The Battle of Ia Drang

Transcript

1. After some small skirmishes in the first weeks of November, the American offensive began in earnest on November 14th.
2. The PAVN 32nd and 33rd regiments had completed their retreat to fortified positions surrounding the Chu Pong Massif mountain.
3. South Vietnamese intel suggested that a large portion of these positions were located throughout the nearby Ia Drang Valley, prompting the Americans
4. to prepare the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry to deploy into the valley via a clearing designated LZ X-Ray.
5. The operation was saddled with logistics problems from the beginning: due to a shortage of service-ready helicopters,
6. and a diminished carrying capacity of those that were available, only 80 men could be delivered to the LZ every half-hour.
7. It would take roughly 3 hours to transport the full 431 troops of the 1st Battalion, leaving the first waves dangerously vulnerable while they waited for reinforcements.
9. Even with these risks taken into account, 1st Battalion commander Colonel Harold “Hal” Moore - no, not that one -
10. approved the plan, and the Battle of Ia Drang commenced on the morning of November 14th.
11. As the sun began to set and the fighting gradually died down, Colonel Moore requested reinforcements to shore up 1st Battalion’s tenuous position. These came in the form of an additional company under Captain Myron F. Diduryk:
12. with the help of Diduryk’s men, the weary soldiers established a defensive perimeter and dug in, preparing to face a North Vietnamese counter attack the next morning.
13. Meanwhile, the PAVN commanders were attempting to reorganize and rally their scattered forces. Colonel An had ordered the 66th regiment to launch a nighttime attack on the American line, but the regiment’s commissar La Ngoc Chau
15. No attack occurred that night,
16. as both sides licked their wounds in pitch darkness, lit only
17. by the occasional flash of American shells exploding throughout the jungle.