Posted on Nov 16, 2023

Movement to Albany - The First Major Battle of Vietnam

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The boys of the 2-7 CAV were hot, battle fatigued, and sleep-deprived enroute to Albany when it encountered PAVN scouting teams. The commanders and lieutenants decided to flop down for some much need rest. Apparently, this decision became fatal and the la Drang massacre took place. There appears to be mention of possible fratricide and then, there is mention of the PAVN using captured U.S. Army weapons to pop-off wounded American troops in those elephant grass fields around Albany. There is also an account of a Private First Class turned Media Correspondent/Editor. However, none of these narratives were verified.

Movement to Albany - The First Major Battle of Vietnam

Posted from lzxray.com

Posted in these groups: Vietnam service ribbon

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Combat PTSD Survivors of America

Posted 1 y ago

Responses: 2

SMSgt Lawrence McCarter

Edited 1 y ago

Posted 1 y ago

The book and Movie "We were soldiers once and Young" cover that Battle very well and follow a 7th Cavalry BN under command of then Lt. Col,. Hal Moore who later in His career reached the rank of Lt. General in the uS Army. I have both the book, which I have read and the video which I have watched.

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CPT Lawrence Cable

1 y

The only part I didn't like in the movie was the fact that they left out the second part of the battle that wasn't successful.

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CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana

1 y

Most military movies made dwell upon the successes in war and ignore the failures during each battle of the war. For instance, during the Kargil War in Kashmir in 1999, how did the Pakistani Army enter India without detection by India and how did the Pakistani Army come to control the peaks overlooking Drass, Kargil and the main highway from Srinagar to Leh-Ladakh without detection by Indian forces; was India sleeping with its enemy next door? In the same vein, why were U.S. forces moved into harm's way in Vietnam when these forces were exhausted and unprepared for the enemy attack? LZ Albany was not going to be a walk-in and fly out operation; the PAVN was lurking in that elephant grass surrounding that landing zone.

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CPT Lawrence Cable

1 y

CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana - LTC McDade deserves a lot of the fault for the results. When he was ordered to leave X-Ray to clear it for the bombers, he had not clear concept of the terrain and wasn't sure of the amount of opposition to expect. Instead of using his Recon element to screen well in advance, they were the lead element in the column. Many Company Commanders and Platoon leaders assumed that it was an administrative move instead of the tactical march and they burnt huts that disclosed the units location. I don't know who made the decision not to prep the LZ with artillery, but that would have solved some problems also.

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