Battle of Ia Drang

The Battle of Ia Drang was a major battle fought between the United States Army and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), from November 14 to November 18, 1965, during the Vietnam War. It took place at two landing zones (LZs), in Ia Drang Valley, northwest of Plei Me in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, 35 miles south-west of Pleiku. “Ia” means “river” in the local Montagnard language.

In early November, the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, had been sent into combat on a search-and-destroy mission in order to track down an enemy force that had unsuccessfully attempted to overrun the Special Forces base at Plei Me. The intention of the North Vietnamese Army was to divide South Vietnam in two. The 3rd Brigade had searched around the base for several days but had found nothing. However, Westmoreland ordered his men to further continue the search westwards toward the Cambodian border.

The 3rd’s Brigade commander, Col. Thomas “Tim” Brown returned to Pleiku in an attempt to gather additional intelligence. He learned that there was some sort of concentration of forces on Chu Pong Mountain, 14 miles 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. Brown had selected his 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, for the mission, with the explicit orders to not 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.

Summary

The battle of the Ia Drang Valley was a series of engagements between the US 1st and 7th Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and the 33rd, 66th, and 320th Regiments of the North Vietnamese Army, which included Viet Cong elements. This military engagement featured close air support by U.S. bombers.

The US main objective was to thwart a North Vietnam Army plan to cut South Vietnam in two by attacking eastward across the central highlands to the South China Sea. The 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, launched a heliborne combat assault directly into the enemy assembly area. Supported by massive air and artillery fires, including strikes by B-52 bombers, the North Vietnamese Army elements were routed and forced to retreat back into their Cambodian sanctuaries.

Although the communist forces claimed victory at the end of the battle, it was clearly that the US units had won the battle since the communist forces were hindered in their attempt to cut South Vietnam in two and 1,800 troops of the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong got killed by the U.S. troops. The American Army suffered 450 casualties, 220 killed in action and 230 wounded. Most of the American losses occurred on November 17, when US 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, were ambushed by the North Vietnam retreating forces.

Battle of Ia Drang (historical video)

Below, US Army’s soldiers looking for the enemy during the Battle of Ia Drang