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The Vietnam war was marked with many forceful events on both the American and Vietnamese side. From 1954-1975 there were many smaller key points that would later determine the final outcome of the war and post-war policies. A quick glance at the Viet peoples will show their will and determination to win the battle. These people demonstrated the greatest faith in what they do. It is something that many countries lack. The Viet were willing to die for their country without second thoughts as to if it was worth it.
One of the earliest demonstrations of this pride in their nation was displayed in 1954 when the command post at Dien Bien Phu, which until this point had been under the command of the French, was taken under occupation by the Viet Minh and ended with an incredible 8,000 deaths and 12,000 casualties from the Viet Minh! Despite the much larger numbers in comparison to the 8,000 casualties of the French, the 55 day battle was considered a Vietnamese victory as the Viet Minh ceased control from the French. This single event would drive terror into the minds of the French and ultimately destroy their ambition to fight any longer.
Until 1961, America would not enter the war. By the end of the year, 45 year old President Kennedy had decided that it was time for Americans to intervene. His decision would result in the first American offense know as Operation Chopper. The effort made was an attempt to assist the South Vietnamese people and government battle the Vietcong guerrillas. Though the war had been going on for some time already, January 2, 1963 would mark the first standoff between the South Vietnamese Soldiers and American arms and the Vietcong soldiers. The Americans are taken captive and slain, and nearly 400 Vietnamese are injured or killed. Many variations of such offense would continue occur through the war.
Just 2 days before the United States Presidential Election, (5) B-52 Bomber Planes were destroyed and another 15 are severely damaged when the Vietcong lunch shells at the Bien Hoa Air Base, simultaneously killing an additional 4 Americans and wounding 74 other soldiers. After realizing what must be done, as well as the extent of the crisis. In February of 1965, President Lyndon Johnson sent in the Navy bombers to attack the the military bases of North Vietnam. The authorization of the Naval attacks would only be the beginning for what was to come. on February 13, 1965, Operation Rolling Thunder was put into action. The primary goal of tis was to weaken the Vietcong guerrillas by destroying their support from North Vietnam. The first bombing would begin on March 2, 1965. Though somewhat successful, the Vietnamese had alternative methods of getting their supplies. Even if the North Vietnamese had been stopped, the guerrillas were able to use their previously engineered train system to easily move supplies from one place to another. The realization was that the next biggest thing that would need to be destroyed would be the traonsportion system. If there was no transportation, it would stop or at least slow the Vietcong down and disallow for mass transportation of weaponry and supplies. Weapons and other supplies had until this point been transfered from North Vietnam into South Vietnam using the Ho Chi Minh Trail which had been created back in 1959.
Later that year, from September to October, the United States 1st Air Calvary would be deployed after the North Vietnamese attacked an American Special Forces camp located at Plei Mei. The outcome was a 35 day battle of the "la Drang". After having their 32nd, 33d, and 66th Regiments very much destroyed, the North Vietnamese pulled back and returned to Cambodia. While the 66th Regiment was weakened, they were still able to ambush the Americans just west of Plei Mei, as there was absolutely no way for any reinforcements to be brought in, nor was their enough firepower, 60 percent of the ambushed battalion were injured and 1/3 of them were killed in that single night. What nobody knew at this time was that this would not be the largest suprise encounter. The larger encounter would come at the end of May in 1966. When the 324B Division crossed the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), the encountered a large battalion of Marines resulting in the battle of Dong Ha. At the time, this was the largest battle to have occurred. The three week battle of the heavily armed US forces backed up by the South Vietnamese Army resulted in pushing the North Vietnamese back over the DMZ. By the end of 1966, the United States had sent 385,000 into Vietnam, and also had 60,000 additional sailors stationed just offshore. In 1966 alone over 6,000 Americans were killed.
The next biggest battle would not happen for nearly 2 years in 1968. This battle would be the battle of Khe Sanh. In January of 1968 the North began to make its make a move near the base of Khe Sanh. This was of course a Marine base. The US expects a major offensive from the North due to this buildup, but is not quite sure when it will be. Just days after this buildup, the sound of shells crashing and mortars going off is heard as the hit the Marine base. For 2 days the base is under attack. With the first new moon of the year marking the start of the Vietnamese new year, January 30th was a cease fire for the Vietnamese. The next day, on January 31, the Vietnamese make a completely offensive moves with an attack on many of the South Vietnam towns in order to gain their strength and support of the South Vietnamese which were for the most part on the American side. With attacks only undefended places such as Saigon and Hue City, the South Vietnamese government was very unprepared. Hue City was a cultural monument to the Vietnamese and were never expected to be a military target. For the Marines, it would later become the worst city battle until Fallujah in 2003. Though the offense was supposed to benefit the North, it ended up killed 37,000 NV guerillas, and 2,500 Americans. Though there was much smaller of a loss from the Americans in comparison to the huge effect on the NVA, the United States was not as supportive to the war due to this incident alone. Nobody back home thought that America had the resolve to win the war.
Almost 3 weeks later, Khe Sanh once again receives a huge attack with over 1,300 rounds that hit the Marine base. As strong of a force this was, it would not even compare to what would happen 28 days later on March 22. It had been exactly 4 weeks without much of an attack from the North, the Marines were a bit surprised for such a large attack. In just 10 ours, over 1,000 rounds of fire hit the Marine base. As the Marines had previously enforced their base to withstand 82mm rounds, there was some protection, enough to use electronic tracking to find out that the NVA was on its way through the jungle and towards Khe Sanh. For 77 days straight the battle rages on with massive fire from the North, but finally on April 8, 1968 the United States clears and regains Route 9 as an escape path for the Marines stuck on and in the hills. By June, the Marines have many mobile forces in place. Enough forces for General Westmoreland to make the choice to demolish and abandon the base of Khe Sanh.
Almost exactly 3 years after the start of Operation Rolling Thunder, and with a loss of over 900 American planes and helicopters, 818 pilots dead as well as many more captured the bombing comes to an end.-Only 40% of F-105 planes made it for more than 100 flights.-With a closing to many smaller operations, Nixon would introduce the strongest operation that was not even completely in policies. Operation Menu would provide over 500,000 tons of bombs to be dropped over North Vietnam and Cambodia in a period of 4 years. The idea behind this was to allow the withdrawal of Americans from Vietnam while allowing South Vietnam to survive from the North. The North Vietnamese were weakened enough for Nixon to immediately pull out 25,000 soldiers from South Vietnam on June 8, 1969.
Three years later on December 13 of 1972, both North Vietnamese and American Presidents meet in Paris to consider some type of treaty. 2 Weeks after what would be one of the last major bombing campaigns that killed between 1,300 and 1,600 North Vietnamese, the 2 Presidents continue working on a treaty. After much discussion, on January 27, 1973 all forces cease fire. 2 Months later in March, most soldiers would return home, but many military advisors and Marines would remain in Vietnam. At this point the war has officially ended for the United States. Though the war fort the United States is officially over, the war between the North and South would still continue. After Nixon resigned, the North would break the Treaty of Paris many times in attacks toward the South knowing they had lost most of their strength when Nixon resigned. With a lack of remaining American forces in Vietnam, April 29, 1975 marks a grand day. For 18 hours over 1,000 Americans and 7,000 South Vietnamese refugees are air lifted out of Saigon. The next morning would mark the last 2 deaths of the Vietnam war when two marines were killed by a rocket attack at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport. By the break of the morning the last group of Marines that were guarding the US Embassy lift of off Vietnamese ground. By afternoon that day, the North Vietnamese take over the now Marine free Embassy and conqueror Saigon. Having regained the territory the war between the North and South Vietnamese ends on that morning of April 30, 1975.
One of the earliest demonstrations of this pride in their nation was displayed in 1954 when the command post at Dien Bien Phu, which until this point had been under the command of the French, was taken under occupation by the Viet Minh and ended with an incredible 8,000 deaths and 12,000 casualties from the Viet Minh! Despite the much larger numbers in comparison to the 8,000 casualties of the French, the 55 day battle was considered a Vietnamese victory as the Viet Minh ceased control from the French. This single event would drive terror into the minds of the French and ultimately destroy their ambition to fight any longer.
Until 1961, America would not enter the war. By the end of the year, 45 year old President Kennedy had decided that it was time for Americans to intervene. His decision would result in the first American offense know as Operation Chopper. The effort made was an attempt to assist the South Vietnamese people and government battle the Vietcong guerrillas. Though the war had been going on for some time already, January 2, 1963 would mark the first standoff between the South Vietnamese Soldiers and American arms and the Vietcong soldiers. The Americans are taken captive and slain, and nearly 400 Vietnamese are injured or killed. Many variations of such offense would continue occur through the war.
Just 2 days before the United States Presidential Election, (5) B-52 Bomber Planes were destroyed and another 15 are severely damaged when the Vietcong lunch shells at the Bien Hoa Air Base, simultaneously killing an additional 4 Americans and wounding 74 other soldiers. After realizing what must be done, as well as the extent of the crisis. In February of 1965, President Lyndon Johnson sent in the Navy bombers to attack the the military bases of North Vietnam. The authorization of the Naval attacks would only be the beginning for what was to come. on February 13, 1965, Operation Rolling Thunder was put into action. The primary goal of tis was to weaken the Vietcong guerrillas by destroying their support from North Vietnam. The first bombing would begin on March 2, 1965. Though somewhat successful, the Vietnamese had alternative methods of getting their supplies. Even if the North Vietnamese had been stopped, the guerrillas were able to use their previously engineered train system to easily move supplies from one place to another. The realization was that the next biggest thing that would need to be destroyed would be the traonsportion system. If there was no transportation, it would stop or at least slow the Vietcong down and disallow for mass transportation of weaponry and supplies. Weapons and other supplies had until this point been transfered from North Vietnam into South Vietnam using the Ho Chi Minh Trail which had been created back in 1959.
Later that year, from September to October, the United States 1st Air Calvary would be deployed after the North Vietnamese attacked an American Special Forces camp located at Plei Mei. The outcome was a 35 day battle of the "la Drang". After having their 32nd, 33d, and 66th Regiments very much destroyed, the North Vietnamese pulled back and returned to Cambodia. While the 66th Regiment was weakened, they were still able to ambush the Americans just west of Plei Mei, as there was absolutely no way for any reinforcements to be brought in, nor was their enough firepower, 60 percent of the ambushed battalion were injured and 1/3 of them were killed in that single night. What nobody knew at this time was that this would not be the largest suprise encounter. The larger encounter would come at the end of May in 1966. When the 324B Division crossed the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), the encountered a large battalion of Marines resulting in the battle of Dong Ha. At the time, this was the largest battle to have occurred. The three week battle of the heavily armed US forces backed up by the South Vietnamese Army resulted in pushing the North Vietnamese back over the DMZ. By the end of 1966, the United States had sent 385,000 into Vietnam, and also had 60,000 additional sailors stationed just offshore. In 1966 alone over 6,000 Americans were killed.
The next biggest battle would not happen for nearly 2 years in 1968. This battle would be the battle of Khe Sanh. In January of 1968 the North began to make its make a move near the base of Khe Sanh. This was of course a Marine base. The US expects a major offensive from the North due to this buildup, but is not quite sure when it will be. Just days after this buildup, the sound of shells crashing and mortars going off is heard as the hit the Marine base. For 2 days the base is under attack. With the first new moon of the year marking the start of the Vietnamese new year, January 30th was a cease fire for the Vietnamese. The next day, on January 31, the Vietnamese make a completely offensive moves with an attack on many of the South Vietnam towns in order to gain their strength and support of the South Vietnamese which were for the most part on the American side. With attacks only undefended places such as Saigon and Hue City, the South Vietnamese government was very unprepared. Hue City was a cultural monument to the Vietnamese and were never expected to be a military target. For the Marines, it would later become the worst city battle until Fallujah in 2003. Though the offense was supposed to benefit the North, it ended up killed 37,000 NV guerillas, and 2,500 Americans. Though there was much smaller of a loss from the Americans in comparison to the huge effect on the NVA, the United States was not as supportive to the war due to this incident alone. Nobody back home thought that America had the resolve to win the war.
Almost 3 weeks later, Khe Sanh once again receives a huge attack with over 1,300 rounds that hit the Marine base. As strong of a force this was, it would not even compare to what would happen 28 days later on March 22. It had been exactly 4 weeks without much of an attack from the North, the Marines were a bit surprised for such a large attack. In just 10 ours, over 1,000 rounds of fire hit the Marine base. As the Marines had previously enforced their base to withstand 82mm rounds, there was some protection, enough to use electronic tracking to find out that the NVA was on its way through the jungle and towards Khe Sanh. For 77 days straight the battle rages on with massive fire from the North, but finally on April 8, 1968 the United States clears and regains Route 9 as an escape path for the Marines stuck on and in the hills. By June, the Marines have many mobile forces in place. Enough forces for General Westmoreland to make the choice to demolish and abandon the base of Khe Sanh.
Almost exactly 3 years after the start of Operation Rolling Thunder, and with a loss of over 900 American planes and helicopters, 818 pilots dead as well as many more captured the bombing comes to an end.-Only 40% of F-105 planes made it for more than 100 flights.-With a closing to many smaller operations, Nixon would introduce the strongest operation that was not even completely in policies. Operation Menu would provide over 500,000 tons of bombs to be dropped over North Vietnam and Cambodia in a period of 4 years. The idea behind this was to allow the withdrawal of Americans from Vietnam while allowing South Vietnam to survive from the North. The North Vietnamese were weakened enough for Nixon to immediately pull out 25,000 soldiers from South Vietnam on June 8, 1969.
Three years later on December 13 of 1972, both North Vietnamese and American Presidents meet in Paris to consider some type of treaty. 2 Weeks after what would be one of the last major bombing campaigns that killed between 1,300 and 1,600 North Vietnamese, the 2 Presidents continue working on a treaty. After much discussion, on January 27, 1973 all forces cease fire. 2 Months later in March, most soldiers would return home, but many military advisors and Marines would remain in Vietnam. At this point the war has officially ended for the United States. Though the war fort the United States is officially over, the war between the North and South would still continue. After Nixon resigned, the North would break the Treaty of Paris many times in attacks toward the South knowing they had lost most of their strength when Nixon resigned. With a lack of remaining American forces in Vietnam, April 29, 1975 marks a grand day. For 18 hours over 1,000 Americans and 7,000 South Vietnamese refugees are air lifted out of Saigon. The next morning would mark the last 2 deaths of the Vietnam war when two marines were killed by a rocket attack at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport. By the break of the morning the last group of Marines that were guarding the US Embassy lift of off Vietnamese ground. By afternoon that day, the North Vietnamese take over the now Marine free Embassy and conqueror Saigon. Having regained the territory the war between the North and South Vietnamese ends on that morning of April 30, 1975.
Book Sources
Schulzinger, Robert B. A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam, 1941-1975. Oxford University Press. 1997
Tse-Tung, Mao: Zedong Mao: and Samuel B Griffith. On Guerrilla Warefare. University of Illinois. 2000
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