Timeline, January 3rd

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
January, 1954 (11th and 12th months, Year of the Snake): The French begin Operation "Atlante" to clear the coastal areas of Viet Minh. The operation ends in failure in March.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
January 3, 1957 (3rd day of the 12th month, Year of the Monkey): The International Control Commission declares that neither North Vietnam nor South Vietnam has carried out the Geneva Agreements.

Early 1960 (Year of the Rat): In Laos, North Vietnamese forces begin Operation Freefall, dropping pallets of supplies without parachutes from low-flying transports, believed to include the An-2, Il-12, Il-14 and the Li-2, to resupply Communist cadres moving down the Laotian panhandle toward South Vietnam. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union is also conducting its own airlift operation to Communist forces in northern Laos.

Early 1962 (Year of the Tiger) (US Advisory): More Americans appear in South Vietnam, ostensibly to train the South Vietnamese Air Force, but actually to fly combat missions under the guise of training; US Army Special Forces officers, to advise ARVN units in the field and often also to take command themselves; and a wide range of political, economic and military experts.

January 3, 1963 (8th day of the 12th month, Year of the Tiger)(US Advisory): The first assault on a Special Forces camp occurs at Plei Mrong, in Kontum Province.

Early 1964 (late Year of the Hare/early Year of the Dragon)(US Advisory): The NVA has been trimmed down to 215,000 men (from approximately 380,000 at the end of the First Indochina War) in six infantry divisions, an artillery division, five infantry brigades and ten independent regiments, virtually all concentrated in the Red River Delta, with one division and one regiment stationed near the DMZ.

January 1964 (11th and 12th months, Year of the Hare)(US Advisory): VC armed attacks in South Vietnam number 223 during the month and US officials count 1244 terrorist incidents. 47 South Vietnamese government officials are murdered and another 93 are abducted; 111 other South Vietnamese are murdered and 694 more are abducted. There are also 129 reported sabotage incidents.

January 3, 1967 (23rd day of the 11th month, Year of the Horse) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): The 144th Aviation Company begins its support of the 4th Infantry Division in Operation Sam Houston.

January 3, 1969 (15th day of the 11th month, Year of the Monkey) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): Operation Barrier Reef begins in the Mekong Delta, completing the first phase of the Navy's SEALORDS (Southeast Asia Lake Ocean River Delta Strategy) program by establishing patrol sectors along canals westward from the Vam Co Tay to the Mekong River. Thus, by early 1969 a patrolled waterway interdiction barrier against VC supply lines and "tax collection" units extends almost uninterrupted from Tay Ninh northwest of Saigon to the Gulf of Siam.

January 3, 1969 (15th day of the 11th month, Year of the Monkey) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): The MRF begins Operation Water Trap.

Early 1970 (late Year of the Rooster/early Year of the Dog)(US Winter-Spring 1970): The NVA starts raising special commando units to combat US reconnaissance teams. The organization, tactics and even equipment of these NVA teams is nearly identical to the US forces they confront.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
First half of 1978 (late Year of the Snake/first few months, Year of the Horse): In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge is working feverishly to expand its army, while at the same time Phnom Penh continues its cross-border raids into Vietnam.

January 3, 1979 (5th day of the 12th month, Year of the Horse): The Cambodian town of Stung Treng falls to PAVN, which now effectively controls everything east of the Mekong.