The REAL Battle from We Were Soldiers - Ia Drang 65 (1/2)

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the morning of the 14th of november 1965 16 uh-1 helicopters hueys buzz over the treetops of the central highlands in vietnam each carries five young men into battle they're flying into an area where they have only vague intelligence on enemy dispositions and numbers at the beginning of the u.s involvement in the vietnam war the men have little experience of the larger fanatical and hard north vietnamese force that awaits them three weeks earlier in october the people's army of vietnam also known as the north vietnamese army or nva launches a new offensive against the pleiku province of south vietnam nva major general chu hui man believes that if he can destroy the south vietnamese forces in the region along with any u.s reinforcements the nva can gain control of the plaikou province the first complete us division to deploy to vietnam the first cavalry division has been deployed in the region since september general mann's forces have completed their trek down the ho chi minh trail through laos and cambodia and launch a siege against plymie the hq of the south vietnamese armies ii corps however the siege is a trap intended to bait a joint u.s and south vietnamese armoured column to move supply me from plaiku to relief the defenders the nva's 30-second regiment sets up an ambush and hits the relief column on route on october the 23rd despite giving the column a mauling the 30-second regiment sustains heavy casualties with the play me siege also a failure defeated the nva begin a fighting withdrawal to the cambodian border while the british and french have successfully employed the concepts during the malayan emergency in algeria respectively helicopter air mobile is an unproven concept within the us military major general harry kinnard commander of first cavalry sees this as an opportunity to demonstrate the potency of his helicopter-borne air cavalry division by hunting down and rapidly deploying infantry against the retreating vietnamese forces hidden in the forest to do so is requiring massive use of aviation fuel in general westmoreland authorizes the first brigade of the first cavalry division as a high priority for precious fuel logistics in vietnam despite this the pursuit descends into farce and after nearly three weeks of burning large amounts of aviation fuel desperately needed elsewhere in the war first brigade have only achieved small-scale skirmishes and ambushes against the retreating force and not a knockout blow frustrated with the lack of results kinid replaces 1st brigade with 3rd brigade on the 9th of november and with an embarrassing unforeseen nva attack on the 3rd brigade cp itself on the 12th the division desperately needs some kind of result with that brigade taking over intel sharing improves with the division's parent core and third brigade is alerted to a communist assembly area on the chupong mountain to the west holding at least three nva regiments under pressure from the increasingly impatient general westmoreland 3rd brigade commander colonel tim brown tells 3rd brigade's 1st battalion 7th cavalry regiment commander lieutenant colonel hal moore to take his battalion to search the east edge of chupong the next day only 24 hours later the helicopters are now approaching the area us artillery from a nearby temporary firebase opens fire on various clearings in the forest as a deception to any nva forces watching as the helicopters close in the artillery opens fire on the intended landing zone clearing itself lz x-ray a single white phosphorus shell signals the end of the barrage clearing the first helicopters to land sixteen hueys deliver 80 men in the first wave most of bravo company and the battalion command group including lieutenant colonel moore and sergeant major bazel plumlee the clearing is only wide enough to accommodate five hueys at a time mort knows the plan is dangerous he knows that there are likely enemy battalions in the area but has no idea of the strength of enemy forces in the immediate vicinity and as the hueys complete their drops he knows that they now have a 30 minute round trip to collect the next wave of troops and deliver them to his location bravo company moves to the north west side of the lz towards the mountain maul sets up his cp in the center next to a wide and hard termite mound general man's forces are taken by surprise a platoon from b company captures a single enemy soldier an alarmingly close 100 meters to the west of the lz under interrogation he says there are three nva battalions nearby and they're very keen to kill americans general man is probably on the west side of chupong in cambodia and not physically nearby to directly command his troops he deploys his deputy anguin hu-ann to take direct control but he won't arrive at the scene for several hours not knowing that the americans were coming and therefore not knowing where they would land various regiments are scattered around the area none have their regimental commanders nearby at the time the first americans land some may be at the central command post with general mann the nva's 9th battalion of the 66th regiment is closest to x-ray and cautiously advances towards the landing site from the northwest the 66th regiment as a whole is the same size as moore's battalion much will depend on how quickly the 66th react to the americans presents before the rest of moore's battalion can be choppered in by 12 10 pm the rest of bravo company and alpha company have been delivered to lz x-ray in two further ways of hues bravo moves northwest searching for contacts with only their company commanders present the nva's 9th battalion of the 66th regiment has mass nearby with only two of his four companies at the lz moore aggressively orders bravo to move up the mountain to clear any resistance still believing he's conducting an offensive operation bravo's second platoon moves out and almost immediately runs into the 66th regiment's assembly area a fierce firefight begins and second platoon is immediately pinned down and cut off from the rest of bravo company bravo's commander spots and radios back to maul that there are large numbers of nva now attacking his position with his left flank vulnerable the nva wastes no time in moving around the southern flank knowing that the americans are at their weakest before more reinforcements can arrive alpha moves forward to bravo's left flank and the now arriving sea company moves to a dried-up creek bed on the battalion south flank under fire as soon as their boots hit the ground clambering out of the choppers the pinned down and lost second platoon can't move anybody who stands or even crouches is immediately shot by the surrounding enemy they can't see at last realizing the danger of his situation at 1 45 pm mall calls in airstrikes artillery and huey fired rocket barrages on the mountain side behind the front line desperately trying to hold back the reinforcing 66th regiment as the f-100 super sabres begin to pound the mountainside with cannon and napalm strikes an intimidating 150-man strong nva assault begins against charlie company on the southern flank the clash results in significant casualties for both sides with bravo and alpha also repelling fierce assaults also inflicting and taking heavy casualties charlie company is forced to call in close artillery support against the latest mass assault along the creek bed at 2 40 pm moore stops the remaining eight helidrops which would have brought in the much-needed delta company the fire is too heavy around the lz and it would be too dangerous however at 3 pm the nva forces temporarily withdraw to regroup and the hueys are cleared to land one helicopter approaches too low to the ground to avoid enemy fire and clips a tree the airframe crashes into the ground but doesn't explode the men of delta company are okay and emerge to join the fight fighting resumes at 3 20. a platoon of delta company immediately joins the fight in the southwest where charlie have been taking massive casualties the 66th makes a renewed assault on the small delta contingent two mgs of alpha company help to hold off the attack which nearly breaks a hole through the line the rest of delta company moves to the east and north to finally complete the 360 degree perimeter at 3 45 more orders another push to the lost platoon pinned down by an nva machine gun position lieutenant mahm of 2nd platoon a company fires an law and alone and under fire charges the nest with grenades he kills 12 at the mg nest hitting the draw and neck he is later awarded the medal of honor alpha and bravo company's push doesn't work however and they withdraw back to the lz as night falls both sides dig in throughout the day there have been 88 u.s casualties skirmishes continue overnight but bravo company's lost platoon repels three assaults with the help of an overflying ac47 fixed-wing gunship the 2nd battalion of the 7th and the 2nd battalion of the 5th cavalry regiments are to be lifted to nearby lz vixxer overnight to reinforce northern battalion at x-ray by foot b-52 strikes from guam are requested for the next day their time on target will be 4 pm the fighting pauses in the early morning day breaks on the 15th of november at 6 40 am more deploys are patrolled to proceed 200 meters south of their perimeter to find the enemy they barely make it 50 meters when their presence triggers another assault by their now larger nva force the vietnamese appear from the tall grass very close to the american line having crawled through the undergrowth to launch a surprise close quarters attack while the vietnamese ninth division has broken and fled through the night after their losses the day before the fresh 7th battalion has now arrived to face moore's exhausted men fight cuts through sea company and into more cp itself again sea company is taking heavy casualties and the american perimeter is in serious danger of being overrun specialist willard parrish of c company finds himself situated between d and c company lines with his m60 light machine gun so desperate is their situation he expends all of his m60 ammunition trying to hold the enemy back he then stands up with a 45 handgun in each hand and continues to repel the advancing nva just 20 yards from his foxhole he would later be awarded a silver star however the front line to the south continues to collapse just 30 minutes after the fighting began maul's forward air controller lieutenant charlie hastings senses disaster and instinctively transmits a radio message to his u.s air force counterparts that he hopes will prevent the impending overrun each us platoon pops smoke to identify their positions on the ground hastings later recalled i used the code word broken arrow which meant american unit in contact and in danger of being overrun and we received all available aircraft in south vietnam for close air support we had aircraft stacked up at one thousand foot intervals from seven thousand to thirty five thousand feet each waiting to receive a target and deliver their ordinance while there would later be confusion over the use of the phrase broken arrow a phrase ordinarily used to indicate an accidental event involving nuclear weapons it's likely that it is also being used locally in vietnam as a distress call the next three hours see a massive and decisive use of overwhelming air power not only against troops overrunning moore's battalion but against the north vietnamese soldiers still making their way over the chupong massive to join the fight among the airstrikes three f-100 super sabres drop six napalm canisters and six bombs within 100 meters of the front line the same three aircraft then rotate in and out dispending two thousand four hundred twenty millimeter cannon rounds into the nva troops overwhelming sea company the us air force navy and marine corps aircraft pounds the enemy from the air and artillery rains down from above dangerously close to the american troops with the chaos smoke explosions and flame now engulfing the battlefield a new pair of f-100s scream in towards lz x-ray moore looks up in horror to see the nose of the aircraft pointing straight towards him he screams at hastings to call the aircraft off but it's too late the leading super sabre releases two six foot long metal canisters that for an eternity tumble around in the air as they fall to the ground in an instant everything near the cp burns it's a miracle that only three of his men are hit the second f-100 had heard the radio warning in time and pulls away without releasing its napalm on more cp itself lieutenant colonel moore senses that forward air controller hastings is shocked by what has just happened and reassures him don't worry about that one charlie just keep them coming the pounding continues all day the fresh nva 7th battalion takes such overwhelming fire from artillery and airstrikes that like the 9th battalion the day before it has been stopped in its tracks with a lot of the fighting more requests that accompany from 1st battalion's sister 2nd battalion be helicoptered in immediately these fresh infantrymen are deployed to help the heavily battered sea company on the southern perimeter at noon the reinforcing 2nd battalion 5th cavalry who had been airlifted to lz victor earlier that morning also arise to bolster moore's perimeter it becomes evident that the balance of power in the area has shifted and the nba 7th battalion has taken such heavy losses from airstrikes that it can no longer continue with the new us battalion on the scene and with ground fighting seemingly over for the day moore's exhausted battalion prepares for x-fil back to base in the afternoon the b-52 stratofortress strategic bombers from guam arrive high overhead at 4 pm several entire map grid areas over the qipong massive have been marked for destruction aiming to halt the advance of the nva's 33rd regiment and the remainder of the 66th to the area eighteen us air force b-52fs dropped 900 500 pound bombs across the area known as arc light strikes the b-52s will return to area bomb the suspected nva locations every day for 7 days over 96 sorties 5 000 bombs will be dropped with the final artillery barrage the lost second platoon is rescued at 4 15 pm with another smaller skirmish taking place in the early hours of the following morning the two-day fight at lzx-ray has seen 79 americans killed and 121 wounded the nva would estimate their losses at 1 215 predominantly as a result of the massive air campaign waged against them after a brief skirmish the following morning maul's men are choppered out of lzx-ray leaving battalions from the 5th and 7th cavalry regiments on the ground in the area third brigade commander colonel brown is worried that further nva formations are moving into the area and calls for a withdrawal the general westmoreland orders the two battalions to stay wanting to avoid giving the appearance of retreat to the nva and the u.s press the fresh battalions are ordered to move out on foot towards lz columbus and lz albany both two miles away vacating the area in time for a b-52 strike against chupong and lzx-ray itself the following day at this moment general westmoreland does not yet know how deadly this decision will be as in the long grass near lz albany an nva battalion lies in weight thanks again to our sponsor conflict of nations for supporting this video don't forget to support the operations room by clicking the link in the description below and starting your journey to global victory today you

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 3,353,904

Keywords: Time-Lapse, History, ww2, Documentary, time lapse, animated, war, us army, 1st cavalry division, air cav, air cavalry, we were soldiers, ia drang, vietnam war

Id: 6i4zLTiwTWA

Length: 18min 5sec (1085 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 17 2021