From 1965 to 1973, the United States waged a grueling war against the com...st forces of North Vietnam. The conflict was a brutal guerrilla war where young American soldiers were sent far from home to fight an enemy that fought unlike anything the US military had seen before.
The Vietnam War remains controversial to this day. Some argue it was a justified defense of South Vietnam against Northern com...st aggression, while others argue it was an unjustified war of US imperialism driven by Cold War anti-com...st hysteria. What all can agree upon is that the war resulted in the deaths of millions of people, a large portion of them civilians killed by the United States.
By 1968, the Vietnam War was going badly for the Americans. The Tet Offensive launched by the North in January 1968 had strained America’s military might and shattered US morale at home and abroad. Desperate to reclaim the initiative, the US launched a series of counter-offensives to push back the com...st enemy.
One target of this counter-offensive was Quang Ngai province, specifically the village of Son My. Son My was made up of several smaller hamlets including My Lai. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll stick to the more famous name for the whole village. My Lai, nicknamed Pinkville by the Americans because of its com...st sympathies, was believed to be a hotspot for Viet Cong (VC). US Intelligence claimed that the VC was active in the area and the village was essentially a com...st outpost.
In March 1968, Task Force Barker was assembled to deal with My Lai. The Task Force was made up of soldiers drawn from two companies: Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment and Company B, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division. For simplicity’s sake, we will call them B Company and C Company. There was also an A Company but their role in events was relatively minimal.

從1965年到1973年，美國對越共北方力量進(jìn)行了一場艱苦的戰(zhàn)爭。這場沖突是一場殘酷的游擊戰(zhàn)爭，年輕的美國士兵被遠(yuǎn)離家鄉(xiāng)派往與美國軍隊以往所見不同的敵人作戰(zhàn)。
越戰(zhàn)至今仍然備受爭議。一些人認(rèn)為這是對南越共侵略進(jìn)行正當(dāng)防衛(wèi)，而其他人則認(rèn)為這是一場出于冷戰(zhàn)反共恐慌的美國帝國主義無理之戰(zhàn)。大家都可以達(dá)成共識的是，這場戰(zhàn)爭導(dǎo)致數(shù)百萬人死亡，其中很大一部分是由美國造成的平民死亡。
到了1968年，越南戰(zhàn)爭對美國人來說進(jìn)展不利。在1968年1月發(fā)動的春節(jié)攻勢不僅使美國的軍事實力受到了嚴(yán)重壓力，還打擊了美國在國內(nèi)外的士氣。為了重新奪回主動權(quán)，美國發(fā)起了一系列反攻行動來擊退gczy敵人。
這次反攻行動的目標(biāo)之一是廣義省，特別是美萊村。美萊村由幾個較小的村莊組成，包括美來村。為了簡化起見，我們將使用整個村莊更著名的名字。美來村被美國人昵稱為“粉紅村”，因為該村據(jù)信對gczy持有同情。美國情報機(jī)構(gòu)聲稱，gcd游擊隊在該地區(qū)活躍，這個村莊實際上是一個gczy的前哨基地。
1968年3月，巴克特部隊被組建來處理美來村事件。該部隊由兩個連隊的士兵組成：第1營第20步兵團(tuán)的C連和第3步兵團(tuán)第11旅第23步兵師的B連。為簡便起見，我們將稱之為B連和C連。還有一個A連，但他們在事件中的作用相對較小。