RIPPLE SALVO… #209… “INTERDICTION IN DEPTH”… but first…
Good Morning: Day TWO HUNDRED NINE looking back and remembering the warriors of Rolling Thunder…
26 September 1966…THE HOME COUNTRY NEWS FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES… A mostly sunny Monday on the Hudson…
Page 1: “Soviet Exports To North Vietnam Up Sharply In ’65″…”Soviet exports to North Vietnam have increased sharply since the United States began bombing North Vietnam early in 1965…The Soviet Union exports to Communist China also rose markedly in 1965, despite the deterioration of Moscow-Peking relations over ideological differences. However, trade flowing from China to the Soviet Union has noticeably reduced. Most of the exports to North Vietnam besides military equipment, consisted of industrial machinery, power generating equipment and road building machines…details of Soviet military aid have not been made public but it is known that such aid includes anti-aircraft weapons, some jet aircraft and transportation equipment.”… Page 1: “Saigon’s Troops Batle In Delta“…”South Vietnamese troops fighting on the Eastern edge of the dense U Minh Forest, long a Vietcong stronghold in the Mekong delta, reported having killed 105 enemy soldiers in three encounters yesterday and today. Elite South Vietnamese rangers killed 90 Vietcong yesterday without suffering a casualty. At least 45 of the deaths were credited to a machine gun and rocket firing helicopter that attacked repeatedly in the initial stages of the clash. The ranger commander said his men took 55 prisoners and captured 42 rifles. ‘Twenty of the prisoners surrendered with their weapons,’ one American officer said,’and we consider that significant.”…”…Page 1: “Typhoon Death Toll In Japan Now 174; U.S. Bases Damaged”…”More than 300 people have been killed or are missing today…after two typhoons ravaged the Tokyo area and Southern Japan…damage to U.S. military installations near Tokyo was estimated at $4million…about 50,000 homes were damaged or destroyed…100 residents in two villages near Mount Fuji were buried in their homes by a torrent of mud…instruments at the summit of Mt. Fuji measured the wind velocity at 202 miles per hour, the highest ever recorded.”…
Page 1: “Arabs Said To Get Peking Arms Aid”…”Communist China apparently is supplying small quantities of weapons to the Palestine Liberation Organization of the Arab nations.”… Page 1: “Nation Is Facing All-Out Battle For Cleaner Air”…”Just about a year from now it will be brought home forcefully to the people of the United States that they are engaged in a domestic struggle comparable to a national military effort. It is the battle against pollution. When people buy 1968 model cars next fall they will find they must pay about $50 extra for mandatory equipment to reduce a car’s normal emission of fumes. It will be the first time on record that an air pollution control measure has been imposed on the whole nation…for the first year…it will represent an extra national outlay of $500 million…it will be just a down payment…the total effort will cost countless billions and it will continue into the future as far as anyone can see and involve virtually every person in the country….the nebulous gray enemy…a systematic reordering of national life and priorities.” …Page 1: “Three Dimensional X-Ray Available That Cuts Radiation Exposure”…”Recent technological advances are bringing an effective three dimensional X-Ray to the doctor’s doorstep…the idea has been around since the turnoff the century.”….
Page 2: “Soviet Report Says Red Guards Junk Books That Aren’t Maoist”…”A Soviet correspondent in Tokyo reports today that the Red Guards, China’s youthful zealots, had ordered the destruction of all books that did not conform to the spirit and ideas of Mao Tse-tung. Schools have been closed and teachers prosecuted.’ There are no school children in the streets of Peking this September…The children have been given a different task–to study, popularize and defend Mao’s ideas. In effect this means marching with red arm bands through the streets writing leaflets and stigmatizing teachers and other suspicious elements for revisionism…this is happening in the country whose people were the first to make paper and invented painting…”…
26 September 1966… The President’s Daily Brief… CIA (TS sanitized) North Vietnam: The top Communist in South Vietnam is a four star North Vietnamese general, Nguyen Chi Thanh. Thanh, a member of the North Vietnamese politburo, is an outspoken advocate of the hard line with a reputation for brutality. He has powerful enemies and powerful friends in Hanoi. (the remainder of five pages of the brief remain classified 50 years later)…
26 SEPTEMBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (27 Sept reporting 26 Sept operations) Page 3: “U.S. Planes Raid 4 Missiles Bases”… “United States fighter-bombers battered four surface-to-air missile sites yesterday during 127 missions of several planes in North Vietnam. Three of the missile sites were north of Than Hoa, 80 miles south of Hanoi, and the fourth was nine miles north of the capital. Navy pilots reported having fired rockets into two of the sites near Thanh Hoa and heavily damaged the third with bombs ranging from 250 to 1000 pounds. Details of the extent of the damage to the site near Hanoi are sketchy. In other raids today Air Force pilots reported having wiped out 10 anti-aircraft positions along a railroad line northeast of Hanoi and cutting several places in the causeway and road leading to a ferry dock north of Thong Hoi. Navy pilots said they wrecked three boxcars and destroyed two fuel tanks in a railroad yard and fuel storage area near Thanh Hoa. An Air Force Thunderchief jet crashed during yesterday’s raids on the North and the pilot was listed as missing (CAPTAIN CLIFF CUSHING, KIA… see yesterday’s blog)… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) … Three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 26 September 1966…
(1) CAPTAIN ARTHUR T. BALLARD was flying an F-105D of the 469th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat on a strike on oil storage facilities in the Hanoi area. His aircraft was struck by ground fire en route to the target 25 miles northwest of Thai Nguyen and burst into flames. CAPTAIN BALLARD ejected and was severely injured in the process (broken left leg). He was captured and interned as a POW until released from imprisonment in March 1973. CAPTAIN BALLARD was downed on his 68th mission…. Hobson reports that this was the ninth F-105 lost in the month of September.
(2) CAPTAIN J.G. PAULSEN was flying an F-5C of the 10th FCS and 3rd TFW out of Bien Hoa and was downed by small arms fire attacking a target west of Vung Tau. He ejected and was rescued by an Army helicopter..
(3) MAJOR JOSEPH MILLARD STINE and 1LT DYKE AUGUSTUS SPILMAN were flying an F-4C Phantom of the 16th TRS and 466th TRW out of Tan Son Nhut on a night photographic reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam and did not return from the mission. Fate unknown. Killed in action. On this day FIFTY YEARS LATER MAJOR STINE and 1LT SPILMAN are remembered for their service, sacrifice and courage in executing one of the most dangerous of all missions– solo intelligence gathering, at night, where the enemy is and stands ready. Admiration and respect for MAJOR STINE and 1LT SPILMAN, two warriors who perished on 26 September 1966, is boundless. Left behind? The search goes on… As does the lonely vigil of their families, who have already waited for five decades…
RIPPLE SALVO… #209… I found this article on page 5 of the New York Times for 26 September 1966, CAPTAIN JAMES D. RAMAGE, of Coronada, California, was turned loose at a news conference at Tan Son Nhut…
“‘Interdiction In Depth’ Is Used To Disrupt North Rail Lines”…A Navy officer described today how a tactic called ‘interdiction in depth’ had in six days destroyed 229 railroad cars and more than two hundred trucks and had apparently caused serious disruption of military traffic through two important North Vietnamese cities. Another element was to paralyze large supply trains by cutting the tracks ahead and behind them and then destroying the supplies on them on the tracks and nearby targets. Captain James D. Ramage of Coronada, California, is Chief of Staff of Task Force 77, the Navy attack force that operates in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. Captain Ramage said at a news conference that he believed ‘interdiction in depth’ worked best at choke points or North Vietnamese cities where vital rail, barge and highway routes converged and where important military supplies were transshipped and temporarily stored. He said the Seventh Fleet hit the jackpot earlier this month at the vital cities of Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa, 50 and 70 miles south of Hanoi, respectively. Captain Ramage said he hoped the massive raids would make it easier to win the war in South Vietnam and they had pretty much disrupted traffic meant to support North Vietnam infiltration into the South. He described how most of the aircraft of the three attack carriers had almost incessantly bombed a rail and storage area near Ninh Binh from September 14 through September 17, destroying two locomotives, 104 rail cars and bridges. One element of ‘interdiction in depth,’ he said, is to take quick advantage of unexpected opportunity. This was done in Ninh Binh when a reconnaissance plane saw a large freight train the day the first air strikes were going on and succeeded in isolating and paralyzing the train by cutting the rails at one end of the train and knocking down a bridge on the other. For the next three days the Navy flew almost 300 sorties against the stymied target and the trucks attempting to unload and transfer the cargo. The key target was a prominent rock outcropping which had been tunneled to store ammunition. Direct hits, aerial photography showed, caused massive explosions in the rock. The same type of operation took place over the three day span beginning last Thursday (22 Sept), about a mile from Thanh Hoa. A train isolated by cutting the tracks was halted near an important train ferry, a major bridge and a transshipment point: a very lucrative target (LUCTAR) in ‘interdiction in depth’ tactics.”
Atta boy, Jig Dog, sir… RIP, but howabout a big grin for RTR?… luvyaman…
Lest we forget… Bear ……… –30– ………