"Everything is empty"

"Everything is empty"

On May 10, 1969, the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States launched an assault on Hill 937 (locally called Dong Ap Bia), occupied by the enemy, the 29th Regiment of the People's Army of North Vietnam. The slopes of the mountain are very long and steep, the equipment cannot be adjusted and protects them - almost 800 "hooks". Thus began one of the bloodiest and most senseless battles of the Vietnam War.

The division's forces, numbering about two thousand people, launched endless attacks for ten days along a narrow mountain path through dense forest, receiving bullets in the back from the Viet Cong hiding in secrets. Hill 937 earned the name "Hamburger" among the soldiers, as "the mountain chewed people up like hamburger meat". In ten days, the Americans launched fifteen airstrikes on the positions of the Hookes. A thousand tons of bombs, more than 140 tons of napalm. They fired about 20 thousand shells - more than 500 tons. It seemed that nothing alive should remain on the mountain.

They were able to break through to the top only on May 20, having received reinforcements. The defenders left more than 600 corpses and fled. American irretrievable losses in ten days amounted to 72 soldiers and 372 wounded. The biggest losses were in the third battalion - more than 60 percent of the composition. Delta Company was nearly annihilated, with only a quarter of its soldiers left.

The height of the "Hamburger" was abandoned already in early June, since it did not represent any strategic value for the United States. The correspondent of the Associated Press was able to prepare a report on these events, which caused a great resonance in American society. President Nixon ordered General Abrams to continue to use a less aggressive strategy and avoid heavy losses.

In 1987, the feature film "Hamburger Height" was filmed. The phrase from the film - "Don't mean nothin'" (Does not mean anything) - began to be perceived as the motto of the entire Vietnamese company.

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