Word: westmorelands
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...Sanctuary. The troops under William Westmoreland did more. "If the other guy can live and fight under those conditions," said the general, "so can we." In the baking heat and moldering humidity of the Asian mainland, the Americans applied their own revised version of the guerrilla-warfare manual that Communists from Havana to Hanoi had long regarded as holy writ. With stupendous firepower and mobility undreamed of even a decade ago, U.S. strike forces swooped into guerrilla redoubts long considered impenetrable. Like clouds of giant dragonflies, helicopters hauled riflemen and heavy artillery from base to battlefield in minutes, giving them...
Plainly, neither China nor North Viet Nam reckoned on full-scale U.S. intervention in Viet Nam. Their blunder came as no surprise to Westmoreland. "They look out upon the world through very small windows," he says. "Their view of the rest of the world, and of America in particular, is what they want...
Acting on Westmoreland's urgent plea for more combat troops and planes, the President in July spent eight days in secret conferences before adopting a cautious program of "maximum deterrence" calculated not to unduly alarm Hanoi's friends in Moscow. For the first time in any comparable emergency, the Administration did not order economic controls or mobilize reserves. Monthly draft calls were doubled to 35,000. The armed forces were authorized an additional 340,000 men for a total of 2,980,000. Most important of all, reinforcements were rushed to Viet...
...Come & Get It." A 1st Cav brigade set out immediately in pursuit of the retreating Reds to check out intelligence reports that seven and possibly nine 2,000-man regiments were assembling in the highlands. "I gave them their head," recalls Westmoreland, "and told them their mission was to pursue and destroy the enemy." In the foothills of the Chu Pong massif, practically in Cambodia's backyard, the brigade found its quarry. Helilifted to a spot called Landing Zone X Ray, a battalion of cavalrymen found itself smack in the midst of the 66th North Vietnamese regiment. One platoon...
...battles, the Communists lost more than 1,200 men. U.S. casualties-240 dead, 470 wounded-were the worst of the war, higher than the Korean War's weekly average of 210 combat deaths. Costly as it was, Westmoreland calls it "an unprecedented victory" in the struggle for South Viet Nam. He says proudly: "At no time during the engagement were American troops forced to withdraw or move back from their positions except for purposes of tactical maneuver...