The Battle of la Drang in Vietnam

We Were Soldiers Once and Young – Ia Drang- the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, Shake Hands with the Devil and Fingerprints through Time- a History of the Guelph Police are three books that were written from the popular history perspective. The simple goal of these books were quite simple; they wanted to tell a story, educate their readers about true historical events that little knew about and to further educate them. This was written in chronological order and gives us detailed back ground leading up to the battle and the sobering aftermath.

troops on a hopeless humanitarian mission pulled out of Mogadishu, Somalia. A few Americans realize that during this mission, U.S. troops had the most continuous and gruesome battle fought by American’s since the Vietnam War. The afternoon of October 3rd, 1993, soldiers of Task Force Ranger, and Delta Force were sent to capture two lieutenants of a rebel Somalian warlord and return to base. This mission was supposed to take 30 min, but instead, the soldiers were pinned down in the middle of Mogadishu market and in a desperate effort of kill or be killed. For about 20 hours, U.S. soldiers created a bloody firefight that resulted in 19 American fatalities and the death of 1000 Somali fighters. Black Hawk Down tells the story of that desperate battle, from all angles of the war.

The award-winning novel by Stephen Ambrose, Band of Brothers: Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, discusses one of the greatest examples of mission command in the form of 1st Lieutenant Richard Winters and his role in the Brecourt Manor Assault. This battle is a textbook example of how to fight against a superior enemy force that outnumbered the unit by four times as much. Facing overwhelming odds with just 16 paratroopers against over 60 German Soldiers, 1LT Winters nevertheless prevails and succeeds in achieving his objective while minimizing casualties to just three Soldiers lost. Looking back further into the American Revolution, the Battle of Bunker Hill on the American side is one of

The arrival of additional German troops ended American hopes which created a lost for the American Military. While Montfaucon was taken the next day, the advance proved slow and American forces were plagued by leadership and logistical issues. By October 1, the offensive had come to a halt. Traveling among his forces, Pershing replaced several of his green divisions of soldiers with more experienced troops, though this movement only added to the logistical and traffic difficulties. On October 4, Pershing ordered an assault all along the American line. This was met with ferocious resistance from the Germans with the advance measured in yards. It was during this phase of the fighting that the 77th Division's famed "Lost Battalion" made its stand. Elsewhere, Corporal Alvin York won the Medal of Honor for capturing 132 Germans (Clodfelter, 2007). On October 8, Pershing made a push on the east side of the Meuse with the goal of silencing German artillery in the area. This made little headway. Two days later he turned command of the 1st Army over to Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett.

Forces were the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry, and the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry. These units were supported by the 9th Marines and the 3rd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, as well as elements of the Army of Vietnam. ‘Don’t mean nothing’, That was the reference from the powerful 1987 movie about the battle for Hamburger Hill, more correctly called Ap Bia Mountain also known as Hill 937. Many soldiers of that May 1969 fight would no doubt agree, since the hill was abandoned to the enemy soon after it was taken. But the truth is that it was one of the most key and historical battles of the war, for it spelled the end of Major American ground combat operations in Vietnam.

During the same year, Cavazos's unit participated in the Battle of Loc Ninh. Two days of heavy fire fighting was experienced in which the Division lost five of its Soldiers, and the enemy suffered 100 deaths. For his great leadership and abilities during these battles, Cavazos received his second Distinguished Service Cross. After completing his tour of duty in Vietnam, Cavazos returned to the United States of America and continued with his career path with a lot of enthusiasm. He worked hard in every position that he served and always strived to be one of the best in all the companies that he worked with. Before Cavazos was promoted to the rank of Brigade General he held several positions including Assistant Deputy Director of Operations at the Pentagon, and Director of the Inter-American Region Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security

The attacks began around 4:00 pm . The terrain was rough, rocky and wooded. Our defensive line faced the southwest towards the higher hill with our right flank tight up against the left flank of the 83rd Pennsylvania. As we moved into position, I sent Company B under the command of Captain Walter G. Morrell to join up with skirmishers of the 16th Michigan to protect the left flank . However, Captain Morrell did not find skirmishers and decided to take up position behind a stonewall 150 yards to the

Many Americans know about the war that was held in Vietnam, known as The Vietnam War. What Some Americans may not know is the side of Vietnam, and how they were affected with the aftermath. Originally "The Vietnamese were controlled by France from 1859 until the defeat of France in World War II" (The Vietnam War). Though conflicts had been occurring for many years with France, the Vietnam war didn 't actually happen until 1946 "the first Indochina War" fought between France and the Viet Minh "Vietnamese Communists and nationalists" (Battle of Dien Bien Phu). This war has played a crucial role in how Vietnam has shaped its government, and allied with the United States. It 's important to know about the Vietnam war, because of its

During a reconnaissance in force, Delta Company 187th engaged enemy forces as they trenched along the hillside. Unknown size elements of enemy forces engaged, with a total count of just two enemy killed in actions. US forces had assumed the North Vietnamese forces would conduct small sporadic attacks and escape back into Laos or Cambodia (Ibid. PG168.). Soon after Delta Company broke contact, Bravo Company engaged an unknown size element of enemy forces. From the controlled firing, it was determined that the assault on the hill will face resistance from a well-disciplined

It wasn’t until the 21st March, 1916, that Clark was deployed in Marseilles, France with the rest of the battalion as part of the first lot of troops to take part war on the Western Front. The right hand sector of the 7th Brigade’s front lines was taken over by the 28th Battalion in early April. The Battle of Pozieres was the 28th Battalion’s first significant fight in WWI as they had taken part in two attacks. Hefty wire entanglements which was left undestroyed and persistent retaliatory bombardments from the Germans on the 7th Brigade resulted in a failed attempt on the 29th July, 1916. After failing to capture the Pozieres Ridge, a second attack was launched on the 4th August and success emerged as the 28th Battalion was able to secure Pozieres Ridge. After almost two weeks of consistent battling, the 2nd Division consisting of the 28th Battalion and many others were relieved by the 4th Division on the 6th and was transferred to less active section of the Belgium Front. Unfortunately, success didn’t come at no cost and Clark’s Battalion had experienced the most loss of the total of 6848 casualties in the 7th Brigade, Clark not included in the massive

The Vietnam War, lasting almost twenty years and deploying 2.7 million troops to the front lines, was one of the largest wars in United States history. Beginning August 2nd, 1964, the war killed 58,000 American soldiers and disabled twice that number. The war brought humiliation to our great nation, and created very overwhelming tensions, in a quote by President Nixon, “Let us be united against defeat. Because let us understand: North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that” (Doc G). These tensions grew immensely over the course of the war. In terms of political tensions, the trust and credibility of the war and government began to seem very questionable. Socially, the public began to acknowledge

Lt. Col. Hal Moore, Maj. Bruce 'Snake' Crandall, Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley, 2nd Lt. Jack Geoghegan, were four of many soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. Lt. Col. Hal

The village of Dak To is located in the Kontum province, which is near the tri-border region where South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia meet. It was in this region that the Battle of Dak To had taken place. The Battle of Dak To was one of the most significant battles that had taken place in the Vietnam War between November 3rd to the 22nd. In November 1967, North Vietnamese Army units were determined to get rid of American Special Forces camps that were set up in Ben Het. The U.S. camps represented a major roadblock at the southern end of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and so, the North Vietnamese Army poured thousands of troops into the tri-border region to destroy the camps. The Americans reacted to the North Vietnamese buildup by launching Operation

The fall of Saigon was quick and swift. US aids was drastically cut, troops have been pull back, with less than 2,000 combat/advisor troops, and AVRN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) spread thin, with main forces by the DMZ. With supplies running out and little defense forces, Hue and Da Nang fall within days. General Van Tien Dung of the PAVN (The People’s Army of Vietnam), quickly move toward Saigon. The drive toward Saigon became known as the “Ho Chi Minh Campaign”, they encountered the final line of defense, the 18th ARVN Division at Xuan Loc, perhaps the best unit in the ARVN. Despite being badly outnumbered, and with supplies running out, the 18th ARVN Division as able to repel attacks for nearly two weeks, until they were overwhelmed.

keep the French on the defensive throughout April. On May 1st, 1954, the Viet Minh infantry partly took over the bunkers of Huguette and Eliane. The remaining French strong points were overrun and completely occupied. Giap was ready to deliver his final blow on the French fortress, he intensified the artillery assault and prepared his troops for the ground attack to seize the last two French strong points. On the 6th of May the French finally have some good luck, the weather clears and allows for the airdrop of supplies and airstrikes but much of the supplies land outside of the French lines and the airstrikes have little effect against the Viet Minh's camouflaged positions. On the 7th Giap begins the final assault on Elaine were the French command post is. On May 7th, Vietnamese forces occupied the French command post and the French command post ordered a ceasefire. 3,000 French troops were killed and 8,000