Major Battles - Hamburger Hill (Ap Bia Mountain)
May 11-20 May, 1969
One of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. The Battle of Ap Bia Mountain occured as part of Operation Apache Snow. It was fought against entrenched People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) regulars who, as they sledom did during the war, decided to stand against repetitive U.S. frontal assaults. This created the bloody "meat-grinder" battle that led U.S. participants to call it "Hamburger Hill".
On the second day of the operation, Company B of the 3d Battalion, 187th Infantry (3/187th) came under concentrated PAVN fire on Hill 937. After several assaults conducted over three days, the 3/187th was reinforced with two more 101st Airborne Division battalions and a battalion of the 3d ARVN Regiment. On 18 May, with the ARVN battalion posted to seal off the hill, a two-battalion assault nearly took the summit before torrential rain forced a withdrawl. Finally on 20 May, after ten previous tries, a four-battalion assault drove the PAVN from their mountain fortress and into Laos. Once the PAVN withdrew from the mountain, U.S. and ARVN forces abandoned it as well. As in previous operations, as soon as the U.S. and ARVN forces withdrew, PAVN troops moved back into the area. U.S. casualty figures for the whole of Operation Apache Snow were 56 American and 5 South Vietnamese killed in action; enemy losses were estimated at 630.
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