RIPPLE SALVO… #850… ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES CHIEF OF STAFF, AND THE HERO OF THE SINAI PENINSULA CAMPAIGN IN 1956, MOSHE DAYAN WENT TO VIETNAM TO RID HIMSELF FROM THE ITCH OF IDLENESS. Dayan: “It had been ten years since I had been in battle, ten years since I had been at the wrong end of an enemy tank, field gun, and attack plane–and at the right end of our own.” On 12 July 1966 he headed for Vietnam and was accorded the grand tour on a lax schedule that included close up and personal brushes with the VC and North Vietnamese. But that’s another story. He also spent a year visiting and talking to every military mind in the world who would give him a few hours. The result was a book, of course. But that’s another story, too. Included in his quiet evenings of conversation was a discussion of the American’s Vietnam War with Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery (1887-1976). “The hero of El Alamein told the hero of the Sinai that the Americans had implemented a misguided strategy that depended on large numbers of combat troops, aggressive bombing and the civilian social engineering plan that moved entire village populations threatened by the Viet Cong into safe havens. That policy, the 78-year-old Montgomery told Dayan, was, ‘insane.’ ‘… And that’s the Ripple Salvo story for this post… But first…
GOOD MORNING… Day EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY of a remembrance of that part of the Vietnam war fought over the horizon that represented the offense in the American strategy… it was called Operation Rolling Thunder…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Wednesday, 3 July 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “B-52’s BLAST THE ENEMY AT DMZ AS SATURATION BOMBING RAIDS CONTINUE”… “United States B-52’s bombers rained tons of explosives on targets in North Vietnam just north of the demilitarized zone today for the second consecutive day. A military spokesman said tonight that the bombers had carried out saturation raids up to three miles above the northern edge of the demilitarized zone, at the South Vietnamese border, hitting at weapons positions and bunkers. in is from this area that the North Vietnamese have been able to hurl 2130mm artillery shells at military installations in northern Quangtri Province including the Marine base at Dongha and the port at Cua Viet on the South China Sea… (B-52 Raid defined: Seventy-five B-52s flying from bases in Guam, Okinawa, and Thailand, participated in Saturation raids.The Associated Press reported each carried about 54,000 pounds of 500 and 750-pound bombs.) this week’s raid marked the first time the B-52’s have been used over North Vietnam since May 9. VULNERABLE TO MISSILES… the primary reason for using the huge bombers primarily against target in South Vietnam is their vulnerability to surface-to-air missiles and heavy antiaircraft guns (85 and 100mm). A high-ranking American spokesman said that the new air raids in the north should not be construed as meaning there has been an increase in the infiltration rate of North Vietnamese troops across the demilitarized zone. Instead, the raids apparently reflected military thinking here that the enemy is preparing for an attack, either in Saigon or in the northern provinces near Hue or Danang….LULL CONTINUES ON GROUND… “ Page 1: “SOVIET PLANE RELEASES PLANE CARRYING GI’s TO VIETNAM—U.S. Gratified By Action On 231 and Expresses Regret on Airspace OIntrusion–Craft Reaches Japan–prompt Russian Step Erases Fear of Reversal of New relaxation of Tensions”…
PEACE TALKS…All ‘s quiet…
Page 1: “HANOI TO RELEASE THREE PILOTS–Humanitarian Policy Cited By North Vietnamese–Fliers Not Identified”… “…Proceeding from the humanitarian and lenient policy of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the general political department of the Vietnam Peoples Army has decided to release three United State pilots captured in North Vietnam.”… Page 2: “U.S. OFFICIALS EAGER FOR MISSILE TALKS WITH SOVIETS”… Page 2: “U.S. Is Evaluating Soviet Arms Bid–Seeks Common Ground For Nine-Point Proposals”… Page 4: “President Honors Army Chief of Staff On Retirement”… Page 8: “A NEW PLOT TO SLAY NASSER IS REPORTED–35 Said to Be Held”… Page 1: “JUDGE ORDERS JAMES EARL RAY RETURNED TO U.S. IN DR. KING’S DEATH–British Magistrate Rejects View of Case As Political– Suspect Will Appeal”… Page 10: “Israelis Are Rushing Resettlement Project In the Arab Area Of Jerusalem”… Page 11: “CHILDREN’S THYROIDS DAMAGED BY HYDROGEN BOMB FALLOUT IN 1954 TESTS–17 of 19 On a Pacific isle Affected By 1954 Blast”… Page 14: “HOUSE UNIT BACKS END OF F-111B–Acts On Funds Viewed as Planes Death Sentence”… Page 24: “MOST IN GALLUP POLL SAY U.S. IS ‘NOT SICK’–Negroes And Whites Differ On Questions of Gallup”…
3 JULY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (4 July reporting 3 July ops)… Page 3: “149 MISSIONS IN NORTH”… “To the north American planes carried out 149 missions in North Vietnam’s southern panhandle, just north of the demilitarized zone. The military command also said that two Air Force planes were lost in the last two days. One of the aircraft, an F-105 Thunderchief, wa downed by ground fire 17 miles northwest of Dongha. The pilot wa rescued. the pilot was rescued. The other plane, an A-1 Skyraider, was shot down during the rescue operation and was listed as missing. The second pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Modica of Birmingham, Ala, spent the night in the jungle while North Vietnamese troops searched for him. In the morning, rescue planes were met with a hail of ground fire and more than 100 sorties were carried out against enemy positions. Finally, in mid-afternoon, a rescue helicopter was able to much the downed pilot. In Danang where Colonel Modica was taken, ground force men counted 40 bullet holes in the helicopter…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 3 July 1968…
(1) An F-100D Super Sabre of the 90th TFS and 3rd TFW was struck from the rolls — “damaged beyond repair”– as a result of a wheels-up landing returning to Bien Hoa from a combat mission. Cause not identified… In 1968 35 F-100s were lost in combat…
RIPPLE SALVO… #850… New York Times, 3 July 1968, Page 6:
“BRITISH FIELD MARSHALL MONTGOMERY CALLS ON U.S. TO WRITE OFF THE WAR IN VIETNAM”… London, July 2
“At the age of 60, Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery of Alamein is still a man of strong opinions and pungent language. In a recent interview the famed commander expressed his views on a wide range of world issues. He eschewed politics, but he was willing to talk on matters touching his profession of arms, including Vietnam.
“Lord Montgomery believes that the United States should write off the war and accept the idea of a Communist-controlled government there. ‘You have got to stop this war,’ he said. ‘You can’t win. What is the point of all these casualties?’
“As a first step, Lord Montgomery said, he would stop the bombing of North Vietnam. Then he would try to get the leaders of North and South Vietnam together for talks–but without illusions about the possible outcomes.
ONE GOVERNMENT FORESEEN
“You have got to realize that there will be in the whole of Vietnam one government which will be Communist-controlled,’ he said. ‘I don’t think it Matters. You (the United State), would have to accept it.’ The Field Marshal was asked how he would deal with the military advice, repeatedly given to President Johnson, that a complete bombing halt without a reciprocal gesture from Hanoi would increase American casualties. “The generals must do as they are told,’ he replied. ‘The higher conduct of war has got to be in political hands. Once war gets in the hands of the generals, you are done. They are not winning, and they can’t win on the battlefield. They have lost the damn war already.’
“The hero of El Alamein, who became a great popular military figure during and after the war, is still distinguished by that familiar clipped speech and deep-set blue eyes. It was at El Alamein in the northern Egyptian desert, that the British stopped Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s eastward advance and then, in October 1942, launched the great counterattack that routed the Axis forces and ended the threat to Alexandria, 65 miles away, and the Suez Canal.
“The interview with Lord Montgomery took place in hs beautiful old house, Islington Mill, near Alton in Hampshire, in the country about 50 miles London. Spotted about the room were signed photographs of the great–General Eisenhower, Marshall Tito, Queen Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill. Lord Montgomery set his views on Vietnam in the framework of a general theory about the Far East. This was that ‘in the long run’–after 20 of 25 years–Communist China wold inevitably dominate mainland Asia. ‘America can’t stop it,’ he said. ‘Nor can anybody else. All the nations from Burma around to Korea will look to Peking as they used to in the old days.’
“Lord Montgomery visited Communist China in 1961, met Chairman Mao Tse-tung and was feted by the Government. After a tour he said that ‘the whole population is solidly united,’ and he praised ‘the tremendous accomplishments of the past 12 years under Tse-tung.’
“Lord Montgomery was critical of the United States position in Vietnam in part because as he saw it, the war did not fit into any political strategy that took account of Asian realities.
RULES OF WAR CITED…
“‘The United states has broken the second rule of war,’ he said. ‘This is: don’t go fighting a land army on the mainland in Asia. Rule one is, don’t march on Moscow. I developed those two rules myself. You are learning how important this second rule of war is. It is very difficult for a great nation which has made a mistake to come out.’
“‘But you aren’t the policemen of the world, you Americans, are you?’
“Another reason given by Lord Montgomery for his criticism of the Vietnam war was its effect on the United States reputation. ‘The whole of world opinion is against you on this issue,’ he said. ‘You are becoming a very unpopular nation, which I think is a tragedy. If you think of what your nation did after the war to help the nations recover, the generosity of the Unite States was unprecedented. Also, now you are becoming one of the most hated people in the world..’ Lord Montgomery was asked how he would deal with the evident concern of other Communist Asian nations, such as Thailand, that an American withdrawal from Vietnam would endanger their states.
“The United States should continue its alliances in Asia, he answered, and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization should go on. But, he said, the United States must not commit land forces to the mainland an instead should emphasize naval supremacy. ‘The Western world must make quite certain that it has complete dominance of the oceans,’ he asserted.
“Lord Montgomery insisted that Chinese domination of the Asian land mass was inevitable. He said this would happen ‘not by military conquest but by ideological and economic pressure. He said the countries bordering China–but he excepted India–‘will all go,’ By that he meant, he added, that they should look in Peking for leadership and would be ideologically tuned to Asian Communism.
“‘Half the people in the world today are Communists,’ he went on. ‘This is a fact, an another fact to understand is that the world (Asia) is not the Communism of Marx and Lenin. ‘It is a new brand which they like and it suits them. If they want to be Communist and don’t push it on us, let them. I don’t think anything can prevent that.'”…. End NYT article…
RTR quote for 2 July: WINSTON CHURCHILL: …of Field Marshall Montgomery… “…in defeat undefeatable, in victory unbearable”…
(Webmaster note: Famous American Army General George Patton despised Montgomery. Their rivalry was well-known)
Lest we forget… Bear