Video & Multimedia

tclambert

(11,084 posts)

5. In the book "We Were Soldiers Once . . . And Young", Gen. Moore notes the Vietnamese felt victorious

Tue Jul 22, 2014, 11:27 AM

Jul 2014

in that first large battle for Americans in the VietNam war, the battle of IaDrang. It kind of set the model for most battles afterwards, and the entire war. The Americans fought with great efficiency, killing 25 Vietnamese for every American lost, and the Vietnamese retreated. The Americans felt they had won, cleaned up the battleground, then went back to their base. The Vietnamese felt they were giving the Americans space and time for the Americans to retreat. And the Vietnamese then walked back in, took over the vacated battlefield, and claimed victory for themselves. Both sides thought they won. But the Vietnamese ended up in possession of the disputed ground. And the Americans went home.

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11 replies

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Highlight:

Why America Lost the Vietnam War [View all] RainDog Jul 2014 OP

We Weren't Trying to Win liberalmike27 Jul 2014 #1

We lost for the same reason the British lost that continental fracas circa 1770's n/t sarge43 Jul 2014 #2

Thats not why we lost kylie5432 Jul 2014 #3

I thought that was a strange title for the video RainDog Jul 2014 #6

Reasons for the loss, we did not kill all Vietnamese, because that's the only way we could have won. 4bucksagallon Jul 2014 #9

Very powerful film. CanSocDem Jul 2014 #4

I thought it was powerful, too RainDog Jul 2014 #7

In the book "We Were Soldiers Once . . . And Young", Gen. Moore notes the Vietnamese felt victorious tclambert Jul 2014 #5

America was trying to win Vietnam? News to me. I thought they were just looting the Treasury. valerief Jul 2014 #8

Thank you for this important document of our era... MrMickeysMom Jul 2014 #10

Marked for later. pam4water Jul 2014 #11