Editing Robert McNamara (section)

====Battle of Ap Bac====
{{main|Battle of Ap Bac}}
On 2 January 1963, McNamara's rosy projections and assumptions based upon what his computers had told him about Vietnam were shattered by the Battle of Ap Bac when three VC companies were encircled by the ARVN's [[7th Division (South Vietnam)|7th Division]] in the village of Ap Bac.{{sfn|Karnow|1983|pp=260–261}} Despite being outnumbered by a ratio of 10–1 and being heavily outgunned, the VC defeated the 7th Division in the ensuing battle and escaped into the jungle.{{sfn|Karnow|1983|pp=260–262}} Colonel [[John Paul Vann]], the American adviser attached to the 7th Division summed up the battle in a report in his usual earthy language as: "A miserable fucking performance, just like what it always is".{{sfn|Karnow|1983|pp=260–262}} Vann, a colorful figure whose outspokenly blunt criticism of how the war was being fought made him a favorite of the media, was much disliked by McNamara, who did not appreciate the criticism as he continued to insist that the war was being won.{{sfn|Karnow|1983|pp=262–263}}

Vann's reports criticizing Diệm's regime as corrupt and incompetent were most unwelcome to McNamara who contended that the reforms advocated by Vann were unnecessary.{{sfn|Karnow|1983|pp=260–263}} In March 1963, Vann resigned from the Army.