RIPPLE SALVO… #567… NYT, 23 September 1967, Page 1: “Fighting at the Buffer Zone Resembles Some Battles Fought in World Wars”…
On 25 September 1967 the Marine outpost at Conthien received over three thousand rounds of enemy 130mm and 152mm fire that landed among the leathernecks of the 3rd battalion 9th Marines, who were taking their “turn in the barrel.” More than 1,400 Marines were killed and nearly 7,600 were wounded in the Conthien “meat grinder” between February 1967 and February 1969. Con Thien, the “Hill of Angels,”and the precursor of “the Agony of Khe Sanh.”…but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED SIXTY-SEVEN of a day-to-day revisit of Operation Rolling Thunder, the air war over North Vietnam courageously waged in the years of 1965-1968…
24 September 1967… HEAD LINES From The New York Times on a Sunday under dark clouds and possible rain…
FALL IN AMERICA 1967: U.S. OFFERS SHELTER TO WHOLE CITIES MENACED BY FLOODS IN MEXICO” … “…as biggest flood in 34 years rolled down the Rio Grande River. The bodies of 6 victims of Hurricane Beulah were found across the border. Standing in the path of the flood were Matamoros and Reynosa with populations totaling 175,000.”…. Page 1: “Rusk Urges Organization of American States To Block Castro–21 Latin Foreign Ministers Receive a Plan to Isolate Cuban Regime further”… “Secretary of State Dean Rusk urged Latin Ministers to ‘tighten the diplomatic, political and economic isolation of the Communist regime of Premier Fidel Castro.”… Page 1: “Teacher’s Parley Strikes New Snag; Both Sides Bitter–Union’s Members Believed Unlikely to Resume Jobs In Schools Tomorrow–Talks Halted By Clash”… “Two week old work stoppage at city’s 900 public schools continues.”…. Page 1: “Democrats Press Lobbyist to Aid Party’s Finances–At Transportation Secretary Alan Boyd Reception, Support for Johnson is Urged and Tickets for $1,000 Pushed.”... Page 43: “First Lady Ends Her Tour of Midwest”… “…a four-day look at art, architecture, and agriculture in ‘Crossroads of America’…The Theme of Ladybird Johnson’s 3,560-mile air, water and road trip through the Midwest has been that Americans need no longer to head into the great cities for economic and cultural opportunity, that advantages can be brought to the towns with local determination and a measure of Federal assistance.”... Page 50: “Negroes Angered at Coast Hippies–White Youth Said To Run Haight-Asbury Section”… “Despite hippie beliefs in ‘love power,’ not everyone in San Francisco’s Haight-Asbury section loves the hippies. There is hostility and resentment against the ‘new community’ by many Negro residents of the community. ‘These hippies have come in and turned a once nice neighborhood into a slum,’ said a Negro resident of the section.”… Page 58: “Hartford Talks With Minorities–Maps Anti-poverty Program That Poor Will Control”… “Negro militants and city anti-poverty workers met today to shape a new anti-poverty program in this racially troubled city that the poor would control and operate... the militant Negroes call themselves ‘The Black Caucus.’ “…
VIETNAM: Page 1: “SOVIET SIGNS PACT TO SEND MORE AID TO NORTH VIETNAM–AGREEMENT FOR ’68 PROVIDES BROAD RANGE OF MATERIAL SUPPLIED IN PAST–GROMYKO REJECTS A BRITISH PROPOSAL FOR RECONVENING GENEVA CONFERENCE”… “…aid package includes surface-to-air missiles, aircraft and artillery weapons.”… Page 7: “War And Plenty Coexist in Danang”... “30-months after Marines landed here, this shabby port of 250,000 people is in the middle of an intensified war and an artificial economic boom…there is little unemployment.”… Page 6: “North Vietnamese Report Downing of One Aircraft”... “The plane was downed at 3AM during a strike on the Vinhbinh area… American officials confirmed that North Vietnam gunners had downed a total of five aircraft this week.”
24 September 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (25 Sept reporting 24 Sept ops)... The air war in the North was hampered by widespread bad weather–layers of overcast and rain. Most ops were diverted to the expanded campaign to support the Marines south of the DMZ… Page 3: “B-52s AGAIN BOMB ENEMY IN DMZ”… “United States B-52 bombers blanketed a mile-long strip just inside the northern boundary of the demilitarized zone this morning with thousand pound bombs, hitting at rocket, artillery and mortar positions. Yesterday the huge eight-engined planes, each capable of carrying 60,000-pounds of bombs, blasted North Vietnamese positions three times to the northwest, west and north of Conthien, a lonely, battered hill outpost two miles, south of the demilitarized zone, which separates North and South Vietnam. In one of the most intensive concentrations of bombing in the war the B-52s by unofficial count, have attacked 78 times in the Conthein area since mid-August.”… More in Ripple Salvo below…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on 24 September 1967…
RIPPLE SALVO… #567… NYT, 23 Sept 1967, Page 1: “TACTICS IN VIETNAM by Hanson W. Baldwin: “FIGHTING AT THE BUFFER ZONE RESEMBLES SOME BATTLES FOUGHT IN WORLD WARS.”…
“The fighting near the border of North Vietnam and South Vietnam, as exemplified in the battle raging around the Conthien outpost, has been more intense and continuous and far more costly in casualties during 1967 than in any other area of the war. It has assumed a character far different from that of the intermittent clashes in the ‘search-and-destroy’ operations and in sporadic small-scale actions of guerrilla war. The fighting near the demilitarized zone has many of the characteristics of the trenches of World War I. It is also similar to the Pacific Island battles of World War II when–United States marines and soldiers assaulted heavily defended Japanese positions, To the marines and soldiers, in general, the frustrating problem of the fighting near the buffer zone is that the enemy’s well concealed and heavily protected gun positions cannot be assaulted and captured as they were in World War II.
“Most of them are north of the 17th parallel in the sanctuary of North Vietnam, and ground operations north of the parallel are forbidden. The zone itself is a six-mile wide strip that extends three miles into North Vietnam and three miles into South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese, with three or four divisions heavily supported by modern artillery, including mortars and rockets astride or near the zone, pose a constant threat of serious invasion. this has been met by the construction of fortified camps and the concentrations of most of the Third Marine Division south of the zone. However the concentration has been achieved by thinning out United States troops elsewhere in Vietnam.
“The camps and concentrations have provided the North Vietnamese with fixed targets, such as Conthien, which is bombarded daily. The United states counters the bombardment with artillery, naval gun fire and air bombardment, including the saturation bombing of the area by the B-52s…. The enemy guns are difficult to knock out. They fire from a number of different positions and shift from one to another at night. Many are in deeply protected dugouts or in caves.the guns are rolled to the mouths of the caves to fire a few quick rounds on pre-registered positions, then are rolled back under cover. Only a direct hit against a small cave mouth is likely to eliminate the enemy gun permanently.
“The need for larger caliber, penetrating projectiles against enemy positions along the demilitarized zone was one reason for the recommissioning of the battleship New Jersey. That ship with her 16-inch guns will not be ready for service however, until next year. The United States land, sea and air bombardment has undoubtedly caused the enemy heavy casualties and destroyed many artillery pieces. Nevertheless, the guns have been replaced, the fire is still heavy, and the demilitarized zone still represents an open wound.
“There has been criticism in both Vietnam and Washington of the static nature of the Marine defenses south of the zone. Some marines have suggested that the drain of casualties caused by enemy fire could be avoided by mobile warfare. If the Marine outposts were moved back beyond the range of enemy artillery fire, the enemy would probably move his troops and gun positions south. Marine amphibious landings on the enemy flank and helicopter and ground operations supported by air, naval gunfire and artillery might then trap many of the enemy in South Vietnam. Some observers believe this would cost the United States less and the enemy more than the present static tactics.
“An objection is that about 11,000 South Vietnamese civilians have been evacuated from the areas along the demilitarized zone north of the Marine positions. Here artillery fire can be laid down without danger of civilian casualties. A withdrawal would expose Quangtri, a provincial capital , and thousands of South Vietnamese civilians.
“The value of the barrier now being extended south of the zone would be largely neutralized unless there were strong points and troops close behind to guard it. Today, the barrier stretched along more than 11 miles of the relatively flat land south of the eastern stretch of the demilitarized zone. It consist of a 600-yard strip, bulldozed clear of vegetation to provide a clear field of fire for the marines. Barbed wire, land mines and monitoring devices are backed up by fortified Marine camps and artillery positions.. It is these positions that are taking the pounding, and the casualties increase when the infantry units make periodic sweeps and reconnaissance patrols between the camps and into the southern part of the demilitarized below the 17th Parallel.
“For these reasons, the suggested withdrawal and reversion to mobile warfare have not been attempted. The possibilities have been thoroughly studied, an authority said, but the marines have been ordered to stay in place and to hold their bases south of the zone. there is now another reason that could well prevent mobile tactics, at least until spring. The northeast monsoon which swathes the North Vietnamese coast and the demilitarized zone in torrential rains from the fall until March, has broken. The roads in Conthien and other Marine outposts south of the zone have become impassable. Dugouts in the fortified camps have been crumbling and sand bags are disintegrating.
“The United States ground mobility and United States air support during the monsoon season will be handicapped. Already reports indicate that Conthien and other outposts have had to be supplied by air between the cloud bursts.”
RTR QUOTE for 24 September: ANACREON, Epigram: “War is not sparing of the brave, but of cowards.”…
Lest we forget…. Bear