The Battle of Hamburger Hill was one of the most famous battles of the Vietnam War. Almost immediately after the conclusion of the battle, dumbfounded American journalists described the horrific assault of Hill 937 – and the inexplicable American withdrawal from the hill just a few days later. To journalists, and their well-fed, luxuriating readers back in the United States, the battle for Hamburger Hill encapsulated everything that was wrong with American military tactics in Vietnam. And the battle had been terrible. So terrible, many soldiers actually refused the orders of their commanding officers in the last days of the conflict. The struggle for the pyramid-like pinnacle of Hamburger Hill was an anarchic bloodbath: men fighting hand to hand while scores of jets and strike-helicopters hovered like malevolent hornets above the grim-faced troops murdering one another amidst a moonscape setting worthy of Paul Nash’s Menlin Road. This is the story of that battle.

It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.

This is part two of an ongoing series. You can find part one here.

You can find part two here.

Download episode 91 here: download link

Maps and Images:

Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of The Battle for Hamburger Hill located here

Music Source:

Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com

References:

Hamburger Hill, May 11-20, 1969 by Samuel Zaffiri. (1988).

Vietnam: the bloodbath at Hamburger Hill by John DiConsiglio (2010).

“I Led A Brigade At Hamburger Hill.” The Washington Post. May 27, 1989: a23.

“Hamburger Hill’ remembered.” by Grey, Philip . The Leaf Chronicle. May 15, 2013.

Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow.

Major General Melvin Zais and Hamburger Hill by Major Kelly Owen Carl Boian.

“The Capture of Hamburger Hill.” by James Wright. Vietnam. June, 2010.

Steinman, R. (2015). The soldiers’ story: Vietnam in their own words.

The Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam 1945-1975 by Michael MacLear.

The history of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles: the first 50 years by Robert E. Jones. (2005).