In May 1969, the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division launched several assaults against a ridge near the Laotian border. Their objective — Hill 937, or “Hamburger Hill” — was heavily defended by hundreds of battle-hardened soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army’s 29th Regiment.
For more than a week, US troops climbed the steep slopes of the Ap Bia Mountain to seize the NVA stronghold. Their assaults came under constant enemy machine gun fire, rocket attacks, and mortar strikes. Sometimes the paratroopers fought amidst heavy tropical rainstorms that made visibility near impossible. Ultimately, the Americans captured the NVA garrison on the 11th bloody assault. The remaining defenders escaped into the jungle sanctuary of Laos.
Hamburger Hill
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division inspect damage in the surrounding area of Dong Ap Bia during Operation Apache Snow, May 1969. Wikimedia Commons photo.
The mission’s success was short-lived.
Days after the hard-fought victory, US troops abandoned Hill 937 as it posed zero strategic value. The NVA reoccupied the position a month later. The uphill battle that claimed 72 American lives and wounded 372 more spawned criticism far and wide from the veterans who fought there, to journalists covering the battle, and even high-ranking government officials in Congress.
