Timeline, January 12th

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR January 12, 1962 (US Advisory): Operation Ranch Hand, the chemical defoliation program, begins.

January 12, 1965 (10th day of the 12th month, Year of the Dragon)(US Advisory): The U.S. Defense Dept. announces that two U.S. jet fighters have been shot down on a combat mission against Communist supply lines in central Laos.

January 12, 1966 (21st day of the 12th month, Year of the Snake) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Buckskin begins.

January 1967 (11th and 12th months, Year of the Horse) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): The US has some 385,000 troops in South Vietnam: five infantry divisions; two Marine divisions; four separate brigades; and an armored cavalry regiment. ARVN now numbers 329,000, with another 300,000 in the unarmed militia known as the Regional and Popular Forces. There are 4525 Australians and 155 New Zealanders in the south, too. But some 60,000 North Vietnamese, the equivalent of five divisions, have entered South Vietnam over the past year, raising enemy combat strength to an estimated 300,000 men, and General Westmoreland asks for a further 100,000-plus US troops and urges that the US should maintain a three-division reserve for commitment, if necessary. He will get the troops, but the DoD will not maintain a large reserve force, due to other global commitments, unless President Johnson agrees to call up the civilian reservees, which Johnson faced with political resistance at home, will not agree to do.

January 12, 1967 (2nd day of the 12th month, Year of the Horse) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Fairfax/Rang Dong begins.

January 12, 1968 (13th day of the 12th month, Year of the Goat)(US Counteroffensive Phase III): The NVA attacks Site '85 in Laos again.

January 12, 1968 (13th day of the 12th month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): A platoon of Company C, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Division, comes under fire in the Que Son Valley.

January 11, 1973 (9th day of the 12th month, Year of the Rat)(US Cease-Fire): Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck proclaims the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam by Australian Forces.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
January 9-12, 1978 (1st through 3rd days of the 12th month, Year of the Snake): Vietnam signs an agreement with Thailand on trade and economic and technical cooperation; similar agreements are reached with Malaysia and the Philippines.

January 1978 (11th and 12th months, Year of the Snake): In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge begins to launch counterattacks as PAVN seeks to capture all of Cambodia east of the Mekong and uses a diversionary move toward Kampot and Takeo. The Khmer Rouge resistance causes PAVN to partially withdraw by February, even though most of the Khmer Rouge eastern units have been destroyed. Hanoi is not happy with the performance of its troops, which include many former ARVN, as seasoned PAVN troops have been diverted into economic construction units after 1975--talk about cannon fodder! Beginning in 1978, a major reorganization effort begins in PAVN to expand and modernize its forces and to professionalize its officer corps; for the first time since 1952, the Army's political officer becomes subordinate to the military commander, thus streamlining the chain of command. At the same time, the Khmer Rouge works feverishly to expand its army while Phnom Penh continues to order crossborder raids into Vietnam.

January 11, 1979 (13th day of the 12th month, Year of the Horse): Radio Hanoi announces that, under the Vietnamese-controlled government in Phnom Penh, Cambodia will now be called the People's Republic of Kampuchea, and assures non-Communist Southeast Asia that Vietnam's policies towards them will not be affected by the recent conflict there. PAVN tanks enter Siem Reap.

Early 1983 (late Year of the Dog/early Year of the Boar): PAVN has three divisions stationed in Laos with a total estimated strength of 45,000 troops.