. military confirmed 305 killed and 524 wounded (including 234 killed and 242 wounded between November 14 and 18, 1965), and claimed 3,561 PAVN were killed and more than 1,000 were wounded during engagements with the 1st Cavalry Division troops.

According to ARVN intelligence sources, each of the three PAVN regiments' initial strength was 2,200 soldiers: intercepted by ARVN radio listening stations. Furthermore, they include PAVN troop casualties caused by the 5-day Arc Light airstrike that the PAVN and U.S. sides fail to take into account.

As the outcome of the entire campaign, the ARVN claimed that the PAVN were unable to achieve their objectives of overrunning the camp and destroying the relief column at Plei Me, which is confirmed in the B3 Front commander's account, On the other hand, US forces had emerged from the battle by inflicting casualties through B-52 strikes, aerial rockets and artillery and relying on overwhelming firepower. Lewy states that, according to DOD officials, US "body count" claims of PAVN/VC casualties were inflated at least 30 percent for the Vietnam War as a whole. The U.S. claim of 403 PAVN battle dead at Landing Zone Albany seems an overestimate. McDade (2/7) later claimed he did not report any estimate of PAVN casualties at LZ Albany and had not seen even 200 bodies of PAVN soldiers.

| 124 and 1,275 ARVN

According to ARVN, they lost 132 killed, 248 wounded, and 18 missing Mrs. Frank Henry, the wife of the battalion executive officer and Mrs. James Scott, wife of the battalion command sergeant major, performed the same duty for the dead of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry.

  • Helicopter pilots during the battle Capt. Ed Freeman and Maj. Bruce Crandall were each awarded the Medal of Honor on July 16, 2001, and Feb. 26, 2007, respectively, for Freeman's 14 and Crandall's 22 volunteer flights in their unarmed Hueys into LZ X-Ray while enemy fire was so heavy that medical evacuation helicopters refused to approach. With each flight, Crandall and Freeman delivered much needed water and ammunition and extracted wounded soldiers, saving countless lives.

; Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and Bronze Star Medal

  • Lt. Col. Harold "Hal" Moore, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions at LZ X-Ray. His DSC citation commends his "leadership by example", his skill in battle against overwhelming odds and his unwavering courage.
  • Sgt. Ernie Savage's precise placement of artillery throughout the siege of the "Lost Platoon" enabled the platoon to survive the long ordeal. For his "gallantry under relentless enemy fire on an otherwise insignificant knoll in the valley of the Ia Drang", Ernie Savage received the Distinguished Service Cross.
  • 2nd Lt. John Geoghegan was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and the Air Medal. He was killed during the battle when he rushed to the aid of fellow soldier, Willie Godbolt, who was wounded by incoming hostile fire. Their names are next to each other on the Vietnam Wall.
  • Specialist 4 Bill Beck and Specialist 4 Russell E. Adams (Platoon 3, Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry) were awarded the Bronze Star with Valor in 1996.
  • Journalist Joseph Galloway is the only civilian awarded the Bronze Star Medal for heroism during the Vietnam War. On Nov. 15, 1965, he disregarded his own safety to help rescue two wounded soldiers while under fire. He was decorated on January 8, 1998.

; ARVN Unit Citation

  • The 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry was awarded the RVN Gallantry Cross with Palm by Major General Vĩnh Lộc, II Corps Commander.

In media

Films

  • We Were Soldiers (2002), war film based on Moore and Galloway's book

Literature

  • , an account of the ambush of 2nd battalion at LZ Albany
  • , Gwin was Exec Officer, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry at Ia Drang
  • (), a book which includes accounts by multiple soldiers who recounted the Battle of Ia Drang

Television

  • Vietnam in HD (November 8–11, 2011), a six-part American documentary television miniseries on The History Channel that covered the Battle of Ia Drang in its first episode.
  • The Vietnam War (September 17–28, 2017), a ten-part American documentary by Ken Burns that covered the Battle of Ia Drang in its third episode.

Citations

General and cited sources

  • G3 Journal/I Field Force Vietnam, November 14–26, 1965 generalhieu.com - generalhieu Resources and Information, ; generalhieu.com - generalhieu Resources and Information, ; generalhieu.com - generalhieu Resources and Information, ; generalhieu.com - generalhieu Resources and Information, . Document stored at the National Archive, College Park, Maryland.
  • Westmoreland, William. General Westmoreland's History Notes (29 August–29 November 1965) generalhieu.com - generalhieu Resources and Information. , unpublished MACV files.
  • LZ X-Ray
  • Jack Smith's account of the battle
  • Panel discussion on the Battle of Ia Drang, featuring Vince Cantu, Bruce Crandall, Joseph Galloway, Tone Johnson, and Joe Marm, April 26, 2016, C-SPAN