Battle of Hamburger Hill Battle of Hamburger Hill The Battle of Hamburger Hill was a battle of the Vietnam War that was fought by U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces against People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces from 10 to 20 May 1969 during Operation Apache Snow. Although the heavily fortified Hill 937 was of little strategic value, U.S. command ordered its capture by a frontal assault, only to abandon it soon thereafter. The action caused a controversy both in the American military and public. The battle was primarily an infantry engagement, with the U.S. Airborne troops moving up
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