In 1964, the U.S. sent its first combat troops to South Vietnamese to prop up the non-communist government. No significant contact with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army occurred until the following year. American forces were taking losses from surprise attacks, so payback was necessary. The idea was to use the mobility of the helicopter to launch search and destroy operations. Bring enemy forces to battle where American firepower would slaughter them. In November, 1965 an opportunity to try out the concept arose as a North Vietnamese regiment was located in the Central Highlands in the Ia Drang valley. Unfortunately, it was actually three regiments and they were itching to try their own tactic of “hug them by the belt buckle”. On Nov. 14, both sides got to experiment. Lt. Col. Harry Moore led the 7th Cavalry (Custer’s old unit) into the Ia Drang. They landed in a football size field. The nearest dirt road was 17 miles away. At first the scene was peaceful, but a prisoner taken admitted there were a lot of enemy soldiers in the area. Sure enough, the situation soon developed into a reenactment of the Alamo, without the walls. But with ample artillery and air support to barely hold off the hordes of NVA. Some men were killed with the breaths of their opponents in their faces. For a while it was touch and go for the Americans, but after heavy losses, the communists let go of the belt buckle and withdrew, leaving the field strewn with bodies. Many of them were Americans as the Army lost 234 killed. (Up until then, we had lost 1,100 since 1964.) The battle was definitely a victory for America, but the result was exaggerated to the press. The lesson learned was that attrition through search and destroy was a winning strategy that took advantage of firepower and mobility. The North Vietnamese learned that the firepower could be negated by getting in close. And the mobility could be overcome by using the jungle to melt away from sticky situations. The U.S. would not lose a battle the rest of the war, but the communist strategy would win the war.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/major-battle-erupts-in-the-ia-drang-valley
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