RIPPLE SALVO… #813… NO SUGAR COATING FROM THE PRESIDENT’S SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PSAC) IN THEIR 27 MAY 1968 REORT TO PRESIDENT JOHNSON ENTITLED: “The Effects of Air Strikes in North Vietnam and Laos.”…. but first…
Good Morning… Day EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTEEN of a remembrance of the events and warriors of an operation called Rolling Thunder begun in 1965 and concluded 1 November 1968… and in between?… a bitter, bloody and heroic fight… report cards bedamned!!!…
HEAD LINES from THE NEW YORK TIMES on Monday, 27 May 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “FIGHTING IS SHARP AT THE EDGE OF SAIGON–24 ENEMY SOLDIER KILLED–COMBAT NEAR THE BUFFER ZONE IS HEAVY AGAIN”… “Small but violent battles broke out on the edges of Saigon yesterday and there were reports of heavy fighting near the demilitarized zone. Two miles northeast of downtown Saigon, South Vietnamese marines conducting a house-to-house search came upon a band of enemy soldiers and killed 24. Three marines were killed and 12 wounded. Helicopters circled above the marines, diving in with rocket and machine-gun fire when fleeing enemy soldiers were spotted. As night fell, other armed helicopters and United States fighter-bombers attacked enemy soldiers who were fighting American infantrymen five miles south of the city…. At 11:05 P.M. an enemy force of battalion size attacked an American mechanized unit of tanks and armored cars camped for the night six miles west-southwest of central Saigon. Five Americans were killed and 11 wounded. There was no report of enemy losses… Meanwhile, a United States military spokesman reported that heavy fighting had broken out again between elements of the 320th Division of the North Vietnamese Army and allied troops north of Dongha, the main supply center for allied forces manning defensive positions along the DMZ…. In two fierce battles Saturday, the South Vietnamese and American marines said they killed 362 of the enemy…The South Vietnamese reported light casualties. The Marines killed 241 of the North Vietnamese while losing 16 dead and 33 wounded in 14 hours of fighting seven miles north-northwest of Dongha….In two other engagements south of Danang… American forces killed 139 enemy soldiers. The heaviest fighting occurred about 30 miles south of Danang, where 46 enemy soldiers and four Americans were killed. A few miles south an American helicopter was shot down and one of the four crewmen was killed… In a second clash about 20 miles west of Danang American marines killed 53 of the enemy. Their own death toll was seven.”… Page 3: “U.S. CONFIRM CALL FOR ALL-OUT FIGHT–But The Command in Saigon Denies 3-Month Target”… “The United States military command confirmed today that it had called for an ‘all-out’ effort against the enemy in a secret directive sent to all field commanders (May 6) just before the Paris peace talks began.”…
PEACE CONVERSATIONS: Page 1: “VANCE RETURNING TO SEE JOHNSON–FLYING HOME TODAY TO MAKE REPORT ON PROGRESS OF NEGOTIATIONS IN PARIS”.. “Cyrus R. Vance, deputy chief of the American delegation to the preliminary peace talks with North Vietnam, will fly to Washington after the negotiating sessions tomorrow to report on the progress so far… Mr. Vance would remain in Washington for a few days, possibly returning in time for the next official meeting with the North Vietnamese delegates…NEW IDEAS TO BE OFFERED… Ambassador-at-Large W. Averell Harriman, the chief American negotiator, has said that the United States delegation will present some new ideas tomorrow, but they will not involve any basic change in the American position.”…
Page 1: “A GAULLIST CHIEF WINS BY ELECTION–PAY TALKS GO ON–CLEAR VICTORY IN DIJON VOTING ENHANCES THE PRESIDENT’S OUTLOOK FOR REFERENDUM–New Gains for Strikers–10% Increase In Wages In 2-Steps and 40-Hour Week Reported Agreed Upon”… Page 1: “Violence Erupts In Gaza Strip As Israel Marks Jerusalem Day”… Page 1: EUROPEANS EXPECT PARIS TO CUT ITS AID AND ARMS”… Page 4: “CARDINAL SHEHAN REBUKES PRIEST PHILIP BERRIGAN FOR BLOODYING DRAFT RECORDS–SAYS HE CANNOT CONDON DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY.”… Page 6. “Greek Begins A 3,200 Mill Sail On Odysseus Route”… Page 41: “4,500 Parade Here To Honor Dr. King As A Fallen Soldier”…
27 MAY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (28 May reporting 27 May ops) Page 14: “PILOTS SIGHT 100-mm GUNS NORTH OF THE BUFFER ZONE–ANTIAIRCRAFT WEAPONS CALLED LARGEST SEEN IN VIETNAM–16 OF THE POSITIONS HIT IN BOMBING MISSIONS”… “United States pilots have spotted radar-controlled 100-mm antiaircraft guns in North Vietnam just north of the demilitarized zone. It was confirmed yesterday that it was the first confirmed report of sighting the antiaircraft guns this large–about four inches across the muzzle- in either North Vietnam or South Vietnam. There are no reports that the weapons have been used against American planes. The spokesman said that 16 of the 100-mm gun positions were damaged or destroyed during the 120 missions flown yesterday over targets south of the 19th Parallel and above the DMZ. ‘Apparently we caught them before the guns were properly installed,’ the spokesman said, ‘They never fired a shot at our planes.’… HAVE A RANGE OF EIGHT MILES… The guns, which are of Soviet manufacture, are called KS-19’s. They have a range of eight miles, posing a threat to B-52 Superfortresses, which fly bombing missions at a usual altitude of 30,000 feet.”… “VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES” (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 27 May 1968…
From the compilation “34TFS/F-105 History” by Howie Plunkett for 3 May 1968… Humble Host includes this journal entry as representing the average day of a squadron’s ops, Navy or Air Force, during the period March to July 1968. The Air Force was squeezed into a 50×50 miles patch of North Vietnam in addition to all of Laos. the Navy block of real estate was about a 100×50 miles block of North Vietnam and we were also fragged for missions into Steel Tiger. The two mountain passes, Mu Gia and Ban Karai were outlets from North Vietnam into Laos and the Ho Chi Minh trail. They were great choke points, but well defended. On the afternoon of 3 May the 34th TFS out of Korat logged the following:
“In the early afternoon, two flights from the 388th, each with two F-105Ds struck three targets in Route Package 1, North Vietnam. At 650Z, ‘Gator’ flight, two F-105D’s from the 34th TFS, working with the F-100F Fast FAC ‘Misty 41’ dropped 12 M-117s on three trucks on Route 1011… The FAC reported no BDA possible due to dust and smoke in the target area. No defenses noted.
“Ten minutes later, ‘Gator’ flight strafed with 20mm ammunition over 800-barrels of POL the FAC found stacked in drums alongside a road northeast of Mu Gia Pass…Misty 41′ reported 12 secondary explosions, huge fires, plenty of billowing smoke. No defenses.
“At 0915Z, fifteen minutes after ‘Gator’ flight had left the area, ‘Locust’ flight in to strafe the drums of POL previously struck by ‘Gator’ flight. ‘Misty 41’ had to leave the area before reporting ‘Locust’s’ BDA but the F-105 pilots reported several more secondary explosions and fires. They too, encountered no enemy defenses.
“In a publicity announcement, the 388th TFW described the attack on the POL storage area. ‘The F-105 pilots found hundreds of drums of POL along a small road. One of the pilots, Major Roger D. Ingvalson, 34 TFS, said, ‘There were actually piles of them (POL drums) along a tall hedgerow on one side of the road and in and among the trees on the other side. I made four strafing passes on the area. On two of them I saw one secondary (explosion) each and on two others I saw two more secondaries each,’ Ingvalson added. ‘There were huge red fireballs with billowing black smoke. I think we got all the drums. It was the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.’…
“The FAC gave the F-105 pilots credit for destroying 800 barrels of POL, and causing 12 secondary explosions. ‘The FAC said the barrels kept exploding for about 10 minutes after we left the area.”… oohrah… (More on Major INGVALSON tomorrow…)
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 27 MAY FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION IN THE SKIES OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1967… NONE…
1968… NONE… OOHRAH
RIPPLE SALVO… #813… “THE EFFECTS OF AIR STRIKES IN NORTH VIETNAM and LAOS” by the President’s Science Advisory Committee, submitted to the President on 27 May 1968… “…was based on an extensive review of government wide studies of various aspects of the bombing campaign. The report noted that the bombing had not ‘significantly weakened the will of the North Vietnamese to carry on,’ interdiction had failed to prevent the enemy from increasing his capabilities, and the bombing in Laos had limited impact on the flow of men and materiel southward. ‘It is our judgement that with prudent planning the enemy should have been able to schedule and move supplies to South Vietnam at a rate which would accommodate the losses inflicted by the bombing campaign in North Vietnam,’ the authors of the report concluded. ‘We believe that factors other than our air campaign in North Vietnam will largely determine the scale of the war in South Vietnam in the future. None of the possible alternatives for continuing bombing appeared promising, as air attacks only in Laos and South Vietnam would likely be about as effective as more expanded attacks that included targets in North Vietnam. The authors recommended the development of integrated operational plans for air interdiction, procurement of better equipment, increased identification and analysis of the vulnerability of the North Vietnamese logistics system, a review of air-supported anti-infiltration operations, increased photographic reconnaissance of all of North Vietnam, and the continuation and improvement of electronic surveillance operations.”… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d251…
The record shows that everybody in the chop chain up to and including the President endorsed and concurred with the Wise Men of the Science Advisory Committee and then, the bombing campaign went on as before while 35,000 more warriors perished in a war the President was told had no plan for victory…. Sort of like our ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan… I don’t think our much esteemed generals cum Administration advisors at the highest levels, have viable victory or exit plans either… that’s my opinion… your opinions are most welcome… in the comments section below or via our contact form.
RTR quote for 27 May: WILLIAM MANCHESTER, The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972: “Nineteen sixty-eight, the year everything went wrong.”…
And then there is from Hanoi’s official Vietnam press agency reporting Ho Chi Minh’s thank you poem to those who remembered his 19 May birthday; “At 78, I don’t feel very old yet. Steadily on my shoulders I still carry the country’s burden. In their resistance, our people are winning tremendous victories, Forward! We march with our younger generations.”
Lest we forget… Bear