Khe Sanh
The Battle of Khe Sanh in 1968 became the longest and bloodiest battle of the Vietnam War. It also became the most controversial as the real purpose and significance of Khe Sanh came under the spotlight. The battle took place just south of the 17th Parallel which divided North and South Vietnam and was just east of the border of Laos. This location was of significant importance to the U.S. forces because from there they could prevent infiltration of NVA forces into South Vietnam and also, they could patrol the Ho Chi Minh trail, a main route of communication and transportation for the NVA. General Westmoreland was in charge of military operations and saw Khe Sanh as a very strategic base for the U.S. as he hoped to eventually launch an invasion into Laos and cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail. On the other side, General Giap of the NVA, put some strategic importance on Khe Sanh as well as he argued that Khe Sanh would serve as a diversion to preoccupy the U.S. military's attention (Brush). Giap and Westmoreland played a game of cat and mouse along the border until finally, Giap used small attacks along the border as a diversion, to allow NVA forces to infiltrate into South Vietnam and amass there to launch the Tet Offensive. Westmoreland had ordered that the number of military personnel patrolling and guarding Khe Sanh should be increased and so reinforcements were allocated to the area in the late fall of 1966 even though things were relatively quiet. On April 24, 1967, Bravo Company was doing a patrol around the Khe Sanh area, came upon a group of NVA forces just north of Hill 861, and engaged the enemy who were trying to gain a high elevated position on which to launch an attack on the U.S. combat base. This discovery by Bravo Company kicked of The Hill Fights. The hills around Khe Sanh were going to be used by the NVA as an observation point of the U.S. airstrip and also would allow them to set up firebases which would allow an artillery attack (Wikepedia). Just taking a look at the elevation on the map, it is easy to see that these hills would have offered a very advantageous observation point as well as a firebase. Orders were then given to push the NVA off of Hills 881N and 881S as well to prevent the NVA from gaining a strategic vantage point. However, the spatial distribution of these hills forced the U.S. forces to spread their defenses thin which allowed the NVA to better manage against a superior enemy. The U.S. found that the NVA had set up elaborate bunkers on the hills and the vegetation and terrain on the hills greatly hindered a rapid assault of the hill. Heavy bombing raids had to be implemented to uncover the enemy position which would allow the U.S. to more effectively take the hill. As we can see, the surrounding hills of Khe Sanh were very significant in this bloody battle. The hills were seen as a great place to launch a surprise attack and allowed a great defensive position for the NVA forces but eventually succumbed to the superior power of the U.S. military. While total casualty losses are not clearly defined, the NVA suffered considerably more casualties than the U.S. did. However, it became a psychological issue as the U.S. was now aware that the NVA was not afraid to sacrifice a large number of troops for a particular battle (Bush).
*Elevation range is same as the map above.