Ia Dang Valley Battle Analysis
BATTLE OF IA DRANG VALLEY
10 May 2010
The Battle of Ia Drang Valley was a series of engagements between the U.S 1st Cavalry Division and the B-3 front, North Vietnamese Army. It was a battle between one US division and three NVA regiments. This was the first and last battle between NVA forces and U.S forces of similar size. This battle took place from 11-14-1965, thru 11-18-1965. The geography of the Ia Drang Valley was a challenge for any commander. The Ia Drang River flowed through the valley along with several streams. These streams flowed to the west and southwest across the Cambodian border. The battlefield consisted of about 1,500 sq miles of what, by map, appeared to be flat rolling terrain. The Dominate terrain feature was the Chu Pong Massif. The Cho Pong Massif rose to 732m above sea …show more content…
His mission was to conduct search and destroy operations north of the Chu Pong. On Nov 14th, 1965, LTC Moore, and his 411 men, landed at LZ X-Ray at approximately 10:48. 1-7 Cav made no immediate contact. By 12:10 all of B- Company and sufficient numbers of A- Company had landed unopposed. Lead elements of B-Company, who had pushed to the north-west of the LZ, were engaged in an intense fire fight. This is when General Man’s began to apply more pressure. B-Company was being attacked by a numerically superior force. In the haze of the battle a platoon from Bravo pushed further west than the rest of the company inadvertently isolating themselves from their unit. They were effectively cut-off and surrounded. Shortly after the onset of heavy fighting, the remainder of LTC Moore’s unit had landed on the LZ. He arranged his units to reinforce those who were engaged in heavy fighting to the west, and protect the LZ from the advancing NVA to the
10 May 2010
The Battle of Ia Drang Valley was a series of engagements between the U.S 1st Cavalry Division and the B-3 front, North Vietnamese Army. It was a battle between one US division and three NVA regiments. This was the first and last battle between NVA forces and U.S forces of similar size. This battle took place from 11-14-1965, thru 11-18-1965. The geography of the Ia Drang Valley was a challenge for any commander. The Ia Drang River flowed through the valley along with several streams. These streams flowed to the west and southwest across the Cambodian border. The battlefield consisted of about 1,500 sq miles of what, by map, appeared to be flat rolling terrain. The Dominate terrain feature was the Chu Pong Massif. The Cho Pong Massif rose to 732m above sea …show more content…
His mission was to conduct search and destroy operations north of the Chu Pong. On Nov 14th, 1965, LTC Moore, and his 411 men, landed at LZ X-Ray at approximately 10:48. 1-7 Cav made no immediate contact. By 12:10 all of B- Company and sufficient numbers of A- Company had landed unopposed. Lead elements of B-Company, who had pushed to the north-west of the LZ, were engaged in an intense fire fight. This is when General Man’s began to apply more pressure. B-Company was being attacked by a numerically superior force. In the haze of the battle a platoon from Bravo pushed further west than the rest of the company inadvertently isolating themselves from their unit. They were effectively cut-off and surrounded. Shortly after the onset of heavy fighting, the remainder of LTC Moore’s unit had landed on the LZ. He arranged his units to reinforce those who were engaged in heavy fighting to the west, and protect the LZ from the advancing NVA to the