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Questions & Answers
Anyone know anyone in the battle of the Ia Drang Valley Nov14-16,1965?
The Movie We Were Soldiers was based off the actual battle. I have talked with more than 30 actual heroes from the battle always trying to find more. 400 US soldiers of the 1/7, Against 4000 highly trained VC and the US came out with a win even tho the odds were well against them. I would like to talk with them if possible.
First answer was horrible. Yes Fonda is a traitor and a whore. It's not opening wounds for these men were in one of the worse battles of the war and the men that talked were all gracious in telling me their stories. These were from the commander (Ret)Lt Gen Hal Moore all the way to UPI writer Joe galloway that covered the battle.
Another great site to go to is www.lzxray.com...I have the book autographed by the 30+
Wish I did, it would be very enlightening to hear their side of the story.
Saw the movie, and was very impressed with it. Best movie about 'Nam I've ever seen.
Anyone know a good online depiction of the Battle of Ia Drang Valley?
Okay, I just watched We Were Soldiers, and, as with any war movie I like, I immediately became obsessed with researching the battle. However, reading the Wikipedia article doesn't help me much...it serves as great narration, but I need pictures. Not photographs, but maps of the terrain showing what elements of units were at what places at different stages of the battle.
So, I was wondering if anyone knows a website where I can find some of this, or even a book (blasphemy in this 21st century, I know, right?). Just visual diagrams of the battle would help.
Thanks in advance to all who answer!
North Vietnamese version
http://www.generalhieu.com/pleime-history-2.htm
footage of the battle on you tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGqaRV4wpFs
individual account by a combatant
http://www.mishalov.com/death_ia_drang_valley.html
historical account of the battle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ia_Drang_Valley
Was the Vietnam War Really a Guerrilla War?
Even though guerillas were involved, they were only a small part of the overall forces fielded by the Vietnamese. Large convential battles such as those fought at the Ia Drang Valley in 1965 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ia_Drang_Valley involved several regiments of the Vietnamese People's Army. (VPA or, in American parlance, NVA).
During the Easter Offensive of 1972, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Offensive, the VPA used a force of five Army Corps or 15 divisions (200,000 soldiers) , complete with artillery and armor units. The ARVN (South Vietnamese Army) had a total of 50 divisions or 800,000 men supplemented by air and naval components.
In the final campaign of 1975, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh_Campaign the VPA sent down 35 divisions (500,000) men against the South's forces of 45 divisions (750,000) men. There were heavy artillery and armor components on both sides.
So why do people keep calling the Vietnam War a guerilla war?
There were very few large scale confrontations in Vietnam involving anything more that regiments/battalions, all of which were won by the US, including Happy Valley. Most actions were company sized or smaller, hit & run, because Charlie usually couldn't carry enough supplies into an AO to sustain a long term action. Plus, they knew that any large concentration of troops would draw airstrikes or arty strikes beaucoup fast. Most of the time, the action consisted of a quick ambush & then a fade out into the jungle, so guerilla war really fits.
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