Timeline, September 24th

[David]

PREBELLUM:
September 1940 (Year of the Dragon [Canh Thin]): As Japanese troops begin to occupy northern Vietnam, the French withdraw southward. The Japanese encourage Vietnamese troops to support the invasion. Communists in the Bac Son district border area, however, move to take advantage of the situation, organizing self-defense units and establishing their own administration. The Vichy French protest to the Japanese, and a cease-fire is arranged whereby the French forces return to their posts and promptly put down all insurrection. Most of the Communist forces in Tonkin are able to retreat to the mountains.

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR - THE BEGINNING
September 24, 1945 (Year of the Rooster [At Dau]): Saigon uprising: Revolutionary groups openly parade in the Rue de Verdun and march up the Boulevard de la Somme, converging on the Market Place, which they later burn down. The Viet Minh Committee organizes a general strike in Saigon, shutting down commerce, as well as water and electricity supplies. They also call for "a food blockade," even though British ships control access to the harbor.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
September 1960 (Year of the Rat [Canh Ty]): As terrorist attacks increase in the South, Ho Chi Minh calls a Party Congress at Hanoi, where it is vowed to "liberate" South Vietnam.

September 1962 (Year of the Tiger [Nham Dan]) (US Advisory): The State Department releases "United States Overseas Internal Defense Policy." The policy expressed in the report, which has been approved by President Kennedy in NSAM No. 182, includes the presumption that counter-insurgency programs (referred to as "internal defense programs" in the report) should not be limited to military measures but should also involve as necessary such additional dimensions as economic development, police control, and effective local government. "United States Overseas Internal Defense Policy," September 1962, and NSAM No. 182 are printed, respectively, in Foreign Relations, 1961-1963, vols. VII, VIII, IX, Microfiche Supplement, Document 279, and ibid., vol. VIII, Document 105.

September 24, 1963 (Year of the Hare [Quy Mao]) (US Advisory): Two American pilots flying a recon mission for a regiment of the ARVN 2nd Division are fired upon by a VC unit and crash-land about two miles northeast of the base at Tam Ky. Neither is injured and both are evacuated by H-34. Later in the afternoon two 34's lift the fuselage back to Da Nang.

September 24, 1963 (Year of the Hare [Quy Mao]) (US Advisory): A C-123 is struck by small arms and automatic weapons fire while performing an airdrop cargo mission in support of Special Forces operations to resupply the border surveillance camp at Bu Ghia Map, 95 miles north-northeast of Saigon. The plane crashes at an undetermined location north of the camp. That location, it is later learned, is in an area called "The Waste Land," across the South Vietnamese border.

September 24, 1964 (Year of the Dragon [Giap Thin]) (US Advisory): Montagnard uprising: The Embassy in Saigon reports to State about the political aspects and background to the uprising.

September-October 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): River Section 521 and Hunterdon County deploy to the river areas south of Da Nang and to Cau Hai Bay near Hue.

September 24, 1970 (Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VII): A Company 8 RAR takes up ambush duties east of Dat Do Town.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
September 24, 1977 (Year of the Snake [Dinh Ti]): While Pol Pot is on an official visit to Peking, Cambodian (Kampuchean) troops advance into Tay Ninh Province in several lines spread over a 93-mile front. With Vietnamese units taken by surprise during a public holiday, the Kampucheans penetrate deeply into the country and then withdraw, but stop short of the border and take up positions just inside Vietnamese territory. Official Vietnamese sources allege that some 2000 civilians have been killed by the invaders.