| LZ-XRay, Day 3 |
The PAVN Commander, knows
that he had severely weakened and damaged the defenders in the Charlie Co
sector the previous morning. What he does not know is that a fresh company - B
Co 2nd Bn 7th Cav, had taken over the position after that engagement. That
company, unmolested the previous afternoon, had cut fields of fire, dug new
foxholes, fired in artillery concentrations, carefully emplaced it's machine
guns and piled up ammunition.
The PAVN assaults four separate
times beginning at 4:22 AM. The last is at 6:27 AM. They are stopped cold,
losing over 200 dead. B Co has 6 wounded. At 9:55 AM, a sweep outward is made
which results in more enemy dead and the position secured.
At 10:40 AM, the 1st Bn, 7th
Cavalry, having lost 79 men killed and 121 wounded is ordered back to the rear
for reorganization. By 3:00 PM, 1/7 CAV had turned over X-ray to the 2nd Bn,
5th Cav and the 2nd Bn, 7th CAV and is flying back to the Camp Holloway
airfield at Pleiku City.
At the conclusion of X-ray, the
sister battalion of 1/7 CAV, 2/7 CAV, was ordered to march to Landing Zone
Albany for extraction from the battle area and to get out of the beaten area
for an impending B52 strike. The fight of 2/7 CAV at Albany is the next chapter
of the Ia Drang Campaign. Learn more about the Ia Drang campaign and the book
"We Were Soldiers Once...And Young" at
LZ
X-Ray.Com. |
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