1. Battles at Landing Zone X-Ray and Albany
Greg Shedd
Ms2500

2.  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 Regiment
were the main force battalions

3.  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

4.  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

5.  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

6. Support in
the LZs

7.  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

8.  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

9.  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

10.  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

11.  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

12.  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

13.  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

15.  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

16.  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

17.  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

18.  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

19.  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

21.  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

22.  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

23.  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

25.  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

26.  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

27.  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