Shortly thereafter, Nixon announced that he intended to “Vietnamize” the war and, concurrent with that effort, the United States would begin withdrawing troops from Vietnam. He subsequently announced that the first contingent of 25,000 U.S. troops would depart for home by the end of August. On August 15, General Abrams received a new mission statement for MACV instructing him to focus his efforts on assisting the South Vietnamese armed forces “to take over an increasing share of combat operations.” Moreover, MACV was to assist the Republic of Vietnam “in assuming full responsibility for the planning and execution of national security and development programs at the earliest feasible date.”

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Perhaps Colonel Harry Summers best summed up the impact of the Battle of Hambuger Hill on its 30th anniversary: “The expenditure of effort at Hamburger Hill exceeded the value the American people attached to the war in Vietnam. The public had turned against the war a year and a half earlier, and it was their intense reaction to the cost of the battle in American lives, inflamed by sensationalist media reporting, that forced the Nixon administration to order the end of major tactical ground operations.”

Hamburger Hill proved to be the last campaign in General William Westmoreland’s discredited attrition strategy and it was also the last battle in which the outcome was determined by enemy body count. Before Hamburger Hill, the U.S. forces were still seeking victory on the battlefield; after Hamburger Hill, they were only seeking a way out.

Retired Army officer James H. Willbanks is the director of the Department of Military History, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kan. A Vietnam veteran, he is also the author of several books including The Tet Offensive: A Concise History, Abandoning Vietnam, and the forthcoming work to be published by Facts on File,Vietnam War Almanac.

For more on Hamburger Hill, see Colonel Harry G. Summers‘ (U.S. Army, ret.) article Battle for Hamburger Hill During Vietnam War originally published in the June 1999 issue of Vietnam magazine.

Samuel Zaffiri’s book Hamburger Hill was a Featured Selection of the Military Book Club when it was published. Click here to learn how he came to write it.

Click here to see a TIMELINE of the Hamburger Hill battle, from the June 2009 Vietnam magazine.

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