RIPPLE SALVO… #830… PRESIDENT”S DAILY BRIEF for 12 JUNE 1968 (CIA TS-SI declass)…SOUTH VIETNAM: “The persistent Communist shelling of Saigon is beginning to provoke demands by local politicians for retaliation against Hanoi. In its session yesterday, the Assembly’s upper house approved a petition calling for the government to prevent further attacks, including a warning to North Vietnam. The debate brought demands for ‘a bomb on Hanoi for every bomb on Saigon’ and for immediate United States termination of the Paris talks.”… but first…
Good Morning… Day EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY of a retreat in time of fifty years to the air war in Vietnam with the classified name of Operation Rolling Thunder…sshhhhh… don’t tell anybody…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a rainy Wednesday, 12 June 1968 in New York…
THE WAR: Page 2: “FOE SHELLS AIRBASE AS ATTACKS ON SAIGON CONTINUE–SOUTH VIETNAMESE TROOPS FAN OUT IN EFFORT TO CLOSE OFF SYSTEMATIC BOMBARDMENT”… “Vietcong rockets pounded Tansonnhut airbase at Saigon early today. It was the latest barrage in a systematic bombardment of the capital that has raised concern in the United States command and spread alarm among the three million inhabitants. Government troops moved into outlying areas in an attempt to choke off the shelling. The attack on Tansonnhut marked the 24th day in the last 39 that enemy shells had fallen on Saigon. About 130 south Vietnamese civilians have been killed and a thousand wounded in that time…10 rockets hit the base.”… Page 1: “CIVILIANS DIE IN ATTACK”… “South Vietnamese military and civilian authorities said that 26 rockets that fell on downtown Saigon early today killed 19 civilians and wounded 116…”… ELSEWHERE IN SOUTH VIETNAM…United States marines were said to have killed 16 enemy soldiers in a fight 19 miles southwest of Danang, The marines were reported to have sustained no fatalities… Helicopter gunships were reported to have killed 11 Vietcong near Mytho, in the Mekong River delta, and a Navy patrol boat nearby killed an additional 11 in an engagement along the waterways of the Song River. Air Force B-52s flew missions near the cities of Kontum and Dakto, striking at suspected enemy troop concentrations and positions.”… Page 1: “ROCKETS WHINE AT DAWN IN SAIGON ALMOST EVERY DAY”… Page #: “Rocket Attacks Hard To Prevent–Foe Using Portable Weapons To Strike Saigon”…
PEACE TALKS: Page 1: “U.S. WELL PROTEST SAIGON SHELLING AT PARIS PARLEY–Reported Seeking A Curb On Rocket Attacks–Harriman And Cyrus Eaton Meet”… “United States negotiators are preparing a forceful complaint to North Vietnamese representatives tomorrow over enemy rocket and artillery attacks on civilian areas of Saigon, allied diplomatic sources reported today. The sources suggested that if the enemy shelling continued, pressures would mount on President Johnson to lift the restriction of American air attacks against cities in North Vietnam. But American officials said they knew of no decision to resume full bombing of the North. The South Vietnamese observer mission is reliably reported to have been urging American negotiators to make a vigorous protest against what they term the enemy’s systematic bombing of the city over the last month…. The South Vietnamese are reported to have complained to Americans in private about the fact that the city of Hanoi is immune to American bombing while Saigon is being shelled.”… Pager 4: “Hanoi Says Viet Cong Is Seeking Coalition”…
STATE DEPARTMENT. Office of the Historian. Historical Document 271. “A Paper Prepared in the Department of State: BALANCE SHEET ON PARIS TALKS.”… This a good news-bad news one pager worth a look. Read at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d271
Page 1: “U.S. TO PROTECT ESPIONAGE SHIPS–Steps Are Taken to Prevent Another Pueblo Incident By Aid From Air and Sea”… “The Johnson Administration, after a long review of its spy-ship activities around the world, has taken a number of steps aimed at reducing the chances of another incident like that in which the Pueblo was seized off North Korea in January. Un der revised procedures, before a spy ship mission in potentially hazardous waters starts, detailed instructions are forwarded to American an Air Force commanders in the area.”… Page 4: “LIBERTY SKIPPER GETS MEDAL OF HONOR”… “The Navy presented the Medal of Honor today to the skipper of the U.S.S. Liberty, which was nearly destroyed by Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats in the Mediterranean Sea last year. The nation’s highest award for valor went to Captain William L. McGonagle…”…Page 1: “TENSION IN FRANCE GROWS AS STRIKES IS SLAIN BY POLICE–Protest Walkout Is Called After Shooting At Plant–Unions Back Red Move–Students In New Clash–Barricades In Latin Quarter Reappear In Second Night of Paris Street Fighting”… Page 1: “GUN CONTROL BILL BLOCKED IN HOUSE–Panel Deadlocks On Johnson Plan Top Curb Rifle Sales–Next Vote Is Scheduled”… Page 5: “Senate Unit finds U.S. Under Strength In Korea”… Page 1: “4 Prisoners In Atlanta Seize 23 In Hostages–5 Of Them Are Women”…
12 JUNE 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (13 Jun reporting 12 Jun ops) Page 2: “In the air war over the North, Navy pilots dropped 500-pound bombs on a large truck park 47 miles north-northwest of Donghoi. There were also strikes against road equipment, transshipment points and supply barges in the areas south and southeast of Vinh. Ten miles southwest of Vinh, Navy pilots of the carrier Enterprise reported they had scored two direct hits on an antiaircraft site destroying the battery with air-to-ground missiles (Bullpups)… Air Force pilots focused on the area north of the demilitarized zone, striking antiaircraft artillery sites, trucks, bridges and military storage areas.”…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 12 June 1968…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 12 JUNE FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION IN THE SKIES OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1967… NONE…
1968… NONE… oohrah…
Humble Host flew #183. Ironhand section lead supporting a bridge strike southwest of Vinh. Fired AGM-45 Shrike at a radiating radar using APR-24 strobe to get it lined up, then put the Shrike in the basket from about five miles range. I had no idea where the missile went, but the site went quiet. Followed the strike group and put 3 MK-82s into their bridge smoke as the mini-group cleared the target, then ripple salvoed four 5-inch Zunis into a barge in the river southeast of Vinh. The A-4F had five stations and sometimes we flew with a centerline 300-gallon fuel tank, leaving two stations open on each wing for ordnance. More likely we flew double-bubble with 300-gallons of fuel on each wing with 500 pounds of ordnance on the outboard wing stations. In this configuration,the centerline was loaded with either 3 Mk-83 1000-pounders on a TER, or 5 or 6 Mk-82 500-pounders on a MER. On this mission (#183) I was double-bubble with three Mk-82s on the centerline, a Shrike on station 1 and a Lau-10 Zunit pod on station 5. A wild ride–three targets on one flight… 37mm opposition at the bridge and the barge close to Ben Thuy… “He who strikes and flys away, lives to fight another day.”.. The VA-113 A-4Fs were also wired for AIM-9 Sidewinders on Station 1…
RIPPLE SALVO… #830… NYT, Sunday 9 June 1968, page 4-3:
“THE FIGHTING: GUERRILLAS AND TENSIONS IN SAIGON”…by Joseph B. Treaster…
“SAIGON–Two weeks ago the North Vietnamese and Vietcong began a new campaign of harassment of Saigon and, despite strong allied efforts there is no end in sight. Since bands of infiltrators have engaged South Vietnamese troops in a few scattered street fights every day, and almost every night rockets and mortars have thumped into the city. ‘They got the capability of keeping up this type of pressure for some time,’ said a knowledgeable senior American officer who is close to General William C. Westmoreland, the U.S. commander. ‘It’s a very low-key effort, and they could probably keep it going as long as they want.’
“From a strictly military point of view, the latest fighting in the city is not considered particularly alarming. ‘There is no objective that they can take and hold,’ said one Marine officer last week, a bit annoyed that what he thought of as petty fighting was getting so much publicity in the world press. There is a tension among the people however, that was not discernible six months ago. It grows each day as the city awakens to find more of its homes demolished, the army of refugees swelling, and the price of a loaf of bread and a side of pork more expensive. More than four months of living under a strict dusk-to-dawn curfew is beginning to wear.
PRESSURE…
“Captured enemy documents and interrogations of prisoners and defectors clearly indicate that the latest enemy activity is aimed directly at influencing the peace talks in Paris. But some Western diplomats fear it may have the additional effect of weakening the already strained relationship between the people and the Government of President Nguyen Van Thieu.
“Some intelligence officers believe the enemy is prepared to keep the pressure on Saigon for months. They argue that thus far the venture has not been expensive in terms of men–about 1,500 enemy have died in Saigon in the last few weeks–and it has paid off handsomely in publicity. Attempting to meet the new challenge, the allies have stepped up their efforts to block infiltration into the city and to root out rocket launching sites ringing the city. At road blocks on the main arteries, national police closely examine identity cards and frisk men, women and children for weapons. Troops sweep through the paddies and scrub jungle beyond the suburbs and at night American and South Vietnamese teams roam the streets in jeeps while flying squads of national police conduct random house-to-house searches.
“Just last week President Thieu made the defense of Saigon the sole responsibility of Major General Nguyen Van Minh, a tough former division commander, instead of one of three chores assigned to Lieutenant General Le Ngyuen Khang.
“Whatever the allies do, students of insurgency here believe that they are up against insurmountable odds. ‘If you have a determined minority that wants to engage in terrorism, I’m not sure that any city can stop it,’ said one American diplomat with years of experience. ‘You can infiltrate any city in the world and in a city this size it can’t be prevented.’
“After the painful experience of creating thousands of refugees in the process of removing the enemy from footholds in the city earlier this year, the allies have determined to move more cautiously. In the last two weeks they have used fighter-bombers and attack helicopters sparingly, and instead relied heavily on more precise direct fire weapons such as recoilless rifles and tank cannons.
“Often the allies feel caught in the middle. ‘If you go in with massive firepower, you hurt a lot of people,’ an official close to the United States Mission said. ‘If you don’t, you stretch the fighting out over a long period and sometimes you end up hurting just as many. The Vietcong or North Vietnamese soldier in the city has the same advantage as the guerrilla in the countryside. He looks no different than a government supporter and he speaks the same language. He has the added advantage in the city of having more people too mingle with, and he needs little guidance in moving through paved streets.'”… End Treaster…
RTR quote for 12 June: MAO TSE-TUNG: “The people are the sea in which the guerrilla swims.”….
Lest we forget… Bear