The Vietnam War: The Battle Of Khe Sanh

The Vietnam War consisted of many battles. Some of the main battles of the Vietnam War are, Khe Sahn, Hamburger Hill, and La Drang. The War was a long drawn out conflict that matched the government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam against the government of South Vietnam and its ally the United States. The War started in 1954, although the conflict lasted a while. In January 1973, the United States and North Vietnam made a final peace agreement, ending all hatred between the two nations.

The Battle of Khe Sanh

The Battle of Khe Sanh began on January 21, 1968, when North Vietnamese army attacked the U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh. For the next 77 days, U.S. Marines and their South Vietnamese allies fought an extreme battle.

The next day North Vietnamese ran into the village of Khe Sanh and their long-range artillery started shooting on the base itself, hitting its main ammunition dump and detonating 1,500 tons of explosives. The Khe Sanh army stayed down in their trenches and bunkers. The siege was finally lifted on April 6 when the cavalrymen met up with some of the Khe Sanh army.

Many different sayings in the North Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper said that Hanoi saw the battle as a chance to re-enact its notorious victory at Dien Bien Phu, when they defeated the French in a decisive battle that ended the war between France and the Viet Minh. The battle of Khe Sahn ended on July 9, 1968.

The Battle of Hamburger Hill

Hamburger Hill is another battle in the Vietnam War. This battle started on May 10 1969 and ended on May 20 1969. Hamburger Hill was an extreme battle during the Vietnam War. Military planners referred to it as Hill 937, (the 937 sanded for how tall the mountain was in meters) the lonely mountain is located in the jungles of the A Shau Valley of Vietnam, it is really close to

forces fell back and gave up.

The soldiers of the North Vietnamese 29th Regiment beat back another attempt by the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry on May 14. A fierce battle kept on going for the next 10 days as the mountain kept on getting hit by strong air strikes, artillery barrages and 10 infantry assaults, some fought in big, strong rain storms that that made it really hard to see. Some couldnt even see at all, which this made it hard on them.

Due to the harsh fighting and the high death rate, Ap Bia Mountain was nicknamed “Hamburger Hill” by journalists covering the Vietnam War. Talking to a reporter, a 19-year-old Sergeant James Spears said, “Have you ever been inside a hamburger machine? We just got cut to pieces by extremely accurate machine gun fire.”

A U.S. soldier who had fought in nine of the 10 attacks on Hamburger Hill was quoted as saying, “I’ve lost a lot of buddies up there. Not many guys can take it much longer.” The reported casualties vary, but during the 10 days of fierce fighting, an estimated 630 North Vietnamese were killed. U.S. casualties were listed as 72 killed and 372