RIPPLE SALVO… #646… There will be a test…Really… Part III: an intense June, July and August of give and take…hard fighting in the air over North Vietnam… More targets, fewer restrictions, more opposition and more losses…but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED FORTY-SIX of another look at the air campaign of the Vietnam war called Rolling Thunder… forty months of going North…
12 December 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a wet and drizzly Tuesday in the Big Apple…
Page 1: “House Votes Poverty Bill and Reductions In Budget”... “…authorizing $1.98-billion for the anti-poverty program in the current fiscal year…measure authorized $4,16-billion for two years.”... Page 1: “16% Rise In Crime Reported By F.B.I.–Johnson Puts Part of the Blame On Congress For Failure to Vote Aid to Police”… “a 60% rise in bank robberies outpaced a general nationwide increase in violent crimes during the first nine months for 1967… all crimes increased by 16%.”... Page 1: “High Court Voids Job Ban On Reds in Defense Units–Warren Court Says Bench Will Not Allow Violation of Rights in Name of Security”... “In a 6 to 2 decision the court declared unconstitutional a provision of the 1950 Subversive Activities Control Act that makes it a crime for Communist Party members to work in defense plants… infringes on right of worker’s freedom of association.”… Page 1: “Destroyer Fleet is Backed By NATO Military Chiefs–Multi-National Force Could be Rushed to Trouble Spots in the Atlantic in Emergencies–Approval Expected”… “The military chiefs of the NATO sitting in special session in Brussels, voted to establish an international fleet of destroyers to be placed under the allied command and available to do its bidding in peacetime. To be called the Standing Force Atlantic.”… Page 1: “U.S. Affirms Call To Tighten Watch on Cambodian Border”… “…reasserts willingness to air in increasing effectiveness of international control Commission. Aim is to contain the war. statement reflects growing concern over pressures to expand conflict.”… Page 13: “AFL-CIO Backs Johnson on War–Neutral ‘Wait and See’ Stand Defeated”…
Page 11: “Civilian War Toll for 1967 Estimated–South Vietnam Total Put at 76,000 Hurt, 24,000 Dead”... “…deaths from war related causes only… American combat losses for the first eleven months of 1967 put at 8,001 KIA while South Vietnam military deaths totaled 9,500 killed in action… Senator Robert F. Kennedy: ‘Civilian war casualties are occurring at the rate of 100,000 per year, twice the Johnson Administration estimate.’ “…
GROUND WAR (“War is a killing business.”) Page 1: “Vietcong Attack 3 Bases In Delta–Americans Repel Assaults–Marines In 10-Hour Battle Near Buffer”… “The Vietcong made simultaneous attacks early yesterday on three camps of the United States Ninth Infantry Division in the upper delta of the Mekong Delta within 25 miles southwest of Saigon. The attacks were repulsed, but in one case the guerrillas crossed the barbed wire around the camp and fought hand-in-hand with the defenders before being thrown back. In the three engagements in the Mekong Delta, 7 Americans were reported killed and 46 wounded. The bodies of 23 guerrillas were counted and 8 weapons were captured… The pre-dawn attacks brought the exceptionally heavy fighting of the last six weeks to an area in Longan Province that has been relatively quiet since the division’s Third Brigade was deployed there last winter. The brigade was the final American unit assigned to the delta. The sharpest fighting took place at the outpost in the village of Annhuttan…Three enemy bunkers were overrun in the two-hour engagement, which ended only when the American troops supported by machine gun fire, charged the attackers with hand grenades… Also attacked were the Tantru District compound and an engineer outpost at Rachkiem, the home of the Third Battalion of the 39th Infantry. All three positions are in a line along the Vancotasy River, 20 to 23 miles southwest of the capital.”… Page 8: “Marines In 10-Hour Battle”...”United States Marines maneuvering along the coast of the South China Sea on foot and in amphibious tractors fought a 10-hour battle near the Marine outpost at Giolinh and reported killing 54 of the enemy. It was the third big battle in a week along the demilitarized zone at the border between North and South Vietnam. The battle raged until the Marines poured in reinforcements and the North Vietnamese pulled out. the United States command countered with raids on the enemy positions by B-52’s and Navy carrier-based fighter-bombers… The Marines put their casualties at 20 wounded.”…
12 December 1967… President’s Daily Brief… (CIA/TS)… GREECE: early this month, former Prime Minikster Karamanlis publicly condemned the junta from his safe haven in Paris. He said he does not plan to get involved in Greek politics at the moment…Karamanlis ran the Greek Government for almost with relatively trouble-free years… CYPRUS: the Security Council probably will consider the UN peacekeeping mandate for the island late this week. Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus all seem to favor a short-term renewal of the present mandate, putting off discussion of an “enlarged’ UN role. The present mandate expires 26 December…. NIGERIA: the civil war goes on. Casualties are mounting, but there has been little military progress on that from either side…. NORTH VIETNAM: A Report From Hanoi: One of the refugees who recently managed to get out of North Vietnam confirms that Hanoi’s propaganda about US raids on the capital is much exaggerated. He saw little bomb damage in the city and comments that “the Americans have been very selective” in the raids, “although occasional accidents had occurred.”… HANOI Allagations on the US Troop Behavior: The North Vietnamese are continuing to report alleged incidents of insubordination or cowardice on the part of US troops in South Vietnam….The article closed by commenting that more and more
American soldiers have come to realize that the US war is an unjust war of aggression and the only way out of it is to rise up and oppose it by practical deeds.
STATE DEPARTMENT, Office of Historian…Historical Document from the archives: Secretary of State Dean Rusk was in Brussels attending a North Atlantic Council Ministerial meeting and approached by Mr. Ales Bebber, President of the World Federation with a proposed plan to get Vietnam war peace negotiations started. Secretary Rusk added comments and concerns with the Bebber idea and sent it back to his Staff for advice.
Humble Host: This 12 December 1967 telegram supports a conclusion that EVERY idea, suggestion or effort to get a move toward peace began with the “cessation of US bombing of the North.”… Rolling Thunder was THE bargaining chip for the United States… Unfortunately, our Rolling Thunder ops did not, for many reasons, prove effective enough to convince the North Vietnamese they needed to make a deal… read at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d434
12 DECEMBER 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (13 Dec reporting 12 Dec ops) In the air war, poor weather again limited United States attacks to roads and coastal shipping along the cost and against trucks and storage areas in the southern area of North Vietnam.
(Humble Host notes: the tempo of operations during the northeast monsoon was 70-80 missions per day with an average of four fighter-bombers per mission. Daily strike sortie count: about 300– “Small force attacks to keep the pressure on.”)
“Vietnam: Aircraft Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 12 December 1967…
(1) An O-2A of the 22nd TASS and 504th TASG out of Binh Thuy crashed on landing, destroying the aircraft, but the two-man crew escaped without injury…other than pride…
Snipped from Howie Plunkett’s compilation: “34 TFS/F-105 History“, page 38 of 89 pages…
12-Dec-67: “Fourteen flights of F-105s from Takhli and Korat and F-4s from Ubon targeted Kep Railroad Yards…and Kep Air field…in Route Pack 6B…
“The strike force had a total pf 56 aircraft that included F-105 Iron Hands from Takhli, one F-105 flak suppression flight from Takhli., three f-105 strike flights from Korat, and two F-4C MiG CAP flights from Ubon. One MiG CAP flight was supporting the Iron Hand flight, and the other supported the flak suppression and strike flights.
“The flights departed their bases, refueled over the Gulf of Tonkin, joined up, turned left at the Ile Madeleine, and headed inland north of MiG Ridge. While the strike force was over water, DEEP SEA warned of MiGs airborne from Phuc Yen and later from Kep and Haiphong. Solid undercast at 8,000-feet caused the Takhli strike flights to weather abort at 0845L just short of the northeast railroad, followed shortly afterwards by Korat’s strike flights. The F-4C MiG CAP aircraft continued ahead to search for MiGs.
“On of the MiG CAP flights and two of Korat’s egressing F-105 strike flights and its flak suppression flight (Hatchet Flight) encountered MiG-21s. MIG CAP number three fired three AIM-7 missiles at a MiG but all three failed. The F-4C pilot and his wingman pursued the MiG-21 until they received a warning call and broke off ten to fifteen miles from the Chinese frontier.
“A ‘dirty gray/black Mig-21 fired an ATOLL missile at number four F-105 in Korat’s flak suppression flight. ‘The ATOLL exploded just aft of the plane’s right wing, blowing off half the external fuel tank, igniting the fuel, punching two holes in the right horizontal stabilizer, and tearing the right half of the fuselage from the flap on back…
“The pilot was Captain Douglas A. Beyer, ‘Hatchet 04’ from the 34 TFS … he was a 100-mission pilot who was attached to the 388th TFW…He said that during a mission near Kep Airfield an air-to-air missile, fired at his aircraft by a MiG-21, exploded directly behind him. ‘Fragments struck the right drop tank causing it to explode,’ the pilot recalled. Although shrapnel also damaged the fuselage and the alternate and utility hydraulic systems were lost. Byer was able to stay with the aircraft and to safely return to a friendly base..” The pilot landed at Danang AB, South Vietnam. A photo of the plane with the ‘JJ’ tail code, showed holes along the right side of the aft fuselage above and below the stabilator. He received the DFC (3rd Oak Leaf Cluster) for this mission.”…
RIPPLE SALVO… #646… Part III of the year-end review of 1967 Rolling Thunder Ops… Blue skies, Lots of Alphas and days in the Red River Valley, and lots of hot metal coming up and racks of bombs going down… a very bloody summer of serious fighting, “a killing business”……
Snipped from the”CINCPAC/COMUSMACV ‘(KISS) Report on the War in Vietnam’ ” ….page 33…
“During July favorable weather existed in the northern areas of North Vietnam approximately 66% of the month. This allowed maximum effort to be applied throughout North Vietnam and resulted in a record number of attack sorties flown in the Hanoi and Haiphong areas and against vital northern rail and road transportation system. On 20 July ROLLING THUNDER 57, with 16 new targets, was authorized.
“The period of favorable flying weather during August was about 20% less than in July. The campaign in the North was stimulated by the follow-on authorization to ROLLING THUNDER 57 for attacks on selected Lines of Communication (LOC) in the northeast.
“The new authorization increased the number of fixed targets from 16 to 46. These strikes resulted in marked attrition of rolling stock and interdiction of the railroad lines. In the Hanoi and Haiphong area, 30 fixed targets were attacked. The targets exposed in these previously restricted areas consisted primarily of railroad and highway bridge and bypasses, and supply storage areas. Penetration of these sanctuaries, coupled with the high level of damage attained, further compounded the problems of transshipment of vital supplies to the south. On 24 August all targets in the Hanoi area were again placed in a restricted status.”
Tomorrow: Part IV… September-December Summary of Ops…
RTR Quote for 12 December: LGEN GEORGE S. PATTON, JR., Letter to his son, 6 June 1944: “To be a successful soldier, you must know history.”…
Lest we forget…. Bear