December 18, 1972 – Vietnam War: Start of Operation Linebacker II, where U.S. warplanes undertake massive bombing attacks on North Vietnam
On December 14, 1972, the U.S.
government issued a 72-hour ultimatum to North Vietnam to return to
negotiations. On the same day, U.S. planes
air-dropped naval mines off the North Vietnamese waters, again sealing off the
coast to sea traffic. Then on President
Nixon’s orders to use “maximum effort…maximum destruction”, on December 18-29,
1972, U.S. B-52 bombers and other aircraft under Operation Linebacker II,
launched massive bombing attacks on targets in North Vietnam, including Hanoi
and Haiphong, hitting airfields, air defense systems, naval bases, and other
military facilities, industrial complexes and supply depots, and transport
facilities. As many of the restrictions
from previous air campaigns were lifted, the round-the-clock bombing attacks
destroyed North Vietnam’s
war-related logistical and support capabilities. Several B-52s were shot down in the first
days of the operation, but changes to attack methods and the use of electronic
and mechanical countermeasures greatly reduced air losses. By the end of the bombing campaign, few
targets of military value remained in North
Vietnam, enemy anti-aircraft guns had been silenced, and North Vietnam
was forced to return to negotiations. On
January 15, 1973, President Nixon ended the bombing operations.
One week later, on January 23, negotiations resumed, leading
four days later, on January 27, 1973, to the signing by representatives from
North Vietnam, South Vietnam, the Viet Cong/NLF through its Provisional
Revolutionary Government (PRG), and the United States of the Paris Peace
Accords (officially titled: “Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in
Vietnam”), which (ostensibly) marked the end of the war. The Accords stipulated a ceasefire; the
release and exchange of prisoners of war; the withdrawal of all American and
other non-Vietnamese troops from Vietnam within 60 days; for South Vietnam: a
political settlement between the government and the PRG to determine the
country’s political future; and for Vietnam: a gradual, peaceful reunification
of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. As
in the 1954 Geneva Accords (which ended the First Indochina War), the DMZ did
not constitute a political/territorial border.
Furthermore, the 200,000 North Vietnamese troops occupying territories
in South Vietnam
were allowed to remain in place.
Southeast Asia during the 1960s.(Taken from Vietnam War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)
To assuage South Vietnam’s
concerns regarding the last two points, on March 15, 1973, President Nixon
assured President Thieu of direct U.S.
military air intervention in case North Vietnam violated the
Accords. Furthermore, just before the
Accords came into effect, the United States
delivered a large amount of military hardware and financial assistance to South Vietnam.
By March 29, 1973, nearly all American and other allied
troops had departed, and only a small contingent of U.S. Marines and advisors
remained. A peacekeeping force, called
the International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), arrived in South Vietnam
to monitor and enforce the Accords’ provisions.
But as large-scale fighting restarted soon thereafter, the ICCS became
powerless and 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 by the other belligerents, as
fighting resumed, with the ICCS recording 18,000 ceasefire violations between
January-July 1973. President Nixon had
also compelled President Thieu to agree to the Paris Peace Accords under threat
that the United States would
end all military and financial aid to South
Vietnam, and that the U.S.
government would sign the Accords even without South Vietnam’s concurrence. Ostensibly, President Nixon could fulfill his
promise of continuing to provide military support to South Vietnam, as he had been
re-elected in a landslide victory in the recently concluded November 1972
presidential election. However, U.S. Congress, which was now dominated by
anti-war legislators, did not bode well for South Vietnam. In June 1973, U.S. Congress passed
legislation that prohibited U.S.
combat activities in Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia,
without prior legislative approval. Also
that year, U.S. Congress cut 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 its commitment to provide military assistance.
Then in October 1973, a four-fold increase in world oil
prices led to a global recession following the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposing an oil embargo in response to U.S. support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War. South Vietnam’s
economy was already reeling because of the U.S.
troop withdrawal (a vibrant local goods and services economy had existed in
Saigon because of the presence of large numbers of American soldiers) and
reduced U.S.
assistance. South Vietnam experienced soaring
inflation, high unemployment, and a refugee problem, with hundreds of thousands
of people fleeing to the cities to escape the fighting in the countryside.
The economic downturn also destabilized the South Vietnamese
forces, for although they possessed vast quantities of military hardware (for
example, having three times more 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 this equipment could not be used. Later, even the number of bullets allotted to
soldiers was rationed. Compounding
matters were the endemic corruption, favoritism, ineptitude, and lethargy prevalent
in the South Vietnamese government and military.
In the post-Accords period, South Vietnam was determined to
regain control of lost territory, and in a number of offensives in 1973-1974,
it succeeded in seizing some communist-held areas, but paid a high price in
personnel and weaponry. At the same
time, North Vietnam
was intent on achieving a complete military victory. But since the North Vietnamese forces had
suffered extensive losses in the previous years, the Hanoi
government concentrated on first rebuilding its forces for a planned full-scale
offensive of South Vietnam,
planned for 1976.
In March 1974, North Vietnam
launched a series of “strategic raids” from the captured territories that it
held in South Vietnam. By November 1974, North Vietnam’s control had
extended eastward from the north nearly to the south of the country. As well, North Vietnamese forces now
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) from eastern Laos
and Cambodia to inside South Vietnam
itself. By October 1974, with major road
improvements completed, the Trail system was a fully truckable highway from
north to south, and greater numbers of North Vietnamese units, weapons, and
supplies were being transported each month to South Vietnam.
North Vietnam’s
“strategic raids” also were meant to gauge U.S. military response. None occurred, as at this time, the United States
was reeling from the Watergate Scandal, which led to President Nixon resigning
from office on August 9, 1974.
Vice-President Gerald Ford succeeded as President.
Encouraged by this success, in December 1974, North
Vietnamese forces in eastern Cambodia
attacked Phuoc Long
Province, taking its capital Phuoc
Binh in early January 1975 and sending pandemonium in South Vietnam, but again producing no military
response from the United
States.
President Ford had asked U.S. Congress for military support for South Vietnam,
but was refused.
