Research Paper On The Battle Of Hamburger Hill

The Battle of Hamburger Hill

SGT Johnson, SGT Turner, SGT Smith, SGT Mendez, SGT Parrish

13B30 ALC Class 007-18

March 20, 2018
The Battle of Hamburger Hill is one of the important battles of the Vietnam War, which was fought by the United States and South Vietnam against North Vietnamese forces between 10-20 May 1969. There were a lot of controversies regarding the strategic value of the heavily fortified Hill 937, the US soldiers received the order to capture it via frontal assault. Taking into consideration that soon after the battle it was abandoned, this case caused a lot of debates and controversies in the American political and military spheres. A lot of researchers started to develop the idea that

The name of the hill comes from the fact that it was 937 meters above sea level. Hamburger Hill battle was mostly infantry engagement, while the American Airborne troops were to move up the steeply-sloped hill and withstand properly entrenched troops. The North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) was able to repel the attacks of the American troops. In addition bad weather conditions caused serious obstacles for the operations. Still the Airborne troops managed to take the hill via direct assault. “The battle of Hamburger Hill” in reference to a similar battle during the Korean War which was known as “The Battle Of Pork Chop Hill” however both of these battles were pointless attacks on locations that had little strategic important to the outcome of the war and resulted in heavy losses to the U.S. Forces.” (Wiest, 2007, p.

At the same time they were to encounter PAVN platoons, having already prepared fields of fire. Fire support for the U.S. Army was also restricted due to small arms engagements made in close range. Thus units had to pull back and call for artillery fire and close air support. The major problem was that the North Vietnamese bunkers were well-sited and constructed in such a way that they could withstand bombardment. Although the American forces managed to strip some of the bunkers, there were so many of them, that it was next to impossible to destroy them all by direct fire. American troops lacked centralized command between small units. “Supporting fires, including those controlled by airborne forward air controllers, were often directed at the platoon level. Eventually human error led to five attacks by supporting aircraft on the 3/187th, killing seven and wounding 53. Four of the incidents involved Cobra gunship helicopters, which in one case were more than 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) away from their intended target.” (Wiest, 2007). The end of the battle of Hamburger Hill was on the 20th of May in 1969, when the NVA seemed to lose their interest in the battle and started to withdraw from the A Shue Valley. The Americans were winning the