November 5th, 1965 - The Battle of the Ia Drang Valley

Conflict: Vietnam War

Combatants: Americans/ARVN vs. North Vietnamese

Location: Vietnam

Outcome: American victory

Between October 23rd and November 20th of 1965, North Vietnam massed troops in the western highlands with the goal of cutting South Vietnam in half. The American 1st Cavalry defeated the NVA while inflicting, and suffering, heavy casualties.

Soldiers of the U.S. Army 1 7th Cavalry disembark from a Bell UH-1D Huey at LZ X-Ray during the battle of Ia Drang by a US Army Photographer

Points of Interest:

• The Battle of the Ia Drang Valley was depicted in the 2003 film We Were Soldiers which was based on the book We Were Soldier Once...and Young by Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway.

• Two hundred and thirty Americans died in the week long Battle of the Ia Drang Valley while at least 2000 North Vietnamese were recorded KIA by the Allied forces.

Lt. Colonel Harold G. Moore Jr. Battalion Command Official Photo

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Sources:

Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.

Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Moore, Harold G. and Galloway, Joseph L. (1992). We Were Soldiers Once…and Young. New York: Random House.

Newcomb, Richard F. (1987). A Pictorial History of the Vietnam War. New York: Double Day & Company.

Summers Jr., Harry G. (1985). The Vietnam War Almanac. New York: Ballantine Books.

Wilbanks, James H. (2009). Vietnam War Almanac. New York: Skyhorse Publishing.