Battle of Dak To

November 1, 1967 - November 30 1967

Overview

The North Vietnamese 1st Division attacks allied outposts around Dak To in the Central Highlands, an area that has been the scene of heavy fighting since the summer. Elements of the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), and 173d Airborne Brigade, reinforced by South Vietnamese troops, engage the enemy in difficult, hilly terrain that is thickly covered with jungle. On November 19, in the bloodiest action of the battle, elements of the 173d Airborne Brigade are caught in a well-planned ambush at Hill 875. The enemy is largely destroyed or forced to withdraw by November 23, after weeks of costly fighting. Several North Vietnamese regiments meant to be part of the North’s upcoming Tet Offensive are decimated. The battle of Dak To is the largest and costliest engagement in the Central Highlands since 1965.¹

¹John H. Hay, Jr., Tactical and Materiel Innovations, Vietnam Studies (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1989), 78–80; Richard W. Stewart, American Military History: The United States Army in a Global Era, 1917–2003 (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2005), 332–33; George L. MacGarrigle, Combat Operations: Taking the Offensive, October 1966 to October 1967, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1998), 297–98; Shelby L. Stanton, The Rise and Fall of an American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam, 1963–1973 (New York: Random House, 1985), 166–75; Marilyn B. Young and Robert Buzzanco, eds., A Companion to the Vietnam War (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2002), 459; Spencer C. Tucker, ed., The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2nd edition; Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011), 254–56..