RIPPLE SALVO… #288… EXPLAINED BY ATTILA THE HUN… but first…
Good Morning: Day TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT of an odyssey into the past–the air war over North Vietnam called ROLLING THUNDER…
15 DECEMBER 1966… HOME FRONT HEAD LINES from the New York Times on a clear, crisp and cold Thursday in NYC…
Page 1: ‘Military Targets Hit Within Hanoi U.S. Aides Concede”… “In past, air raids have been reported only in relation to distance from the center of Hanoi. North Vietnam says heavily populated areas of the city were bombed for the second day…United Staes officials acknowledged today for the first time that American aircraft have been bombing military targets in Hanoi. Military spokesmen had been describing targets in the Hanoi region to a central point in the heart of Hanoi and not in regard to the city limits. In normal man-in-the-street parlance, some of those targets were undoubtedly in Hanoi, officials conceded. But the State Department said that in its view there had been no bombing of the city of Hanoi itself, because there had been no deliberate attacks on civilian areas of North Vietnam itself. {A broadcast by Hanoi radio charged that American planes bombed heavily populated residential areas of North Vietnam’s capital city for the second straight day…the broadcast said that 100 persons had been killed or wounded in the two days of attacks.} State Department said American policy was still to avoid populated areas and civilian targets and that ‘there had been no escalation of the air war in the last 24-hours.’ “… Page 1: “U.S. Is Willing to Talk Long Truce With Enemy”…”The Johnson administration said today it would be happy to discuss a prolonged cease-fire and any other reduction in fighting in Vietnam indirect negotiations with the Communist side. the Administration was careful however, not to commit itself to any deal in advance of such a negotiation and emphasized that its comment were merely a repetition of earlier offers to discuss anything with North Vietnam.”… Page 5: An R.W Apple 4 column story of seemingly credible eye witness bomb damage of areas at both ends of the Paul Doumer Bridge: “Westerners Describe Damage in Hanoi”…”The Hanoi correspondent of French News Agency said: ‘On December 4 F-105Ds using tactics emerged from behind a mountain range northeast of the city, dived though an opening in the overcast, released their bombs and swept out over the Gulf of Tonkin. Hanoi’s anti-aircraft batteries reacted more slowly than usual indicating they had been caught by surprise… A residential area near the approach to the Paul Doumer bridge, which carries the road to the rail yard across the river, had been devastated.’ The French correspondent also described the vista as crushed facades, roofless houses and littered streets.”…
Page 1: “Moyers Resigning as Johnson’s aide to Head Newsday … he is the last of President Johnson’s original staff and will be replaced by George Christian, an old family friend of the Johnson’s who came to the staff last May from Texas Governor Tom Connally’s staff.”… Page 1: “Mrs. Kennedy Will Seek an Injunction to Block Book About the Assassination…”Death of a Salesman” by William Manchester is blocked on the grounds of breach of contract. Suit against Manchester and puboisher Harper’s Row, which had plans to begin searialization of the book in January (look Magazine) with publication of the book in March. Mrs. Kennedy contends the book violates her dignity and privqcy.” … Page 1: “Industrial Index Fell Last Month; Auto Output Off, Federal Reserve Board adds to list of economic indicators that have turned down. Lag of production of iron, steel and consumer items is also mentioned in Fed report.” … Page 1: “Spaniards Flocking to Polls, Vote Yes to New Franco Constitution”… Page 22: “LGEN Lewis Hershey, Director of Selective Service System, Favors Using Military as Training Ground for Youth”…supports plan for gradually lowering physical and mental qualifications. Speaking at National Press Club says ‘a police record should not allow a youth to escape military service.’…”…
15 December 1966… The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized) SOUTH VIETNAM: The Constituent Assembly’s plan to have both a president and prime minister will give South Vietnam a relatively strong executive, although he would not be as powerful as under a straight presidential system. The president would be popularly eleted and would be able to hire and fire his prime minister. The prime minister, in turn, would be esentually an administrative executive charged with day-to-day operation of the government…SOVIET UNION: The first fragmentary Soviet broadcasts on the 1967 budget point to a moderate increase (about 8%) in explicit military appropriations above the outlays planned for 1966. Of course, the appropriations explicitedly detailed for the defense establishment are not necessarily a reliiable indicator of changing defense policies or efforts. However, there is other evidence that Soviet military outlays are, in fact, on the upswing. COMMUNIST CHINA: Confusion, definace, and anarchy are spreading. No faction or individual has so far made significant gains, but the conflict may be sharpening. The situation is discussed in today’s annex…..
ANNEX….COMMUNIST CHINA: NATION IN DISARRAY…
Confusion, defiance, and in some cases outright anarchy are spreading through China as Peking’s leaders continue their struggle for ultimate power. Crusading Red Guards in the provinces are meeting stiff opposition from entrenched party bureaucrats. Bloody clashes involving local workers and Guards are reported from widely scattered parts of China. In most cases, the local people seem to be defending party officials from vigilante Guards sent from Peking. In Chungking a particularly nasty melee left 17 dead and 240 injured. Rival Red Guard units, representing diffeent factions in the top leadership have fallen on each other. In another act of defiance, the crew of a merchant vessel abandoned ship last Saturday to “carry out the cultural revolution.” The vessel’s home office was told it could send another crew if it wanted to keep the ship in operation. Dissarray is nowhere more obvious than in Peking itself. The omnipresent wall posters are calling for heads of chief of state Liu Shao-chi and party secretary Teng Hsiao-ping. Yet both men continued to appear regularly with Mao Tse-tung at least through late November when he reportedly retired to an East China villa for the winter. Senior pary men who have already fallen from grace continue to be the targets of bitter ctiticism and a recent speech by Madame Mao sent a band of Red Guards rushing to the home of Peking’s former Mayor, Peng Chen. Peng was seized and Monday paraded before a huge crowd of Guards for public villification. Liu Shao-chi and Heng Hsiao-ping have been dominant leaders in the party machinery for more than a decade. Their dismissal and disgrace would knock the main props from beneath the party apparatus and clear the way for far-reaching moves against many other local and national leaders whose careers have been tied to the two men. Mao’s role in all this is unclear. He may be personally managing a drawn-out and devious campaign to remove real or fancied enemies in the party heirarchy–or he may have done nothing more than give general approval for a harsh, diorderly campaign against entrenched party bureaucrats and then balked at the extreme action demanded against Liu and Teng. It is even concieveable that Mao has little to do with the campaign, but is being used as a figurehead by his heir apparent, Lin Piao. At the moment, however, it does seem clear that a powerful group in the politburo is determeined to keep the party machinery substantiaally intact. The conflict may be sharpening, but neither side has yet been able to muster the stength to move finally and forcefully against the other. Until there is a victor, and absolute authority is once again established, China seems destined to continue its drift toward chaos.
15 DECEMBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (16 December reporting 15 Dec ops) Page 3: “Bad Weather Forces U.S. Jets to Halt Attacks On Hanoi Area” … “Instead, United States pilots bombed military barracks in the western part of the country near Dienbienphu. They attacked 12 beached cargo barges south of Hanoi in a coastal area between Thanh Hoa and Vinh….during Wednesday’s raids three U.S. fighter-bombers were downed. The losses brought to 446 the total number of aircraft downed over North Vietnam…A Soviet designed MIG-21 interceptor destroyed an Air Force F-105 Thunderchief 50 miles southwest of Hanoi, the 6th American aircraft downed by MIGs over North Vietnam. The pilot was rescued from heavy jungle. The pilots of two other downed NAVY aircraft–an A-4 Skyhawk and an F-8 Crusader–were listed as MIA…. In other bombing raids in the North on Wednesdqay, carrier based Navy jets bombed seven missile sites ringing Hanoi. One target, a missile radar van was destroyed only six miles from the center ofd Hanoi. American pilots braved unusually heavy anti-aircraft fire and encountered both MIG-17s a and MIG-21s. American pilots reported seeing at least seven formations of enemy fighters equipped with cannons and missiles.” (Story accompanied by picture with caption: “A U.S. F-105, one of eight U.S. aircraft shot down Wednesday by Hanoi armed forces and people.” Caption also implied this was the 1,800th aircraft shot down over North Vietnam by North Vietnamese defenses…) …
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on 15 December 1966… ooohrah!!!
RIPPLE SALVO… #288… I have no idea whether Attila the King of the Huns really explained “the spirit of unity,” but since warrior leader Admiral Jerry (Felter) Breast, one of the “bravest of the brave,” said this is true (in a speech he gave in 2005) it must be so…
“THE SPIRIT OF UNITY”… Attila the Hun: “The spirit of unity must be a cardinal principle in the ways and attitudes of all Huns. Once divided we are easily made subject to foreign nations.”… Our great country lacked “the spirit of unity” in our conduct of the Vietnam War and we got humbled by a third rate country that recognized and used that shortoming to win that war of wills… Here we are 50 years later beset by chaos and bloody fighting in every corner of our planet… and the status of our national unity, “the spirit of unity,” is at a woefully low state…
“Once divided we are easily made subject to foreign nations.”… History is the teacher…
Lest we forget…. Bear -30-