Timeline, February 2nd

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
February 1965 (1st month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Advisory): U.S. intelligence reports heavy NVA infiltration from Laos and across the DMZ into Quang Tri Province. Only the ARVN 1st Division and a single U.S. marine battalion are deployed to the province. However, to defend against this threatened invasion the bulk of the U.S. 3d Marine Division and the first U.S. Army combat units, the 173d Airborne Brigade, are moved into the northern provinces. (OS)

February 2, 1966 (13th day of the 1st month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Van Buren.

February 2, 1966 (13th day of the 1st month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Phase III of Operation Masher begins.

February 2, 1966 (13th day of the 1st month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Double Eagle update.

February 2, 1966 (13th day of the 1st month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): UN Security Council discusses war: Vote deferred on US request to "obtain peace in Vietnam by lone Jordan request to postpone. Note: Hanoi casts deciding vote to bar UN intervention. (IWC)

February 2, 1966 (13th day of the 1st month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): 18th and 98th NVA regiments (8,000 men) are pursued by 20,000 US/ARVN troops in Binh Dinh Province. General Giap issues statement US will inevitably lose despite their overwhelming technological and materiel advantage. (IWC)

February 2, 1967 (23rd day of the 12th month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo])(US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Gadsden begins. (OS)

February 2, 1968 (5th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Tet-68 update in Cam Lo district, Kontum, Hue (Operation Jeb Stuart), and Marble Mountain.

February 1969 (late Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]/early Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): A survey of key American field commanders in South Vietnam reveals their conviction that Saigon's forces might be able to deal with a residual or indigenous VC threat, but they could not handle NVA regulars unless the South Vietnamese military and political systems are completely overhauled. (TVW)

February 1970 (late Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]/early Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): The focus of enemy activity shifts from III and IV Corps to I and II Corps, with an ever-growing number of attacks against CIDG camps and fire support bases. (OS)

Early February 1971 (1st month, Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VII): Operation Lam Son 719/Dewey Canyon II update: As ARVN forces continue to head for the collection point at Khe Sanh, America's 101st Airborne Division conducts diversionary activities in the A Shau Valley, and the 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) continues to clear Route 9 of ambush sites and mines up to the Laotian border, while the 45th Engineer Group repairs the road. Hanoi, Peking and Moscow, meanwhile, have denounced the US for extending its "imperial war of aggression" into Laos, and the NVA's 70B Corps, consisting of elements of the 2, 304, 308B and 325 Divisions, as well as two artillery regiments and one armored regiment under a single operational commander (the first time the NVA has organized to the corps level), in the northern Laotian panhandle prepares for action. (OS)

February 2, 1971 (7th day of the 1st month, Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VII): In Laos, despite preparations to meet the coming attack from RVN, other North Vietnamese units and the Pathet Lao begin their push to seize Luang Prabang with the seizure of Muong Soui, just west of the Plain of Jars. (TVW)