Battle of Hill 488 Battle of Hill 488 The Battle of Hill 488 was a military engagement of the Vietnam War that took place on the night of 15–16 June 1966. A small United States Marine Corps (USMC) reconnaissance platoon inflicted large casualties on regular People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Viet Cong (VC) fighters before withdrawing with only a few dead. In June 1966, the 1st Marine Division began expanding its Tactical Area of Responsibility north into Quảng Tín Province (today part of Quảng Nam Province). In order to interdict enemy fighters between Tam Kỳ and the Hiệp Đức District, Brigadier General William
Battle of Hamburger Hill actual strength and dispositions of PAVN units. The area was extremely remote and difficult to access. Aerial surveillance was difficult. U.S. battalion commanders had to generate their own tactical intelligence by combat patrols, capturing equipment, installations, documents, and occasionally prisoners of war to provide the raw data from which to draw their assessment of the PAVN order of battle and dispositions. It was this time-consuming and hit-or-miss task force which characterized the main efforts of Colonel Honeycutt's 3/187th Infantry during the first four days of the operation. Initially, the operation went routinely for the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile). Its units