Battle of Hamburger Hill

Battle of Hamburger Hill
Part of the Vietnam War
Date May 11–20, 1969 Location 16°15′11″N 107°10′29″E / 16.25306°N 107.17472°E / 16.25306; 107.17472 (Ap Bia A Shau Valley, South Vietnam) Result U.S./South Vietnamese tactical victory and withdrawal
Belligerents
United States of America South Vietnam	North Vietnam
Commanders and leaders
Melvin Zais	Ma Vinh Lan
Units involved
101st Airborne Division 3rd Brigade 9th Marine Regiment 5th Cavalry Regiment 3rd Squadron 3rd ARVN Regiment	29th NVA Regiment 7th Battalions 8th Battalions
Strength
~1,800 infantry 10 batteries of artillery (fired 19,213 rounds) 272 US Air Force missions (dropped 890 tons of bombs and 115 tons of napalm)	2 battalions, ~800
Casualties and losses
US: 72 killed 372 wounded ARVN: unknown Several helicopters shot down or damaged	US claim: 630 killed 3 captured

101st Airborne Division

9th Marine Regiment
5th Cavalry Regiment

29th NVA Regiment

The Battle of Hamburger Hill was a battle of the Vietnam War that was fought by the United States and South Vietnam against North Vietnamese forces from May 10–20, 1969 (main part of Operation Apache Snow). Although the heavily fortified Hill 937 was of little strategic value, U.S. command ordered its capture by a frontal assault, only to abandon it soon thereafter. The action caused a controversy both in the American military and public.

The battle was primarily an infantry engagement, with the U.S. Airborne troops moving up the steeply-sloped hill against well entrenched troops. Attacks were repeatedly repelled by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) defenses. Bad weather also hindered operations. Nevertheless, the Airborne troops took the hill through direct assault, causing extensive casualties to the NVA forces.

The battle took place on Dong Ap Bia (Ap Bia Mountain, Vietnamese: Đồi A Bia) in the rugged, jungle-shrouded mountains of South Vietnam, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) from the Laotian border. Rising from the floor of the western A Shau Valley, Ap Bia Mountain is a solitary massif, unconnected to the ridges of the surrounding Annamite range. It dominates the northern valley, towering some 937 meters (3,074 ft) above sea level. Snaking down from its highest peak are a series of ridges and fingers, one of the largest extending southeast to a height of 900 meters (3,000 ft), another reaching south to a 916-meter (3,005 ft) peak. The entire mountain is a rugged wilderness blanketed in double- and triple-canopy jungle, dense thickets of bamboo, and waist-high elephant grass that in some cases was taller than an M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. Local Degar tribesmen called Ap Bia "the mountain of the crouching beast". Official histories of the engagement refer to it as Hill 937 after the elevation displayed on U.S. Army maps, but the American soldiers who fought there dubbed it "Hamburger Hill", suggesting that those who fought on the hill were "chewed up like a hamburger" in grim reference to the Battle of Pork Chop Hill during the Korean War.

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Wikipedia