Hamburger Hill Kickoff - Divided Ground - Vietnam

During the Tet Offensive of 1968 the NVA staged several NVA divisions in the Shau Valley. Their goals were to attack Hue and Da Nang. In the battle for Hue the NVA lost over 5000 men alone. BY early 1969 it became appearent to MACV that the Shau Valley was again an area of high VC activity and trategically and logistically important to them. By May of '69 the US Command planned to clear out the Valley using 10 battalions of infantry including the 9th Marines, 3rd ARVN Reg, and 3/5th Cavalry along with 3 air assault battalions. The plan called for the Marines to air assaul the vally with the ARVN to cut the highway through the base of the valley. This assault lead to one of the bitterest and most politically disputed battle of the Viet Nam war.... Hamburger Hill.