Daniel Orr's Blog, page 53

August 15, 1944 – World War II: Allied forces land in southern France

Invasion of Southern France On July 14, 1944, while the battle for Normandywas ongoing, the Allied High Command agreed to launch an invasion of southern France.  This new offensive, given the codenameOperation Dragoon,was intended to ease the worsening supply problems that the Allies were facingin northern France.  There, the destroyed port of Cherbourg,captured in late June 1944, was still being rehabilitated, while the artificialharbor in the western sector, was inadequate to supply the ever-increasingnumbers of men, weapons, and equipment being brought into battle daily.  Operation Dragoon also resulted from pressureby General Charles de Gaulle, commander of Free French forces, to open a newfront in southern France,and with greater participation of French troops.

(Taken from Defeat of Germany in the West 1944-1945 – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe: Vol. 6)

On August 15, 1944, theAllies launched Operation Dragoon, with elements of U.S. 7th Armybeing amphibiously landed at Cote d’Azurin southern France(Figure 40) under the cover of massive air and naval bombardment that targetedenemy positions at the beach.  The nextday, a second landing was made by French Army B to the west; the combinedAmerican and French forces comprised U.S. 6th ArmyGroup.  These landings met only lightresistance from German 19th Army defending the region, as the ablestGerman units here had already been moved to Normandy, and were replaced withlower-echelon troops, including Eastern European conscripts and ex-POW SovietRed Army defectors, who were issued only inferior weapons and who possessed lowfighting morale.  German 11th PanzerDivision still remained in the region, although most of the armored units hadalready been transferred to Normandy.  Also, in the period before Operation Dragoon,the Allies stepped up their air attacks in southern France, and destroyed transportation,power, and telephone lines, and cut off the coastal defense units fromresupply, reinforcements, and communications to other commands.  French partisans also increased theiractivity, particularly in carrying out sabotage operations.

On August 16, 1944, theGermans mounted a counter-attack, which the Allies, now pouring in largenumbers, easily turned back.  The nextday, Hitler reluctantly yielded to his generals’ pleas to allow German 19thArmy to retreat north (at this time, a similar withdrawal order was given tothe trapped German forces at the Falaise Pocket in Normandy) to set up a new defense line alongthe Sens-Dijon-Swiss border area.

Allied landings at Cote d’Azur in southern France under Operation Dragoon

On August 26, 1944, FrenchArmy B captured Toulon, and two days later, Marseilles, achieving theinvasion’s primary objectives; these towns’ ports soon entered service,unloading weapons, equipment, and materials, and easing the Allies’ supplyproblems.  At the same time, U.S. forces raced north along the Rhone Riverto try and cut off the retreating Germans, who adopted rear guard actions toallow their most valuable units and equipment to escape.  On August 20, the Americans reachedMontelimar ahead of the Germans, and a week-long (August 21-28) series ofbattles ensued, with neither side gaining a decisive victory.  In the end, the Germans slipped out most oftheir forces from Montelimar, but lost substantial quantities of equipment and supplies.

French Army B had alsoadvanced northward to the left of U.S. 7th Army.  In a further series of battles, the Alliesfailed to trap the bulk of the German forces, although the constant pressureprevented the latter from stopping to organize a new defense line.  On September 10, 1944, forward units of U.S. 7th Army met up with elements ofU.S. 3rd Army,thus linking up Allied forces from northern and southern France (i.e. from the Normandy and Dragoon operations).  On September 14, U.S.6th Army was ordered to stop its pursuit of the Germans, whomeanwhile, had formed a stable defense line at the Vosges Mountains.

German forces in southwesternFrance, which generally had been spared the fighting in the two Alliedinvasions, had also made their escape to the east, traversing through partisan-controlledterritory and joining up with German 19th Army (from southernFrance) at Burgundy, and both proceeding to the safety of the VosgesMountains.  Several German hold-outswould remain along the French Atlantic coast, e.g. Brest,Saint-Nazaire, Lorient,and La Rochelle, many of which would persistuntil the end of World War II in Europe in May1945.

August 14, 1900 – Boxer Rebellion: Eight-Nation Alliance forces storm Beijing’s walled outer city

The Allied attack on Beijing’s walledouter city was launched in the early morning of August 14, 1900, with each offour national contingents tasked to take a separate section of the wall: theRussians at Tung Chih gate, the Japanese at the Chi Hua gate, the Americans atthe Tung Pein gate, and the British at the Sha Wo gate.  At stake was the honor of relieving theforeign legations first, and thus the offensive became a race over whichcontingent would be the first to reach and free the Legation Quarter.  The Russians and Japanese were stalled attheir assigned gates because of strong Chinese resistance.  The Americans also failed to start theirattack at their assigned gate, as Russian troops had also launched an attackfrom there, in violation of the allied agreement.  As a result, the Americans moved a littledistance away from the Russians, and then climbed up the 30-foot wall anddescended to the other side.  In the end,the British won the race to the Legation Quarter, as they met only lightresistance at their assigned gate, and passed through an underground drainagecanal to reach the foreign legations. The Americans soon also arrived, followed by the Russians and Japaneselater in the evening.  The 55-day siegeof the Legation Quarter was over.

(Taken from Boxer Rebellion – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia: Vol. 5)

The timely arrival of the Alliance forces may verywell have saved their embattled compatriots, as the Legation Quarter’s defenseswere by then falling apart, with the French Legation and the Fu nearlyoverwhelmed.  Casualties among legationguards reached 40%.  Furthermore, onAugust 13, one day before the Allianceoffensive, Chinese artillery batteries resumed firing on the Legation Quarter,ending the month-long ceasefire.  Thebombardment by the Chinese artillery intensified as the day progressed.  Chinese forces also launched ground attacks,directed particularly at the British Legation.

Food supplies at the legations also haddropped critically low, and the Chinese Christians were verging on starvation,and subsisting on tree bark, plant seeds, and occasionally captured stray catsor dogs.  Much of the remainingprovisions at the legations, as well as some foraged food such as horse meat,were reserved for the foreigners, who remained somewhat in better health thanthe locals.  Diseases were rampant, andthis, the danger of an outbreak of an epidemic, and mounting casualties, keptbusy the small medical team at the foreign legations.

On August 16, 1900, the siege of theNorth Cathedral (Beitang) was lifted. Japanese troops first entered the church compound, followed by theFrench.  The latter formally received thehonor of having rescued the embattled foreigners and Chinese Christians insidethe cathedral.

On August 1, 1900, one day after theallies arrived in Beijing, U.S. forces, in response to sniper gunfire beingdirected at the foreign legations, used artillery fire to break down the wallsand gates leading to the Inner City, and the Imperial and Forbidden Cities.  Allianceforces then entered the Imperial City.  A few hours earlier, Empress Dowager Cixi, dressed inpeasant clothes, and a small retinue of her Qing court, slipped away undetectedin wooden ox carts from Beijing.  Officially, she had announced that herdeparture was not an admission of defeat, but a “tour of inspection in thewest”.  After weeks of travel, EmpressDowager Cixi arrived in Xian, Shaanxi Province.  Xian was located 1,000 miles from Beijing through mountainous terrain, which had pursuit by Alliance forces virtuallyimpossible.  Shaanxi Provincewas also the homeland of the fiercely anti-foreign Muslim Gansu Braves (the Chinese Rear Army).

On August 16, 1900, the Alliancedivided Beijing into separate zones ofoccupation among the six major powers, one each for Britain,France, Russia, Japan,the United States, and Germany.  Twelve days later, August 28, in a show offorce, the Alliance partners paraded theirtroops through the Forbidden City (the Chinese imperial palace), much to theconsternation of the remaining Qing officials and Beijing residents.  Nonetheless, allied commanders promised notto occupy the Forbidden City, but threatenedto destroy it if their entry was resisted.

Earlier on August 17, the Alliance decided that because of continued resistance inother areas around Beijing, Tianjin, and surrounding provinces, and thethreat to other foreigners, punitive operations would be conducted to fullyeliminate the Boxers.  After the Alliancecaptured Beijing,most of the Boxer bands had returned to their homes in the countryside afterbolting or being dispersed from the fighting.

The foreign powers imposed martial lawand curfew in Beijing,and banned public mass assemblies.  The Alliance’s partition of Beijinginto occupation zones and declaration to launch punitive operations, togetherwith the breakdown of Qing authority in northern China,became tacit license for the foreign armies to go on a rampage in Beijing.  For several weeks, allied soldiers, foreigncivilians, envoys, and even missionaries and clergy, engaged in widespreadlooting, which was described in the international press as a “carnival ofloot”, and “the great Christian nations…[were] being represented in Chinaby robbing, rapine, [and] looting soldiers”. Some of the looters became wealthy by selling the stolen items, a U.S.diplomat carted away several trainloads filled with loot, and the clergyjustified their actions by saying that the sale of the looted items would beused to care for the hundreds of Chinese Christian refugees affected by theconflict.

Alliancesoldiers also perpetrated widespread atrocities on the civilian population inrelation to the lootings or merely out of contempt for the Chinese people,which resulted in hundreds of incidents of murders, rapes, and destruction of housesand properties.  Troops of all Alliance nations participatedin the violence, and the Russian and Japanese soldiers were particularlynotorious.

Believing that the Boxers continued to pose a serious security threat,the Alliance armies launched punitive operationsin the rural areas of Zhili, Shandong, and otherprovinces.  Most of these operations wereled by German General Waldersee, who arrivedin October 1900, together with a large German contingent.  In October 1900-April 1901, 46 such expeditionswere made, with 35 by the Germans.  In Zhili Province,Allianceoperations totaled 76, with 51 being led by Germans.  These operations brought widespread death anddestruction, with thousands of civilians killed, women raped, and propertieslooted, and houses destroyed.  GeneralGaselee, who had ledthe final offensive on Beijing,described these operations in the capital and surrounding countryside, thus,“The condition in and about the city…was bad. Looting of the city, uncontrolledforaging in surrounding country, and seizure by soldiers of everything aChinaman might have, as vegetables, eggs, chickens, sheep, cattle, etc…indiscriminate and generally unprovoked shooting of Chinese… It is safe to saythat where one real Boxer has been killed since the capture of Peking, fifty harmless coolies and laborers… includingnot a few women and children have been slain”. As well, the Eight-Nation Alliance co-opted anti-Boxer Chinese commanders toparticipate in suppressing the Boxers. Yuan Shikai, the ChineseArmy general, led anti-Boxer expeditions in Zhli and Shandong, where his soldiers killedthousands of civilians.

Meanwhile, the Alliance and Qing government (still in Xian)began to open channels of communication to end the impasse.  In December 1900, the first series of peacetalks between the two sides began.  ManyQing officials wanted to continue the war, saying that China’s large territorial sizewould make foreign conquest and occupation of the whole country virtuallyimpossible.  But Empress Dowager Cixi was enticed by the Alliance’spromise that her government would not be forced to cede more territory, andthat she would continue to rule over China.

On September 7, 1901, the Eight-NationAlliance, togetherwith Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands, and the Qinggovernment signed a peace treaty called the Boxer Protocol,which officially ended the conflict. Among the treaty’s provisions were that China would pay war reparationsto the foreign powers over a 35-year period; that ten high-ranking officialswould be executed and hundreds of others would be punished with exile orimprisonment; that China was barred from importing weapons, ammunition, andmaterials to manufacture armaments for a period of two years, subject to atwo-year extension; that anti-foreign organizations would be outlawed; that thecivil service examinations would be suspended for five years in areas whereforeigners were massacred or subject to atrocities; and that China would extenta formal apology to German and Japan for the murders of their envoys, and amemorial arch would be built by the Chinese government on the spot where theGerman diplomat was killed.

The Qing government, while complyingwith most of its obligations in the treaty, refused to acquiesce to someimpositions, for instance, two high-ranking anti-foreign officials, PrinceZaiyi and General Dong Fuxiang (commander of the Gansu Braves),were sent into internal exile and not executed, as demanded by the Alliance.

August 13, 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Shanghai breaks out

On August 13, 1937, Chinese and Japanese forces clashed atthe Battle of Shanghai near the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War (July1937 – September 1945). A combined total of 1 million troops were brought intocombat: Chinese – 700,000 and Japanese 300,000. The Chinese also counted 180planes and 40 tanks in the battle, while the Japanese had 500 planes and 300tanks. Some 130 Japanese ships also took part.

The three-month battle (August – November 1937) featuredheavy house-to-house fighting in the city center, later described by theWestern media as “Stalingrad on the Yangtze” after the famous Stalingradbattle in August 1942-February 1943. Japanese amphibious landings and flankingmanoeuvres starting in late August 1937 onwards was decisive, as Chinese forceswere forced to withdraw from Shanghaior face being trapped and destroyed. The over 2:1 Chinese numerical superiorityin personnel was offset by the Japanese advantage in air, naval, and armouredequipment and armaments.

The Second Sino-Japanese War began in July 1937 with theMarco Polo Bridge Incident, although many armed incidents had already beentaking place following the Japanese invasion of Manchuriain 1931.

(Taken from Japanese Invasion of Manchuria – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia: Vol. 5)

Japanese Expansionisminto China Japan invaded Manchuriain September 1931, bringing the region under its control by February 1932.While the Manchurian conflict was yet winding down, another crisis erupted in Shanghai in January1932,when five Japanese Buddhist monks were attacked by a Chinese mob.  Anti-Japanese riots and demonstrations ledthe Japanese Army to intervene, sparking full-scale fighting between Chineseand Japanese forces.  In March 1932, theJapanese Army gained control of Shanghai,forcing the Chinese forces to withdraw.

With the League of Nations providing no more than a rebukeof Japan’s aggression,Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek saw that his efforts to force internationalpressure to restrain Japanhad failed.  In January 1933, to secure Manchukuo, a combined Japanese-Manchukuo force invaded Jehol Province,and by March, had pushed the Chinese Army south of the Great Wall into Hebei Province.

Unable to confront Japanmilitarily and also beset by many internal political troubles, Chiang wascompelled to accept the loss of Manchuria and Jehol Province.  In March 1933, Chinese and Japaneserepresentatives met to negotiate a peace treaty.  In May, the two sides signed the Tanggu Truce(in Tanggu, Tianjin), officially ending the war, which provided the followingstipulation that was wholly favorable to Japan: a 100-km demilitarized zone wasestablished south of the Great Wall extending from Beijing to Tianjin, whereChinese forces were barred from entering, but where Japanese planes and groundunits were allowed to patrol.

In the immediate aftermath of Japan’sconquest of Manchuria, many anti-Japanese partisan groups, called “volunteerarmies”, sprung up all across Manchuria.  At its peak in 1932, this resistance movementhad some 300,000 fighters who engaged in guerilla warfare attacking Japanesepatrols and isolated outposts, and carrying out sabotage actions against Manchukuoinfrastructures.  Japanese-Manchukuoforces launched a series of “anti-bandit” pacification campaigns that graduallyreduced rebel strength over the course of a decade.  By the late 1930s, Manchukuowas deemed nearly pacified, with the remaining by now small guerilla bandsfleeing into Chinese-controlled territories or into Siberia.

The conquest of Manchuria formed only one part of Japan’s “North China Buffer State Strategy”, abroad program aimed at establishing Japanese sphere of influence all acrossnorthern China.  In 1933, in China’sChahar Province (Figure 32) where a separatistmovement was forming among the ethnic Mongolians, Japanese military authoritiessucceeded in winning over many Mongolian nationalists by promising themmilitary and financial support for secession. Then in June 1935, when four Japanese soldiers who had entered Changpeidistrict (in Chahar Province) were arrested and detained (but eventuallyreleased) by the Chinese Army, Japanissued a strong diplomatic protest against China.  Negotiations between the two sides followed,leading to the signing of the Chin-Doihara Agreement on June 27, 1935, where China agreed to end its political,administrative, and military control over much of Chahar Province.  In August 1935, Mongolian nationalists, ledby Prince Demchugdongrub, forged closer ties with Japan.  In December, with Japanese support,Demchugdongrub’s forces captured northern Chahar, expelling the remainingChinese forces from the province.

In May 1936, the “Mongol Military Government” was formed inChahar under Japanese sponsorship, with Demchugdongrub as its leader.  The new government then signed a mutualassistance pact with Japan.  Demchugdongrub soon launched two offensives(in August and November 1936) to take neighboring Suiyuan Province,but his forces were repelled by a pro-Kuomintang warlord ally of Chiang.  However, another offensive in 1937 capturedthe province.  With this victory, inSeptember 1939, the Mengjiang United Autonomous Government was formed, stillnominally under Chinese sovereignty but wholly under Japanese control, whichconsisted of the provinces of Chahar, Suiyuan, and northern Shanxi.

Elsewhere, by 1935, the Japanese Army wanted to bring Hebei Provinceunder its control, as despite the Tanggu Truce, skirmishes continued to occurin the demilitarized zone located south of the Great Wall.  Then in May 1935, when two pro-Japanese headsof a local news agency were assassinated, Japanese authorities presented the Hebei provincialgovernment with a list of demands, accompanied with a show of military force asa warning, if the demands were not met. In June 1935, the He-Umezu Agreement was signed, where China ended its political, administrative, andmilitary control of Hebei Province.  Hebei thencame under the sphere of influence of Japan, which then set up a pro-Japaneseprovincial government.

China’slong period of acquiescence and appeasement ended in December 1936 whenChiang’s Nationalist government and Mao Zedong’s Communist Party of Chinaforged a united front to fight the Japanese Army.  Full-scale war between China and Japan began eight months later, inJuly 1937.

August 12, 1944 – World War II: German troops perpetrate the Wola Massacre, killing 40,000 Poles

On August 5-12, 1944, German forces, aided by Russiancollaborationist units, perpetrated the Wola Massacre, where they killed some40,000 Poles in the Wola district of Warsaw, the Polish capital. The massacretook place during the ongoing Warsaw Uprising (August – October 1944), a failedattempt by the Polish resistance to liberate the city from German occupation.

The massacre occurred when German units, unable to advancetoward the city center because of heavy fire from the Polish fighters, wenthouse to house in the Wola and nearby districts indiscriminately shootingresidents on sight or leading them out to be executed en masse. Men weretortured and women raped, and most victims were the elderly, women, andchildren. Houses and buildings, including hospitals and factories, were burneddown.

The massacre ended on August 12 following an order by Germanauthorities that captured civilians were to be transported to concentration orlabor camps outside the city. Rather than dampen opposition as the German hadhoped, the massacre further steeled the resistance to fight on, leading to afurther two months of heavy fighting before the Germans regained control of Warsaw.

(Taken from Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe: Vol. 6)

Genocide and slavelabor Because of the failure of Operation Barbarossa and succeedingcampaigns, Germanywas unable to implement the planned mass-scale transfer of targeted populationsto the Russian interior.  Elimination ofthe undesired populations began almost immediately following the outbreak ofwar, with the conquest of Poland.  The killing of hundreds of thousands ofcivilians occurred in hundreds of incidents of massacres and mass shootings intowns and villages, reprisals against attacks on German troops, scorched earthoperations, civilians trapped in the cross-fire, concentration camps, etc.

By far, the most famous extermination program was theHolocaust, where six million Jews, or 60% of the nine million pre-war EuropeanJewish population, were killed in the period 1941-1945.  German anti-Jewish policies began in theNuremberg Laws of 1935, and violent repression of Jews increased at theoutbreak of war.  Jews were rounded upand confined to guarded ghettos, and then sent by freight trains toconcentration and labor camps.  Bymid-1942, under the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” decree, Jews weretransported to extermination camps, where they were killed in gaschambers.  Some 90% of Holocaust victimswere Jews.  Other similar exterminationsand repressions were carried out against ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Poles,and other Slavs and Romani (gypsies), as well as communists and other politicalenemies, homosexuals, Freemasons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.  In Germany itself, a clandestineprogram implemented by German public health authorities under Hitler’s orders,killed tens of thousands of mentally and physically disabled patients,purportedly under euthanasia (“mercy killing”) procedures, which actuallyinvolved sending patients to gas chambers, applying lethal doses of medication,and through starvation.

Some 12-15 million slave laborers, mostly civilians fromcaptured territories in Eastern Europe, were rounded up to work in Germany,particularly in munitions factories and agriculture, to ease German laborshortage caused by the millions of German men fighting in the various frontsand also because Nazi policy discouraged German women from working in industry.  Some 5.7 million Soviet POWs also were usedas slave labor.  As well, two millionFrench Army prisoners were sent to labor camps in Germany,mainly to prevent the formation of organized resistance in France and for them to serve as hostages toensure continued compliance by the Vichygovernment.  Some 600,000 Frenchcivilians also were conscripted or volunteered to work in German plants.  Living and working conditions for the slavelaborers were extremely dire, particularly for those from Eastern Europe.  Some 60% (3.6million of the 5.7 million) of Soviet POWs died in captivity from variouscauses: summary executions, physical abuse, diseases, starvation diets, extremework, etc.

August 11, 1972 – Vietnam War: The last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam

By March 29,1973, nearly all American and other allied troops had departed, and only asmall contingent of U.S. Marines and advisors remained.  A peacekeeping force, called theInternational Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), arrived in South Vietnam to monitorand enforce the Accords’ provisions.  Butas large-scale fighting restarted soon thereafter, the ICCS became powerlessand failed to achieve its objectives.

(Taken from Vietnam War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia: Vol. 5)

Peace Negotiations Since it began in May 1968, the peace talks in Paris had made littleprogress.  Negotiations were held at themain conference hall.  However, sinceFebruary 1970, U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and NorthVietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho had been holding secret talks separate fromthe main negotiations.  These secrettalks achieved a breakthrough on October 17, 1972 (ten days after the U.S.bombings had forced North Vietnam to return to negotiations), when Kissingerannounced that “peace is at hand” and that a mutually agreed draft of a peaceagreement was to be signed on October 31, 1972.

However,South Vietnamese President Thieu, when presented with the peace proposal, refusedto agree to it, and instead demanded 129 changes to the draft agreement,including that the DMZ be recognized as the international border of a fullysovereign, independent South Vietnam, and that North Vietnam withdraw its forces from occupiedterritories in South Vietnam.  On November 1972, Kissinger presented Tho witha revised draft incorporating South Vietnam’s demands as well as changesproposed by President Nixon.  This time, the North Vietnamesegovernment was infuriated and believed it had been deceived by Kissinger.  On October 26, 1972, North Vietnam broadcast details ofthe document.  In December 1972, talksresumed which went nowhere, and soon broke down on December 14, 1972.

Also onDecember 14, 1972, the U.S.government issued a 72-hour ultimatum to North Vietnam to return tonegotiations.  On the same day, U.S.planes air-dropped naval mines off the North Vietnamese waters, again sealingoff the coast to sea traffic.  Then onPresident Nixon’s orders to use “maximum effort…maximum destruction”,on December 18-29, 1972, U.S. B-52 bombers and other aircraft under OperationLinebacker II, launchedmassive bombing attacks on targets in North Vietnam, including Hanoi andHaiphong, hitting airfields, air defense systems, naval bases, and othermilitary facilities, industrial complexes and supply depots, and transportfacilities.  As many of the restrictionsfrom previous air campaigns were lifted, the round-the-clock bombing attacksdestroyed North Vietnam’swar-related logistical and support capabilities.  Several B-52s were shot down in the firstdays of the operation, but changes to attack methods and the use of electronicand mechanical countermeasures greatly reduced air losses.  By the end of the bombing campaign, fewtargets of military value remained in North Vietnam, enemy anti-aircraft guns had been silenced, and North Vietnamwas forced to return to negotiations.  OnJanuary 15, 1973, President Nixon ended the bombing operations.

One weeklater, on January 23, negotiations resumed, leading four days later, on January27, 1973, to the signing by representatives from North Vietnam, South Vietnam, the Viet Cong/NLF through its Provisional RevolutionaryGovernment (PRG), and the United States of the Paris Peace Accords (officially titled: “Agreement onEnding the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam”), which (ostensibly) marked theend of the war.  The Accords stipulated aceasefire; the release and exchange of prisoners of war; the withdrawal of allAmerican and other non-Vietnamese troops from Vietnam within 60 days; for SouthVietnam: a political settlement between the government and the PRG to determinethe country’s political future; and for Vietnam: a gradual, peacefulreunification of North Vietnam and South Vietnam.  As in the 1954 Geneva Accords (which endedthe First Indochina War), the DMZ did not constitute a political/territorialborder.  Furthermore, the 200,000 NorthVietnamese troops occupying territories in South Vietnam were allowed toremain in place.

To assuage South Vietnam’s concerns regarding the last two points, on March15, 1973, President Nixon assuredPresident Thieu of direct U.S. military air intervention in case North Vietnamviolated the Accords.  Furthermore, justbefore the Accords came into effect, the United States delivered a large amount of military hardware andfinancial assistance to South Vietnam.

By March 29,1973, nearly all American and other allied troops had departed, and only asmall contingent of U.S. Marines and advisors remained.  A peacekeeping force, called theInternational Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), arrived in South Vietnam to monitorand enforce the Accords’ provisions.  Butas large-scale fighting restarted soon thereafter, the ICCS became powerlessand failed to achieve its objectives.

For the United States,the Paris Peace Accords meant the end of the war, a view that was not shared bythe other belligerents, as fighting resumed, with the ICCS recording 18,000ceasefire violations between January-July 1973. President Nixon had alsocompelled President Thieu to agree to the Paris PeaceAccords under threat that the United Stateswould end all military and financial aid to South Vietnam, and that theU.S. government would signthe Accords even without South Vietnam’s concurrence.  Ostensibly, President Nixon could fulfill his promise ofcontinuing to provide military support to South Vietnam, as he had beenre-elected in a landslide victory in the recently concluded November 1972presidential election. However, U.S. Congress, which was now dominated byanti-war legislators, did not bode well for South Vietnam.  In June 1973, U.S. Congress passedlegislation that prohibited U.S.combat activities in Vietnam,Laos, and Cambodia, without prior legislativeapproval.  Also that year, U.S. Congresscut military assistance to South Vietnam by 50%.  Despite the clear shift in U.S. policy, South Vietnam continued to believe the U.S. government would keep itscommitment to provide military assistance.

Then inOctober 1973, a four-fold increase in world oil prices led to a globalrecession following the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)imposing an oil embargo in response to U.S.support for Israelin the Yom Kippur War.  South Vietnam’s economy was already reeling because of the U.S. troop withdrawal (a vibrant local goods andservices economy had existed in Saigon because of the presence of large numbersof American soldiers) and reduced U.S. assistance.  South Vietnam experienced soaringinflation, high unemployment, and a refugee problem, with hundreds of thousandsof people fleeing to the cities to escape the fighting in the countryside.

The economicdownturn also destabilized the South Vietnamese forces, for although theypossessed vast quantities of military hardware (for example, having three timesmore artillery pieces and two times more tanks and armor than North Vietnam),budget cuts, lack of spare parts, and fuel shortages meant that much of thisequipment could not be used.  Later, eventhe number of bullets allotted to soldiers was rationed.  Compounding matters were the endemiccorruption, favoritism, ineptitude, and lethargy prevalent in the SouthVietnamese government and military.

In thepost-Accords period, South Vietnam wasdetermined to regain control of lost territory, and in a number of offensivesin 1973-1974, it succeeded in seizing some communist-held areas, but paid ahigh price in personnel and weaponry.  Atthe same time, North Vietnamwas intent on achieving a complete military victory.  But since the North Vietnamese forces hadsuffered extensive losses in the previous years, the Hanoi governmentconcentrated on first rebuilding its forces for a planned full-scale offensive ofSouth Vietnam,planned for 1976.

In March1974, North Vietnam launcheda series of “strategic raids” from the captured territories that it held in South Vietnam.  ByNovember 1974, North Vietnam’scontrol had extended eastward from the north nearly to the south of thecountry.  As well, North Vietnamese forcesnow threatened a number of coastal centers, including Da Nang, Quang Ngai, and Qui Nhon, as well as Saigon.  Expanding its occupied areas in South Vietnam also allowed North Vietnam to shift its logistical system(the Ho Chi Minh Trail) fromeastern Laos and Cambodia to inside South Vietnam itself.  By October 1974, with major road improvementscompleted, the Trail system was a fully truckable highway from north to south,and greater numbers of North Vietnamese units, weapons, and supplies were beingtransported each month to South Vietnam.

North Vietnam’s “strategic raids” also were meant to gauge U.S.military response.  None occurred, as atthis time, the United Stateswas reeling from the Watergate Scandal, which led to President Nixon resigning from office on August9, 1974.  Vice-President Gerald Ford succeeded as President.

Encouraged bythis success, in December 1974, North Vietnamese forces in eastern Cambodia attacked PhuocLong Province,taking its capital Phuoc Binh in early January 1975 and sending pandemonium in South Vietnam, but again producing no military response from theUnited States.  President Ford had asked U.S. Congress formilitary support for South Vietnam, but was refused.

In March1975, North Vietnamlaunched its spring offensive that would finally bring the war to an (abrupt)end.  Under Campaign 275, on March 10, North Vietnamese forces attacked BanMe Thout, which was captured after eight days of fighting; the whole Dak Lak Province then fell.  On the desperate appeal of the U.S.Ambassador to South Vietnam, President Ford asked U.S. Congress for emergency assistanceto South Vietnam, butAmerican legislators, now viewing South Vietnam as lost, instead cutappropriations to that country by 50%. In North Vietnam,encouraged by this victory, military planners moved to capture Pleiku, Ton Kumand the whole Central Highlands (South Vietnam’s II Corps TacticalZone).

August 10, 1913 – Second Balkan War: The Treaty of Bucharest is signed

Peace negotiations wereheld in Bucharest, Romania,which were attended by Bulgaria,Romania, Serbia, Montenegro,and Greece.  The talks led to the Treaty of Bucharest, signed on August 10, 1913, which ended the state of war between thesignatories.  Bulgariaand the Ottoman Empire negotiated separately,producing the Treaty of Constantinople, signed on September 29, 1913, which also ended hostilities between thetwo countries.

As a result of thesetreaties, Bulgaria lost mostof the lands it had won in the First Balkan War, including most of Macedonia(to Serbia and Greece) and Eastern Thrace (to the OttomanEmpire); it also ceded Southern Dobruja to Romania.  Bulgariadid retain a portion of Macedoniaand Western Thrace, including an outlet to the Aegean Seathrough Dedeagach.  Bulgaria’s participation in the twoBalkan Wars netted her a 16% gain in territory. By contrast, the victors in both Balkan Wars made muchlarger gains: Montenegro(62%), Greece (68%), and Serbia(nearly 100%).  Romania gained 5%.  However, the Ottoman Empire lost nearly allof Rumelia (its last European possession), retaining only Eastern Thrace.

(Taken from Second Balkan War – Wars of the 20th Century – Vol. 3)

BackgroundThe First Balkan War (previous article)allowed the Balkan League (Serbia, Bulgaria,Greece, and Montenegro)to gain control of nearly the whole region of Rumelia.  Then in the 1913 Treaty of London, the major European powers recognized the independence ofAlbania, forcing Serbia, Greece,and Montenegro to withdrawtheir forces from their respective conquered territories in Albania.  Before the war, Serbiaand Bulgariahad entered into a secret agreement to partition Rumelia between them, inparticular the Macedonian region.  Nosimilar partition agreement was made with Greece, as the Greek Army was nothighly regarded and thought to be incapable of gaining much territory.

During the war, however, Bulgaria had concentrated much of its militaryresources in Eastern Thrace aiming to capture Constantinople, and left a muchsmaller force to invade Macedonia.  As a result, Bulgaria’sallies, Serbia and Greece,both of whom faced much less opposition in their sectors, gained considerableterritory during the war.  Serbian forcesadvanced into southern Macedoniapast the so-called “disputed zone” north of the Kriva Palanka-Ohrid Line, which was part of the Serbian-Bulgarian pre-warpartition agreement.  The Greek Army alsoperformed (surprisingly) well and seized a large section of southern Macedonia and portions of Western Thrace.

The Bulgarians appliedpressure on Serbiato withdraw its forces to the north and beyond Monastir in compliance withtheir pre-war arrangement.  Serbia refused, as it already had been forced torelinquish northern Albania,while Bulgaria had cededmuch less in Eastern Thrace, in the areas ofthe Enos-Midia Line.  Serbia insisted that new negotiations be startedon partitioning Macedonia, aproposal that was rejected by Bulgaria.  (In their pre-war agreement, Serbia was allowed to expand freely into Albania, while Bulgariacould take southern Macedonia.)

Bulgaria also put pressure on Greece to withdraw from Western Thrace andsouthern Macedonia,in particular from Thessalonica.  TheGreeks offered a compromise agreement, which the Bulgarians rejected.  Then as Bulgariacontinued its war posturing and increased its forces in the disputed areas, onJune 1, 1913, Serbia and Greecesecretly signed a mutual defense treaty aimed at countering a potentialBulgarian attack.  The agreement alsofixed a common border between Serbiaand Greece.  Consequently, small-scale fighting began tobreak out between Serbians and Bulgarians, whose forces were situated next toeach other following the recently concluded First Balkan War.  A small Montenegrin contingent also joinedranks with Serbian forces.

Meanwhile, Russia was alarmed at the impending break up ofthe Serbian-Bulgarian alliance, as this threatened Russia’s power ambitions in theBalkan region.  Tsar Nicholas II, the Russian monarch, offered to mediate, even sending apersonal letter to both the Serbian and Bulgarian kings.  Bulgaria was unyielding, however,forcing the Russian government to cancel the Russo-Bulgarian Treaty of 1902.

August 9, 1965 – Singapore proclaims its independence after being expelled by Malaysia

On August 9, 1965, the Malaysian parliament voted 126–0 to expelSingapore from Malaysia.Members of Parliament from Singaporewere not present during the vote. Later that day, Singaporereluctantly declared its independence; in December 1965, it became the Republic of Singapore.

Singapore’sexpulsion was a result of long-simmering tensions, distrust and ideologicaldifferences between the federal government in Kuala Lumpurled by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Singapore’s dominant People’sAction Party (PAP).

Singaporewas one of 14 states that formed the country of Malaysiain September 1963 from the merger of the Federation of Malaya with the otherformer British colonies of North Borneo and Sarawak.Singapore’s expulsion in1963 occurred during the interim period in Malaysiabetween the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) and the Second Malayan Emergency (akaCommunist Insurgency in Malaysia(1968-1989)).

(Taken from Malayan Insurgency – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia: Vol. 5)

After being pushed out of Malaya, the Malay NationalLiberation Army (MNLA) of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) established anumber of bases in southern Thailandclose to the Malayan border, where it began a campaign to recruit new fightersfrom the local population, both in southern Thailandand northern Malaya.  Its ranks soon included some 30% Thainationals.  Also in an effort to widenits support base, the CPM formed the Islamic Brotherhood Party (Malay: PartiPersaudaraan Islam), aimed at attracting ethnic Malays by advocating that Islamand communism were not incompatible ideologies.

In September 1963, the Federation of Malaya was ended, andreplaced by the Federation of Malaysia (or simply Malaysia),consisting of the former Federation of Malaya and the territories of NorthBorneo (Sabah), Sarawak, and Singapore(in August 1965, Singaporeleft the Federation and formed a separate independent state).

In the 1960s, with the growth of communist movements inIndo-China (North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodiaas well as in Thailand),the CPM stepped up its activities: propaganda and indoctrination campaigns werelaunched, and recruitment and training accelerated.  From some 500-600 fighters remaining by theend of the Emergency, by 1965, the MNLA ranks had increased to some 2,000.

From 1963 to 1966, Malaysiawas embroiled in a low-intensity war with neighboring Indonesia.  Then by the late 1960s, the Vietnam War wasincreasing in intensity.  In May 1969,racial violence between Malays and Chinese broke out in Malaysia and Singapore, increasing racialtensions and forcing the Malaysian government to impose a state ofemergency.  Believing that the upsurge inlocal and regional unrest was playing in its favor, the CPM/MNLA decided torestart hostilities.

This second phase of the war (commonly known as theCommunist Insurgency War) began on June 17, 1968 when the MNLA guerillasambushed Malaysian Army soldiers at Kroh-Betong, in northern Malaysia.  Fighting eventually spread to other parts ofPeninsular Malaysia, but was much more concentrated in northern Malaysia,and also failed to achieve the degree of intensity and scope experienced duringthe Malayan Emergency.  Furthermore, in1970, the CPM became wracked in an internal power struggle, which led to theformation of two rival splinter groups, the CPM-Marxist Leninist andCPM-Revolutionary Faction, aside from the original CPM, which continued to havethe largest membership.  The CPM, whichfollowed the Maoist branch of communism and received support from China, was dealt a major blow when in June 1974,Malaysia and Chinaestablished diplomatic relations. Although the MNLA tried to maintain military pressure on the Malaysiangovernment, by the early 1980s, the insurgency was experiencing an irrevocabledecline.

Much of this decline was a result of the Malaysian governmentadopting the successful multi-faceted counter-insurgency approach used in theMalayan Emergency, this time carried out in the Security and DevelopmentProgram (KESBAN, Malay: Keselamatan dan Pembangunan), which consisted ofmilitary and civilian measures.  Militarymeasures included directly confronting the rebels in combat, utilizingintelligence and psychological operations, and increasing the size and strengthof security forces.  The civiliancomponent, while also involving resettling villages that were vulnerable torebel influences and curtailing some civil liberties, focused on a “hearts andminds” approach in the affected communities, e.g. expanding social services andimplementing public works programs. Neighborhood Watch and People’s Volunteer Group initiatives not onlyserved security functions in local neighborhoods, but also fostered betterinterracial relations among Malays, Chinese, and Indians.  Furthermore, by the 1980s, Malaysia was experiencing anextended period of dynamic economic growth.

The demise for the CPM also was brought about by theimpending end of the Cold War.  By 1989,communism was waning globally, communist regimes in Eastern Europe werecollapsing, and the Soviet Union itselfdisintegrated in 1991.  In southern Thailand, negotiations between the Malaysiangovernment and CPM (mediated by the Thai government) led to the signing of theHat Yai Peace Accord (in Hat Yai, Thailand) on December 2, 1989.  As stipulated in the agreement, both the CPMand its military wing, the MNLA, were disbanded.  The former rebels were allowed to return to Malaysia, an offer that was taken up by somemembers, while others chose to remain in southern Thailand.  The peace agreement did not prohibit ChinPeng, the CPM leader, from returning to Malaysia.  However, successive Malaysian governmentsrefused to grant him entry into the country. He passed away in Bangkok, Thailand inSeptember 2013.

August 8, 1990 – Gulf War: Iraq annexes Kuwait

On August 4, 1990, Iraqileader Saddam Hussein appointed a 9-member military junta composed of KuwaitiArmy officers headed by Colonel Alaa Hussein Ali, to lead the “ProvisionalGovernment of Free Kuwait”.  Then onAugust 7, Kuwait wasdeclared a republic (“Republic of Kuwait”).  The next day, however, the Iraqi governmentannounced the political and territorial merger of Iraqand Kuwait.  Three weeks later, on August 28, Iraqdeclared a Kuwait Governorate, Iraq’s 19th province, under GovernorAli Hassan al-Majid, Saddam’s first cousin (and also better known as headingthe al-Anfal campaign (1986-1989), where Iraqi forces violently quelled anuprising by Iraqi Kurds during the Iran-Iraq War).

(Taken from Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait – Wars of the 20th Century –Vol. 4)

Background In 1927, a British commercialfirm discovered oil in Iraq,and in 1938, in Kuwait,although in the latter, commercial production started only in 1951.  In both cases, the highly profitable oilindustry became each country’s major source of revenue, bringing immense wealththat transformed the largely impoverished populations into a modern, wealthysociety.

OnJune 19, 1961, Kuwait gainedits independence from Britain.  In 1963, Iraq, which by this time had becomea republic and was presently governed by a military government under General Abdal-Karim Qasim,pursued its claim of ownership to Kuwait based on historical grounds, andthreatened to invade.  Swift interventionby Britain and Arabcountries, which sent military units to defend Kuwait,forced Iraqto back down.  Then in 1963, Iraq appeared to acquiesce, declaring that itrecognized Kuwait.  But tensions remained throughout the 1960sand 1970s, which sometimes broke out into border clashes that included a moresignificant incident where Iraqi forces attacked and seized control of theAl-Samitah border outpost in Kuwait.  Subsequent mediation efforts by Saudi Arabia succeeded in persuading Iraqto withdraw from occupied Kuwaiti territory.

Meanwhile,Iraq also had along-standing border dispute with Iran,its eastern neighbor, which broke out in September 1980 into total war (the Iran-Iraq War, separate article) following the success of the Iranian Revolutionthat transformed Iraninto a fundamentalist Islamic state. Iran’s new Islamic government then called for the overthrow of“un-Islamic” Arab monarchies, alarming Gulf state monarchical governmentsincluding Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, which gave largefinancial assistance in the form of loans to Iraq.  By this time, Iraq was ruled by SaddamHussein.  Iraq-Kuwait relations improveddramatically, and Kuwait’s$14 billion loan to Iraqallowed the Iraqi Army to reverse its losses against Iran and take the initiative.

Bythe war’s end in August 1988, Iraqwas in deep financial crisis, with its oil industry severely affected by thewidespread destruction of oil infrastructures. Before the war, Iraqwas awash in cash, holding some $35 billion in foreign reserves, but by 1988,was mired in $80 billion in foreign debt to various Western and Arabcountries.  Then in negotiations with itsArab creditors, the Iraqi government declared that its loans must be writtenoff on the grounds that Iraqsinglehandedly stopped Iran’shegemonic ambitions and thus prevented the overthrow of the various Arabgovernments in the Middle East.  Tariq Aziz, Iraq’sForeign Minister, remarked thus, “How can these amounts be regarded as Iraqidebts to its Arab brothers when Iraqmade sacrifices that are many times more than those debts in terms of Iraqiresources during the grinding war andoffered rivers of blood of its youth in defense of the (Arab) nation’s soil,dignity, honor, and wealth?”

Furthermore,Kuwaitexceeded its oil production quota imposed by the Organization of PetroleumExporting Countries (OPEC), causing a glut in the international market anddriving down oil prices.  The Iraqigovernment complained that the low world prices meant lesser revenues, and thereforelower capacity for Iraqto repay its loans and restore its war-damaged oil infrastructures that wereneeded to rebuild the country.

Anothersource of dispute was the Rumalia oil field, located between Kuwait and Iraqand inside both countries’ territories, in which Iraqaccused Kuwait of using anoil extraction technique known as slant drilling in order to pump out oilinside Iraq.  The Iraqi government demanded payment for the“stolen” oil.  Kuwait vehemently denied theaccusation.

Witheconomic troubles mounting, Saddam began to believe that a conspiracy stirredup by neighboring countries was aimed at undermining his country.  Consequently, the Iraqi leader turned hisappeals for financial reprieve into open threats, at one point remarking (inreference to Iraq’srequest for more loans), “Let the Gulf regimes know, that if they will not givethis money to me, I will know how to get it.”

On July 16, 1990, on Saddam’sorders, units of the Republican Guard, Iraq’s elite force, deployed along the borderwith Kuwait.  By the following day, the arrival of moreunits increased Iraqi strength to 10,000 troops and 300 tanks.  And by July 25, Iraq had massed some 30,000 troops(in four divisions) and over 800 tanks along two fronts on the border.

United States intelligence detectedthis military movement, which later was disseminated by the U.S. media.  On July 25, 1990 April Glaspie,the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq,in a meeting with Saddam, indicated that the U.S. government was aware of theIraqi military’s deployment and that this was a cause for concern.  However, Ambassador Glaspie also said the United States has “no opinion on Arab-Arabconflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait”,a remark that has since generated controversy among political analysts, onepoint being that the United Stateswould not intervene militarily if war broke out between fellow Arab Iraq and Kuwait.

During the closing week ofJuly 1990, with mediation efforts by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Kuwaitiand Iraqi representatives held talks in Riyadhand Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which also failed to reach a settlement despite Kuwait agreeing to pay $9 billion of the Iraqigovernment’s demand of $10 billion for Iraq’s purported revenue losses inthe Rumalia oil field.

August 7, 1964 – Vietnam War: U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

On August 7,1964, U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution(Senate: 88-2 and House of Representatives: 416-0), which came into law onAugust 10, which gave President Johnson broad powersto use all necessary military force in Southeast Asia in support of its alliesthere.  The Resolution essentially gavePresident Johnson theauthority to go to war against North Vietnam without first obtaining aDeclaration of War from U.S. Congress. 

(Taken from Vietnam War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia: Vol. 5)

The U.S. air strikes, the U.S.spy activities in the Gulf of Tonkin, and the South Vietnamese infiltration missions convincedthe Hanoi governmentthat the United States wasintervening in the war, and worse, it was planning to invade North Vietnam.  As a result, the Ho regime increased militarypressure in South Vietnam to overthrowthe Saigon government before the United States could intervene.  In early 1965, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forceslaunched a series of attacks across South Vietnam, with concentrations in theCentral Highlands east toward the coast to cut South Vietnam in two, and in theregion west of Saigon and near the Cambodian border.  U.S.military installations in South Vietnam also were targeted.  In November 1964, the Bien Hoa airport,headquarters of the U.S. Air Force command in South Vietnam, was attacked by VietCong mortar fire, killing and wounding dozens of American servicemen anddamaging several planes.  Then inFebruary 1965, Viet Cong units attacked the U.S.air base at Pleiku, Central Highlands, killing 9 U.S.soldiers and wounding 70 others, which was followed three days later, by anexplosion that destroyed a hotel at Qui Nohn, killing 23 U.S. soldiers.

As a resultof the Viet Cong escalation,President Johnson authorizedOperation Rolling Thunder, a limited-scale bombing of North Vietnam, which began on March 2, 1965, withthe stated aims of boosting South Vietnamese morale, deterring North Vietnam from supporting the Viet Cong/NLF,and stopping North Vietnamese forces from entering South Vietnam.  Initiallyplanned to last only 8 weeks, the bombing campaign became an incremental,sustained effort that lasted 44 months, ending in November 1968.  Under Operation Rolling Thunder, PresidentJohnson requiredthat the U.S. military’s list of potential targets be subject to his approval,which generated great consternation among the generals who wanted an all-out,large-scale strategic bombing campaign of North Vietnam.  U.S.planes also were only allowed to hit targets (such as road and rail systems,industries, and air defenses) inside a designated radius away from Hanoi and Haiphong, as well as froma buffer zone from the North Vietnam-China border.  Some of these restrictions would be liftedlater.

Theincremental nature of Operation Rolling Thunder allowed North Vietnam enough time tostrengthen its air defenses.  Thus, by1968, Hanoi, Haiphong,and other vital centers were bristling with 8,000 Soviet-supplied anti-aircraftguns and 300 surface-to-air missile batteries, supported by 350 radarfacilities, as well as scores of Soviet MiG-21 fighter planes and 15,000 Sovietair-defense advisers.  In February 1965,the Soviet Union furtherincreased its military support to North Vietnamwhen an American bombing attack coincided with the visit of Soviet DeputyPremier Alexei Kosygin to Hanoi.Previously, the Soviet government had sought a diplomatic resolution to the VietnamWar (despite providing military support to North Vietnam).  Ultimately, by the end of Rolling Thunder, the United Stateslost over 900 planes, while North Vietnamcontinued to deliver even larger amounts of weapons to South Vietnam through theHo Chi Minh Trail.

Throughoutthe war, the United Stateslaunched other aerial operations (Steel Tiger, Tiger Hound, and Commando Hunt)on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to tryand stop the flow of men and materiel from North Vietnam to South Vietnam, but all of these ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Vietnam War

Over thecourse of the war, the Ho Chi Minh Trail systemexpanded considerably into an elaborate network of small and wide roads, footand bike paths, and concealed river crossings across a vast and ever-increasingarea in the eastern regions of Laosand Cambodia.  With 43,000 North Vietnamese and Laotianlaborers, dozens of bulldozers, road graders, and other road-building equipmentworking day and night, by December 1961, the Trail system allowed for trucktraffic, which became the main source of transporting men and supplies for therest of the war.  Apart from constructioncrews, other units in the Ho Chi Mnh Trail were tasked with providing food,housing, and medical care, and other services to soldiers and transport crewsmoving along the system.  To counter U.S.air attacks, which intensified as the war progressed, the Trail system wasmassively fortified with air defenses, eventually bristling with 1,500anti-aircraft guns.  Supply convoys alsotraveled only at night to lessen the risk of U.S. air attacks.

But becauseof the U.S.air campaign, American bases came under greater threat of Viet Cong retaliatoryattacks. Thus, in March 1965, on President Johnson’s orders, 3,500 U.S. Marines arrived to protect Da Nang air base.  These Marines were the first U.S. combat troops to be deployed in Vietnam.  Then in April 1965, when the U.S. government’s offer of economic aid to North Vietnam in exchange for a peace agreementwas rejected by the Hanoi government,President Johnson soon sent more U.S.ground forces, raising the total U.S.personnel strength in Vietnamto 60,000 troops.  At this point, U.S.forces were authorized only to defend American military installations.

Then in May1965, in a major effort to overthrow South Vietnam, Viet Cong and NorthVietnamese forces launched attacks in three major areas: just south of the DMZ,in the Central Highlands, and in areas around Saigon.  U.S.and South Vietnamese forces repulsed these attacks, with massive U.S. air firepower being particularly effective,and in mid-1965, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces retreated, and thedanger to the Saigon government passed.  By that time also, President Johnson agreed tothe U.S. military’s requestand sent more troops to Vietnam,raising the total to 184,000 by the end of 1965.  More crucially, he now authorized U.S. forces to not merely defend U.S.facilities, but to undertake offensive combat missions, in line with Americanmilitary doctrine to take the war to the enemy.

Meanwhile inJune 1965, South Vietnam’s political climate eased considerably with theappointment of Nguyen Cao Ky as Prime Minister and Nguyen Van Thieu as(figurehead) Chief of State.  The new SouthVietnamese regime imposed censorship and restrictions on civil libertiesbecause of the unstable security situation, as well as to curb widespread localcivilian unrest.  In 1966, Prime Minister Kyquelled a Buddhist uprising and brought some stability to the South Vietnamesemilitary.  Ky and Thieu were politicalrivals, and after Thieu was elected president in the 1967 presidentialelection, a power struggle developed between the two leaders, with PresidentThieu ultimatelyemerging victorious.  By the late 1960s,Thieu had consolidated power and thereafter ruled with near autocratic powers.

During theVietnam War, the United States, which soon was joined with combat forces fromits anti-communist allies Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, andthe Philippines, began to take direct command of the war in what was called theperiod of the “Americanization” of the war, relegating the South Vietnamesemilitary to a supporting role.  Nevertheless,President Johnson imposedrestrictions on the U.S. military – that it was to engage only in a limited war(as opposed to a total war) that was sufficiently aggressive enough to deterNorth Vietnam from attacking South Vietnam, but should not be too overpoweringto incite a drastic response from the major communist powers, China and theSoviet Union.

The UnitedStates was concerned that Chinamight intervene directly for North Vietnam(as it had done for North Koreain the Korean War), or worse, that the Soviet Union might invadeWestern Europe.  A consequence of U.S. policy in Vietnam tonot incite a wider war with China and the Soviet Union meant that U.S. forcescould not invade North Vietnam, and that U.S. bombing missions in North Vietnamwere to be screened so as not to kill or harm Chinese or Soviet militarypersonnel there or destroy Chinese and Soviet assets (e.g. ships docked at NorthVietnamese ports).  Thus, U.S. ground forces were limited to operating in South Vietnam, where subsequently nearly all of the land fightingtook place.  Even then, the U.S. high command was confident of success, andGeneral William Westmoreland, commander of U.S.forces in Vietnam,predicted American victory over the Viet Cong/NLF by the end of 1967.

To achievethis goal, the U.S. military employed the “search and destroy” strategy (whichwas developed by the British in the 1950s), where U.S. intelligence wouldlocate large Viet Cong/NLF concentrations, which would be destroyed usingmassive American firepower involving air, artillery, infantry, and in somecases armored, units.  U.S. military planners believedthat the use of overwhelming force would inflict such heavy losses that theViet Cong would be unable to replace its manpower and material losses,ultimately leading to the defeat of the southern insurgency.

During theVietnam War, the number of American troops over the Viet Cong/NLF did not reach the 10:1 ratio that isconventionally taken as required to quell an insurgency.  As a result, the U.S. military measured thesuccess of search and destroy missions not by seizing and holding territory,but by quantifying enemy losses, namely, the amount of Viet Cong/NLF stockpilesand armed caches captured or destroyed, the number of enemy strongholdsoverran, and most important, the number of insurgents killed (“bodycount”).  The U.S military focused itssearch and destroy missions around the major Viet Cong areas in the centralregion near Da Nang and Qui Nhon, the central MekongDelta, and in the west and north of Saigon.

GeneralWestmoreland believedthat the Viet Cong’s greatest threat to South Vietnam was in theareas near Saigon, particularly in the western frontier regions adjacent to theCambodian border, in locations called the Iron Triangle, and Battle Zones C and D (Figure 5).  For most of thewar, U.S.forces carried out successive search and destroy operations in these areas,which ultimately proved only partially successful.  General Westmoreland’s other plan was to establish a network ofAmerican strategic strong points in South Vietnamfrom where U.S.forces would launch search and destroy operations.  He envisioned that search and destroyoperations would be followed by clear and hold missions, where South Vietnameseforces would re-establish control over former Viet Cong/NLF areas.  In December 1965, because of aggressive U.S. combattactics, the Viet Cong was forced to return to guerilla warfare, and onlyfought in the open when the odds were clearly in its favor.

In June 1965,U.S. forces launched their first major offensive of the war, targeting a VietCong hideoutnorthwest of Saigon, which was followed in 1966 with several major operationsin other Viet Cong/NLF strongholds: Operation Crimp (January 1966) in the CuChi District, 40 kilometers northwest of Saigon where a yet undiscoveredmassive Viet Cong underground tunnel complex was located; Operation Birmingham(April-May 1966) in War Zone C, a Viet Cong/NLF stronghold located 80 kilometersnorthwest of Saigon, which involved U.S. and South Vietnamese troops, supportedby air and armored units; Operation Attleboro (September 1966) in Tay NihnProvince, where U.S. and South Vietnamese forces preempted a planned Viet Congattack on the Suoi Da U.S. Special Forces base and after six weeks ofseveral small engagements, inflicted heavy Viet Cong casualties and seizedlarge quantities of enemy supplies.

In early1967, further sweeps were made on Viet Cong/NLF strongholds northwest of Saigon.In Operation Cedar Falls (January 1967), 30,000 American and South Vietnamesetroops attacked the Iron Triangle, a 60-square mile Viet Cong/NLF stronghold, andseized control of the area (including capturing a stockpile of weapons, food,supplies, and documents).  U.S.forces encountered no major resistance as the bulk of Viet Cong forces hadwithdrawn earlier from the area.  Then inOperation Junction City (February 1967), 30,000 U.S. and 5,000 South Vietnamesetroops, supported by air, artillery, and armored units, swept down on War ZoneC, which was believed to be the insurgent commandheadquarters called COSVN (CentralOffice for South Vietnam), and seized large quantities of Viet Cong/NLFstockpiles, but failed to locate major enemy units.

In theaftermath of these operations, the U.S. military cleared these areasof jungle cover using specially made engineering equipment, and also byconducting aerial spraying with defoliants to prevent the re-growth ofvegetation. Nonetheless, within a short period of time, U.S. intelligence observed thatViet Cong/NLF activity had returned to these areas.

August 6, 1960 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro nationalizes U.S. and foreign-owned properties

In July 1960, Cubaseized the American oil companies and nationalized them the next month.  In October 1960, the United States imposed an economic embargo on Cuba and banned all imports (which constituted90% of all Cuban exports) from Cuba.  The restriction included sugar, which was Cuba’sbiggest source of revenue.  In January1960, the United Statesended all official diplomatic relations with Cuba,closed its embassy in Havana,and banned trade to and forbid American private and business transactions withthe island country.

(Taken from Cuban Revolution – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Start of the Revolution On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro ledover 160 armed followers, which included his brother Raul, in an attack on thearmy garrisons in Santiago de Cubaand Bayamo, both located at the southeast section of the island.  The plan called for seizing weapons from thegarrisons’ armories and then arming the local civilian population to incite ageneral uprising.  The attack was foiledby the military, however, with the Castro brothers and many other rebels beingcaptured, imprisoned, and subsequently charged for treason.  Three months later, on October 16, the Castrobrothers were handed down long prison terms, together with their followers whowere given shorter prison sentences.  Thetrials gained national attention, with Fidel Castro, who acted as his owndefense attorney, gaining wide public recognition.  While serving time in prison, Fidel renamedhis organization the “26th of July Movement” or M-26-7 (Spanish: Movimiento 26 de Julio), in reference to the date of the failedattacks.

Then in March 1955,President Batista, who had been elected president a month earlier, believedthat his regime was secure and issued a general amnesty for jailed politicalenemies.  Many political prisoners werefreed, including the Castro brothers. After their release, the Castros, and in particular Fidel, were receivedenthusiastically by supporters.  In June,however, a wave of violence broke out in Havana,and with the Cuban authorities moving to arrest political enemies, the Castrobrothers fled from Cuba andsettled in Mexico,which at that time was a haven for leftist elements.

In Mexico, Fidel Castro organized anti-Batista exiles into an armedgroup as part of M-26-7, with funds solicited from wealthy émigrés belonging tothe Cuban political opposition in the United States and Latin America.  Just outside Mexico City,Fidel Castro’s group secretly began training for rural guerilla warfare, whichFidel Castro planned to launch upon his return to Cuba.  The Castro brothers befriended Ernesto “Che”Guevara, an Argentine medical doctor and hard-line Marxist-Leninist, who joinedand then became one of the leaders of the M-26-7 organization.

By the autumn of 1956,Fidel Castro wasready to restart the revolution in Cuba.  Early on the morning of November 25, 1956,he, Raul, Guevara, and 79 other rebels set off from Tuxpan on the Gulf ofMexico (Map 27) aboard the crudely refurbished yacht, Granma, for their 1,200 mile voyage to Cuba.  The trip was scheduled to take five days, intime for Fidel Castro and his men to meet up with the M-26-7 rebels insoutheastern Cuba and then to jointly launch a coordinated attack againstcivilian and military targets in Oriente Province.

However, the voyage encountered many problems: the yacht’sengine broke down and had to be repaired, the boat’s hull sprung a leak andwater had to bailed out by hand while the pumps were repaired, a man felloverboard (but was located and rescued). Furthermore, the vessel had a capacity to hold only twelve persons, butwas dangerously overloaded with over 80 men, including weapons andsupplies.  On November 30, the scheduledday of the joint attack, Fidel and his men were yet out at sea.  The M-26-7 rebels in Cuba launched their attacks on several towns in Oriente Province, but government forces threwback the attackers after two days of fighting.

In November 1956, Fidel Castro and 81 rebel followers set out from Tuxpan, Mexico aboard a decrepit yacht for their nearly 2,000 kilometer trip across the Caribbean Sea bound for south-eastern Cuba

On December 2, 1956,Fidel Castro and his men arrived in southeastern Cuba, with their vessel hitting asandbar close to the mangrove shoreline of Playa Las Coloradas.  The Cuban military, having recently increasedits operations in the region because of the recent M-26-7 attacks, spotted thelanding and fired on the Granma.  Fidel Castro and his men made it to shore,but were forced to abandon most of their weapons and supplies still on boardthe vessel.  While making their way tothe Sierra Maestra Mountains,they were ambushed on December 5 by a large army contingent.  Eventually, less than 20 of the original 82rebels met up deep in the forested highlands; the survivors included thegroup’s leaders Fidel and Raul Castro, Guevara, and Camilo Cienfuegos, whilemost of the rebels had been killed or captured.

Fidel Castro soonestablished his headquarters in the Sierra Maestra, and in the followingmonths, launched attacks against army patrols and isolated outposts, and ongovernment and public infrastructures, thereby gaining control of much of themountainous region and later expanding the revolution’s “liberated zones”.  He increased the size of his force byrecruiting from nearby villages and from urban volunteers who were drawn to hiscause.  The revolution was boostedgreatly by the “escopeteros”, local supporters who served many auxiliary roles:as armed irregulars to the M-26-7 main force, as informants providing thepositions and movements of army units, and as porters carrying supplies acrossthe mountains.

By 1957, many otheranti-Batista rebel organizations had emerged, the most potent being theRevolutionary Directorate, or DR (Spanish: Directorio Revolucionario), which on March 13, 1957, launched an attackon the Presidential Palace in Havanawith the aim of assassinating President Batista.  The assault was foiled by government forces,killing 40 of the attackers. Subsequently in February 1958, some members of the DR moved to andreorganized in the Escambray Mountains as the 13thof March Movement, which formed a second guerilla front (to its urban base ofoperations) against the Batista regime.

President Batista evenfaced growing opposition from his staunchest backer, the Cuban ArmedForces.  On September 5, 1957, juniorNavy officers who opposed President Batista’s appointees to high-ranking Navypositions launched a mutiny at Cienfuegos,a city located at the south central coast of the island.  The leader of the mutiny also supported FidelCastro’s objective of overthrowing the national government.  President Batista used the army and air forceto crush the Cienfuegos Mutiny, causing some 300 fatalities across the cityand forcing some of the mutineers to flee to the Escambray Mountains,where they reorganized as another branch of the M-26-7 movement.