Word: drang
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...stems from the disparity in the progress of the two wars. In the big-unit war that is being fought largely by U.S. troops, success is real and measurable. In a long string of aggressive campaigns stretching back to the first major U.S. North Vietnamese battle in the la Drang Valley in 1965, American fighting men time and again bested Hanoi's best; they have prevented the Communists from getting a major offensive of their own under way. The combat toll in Red manpower, Hanoi's most precious asset, has been horrendous: 50,000 Communist dead so far this year...
...learn how to cope with their new military problem?the heliborne mobility, the massive artillery and air support that the U.S. had brought?Hanoi devised a costly experiment, which was conducted in the la Drang Valley in November of 1965. During six weeks of bloody fighting, the North Vietnamese commander was instructed to accept battles he could not possibly win. He was ordered to keep up the fight longer than any good hit-and-run guerrilla army should. "We had to learn how the Americans fought," explained a high-ranking defector later...
...month after la Drang, a top-level meeting of main-force Viet Cong and North Vietnamese officers convened in a jungle auditorium to assess the results purchased at the cost of over 1,500 of their...
About 1,000 Communists swarmed just as suddenly over a company of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division near the Ia Drang Valley 40 miles to the south. The fight began after a cluster of NVA troopers decoyed the Americans into a trap two miles from the Cambodian border. The North Vietnamese concentrated on one platoon at a time and succeeded in cutting off each in succession. The American company commander fell in the first minutes of the battle. The fighting was at such close quarters that one U.S. squad leader strangled a Communist soldier with his bare hands and plunged...
...switch in tactics from the gung-ho role in World War II and Korea made Walt a frequent target of criticism. The controversy also pointed up a split between Marine and Army commanders. Army men, pointing to such bloody engagements as la Drang, argued that the way to win was to kill the V.C. first and pacify the population later. The Marines replied that search-and-destroy tactics suitable for the wastes of the Central Highlands could not be employed in the populous seacoast of "Eye" corps. Moreover, they pointed out, wherever Army troops pulled out, the Viet Cong flowed...