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Description
The Battle of the Ia Drang Valley (from November 14–18, 1965) saw the first major battle between the United States Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), also referred to as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), before the battle the North Vietnamese Army 32nd Regt had surrounded and attacked the American Special Forces camp at Plei Me In mid-October.

The PAVN plan was not to overrun the camp, only to lure out II Corps' (ARVN) main force from Pleiku to destroy it But the U.S. American airpower and ARVN forces help the camp hold off The PAVN forces and force them to retreat westward into the Ia Drang Valley (which bordered Cambodia along the Ho Chi Minh Trail).

In the aftermath of the siege, elements of the 1st Cavalry were airlifted to Plei Me, and on October 26, General William Westmoreland authorized the 1st Cavalry to take the offensive and pursue the withdrawing North Vietnamese Beginning the Pleiku Campaign.

The 1st Cavalry Division was already one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army, seeing Combat in WW2 and Korean War, but by the time of the Vietnam War, the Division Was No longer a conventional infantry unit but had become an air assault division as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), commonly referred to as the 1st Air Cavalry Division.

This was seen as a big thing as the use of helicopters on such large scale as troop carriers, cargo lift ships, medevacs, and aerial rocket artillery, was never before implemented, but by doing so, it freed the infantry from the tyranny of terrain to attack the enemy at the time and place of its choosing. In 1965, The Division was transferred from Korea to Fort Benning, Georgia; shortly thereafter, the Division began deploying to Camp Radcliff, An Khe, Vietnam, in the Central Highlands and was equipped with the new M16 rifle, the UH-1 troop carrier helicopter, UH-1C gunships, the CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter, and the massive CH-54 Skycrane cargo helicopters With All aircraft carried insignia to indicate their battalion and company.

On November 14, 1965, the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry of the 3rd Brigade led By Lt. Col. Hal Moore,1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) were sent by U.S. Military Command to investigate the Ia Drang Valley of the withdrawing North Vietnamese Up to that point of the pursue, contact with the North Vietnamese had been limited.

When Moore touched down with the men in the first wave of sixteen helicopters at LZ X-Ray near the base of the Chu Pong Massif, he found no enemy.

Moore remained cautious. With only 90 men on the ground and the next ninety at least an hour away (34 miles to Plei Me and back), he was operating lightly in a region largely unexplored and that American Intelligence had suggested could be filled with a regiment of enemy forces.

During the first hour, Moore’s men captured an enemy private; a boy. He informed Moore that there were two PAVN regiments on the mountain next to them that “wanted very much to kill Americans but have not been able to find any.” There were, in fact, three. At that point, Moore knew he would be fighting a battle for survival rather than mounting a first strike roughly 90 minutes after landing, his forces met with enemy fire for the next three days and two nights Moore and his men and later 2nd Bn replacement fought for survival against a numerically superior force.

Description
The Battle of the Ia Drang Valley (from November 14–18, 1965) saw the first major battle between the United States Army and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), also referred to as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), before the battle the North Vietnamese Army 32nd Regt had surrounded and attacked the American Special Forces camp at Plei Me In mid-October.

The PAVN plan was not to overrun the camp, only to lure out II Corps' (ARVN) main force from Pleiku to destroy it But the U.S. American airpower and ARVN forces help the camp hold off The PAVN forces and force them to retreat westward into the Ia Drang Valley (which bordered Cambodia along the Ho Chi Minh Trail).

In the aftermath of the siege, elements of the 1st Cavalry were airlifted to Plei Me, and on October 26, General William Westmoreland authorized the 1st Cavalry to take the offensive and pursue the withdrawing North Vietnamese Beginning the Pleiku Campaign.

The 1st Cavalry Division was already one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army, seeing Combat in WW2 and Korean War, but by the time of the Vietnam War, the Division Was No longer a conventional infantry unit but had become an air assault division as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), commonly referred to as the 1st Air Cavalry Division.

This was seen as a big thing as the use of helicopters on such large scale as troop carriers, cargo lift ships, medevacs, and aerial rocket artillery, was never before implemented, but by doing so, it freed the infantry from the tyranny of terrain to attack the enemy at the time and place of its choosing. In 1965, The Division was transferred from Korea to Fort Benning, Georgia; shortly thereafter, the Division began deploying to Camp Radcliff, An Khe, Vietnam, in the Central Highlands and was equipped with the new M16 rifle, the UH-1 troop carrier helicopter, UH-1C gunships, the CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter, and the massive CH-54 Skycrane cargo helicopters With All aircraft carried insignia to indicate their battalion and company.

On November 14, 1965, the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry of the 3rd Brigade led By Lt. Col. Hal Moore,1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) were sent by U.S. Military Command to investigate the Ia Drang Valley of the withdrawing North Vietnamese Up to that point of the pursue, contact with the North Vietnamese had been limited.

When Moore touched down with the men in the first wave of sixteen helicopters at LZ X-Ray near the base of the Chu Pong Massif, he found no enemy.

Moore remained cautious. With only 90 men on the ground and the next ninety at least an hour away (34 miles to Plei Me and back), he was operating lightly in a region largely unexplored and that American Intelligence had suggested could be filled with a regiment of enemy forces.

During the first hour, Moore’s men captured an enemy private; a boy. He informed Moore that there were two PAVN regiments on the mountain next to them that “wanted very much to kill Americans but have not been able to find any.” There were, in fact, three. At that point, Moore knew he would be fighting a battle for survival rather than mounting a first strike roughly 90 minutes after landing, his forces met with enemy fire for the next three days and two nights Moore and his men and later 2nd Bn replacement fought for survival against a numerically superior force.