The Battle of Hamburger Hill
by Krysta CardinaleThe Battle of Hamburger Hill took place from May 10, 1969 to May 20, 1969. It is considered one of the most controversial battles of the Vietnam War. It was the second part of a campaign to destroy the Vietnam’s People Army (VPA) base in South Vietnam. This battle was originally called Hill 937, but the soldiers who fought in it named it Hamburger Hill.
The Hamburger Hill Battle took place during Operation Apache Snow. This operation was the latest campaign in a series of assaults to neutralize the A Shau Valley. Control over this valley proved to be a persistent problem for Vietnam commander General William C. Westmoreland. All of the previous attempts resulted in endings from ineffectual to absolutely disastrous. Lieutenant General Richard Stilwell was commander of the 24th Corps and believed that his attempt would lead to success. He put together to large divisions of infantry and combined it with massive air powers.
The attack was led by five infantry battalions. They were under the orders of Major General Melvin Zais, commander of the infamous 101st Airborne Division. Three out of the five were American troops and the other two were from the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). The plan was for each of the five units to arrive by helicopter on May 10, 1969 with a mission to search for enemy troops and supplies. Incase any one unit found itself in heavy conflict with the North Vietnam Army (NVA), other units would come to reinforce the line. With the use of helicopters it would enable any one of the units to reposition quickly enough to keep the enemy from forming one large unit. In theory, one unit would attack the NVA while another unit flew in and cut off the retreat and corner the enemy in.
The American and ARVN troops went into the Hamburger Hill Battle with only knowledge from previous experience at A Shau Valley. Little to nothing was known about were the NVA troops were located or where the bases were set up. The NVA kept everything completely concealed from aerial surveillance through means of camouflage. Any movement of NVA troops was done at night and they used no electronic devices to communicate intelligence. The only thing that could be learned about the NVA was from captured equipment, documents, and sometimes prisoners.
The Battle of Hamburger Hill at first seemed to be going well. The American and South Vietnamese troops only experience light enemy contact. They were able to capture some documents and intelligence that indicated the enemy was amassing for a large battle. Hamburger Hill soon turned in a different direction. From past experience, the NVA would resist violently for only a short amount of time and then withdraw from overwhelming firepower brought against them.
On May 11th, the second day of the Battle Hamburger Hill, on American unit dispersed into the north and northwest. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Honeycutt, this unit led a hasty aerial assault. However, this battalion was actually not a NVA unit and two Americans were killed and thirty-five were killed including Honeycutt himself. This poorly conducted attack did however reveal that there were enemy troops on the Ap Bia Mountain. Honeycutt’s Bravo Company was separated by more than 1,000 meters during the failed mission. He spent the next three days trying to bring his separated troops together for another attack.
It took about two days for all the units to be consolidated, however they were fatigued from the difficult terrain of the area. For example from May 12-14th a unit was completely immobilized as it had to travel down a steep ravine and was then confronted by the enemy. It took them over five hours to only travel 500 meters. This Delta Company had to conquer steep, muddy slopes and the continuous firepower of the enemy. In the end the company was forced to retreat the same way it came. It took the Delta Company a whole other day to finally reach Honeycutt.
By May 13th the American and South Vietnamese troops realized that they had underestimated the strength of their enemy. The NVA had tenacity, will power, and kept replacing the losses they received during battle. By midday, another infantry battalion came from the north to reinforce Honeycutt and his men. This troop was led by Commander Colonel Conmy. However the terrain and the NVA snipers were trouble for the reinforcing troop and they were unable to make completely there until May 19th. In the meantime the NVA continued to use the terrain to its advantage.
Neither side gave in; reinforcements were continually brought in over the next 6 days. A large amount of blood was shed on both sides as battalions began to make their retreat. The final launch of assault by American troops came from two battalions on May 20th. They both attacked at the same time with heavy infantry and aerial assaults. This final push proved successful as they were able to reach the crest of the mountain by the afternoon and head into Laos by early that evening, thus securing and winning Battle Hamburger Hill.
The Conclusion of Battle
In the end, the Battle of Hamburger Hill proved that the key to a successful battle was in the commander itself. in successful battle command is the commander himself. Honeycutt underestimated his highly skilled enemy but was still determined to fight. The NVA had already chosen the best battlefield terrain which was enough in itself to neutralize any assaults against them. Only Honeycutt kept his battalion fighting despite massive losses, diminishing morale, and bad media. His strength of will was able to overcome the terrain and the enemy and eventually lead him into a successful conclusion.
Shortly after the battle, a spokesman for an American General said, “We are not fighting for terrain as such; we are going after the enemy.” The debate about the value of Hamburger Hill was far from over. This was not the worst loss of life for Americans in Vietnam, but on May 19th a newspaper story by J. Shawerd horrified the American public with vivid descriptions of the fighting and the casualties. When the American command ordered the 101st Airborne to abandon Hamburger Hill, the American public was outraged. On June 19th just after a month after the battle of Hamburger Hill, President Nixon cleared up any uncertainty about the US policy in Vietnam. He gave explicit orders to the new US Commander, General Creighton Abrams that he was to conduct the war with a minimum of American casualties. That same month, Nixon ordered that 25,000 US troops be brought home by July 8th and that 35,000 more come home by December. The war was winding down, but the dying was far from over.
