Battle in the Ya Drang Valley. “We Were Soldiers”: The Battle of Ia Drang Valley
If you have several windows open at the same time, minimizing them individually is a tedious task. To quickly get to the desktop you need to minimize all windows in Windows 7, 8, XP on the keyboard using hot keys or a special button or shortcut.
Many users are not aware that Microsoft has already taken care of this problem for a long time. When working with a PC, a lot of programs or system elements are running, for example: Explorer, browsers, office and much more. All of them are open in a separate window, so you can get to the new shortcut, it’s easier to know the keyboard shortcuts or where the “minimize all windows” button is.
Hotkeys for minimizing open windows in Windows
Using the keyboard in this situation is the most effective way. Of course, you won’t get used to it right away, but after several uses. You need to remember these keyboard shortcuts:
1. First hold down Win(), then press D to minimize all windows. At the same time, everything open windows are minimized to the taskbar. Next, do your actions, then press the same combination to maximize windows.
2. There is an alternative option, maybe it will be preferable for someone. Press Win + M to minimize all windows. But to restore you will have to use three fingers and press Win + Shift + M.
3. Maybe it will be useful for someone, there is a feature to minimize all windows except the active one. Use hotkey Win+Home.
4. If you need to get to a specific window, then use Alt + Space + C to minimize one active window at a time until you get to the desired one.
There are a colossal number of key operations for working with windows. We have reviewed the main and useful ones, I hope this will be useful to you.
Collapse with the mouse
If you are against using hotkeys, then use the mouse. You need to click on the “collapse all windows” button. In Windows 7 and 8, it is located in the lower right corner near the tray and has the shape of an empty rectangle.
When you hover over the button, all windows become transparent if the Aero Peak option is enabled. When you click, all windows will be minimized to Windows 7, when you click again, vice versa.
If the taskbar space is not occupied, then right-click in this area and select “show desktop”, and accordingly, “show all windows”.
In Windows XP there is no such button in the tray; there a shortcut performs this function. It's located on the Quick Access Toolbar next to the Start button.
If you don't see the "minimize all windows" shortcut in Windows XP, then place it on the taskbar:
1. Right-click on an empty space on the taskbar, hover (the cursor) the arrow over the toolbar and check the Quick Access Toolbar.
2. If with this approach there is no shortcut, then you need to make one and place it on the taskbar:
- Create a document of type (.txt).
- Write the lines in it:
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
Command=ToggleDesktop - Click “file” -> “save as” and name it “minimize all windows”; in the name after the dot, replace txt with scf.
- Specify the path, I recommend desktop, and click “save”.
The next step is to pin the shortcut to the taskbar. Drag it to the Quick Access Toolbar area by holding down the left button. If the shortcut does not appear, click on the double arrow and select it.
Not at all difficult task minimize all windows in Windows 7, 8, XP using hotkeys, button or shortcut. If you are not fluent with a keyboard, use a mouse.
Battle of Ya Drang Valley is the common name given to two battles fought between the American and North Vietnamese armies in 1965 during the Vietnam War. It is one of the most fierce, bloody and often mentioned battles of the Vietnam War.
Prerequisites
In the spring and summer of 1965, the United States sent South Vietnam, where at that time there was active support from communist North Vietnam guerrilla warfare, their regular military units to support the country's government. In July—September American forces carried out the first offensive operations, generally successfully operating against the partisans National Front liberation of South Vietnam. However, significant concern among the American command was caused by the units of the regular North Vietnamese army that had not yet entered into battle, which were believed to be superior to the partisan units in terms of combat effectiveness due to better organization and weapons. The North Vietnamese command also feared a new enemy, not being sure that the Vietnamese soldiers would be able to effectively resist the Americans. The desire of both sides to test the capabilities of their enemy in battle led to the inevitability of a major clash.
BATTLE
First operations
In October 1965, North Vietnamese troops with a division-sized force launched an operation on the Taing Guen Plateau (Central Highlands), laying siege to the American special forces camp Plei Me in Pleiku Province. Their goal was to take the camp and develop an offensive against Pleiku and Qui Non on the coast, which would cut South Vietnam in two, a major strategic victory for North Vietnamese forces. But the South Vietnamese army, with the support of US aircraft and artillery, managed to lift the siege from the Plei Me camp. The North Vietnamese units that suffered losses began to retreat to Cambodia, where they could regroup and replenish personnel. Having received intelligence information about the enemy’s retreat, the American command launched Operation Silver Bayonet. Units of a newly arrived Vietnamese force were deployed to the Pleiku area. 1st Cavalry (Airmobile) Division, who were tasked with detecting and destroying retreating scattered groups of North Vietnamese.
IN landing zone"X-Ray"
X-Ray
The first two weeks of the operation were characterized by violent, sporadic skirmishes. North Vietnamese troops were constantly on the move, avoiding major combat and continuing to withdraw along the Ia Drang River. Finally, the command of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, to which the operation was transferred, received information about the expected presence of the main part of the enemy troops in the area mountain range Chu Pong is near the border. November 14, 1965 in the Landing Zone (LZ) "X-Ray" ( During the Vietnam War, the concept of "landing zone" was used in armed forces ah USA to identify any area of terrain suitable for a helicopter landing and used for this purpose during combat operations. Typically, each landing zone was given a name or designation) landed 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry(commander - Lieutenant Colonel Moore), who began advancing towards Chu Pong in search of the enemy.
Fight in the X-Ray landing zone
Very soon the battalion was attacked by North Vietnamese units, which had many times superior numbers, and was forced to stop advancing, taking up defensive positions. During the first Vietnamese attack was completely cut off from his powers one of the American platoons. The battle immediately became fierce and stubborn. Moore's battalion repelled all enemy attacks, but could not leave the battle and took up a perimeter defense for the night. The battle of the 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment continued throughout the day on November 15th. Having received reinforcements in the form of several companies from the other two battalions and taking advantage of significant artillery and air support provided after the signal was broadcast "Broken Arrow" (IN American army during the Vietnam War, the "Broken Arrow" signal ( Broken Arrow) meant that the unit was in a critical situation. Upon receipt of such a signal, all aircraft in a given area are removed from their combat missions and sent to support this unit.), the 1st battalion managed to connect with its encircled platoon. In the morning of November 16, the Vietnamese attacks stopped.
Advancing along the edge defensive perimeter. "X-Ray"
Having exhausted reserves and failed to destroy the American battalion, parts of the North Vietnamese army began to retreat from the zone X-Ray landings. Depleted by losses, Moore's battalion was evacuated under the cover of those landing in in full force 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. The first phase of the Battle of Ya Drang is over.
Defensive perimeter of the 1st Battalion, night of November 14
Albany
The American command considered that the defeated North Vietnamese division had finally lost its combat capability and left the Ia Drang area. In fact, American intelligence lost sight of one enemy regiment, who did not take part in the battle and therefore retained combat effectiveness. Both battalions landing at X-Ray were ordered to move north and northeast to two other landing zones, where they were to be picked up by helicopters - the entire area at the foot of Chu Pong was planned to be "treated" by B-52 strategic bombers.
2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment (commander - Lieutenant Colonel McDade) set off towards the Albany landing zone. During the march, the battalion was greatly stretched, and by the time the lead units reached the Albany in the middle of the day on November 17, the soldiers were tired from the long march. The battalion made a halt; it was assumed that there was no enemy in the area, and security was not organized. As a result, when the fresh North Vietnamese regiment began attacking, all communication between American units was lost. The battalion was dismembered by the enemy into several parts and by the end of the day ceased to exist as a combat unit. The next day, the battle in the Ia Drang Valley ended with the evacuation of the surviving and dead soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Regiment.
Bottom line
The Battle of Ia Drang was the first major clash between US and North Vietnamese regular units. At that time it was the largest battle of the Vietnam War. As a result, both parties came to the conclusion that capable of withstanding the enemy in open combat, which had a direct impact on their strategy and tactics in the following years.
Lieutenant Colonel Moore next to the body of a dead North Vietnamese soldier
Although the battle had a great resonance back in 1965, it really became widely known in the United States and a number of other countries decades later. In 1992, a book dedicated to the battle was published. "We were soldiers... and young", written former commander 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment by Moore and a journalist Joseph Galloway, who witnessed the battle in the X-Ray landing zone. Based on the book, the big-budget feature film We Were Soldiers was made in 2002 (Moore was played by Mel Gibson), which, however, did not mention the battle in the Albany landing zone.
Both sides of the battle believe that they won it ( It is noteworthy that Moore in his book evaluates overall outcome battles are like a draw ) . It should be noted that the North Vietnamese command failed to carry out the strategic plan of its offensive (taking Plei Me, Pleiku and access to the coastal areas), primarily due to the actions of the 1st US Cavalry Division. The losses on both sides were very heavy. American troops lost killed 79 people in and around the X-Ray drop zone 150 (The largest loss of US armed forces in a single battle during combat operations in Vietnam ) - at the Albany landing zone. The official figure for Vietnamese casualties is classified (if it exists at all), but according to American data, it is more than 1000 (possibly until 2000 ) killed.
Books:
Davidson F. The Vietnam War (1946-1975) = Vietnam at War: The History 1946-1975. - M.: Isographus, Eksmo, 2002. - P. 816.
Website: http://www.lzxray.com/
Half a century ago, on November 14, 1965, in the Vietnamese Ia Drang Valley, US regular units first met in a major battle with the regiments of the Vietnamese People's Army. This battle (according to its veterans) became for the Vietnam War what civil war in Spain for World War II - a rehearsal site where it was tested new technology, tactics and weapons.
1965 turned out to be another watershed in long history wars in Vietnam. On July 28, US President Lyndon Johnson officially announced the deployment of the 1st Cavalry (Airmobile) Division to Vietnam. It was created in February 1963 as the 11th experimental air assault and worked for two years combat use using helicopters. The division, which received the number and regalia of the oldest American combat unit, theoretically had no disadvantages nor traditional ground forces, nor airborne, superior to the former in mobility, and the latter in safety and ease of landing.
Helicopter landing, X-ray landing zone
Basic " workhorse» the division was multi-purpose army helicopter UH-1 "Iroquois", aka "Huey", manufactured by Bell. It was unpretentious in maintenance and, in its transport modification, could lift 10–12 soldiers in full equipment into the air. Other variants of the Huey were a medical, which could accommodate six stretchers, and a strike.
The pilots were taught to fly a helicopter at low level, which in theory was supposed to minimize the risk of fire from the ground. Helicopter pilots also had to be able to fly in a tight V formation, although this was not officially encouraged because it was too dangerous.
The infantry was armed with the latest automatic rifles M16, M60 machine guns, M79 and M72 grenade launchers. Each company consisted of 164 soldiers and six officers, three companies forming the backbone of the battalion. The company had three riflemen and one mortar platoon(three 81 mm mortars). Each platoon consisted of three squads, which were provided with two M-60 fire support. A separate fourth company consisted of a reconnaissance platoon, a mortar platoon and an anti-tank platoon - for Vietnam it was replaced by machine gunners. The battalion headquarters and the support company attached to it (control, communications, supply, first aid) - another 14 officers, a warrant officer and 119 privates.
Some of the soldiers were conscripts, some joined the army to avoid prison, but the vast majority were volunteers aged 19–20. Some sergeants still remembered the landing in Normandy, many fought in Korea. In the spring and summer of 1965, during the shuffling of personnel, the division lost many platoon commanders and other officers, whose place was taken by newcomers.
Colonel Harold Moore (left) and Sergeant Major Basil Plumley during the Battle of Ia Drang
http://www.worldwar2guys.com
To transfer the division to the other end of the earth, an entire fleet was required - four old aircraft carriers, six troop transports from the Second World War and seven dry cargo ships. The advanced units, about a thousand people, were airlifted.
Meanwhile, the flywheel of the Vietnam War was gaining momentum more and more rapidly. The United States wanted to finish off the enemy as quickly as possible and increased the number of troops. Instead of the actions of South Vietnamese forces with American advisers during Operation Starlight, the Americans used their own marines. In turn, Northern Vietnam, not limiting itself to supplying weapons to the Viet Cong, sent the first regular regiments to the south. Their strike in the area of the central plateaus and further along Highway 19 to the sea was supposed to cut South Vietnam in half.
Upon arrival in Vietnam, the 1st Cavalry was stationed at a hastily constructed base near An Khe that could accommodate more than 400 helicopters. It was assumed that from there the mobile units would quickly and effectively strike the enemy, wherever he was. Unlike traditional troops, helicopters could not hold up jungles, ambushes, mines, or blown-up bridges. However, some soldiers became victims of mines installed in the area of the airfield in the early 50s by the French. Local conditions could not be called comfortable even by a stretch. Even the pilots did not have tropical uniforms or shoes - and the usual ones quickly rotted. In the stifling heat of Vietnam, I was able to take a shower once a month, and the rest of the time I had to sponge myself off. In only one battalion, malaria, despite the pills, short term disabled 56 people.
Helicopters constantly came under fire from the ground, sometimes even encountering bursts of 12.7 mm DShK machine guns. When planting, one had to be wary of three-meter bamboo stakes. In theory, helicopter pilots were prohibited from flying more than four hours a day, but in practice they flew until they were exhausted.
Camp Plamey
http://www.stripes.com
On October 19, the small fort of Plei Mee (a dozen advisers and more than 400 South Vietnamese) in the Ia Drang Valley came under siege. The northerners did not destroy the garrison, hoping to attack the forces of the southerners going to the rescue of the besieged, and see what the Americans were capable of in battle. The fort, built on the site of French fortifications from the last war, was constantly under fire from mortars and recoilless rifles, repelling more and more attacks. As a result, a week later, with the support of aviation and artillery, the siege was lifted, and the decision was made to pursue the retreating Vietnamese.
On November 14, 16 Hueys, accompanied by four fire support helicopters, began transporting the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment to the X-Ray landing zone. In the first wave (at about 10:48) there were about 160 people on the ground. It was supposed to attack the Vietnamese base half a mile from the landing site, but the landing took place right in the middle of the positions of the resting 66th Vietnamese regiment, numbering about 1,600 soldiers. The Vietnamese have been preparing for future battles in this area since September - they took away local population, dug shelters, prepared warehouses with food and ammunition.
Map of the Battle of Ia Drang Valley
weaponsandwarfare.com
Two more Vietnamese regiments, recently transferred from the north, were nearby. They were commanded by veterans of the fight against the French, and the overall operation was led by Brigadier General Thu Huy Man.
The Vietnamese immediately spotted the landing and went to meet it. At about 12:05 the first shots were fired. Bursts of machine guns and machine guns, 60-mm and 82-mm mines, and RPG-2 grenades flew at the paratroopers. For the Americans, the battle followed the worst-case scenario - not only did the battalion enter the battle without having time to fully land, but also one platoon disappeared to God knows where.
Fortunately for the landing party, they had radio communications for adjustments, and soon a fire support. Two six-gun batteries of 105-mm howitzers, transferred by Chinook helicopters to a special bridgehead, fired without stopping - the cartridges were lying in piles up to three meters height. The shells at times fell no further than 50 meters from their leading edge. In addition, aviation appeared - attack aircraft and fighter-bombers dropped 250- and 500-pound bombs and napalm tanks. At about two o'clock in the afternoon, one of the Skyraiders was shot down and the pilot died.
Typical landscape
http://www.history.army.mil
The hilly valley was covered with thick elephant grass as tall as a man and dotted with termite mounds, so that many firefights broke out suddenly at a distance of only a few meters, pistols and hand grenades. To help the battalion, reinforcements, ammunition, and water were transferred by helicopter, and the wounded were also taken away on them - and the helicopter pilots could not shoot for fear of hitting their own. Sappers blew up trees to clear new landing sites.
After the battle, when analyzing data from the Vietnamese side, it turned out that the paratroopers, without knowing it, several times closed gaps in the defense literally within last minute. The Vietnamese did not have time to encircle the landing party in time, before it took up a perimeter defense on a patch of tree-free terrain. But the landing party also had a hard time - only the platoon of 29 people, cut off from its own, lost 8 killed and 13 wounded. The survivors survived the night only by adjusting artillery and aviation. Some of the soldiers were wounded more than once, but continued to fight.
In the morning new, exceptionally persistent attacks began. The Vietnamese had an unusual style of shooting - at ground level, when bullets hit either the legs of those standing or the heads of those leaning out of shelters. Attempts by the paratroopers to rescue the encircled platoon failed; on the contrary, even more infantrymen were almost cut off. The third company lost 42 out of 111 people killed in 2.5 hours, and another 20 were wounded. It came down to hand-to-hand combat. In one of the skirmishes, Sergeant McManus covered a grenade with himself.
The situation became so critical that the aircraft controller transmitted the code "Broken Arrow" - a signal that the unit could be destroyed. According to it, every free fighter-bomber in Vietnam dropped what they were doing and rushed to the aid of the paratroopers. The planes lined up for bombing in several echelons - free space it just wasn't there. Bombs, napalm and white phosphorus shells were used to push back the Vietnamese, but the leader of the F-100 pair dropped napalm on his troops. Desperate screams on the radio forced the wingman to turn away in time - otherwise he would have covered the battalion headquarters with napalm.
Mel Gibson as Harold Moore in We Were Soldiers
http://rsfb.static.gamesradar.com
Shortly after noon for the first time in Vietnam strategic bombers B-52s were used to support troops on the battlefield - 18 vehicles dropped half a thousand 500-pound bombs. By evening, the surrounded platoon was brought back to its own. On the morning of November 16, two fresh battalions replaced soldiers exhausted by continuous fighting.
On the morning of November 17, B-52 bombers dropped 800 500-pound bombs in one blow - about two hundred tons (!). Under such impressive cover, the ground forces carefully retreated to the Albany zone. It would seem that the battle has already been won – and with a devastating score. US soldiers lost 79 killed and 121 wounded - and 634 enemy corpses were found on the battlefield. It was assumed that more than a thousand more were killed by artillery and aircraft.
But, making their way through the thick grass, the soldiers involuntarily crowded together. The Vietnamese used a fresh battalion to carefully prepare an "L" shaped ambush. They worked out the tactics of such actions against the French - when the enemy, encountering sudden fire, turned his front towards the ambush, he came under flanking fire from another “crossbar” L. Already in the first minutes of the battle, the Americans lost dozens of people - including those who quickly left officers, sergeants and radio operators are out of action. The 3rd Company of the 2nd Battalion alone suffered 45 killed and more than 50 wounded out of 112 men who entered the battle. For a long time they couldn’t even provide support to those who were ambushed - friend and enemy were so mixed up, and there was simply no one to correct the attacks.
Finally, having more or less understood the situation, aviation and artillery began to hit places where there seemed to be no living Americans. By this time, the survivors were seriously prepared to accept death at the hands of their own rather than at the hands of the enemy. How many of them died from “friendly fire” of all kinds remains unknown. On the other hand, a napalm strike often saved someone from certain death. The survivors, individually and in groups, made their way wherever they could. The last survivor reached his family only after a week of wandering.
The command received the first message about the incident from... a civilian photographer. What the Americans saw after the battle was most often described as “massacre.” After shelling and bombing of the surrounding area, the corpses had to be collected using shovels and ponchos, and then literally stuffed into helicopters with them.
As often happened in Vietnam War, both sides claimed victory—and both had reasons. During the four days of fighting at Albany and X-Ray, 234 Americans died - more than any regiment of southerners or northerners lost in the bloodiest battle of Gettysburg and much more more losses USA throughout the war Persian Gulf. Another 70 people died elsewhere. The Air Force lost one attack pilot. Four helicopters were shot down and 55 were damaged. The Vietnamese admit, for their part, 559 killed.
Harold Moore, Ed Freeman and Joseph Galloway at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 2005
http://www.stripes.com
Reporter Joseph Galloway also took part in the battle, pulling the wounded out of the fire. Together with Harold Moore, they wrote the book “We Were Soldiers,” which was later adapted into a film of the same name. The book is dedicated to both the US military and the fallen soldiers of the 320th, 33rd and 66th regiments of the Vietnamese People's Army. They were all soldiers.
List of used literature:
- Website dedicated to the battle in the Ya Drang Valley (http://www.lzxray.com)
- Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway. We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang – The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam. Presidio Press, 2004
- Shelby L. Stanton. Anatomy of a Division: The 1st Cav in Vietnam. Presidio Press, 1987
- Mason Robert. Chicken and the Hawk (
- Anton Siluanov, Minister of Finance
- Protection of consumer rights: insurance contract - legal services of the Legas company Protection of rights under an insurance contract
- Consolidated register of the territorial body of the federal treasury
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