"X-Ray" Chpts 14-17

I think all 9 principles of war are readily observed, on both sides, in the Ia Drang. Although you can make a case for all 9 principles, I have chosen to focus on mass and unity of command because they were two of the most vital characteristics of this battle.
Mass is when you overwhelm the enemy by utilizing all elements of your combat power at a certain place and time. LTC Moore and his men used mass very well by calling in artillery strikes on the enemy when it became too much for the line to handle. Numerous times during the battle they would have machine guns, grenades, riflemen, and air strikes all concentrated on one area of the battlefield. I think mass is what allowed the US to have an advantage in this battle, even though they had inferior numbers. The North Vietnamese did not employ mass in the same way as the Americans; rather they relied on concentrating forces. I think this is what led to heavy casualties on the enemy side because as one American soldiers says, “It was like a shooting gallery; waves of NVA were coming in a straight line.” The North Vietnamese thought they could win the battle by numbers, but I think if they had effectively used mass we would have been in much more trouble.
Unity of command means that one person is ultimately in charge. There was never any confusion that LTC Moore was in charge during this battle. Even when Tully’s battalion arrived, Moore was still in command until his battalion pulled out. I think this is important because had the two commanders or members of Moore’s battalion tried to overpower him, the battle could have ended poorly for the Americans. If more than one person is giving orders it can lead to confusion on the battlefield and even split-second hesitations can be fatal. You do not hear a lot about the command of the North Vietnamese, but I also feel like they had a solid unity of command. Often the book talks about how disciplined the soldiers were and I think this can be directly related to the command. They used bugles and hand-signals to direct their soldiers during battle and I’m sure the people giving the signals were not just making them up on their own, but rather they had been directed by their commander.