Osprey CAM 345 Ia Drang 1965 The Struggle for Vietnam s Pleiku Province By J P Harris J Kenneth Ewardn True PDF.pdf

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IA DRANG 1965
The Struggle for Vietnam’s Pleiku Province
J.P. HARRIS &
J. KENNETH EWARD
ILLUSTRATED BY EDOUARD GROULT
CAMPAIGN 345
IA DRANG 1965
The Struggle for Vietnam’s Pleiku Province
J. P. HARRIS AND
J. KENNETH EWARD
ILLUSTRATED BY EDOUARD GROULT
Series editor Marcus Cowper
CONTENTS
THE STRATEGIC BACKGROUND
CHRONOLOGY
OPPOSING COMMANDERS
North Vietnamese
n
South Vietnamese
n
American
5
7
8
OPPOSING FORCES
The PAVN
n
The ARVN
n
US and South Vietnamese Special Forces and CIDG
The US 1st Cavalry Division
n
Orders of battle
15
OPPOSING PLANS
THE CAMPAIGN
PAVN preparations for the Pleiku campaign, September–October 1965
The siege and relief of Plei Me, October 19–25, 1965
n
Initiating the pursuit, October 27–30, 1965
The hospital firefight, November 1, 1965
n
The Ia Drang ambush and LZ Mary, November 3–4, 1965
The last days of 1st Brigade, November 4–12, 1965
n
3rd Brigade takes over, November 9–12, 1965
The raid on Catecka, November 12/13, 1965
n
The shift toward the Chu Pong Massif, November
10–14, 1965
n
LZ X-Ray, November 14–16, 1965
n
LZ Albany, November 17–18, 1965
LZ Crooks and LZ Columbus, November 18, 1965
n
ARVN Airborne Brigade operations,
November 18–27, 1965
30
32
AFTERMATH
THE BATTLEFIELDS TODAY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
92
94
94
95
VIETNAM
BINH DINH
Bong
Son
Pleiku and Binh Dinh provinces
KONTUM
Camp
Holloway
Pleiku
Stadium,
at Catecka plantation
Camp Radcliff
(the Golf Course)
An Khe
High
wa
y1
9
Duc Co
CIDG camp
ran
g
way
19
H
i
gh
Highway
1
Qui Nhon
h
Hig
way
Ia D
14
CAMBODIA
PLEIKU
Chu Pong
Massif
Anta
Plei Me
CIDG camp
N
PHU YEN
PHU BON
0
20 miles
0
20km
DARLAC
THE STRATEGIC BACKGROUND
In 1954, following the defeat of the French and their indigenous allies by
Communist-led forces in the First Indochina War (1946–54), Vietnam was
divided at the 17th Parallel. North Vietnam, with its capital at Hanoi, was
ruled by the Communist Party. An anti-Communist state was established in
the South, with its capital at Saigon. The Hanoi government soon instigated
a Communist insurgency in South Vietnam, thereby initiating the Second
Indochina War (1959–75). In 1965 the war intensified dramatically: in an
effort to bring about the final collapse of the anti-Communist state, the
Hanoi government was now sending to South Vietnam whole regiments of
People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) troops raised, equipped, and trained in
the North.
1
The South Vietnamese state (the Republic of Vietnam), though suffering
from problems of corruption and political instability, was proving difficult
to destroy. The Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF) had American
equipment and growing numbers of American advisors. RVNAF ground
forces also had mobility provided by American helicopter units and close
air support from American aircraft as well as from the South Vietnamese
Air Force (VNAF). Since 1961 the CIA and US Army Special Forces had
also been trying to mobilize, equip, and train elements of South Vietnam’s
numerous ethnic and religious minorities in the Civilian Irregular Defense
Group (CIDG) initiative.
The CIDG program was of particular importance in the Central
Highlands, a mountainous and jungle-clad region where more than half of
the population consisted of minority ethnic groups. Both sides recognized
the strategic importance of the Central Highlands and made major efforts to
control that region. Many of the supply and infiltration routes running from
North Vietnam via Laos (often collectively known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail)
entered South Vietnam in the Central Highlands. South Vietnam’s adjacent
coastal plain was relatively narrow and control of the Highlands might give
the Communists the opportunity to cut the southern state in half.
Both sides recruited men from Highland ethnic minorities as soldiers.
But some Highlanders disliked being used as cannon fodder in a Vietnamese
civil war. In September 1964, in Darlac Province, there was a brief but
alarming mutiny of Highland troops in the CIDG program, some of whom
supported a movement for independence for the Central Highlands. Fear of
1
Although “People’s Army of Vietnam” was (and continues to be) the official designation of the Communist regular army, it was
commonly called the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) during the war by its American opponents. This term is still in popular use
in the United States today, though it should be kept in mind that “NVA” is a descriptor and not a formal name.
5

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