would next see combat in Operation Silver Bayonet, where under the order of US Commanding General William Westmoreland the 1st Cavalry Division air assaulted into Pleiku Province to pursue and destroy the enemy over of jungle. Operation Silver Bayonet, also known as the Pleiku Campaign, was a 35-day campaign in which the division maintained almost constant contact with the enemy and experienced some of the fiercest fighting of the Vietnam War. The division saw its first contact on 1 November 1965, when a troop from 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment Cavalry, the division's reconnaissance squadron, overran an enemy aid station belonging to the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 33rd Regiment. After landing to exploit the site, they were engaged by a PAVN battalion, in fighting which was too close to allow for artillery or tactical air reinforcement. 1/12 Cavalry, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment and 2nd Brigade's 2/12 Cavalry rushed to the embattled troop's aid, air assaulting into the fight amidst intense ground fire. They quickly inflicted hundreds of casualties upon the PAVN battalion. On 9 November 1965 3rd Brigade took control of Operation Silver Bayonet and continued the search for the three PAVN regiments suspected to be operating in the Pleiku region. On 14 November elements of 3rd Brigade's 7th Cavalry Regiment air assaulted onto Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley to conduct a reconnaissance in force in search of the enemy regiments. Soon after securing the LZ, the 7th Cavalry Soldiers began taking intense small arms, mortar, and rocket fire from an enemy force that vastly outnumbered them. The chaotic fighting that followed would be among the most intense of the Vietnam War. After sustaining heavy casualties, 1/7 Cavalry was able to reorganize their units and establish a hasty battalion security perimeter around LZ X-Ray. One of their platoons, however, was cut off from the rest of the battalion, pinned down and trapped amidst a battalion sized PAVN force. The pinned unit, 2nd Platoon of Bravo Company, had suffered heavy casualties, and like the rest of 1/7, would endure multiple enemy attacks throughout the night. 1/7 Cavalry made three separate attempts to rescue the cut off platoon, but all three attempts were met with failure. Early on 15 November, the 2/5 Cavalry air assaulted onto LZ Victor, approximately 3 km south east of the battle. On foot, they fought their way to LZ X-Ray, where after