The battle occurred around Đắk Tô Base Camp, part of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) operations intended to surveillance and gather intelligence on the Ho Chi Minh Trail on supplies flowing into South Vietnam.

In 1967 mortar units begun shelling the Dak To Base Camp, intending to draw US forces to assault PAVN positions within the Central Highlands.

[4] Western Kon Tum was covered by double and triple-canopy rainforests, and the only open areas were filled in by bamboo groves whose stalks sometimes reached eight inches in diameter.

With mortar fire and ambushes ongoing around the Dak To base camp, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, a highly-mobile team intended to rapidly deploy across the Central Highlands, was quickly alerted to respond.

[2]: 300  Before the company could react, the lead platoon was hit by fire along its front and both flanks by a platoon-sized group of the PAVN 6th Battalion, 24th Regiment.

He also prepared to air-assault another unit, then in reserve at Dak To, into a one-ship landing zone approximately 800 m north of the besieged platoons.

Back at Dak To, General John R. Deane Jr. began putting together another reserve force consisting of the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry, then fully committed east of Highway 14.

[2]: 301 Around noon, the PAVN, continuing up the ridgeline, hit Milton's position, then held by some 30 men forming a perimeter around 35 wounded.

Intermittent sniper fire continued into the late evening, when the Americans were able to clear a landing zone to evacuate the surviving members of Company A.