Battles at Landing Zone X-Ray and Albany

Greg Shedd

Ms2500

First major battle of the Vietnam war

The most fierce battle of the war

Forces were three battalions of the US and bombers 1st and 2nd of the 7th Calvary unit and the 2nd of the

5th Calvary unit

Forces of the Vietnam 5 infantry battalions

1st Battalion, 33rd PAVN Regiment

7th, 8th and 9th Battalions, 66th PAVN Regimentwere the main force battalions

Campaign took several weeks

The battles took place over four days 14-18 November 1965

The battle got its name from the Drang River that runs through the valley northwest of Plei Me

The battles were fought between two LZs LZ X-ray and LZ Albany

Terrain consisted of hills, the valley, the river, and densely forested jungles

It was a tropical climate so it got hot during the day and a bit chilly at night

All American forces were about 1000 men strong

1st of the 7th Calvary Main fighting force

Led by Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore

New air mobile infantry division Helicopters

WWII they carried very little and were not that reliable

Fitted with new M-16 instead of M-14

Best trained and equipped in America’s new arsenal

First ones to land and fight

2nd of the 7th Calvary

Second main fighting force

Led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDade

Ground infantry reinforcements

2nd of the 5th Calvary

Led by Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Tully

Support battalion and reinforcements

Motive was to eliminate all Vietnam forces

Support in

the LZs

All Vietnamese forces were about 2000-3000 men strong

Led by Nguyen Huu An

5 infantry battalions 1st Battalion 33rd PAVN Regiment

7th, 8th and 9th Battalions, and 66th PAVN Regiment were the main force battalions

Consisted of infantry units, anti-aircraft units, and mortar units

Motive was to kill as many Americans as they could

Main was air-mobile Used helicopters to navigate terrain

Heli-borne assaults

Used Huey helicopters which were the most effective by dropping of platoons and supplies then taking out wounded and casualties

It was America’s first time using air calvary in a war

It was also the first time they were used to complete nighttime heli-bore assaults

It was the start of a new air mobile warfare concept

Used artillery and air strikes

Used B-52 Bombers to fly in

Dropped phosphorous and napalm bombs

Dropped tons of explosives near and far from clearings

There were constant raids all throughout the battle

Throughout the battle there were requests for more troops

The US wore down the enemy by constantly suppressing them

Made sure of body counts- accountability

Finally the US set out on search and destroy missions

Used guerilla warfare

They hit and ran

Used booby traps

Used land mines

Used close hand to hand combat techniques

Fought close enough to see eye to eye

The way they hid was by elaborate tunnel systems

There were bridges, underground fuel tanks, hospitals, and supply warehouses

Used heavy machine guns to suppress the US

Hid in trees with snipers

Tried to attack at night

Used mortars and anti-aircraft weapons

Strongly out numbered the US troops and they were on their homeland

LTC Moore figured that X-Ray would be the best LZ

It was one of the smaller landing zones

It was surrounded by low trees and it was bordered by a dried up creek bed

30 minute round trip to bring in troops and supplies

It was the first LZ to be touched down

It began the battle

Started when the first 16 Huey helicopters brought in LTC Moore and 90 men Led the 1st /7th Calvary in – 450 men

The objective was to clear the edges of the LZ and push the enemy as far back into the jungle as they could

Within an hour of touching down the LZ was hot Fighting odds were 7-1 PAVN would fire at them with heavy and light

arms There were constantly Hueys flying in and out

dropping supplies and taking casualties

A platoon secured a creek bed south of the LZ and secured it

There was heavy fire all day securing it

The platoon was pinned down and there were many casualties

The platoon fought wave after wave of the PAVN

Because of the losses the US soldiers had to destroy the signal codes and eventually had to call in artillery

There was a fierce battle all day

Near the end of the day the US needed reinforcements

The 2nd/7th came to reinforce

They supported and helped carry out casualties

They set up a more stable perimeter with the stranded platoon of the 1st/7th in the middle

The battle was fought all through the night

The PAVN attacked the US troops all through the night in little elements

There were a few large attacks but they were fought off

There were artillery strikes throughout the night but not as often as they were during the day

It was early in the morning before the LZ got hot again

Before the artillery strikes were able to happen the enemy was close enough for hand to hand combat

The US used “Broken Arrow” because there was a threat of being overrun

It was close air support dropped right on the perimeter of the American lines

It caused a catastrophic friendly fire incident but there shortly after the PAVN slowly withdrew

The 2nd/5th Cavalry was sent in to reinforce

The US troops got smarter by setting booby traps with grenades and trip flares

The artillery strikes were more precise

There were still many PAVN probes

The PAVN suffered worse because the US was more prepared

There were 4 fierce attacks in the night and early morning

More reinforcements were brought in

The 1st/7th was ordered to leave

They handed off the LZ to the 2nd/5th to finish clearing the LZ

All was told to move off to LZ Albany so the bombers could come in and level out LZ X-ray

Albany was six miles away from LZ X-ray

It was to be the extraction point for the American forces

The second battle occurred at it

Began by a recon mission

It was a shorter battle than LZ X-ray

After LZ X-ray was finished off the US troops were told to move to LZ Albany for extraction

Alpha company was leading the way for recon They found a few PAVN recon soldiers and took

them prisoners, there were others but they got away

While interrogation the US heard voices off in the distance

They voices were confirmed to be the enemy A few minutes after the confirmation, small arms

opened fire on the US and thus the battle at LZ Albany began

When the small arms opened up the US quickly moved into planking positions and secured a perimeter around the LZ

Within minutes of the small arms fire PAVN soldiers swarmed the US troops and a fierce battle broke out

It was a close range battle

This battle was more hand to hand than at LZ X-ray

The US called in air support and the rain of napalm started

Caused some friendly fire like at X-ray

The battle went into the night but was over by morning

After policing up the casualties the US troops pushed for their new extracting LZ and were extracted

The IA Drang battle was a blue print for tactics on both sides

Both sides had a great number of casualties

The US had air mobility, artillery, air strikes, and new weapon systems

This is why the Americans won

The PAVN learned how to combat the air mobility and learned to fight in close rang combat

The US were the ones to prevail in this battle