Battle of Ia Drang

Battle of Ia Drang

Landings

At 10:40 on November 14, the first elements of Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion/7th cavalry touched down at LZ X-Ray, fallowing around 30 minutes of bombardment via artillery, aerial rockets, and air strikes.

At 11:20, the second lift of the battalion arrived, then at 12:10 the third lift arrived.

The first shots were fired at Bravo Company's three platoons that were patrolling the jungle northwest of the dry creek bed.

The Lost Platoon

A platoon of 29 Soldiers led by Lt. Henry Herrick was cut off in pursuit of the enemy shortly after landing.

After being ambushed, an intense firefight erupted and within the first 3-4 minutes they suffered no losses and inflicted heavy casualties to the NVA who streamed out of the trees.

Within 25 minutes, 5 men from the second platoon were killed, including Herrick who had radioed that he had been hit and passed control to Sergeant Carl Palmer. Before he died, Herrick gave vital instructions to his men, including orders to destroy the signals codes and call in artillery support.

By the time they called in rapid bombardments of artillery support the second platoon had 8 men dead and 13 wounded.

Attack at dawn

At 6:50, patrols from Charlie Company's 1st platoon and second platoon had advanced 150 yards from the perimeter before coming into contact with the NVA. 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.

1st and 2nd platoons suffered significant casualties in this assault. Two M-60 crews were instrumental in suppressing the North Vietnamese advance from completely overrunning Geoghegan's lines.

Three pronged attack

At 07:45, the NVA launched an assault on the battalion command post. Fire started to penetrate the battalion command post, which suffered several wounded. 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, s earned a Silver Star for suppressing an intense Vietnamese assault in his sector. On Charlie Company's broken lines, NVA troops walked the lines for several minutes, killing wounded Americans and stripping their bodies of weapons and other items. Shortly after, Moore's command post was subjected to what could have been a catastrophic friendly fire incident. Two F-100 Super Sabre jets approached X-Ray, the first dropping napalm inadvertently on American lines.

LZ-Ray secured

The battle was over. The NVA forces had suffered hundreds of casualties and were no longer capable of a fight. U.S. forces had suffered 79 killed and 121 injured and had been reinforced to levels that would guarantee their safety.

The Ambush

The North Vietnamese forces first struck at the head of the 2nd Battalion column and rapidly spread down the right or east side of the column in an L-shaped ambush. NVA troops ran down the column and spread out into groups and ambushed the outnumbered Americans. While McDade's command group waited for air support, the Americans drove off assaults by NVA troopers and sniped exposed enemies. Later they discovered that the NVA were mopping up, looking for Americans wounded in the tall grass and killing them.

American reinforcements arrive

A one -helicopter landing zone was secured, and the wounded were evacuated. Captain Tully's men then began to push forwards towards where the rest of the ambushed column would be. Americans came under fire in the woods; Tully's men assaulted the tree line and drove off the North Vietnamese. They planned to resume advance at daybreak. Captain Myron Diduryk's Bravo Company got the word that they would be deployed in the Battalion's relief. At 18:45 the first helicopters swept over the Albony clearing and the troopers deployed in the grass. Lieutenant Rick Rescorla led the reinforcements into the Albony perimeter. The wounded at Albony were evacuated around 22:30 that evening, the helicopters received intense ground fire as they landed and took off. The Americans at Albony then settled for the night.

The Aftermath

The next day, Friday, November 18, the Americans began to police up their dead. This task took the better part of the day and the next. American and North Vietnamese dead were scattered all over the field of battle. Rescorla described the scene as, "a long, bloody traffic accident in the jungle."

The Battle cost the Americans 305 men killed and 524 wounded, and the North Vietnamese 554 killed and 669 wounded.

Result

It was a Dispute, both sides claimed victory.

Weapons Used

The US soldiers used mainly M-16's and M60's.

The North Vietnamese used AK-47's, SKS, and other Russian small arms.

Steven Merklin

John Stribling

James Shields

James Brunier

On November 14-18, 1965 the Battle of Ia Drang was the first major battle between the United States Army and the People's Army of Vietnam.

The North Vietnamese reported 356 killed before the battle even started, while the U.S. estimated North Vietnamese deaths from 1,519 to 2,262.