Timeline, September 6th

[David]

September 6, 1944 (Year of the Monkey [Giap Than]): The USS Independence begins use of a specially trained air group for night work. It is the first time that a fully equipped night carrier has operated with a fast carrier task force.

PREBELLUM:
September 6, 1945 (Year of the Rooster [At Dau]): Per the Potsdam Conference decision to have the British disarm the Japanese in Vietnam south of the 16th parallel, and the Chinese, the Japanese north of it, the first of what will total some 26,000 seasoned jungle fighters of the British 20th Indian Division, with artillery and air support, arrive in Saigon under General Douglas D. Gracey.

According to a Trotskyite source, General Gracey immediately has leaflets spread all over the city by Japanese fighter planes proclaiming that he has charged the Japanese with the maintenance of public order, and that the population is forbidden to keep any weapons under threat of severe punishment. A huge poster repeating this proclamation is placed on the city walls. The notice is addressed not only to the armed groups of the religious sects who have picked up quantities of Japanese weapons, but also to the Viet Minh's Provisional Executive Committee, whom General Gracey is treating with respect, but whose armed militia the British 'more or less' hold responsible for the September 2nd riot (note: the Trotskyites, no fans of the Viet Minh, say "more or less"; in the current official history, Vietnam blames the French for the riot -- no one really seems to know for sure what or who set it off). General Gracey installs his headquarters in the small palace of the governor of Cochin China, while the groups and sects start agitating in Saigon and elsewhere.

The Hoa Hao assume the name of the Social Democratic Party (Dang dan-xa), and apparently, along with the Cao-Dai, are given a few ministerial posts by the Viet Minh, but the leaders of the sects, who have become subject to police searches now, disappear along with their armed groups. Tens of workers and clerks are organized by the Trotskyites in a `People's Revolutionary Committee' in the Tan Dinh suburb of Saigon, and a similar group is formed at Bien Hoa, some 30 km from Saigon. Both groups are arrested and imprisoned.

At the same time, according to Fall and the LOC, Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese expeditionary forces begin arriving in the north and soon will number around 180,000. The Viet Minh already have the friendship of the Chinese and with their help seize some areas north of Hanoi, leading other nationalist Vietnamese parties to set up an opposition newspaper in Hanoi and denounce the "red terror." To prevent trouble, Ho orders his troops to avoid provoking any incidents with the Chinese and agrees to the Chinese demand that the Communists negotiate with the Vietnamese nationalist parties. Meanwhile out in the countryside, the Chinese plunder the countryside and soon become more hated than were the Japanese.

It isn't clear to me yet what happens to the Japanese in northern Vietnam. Perhaps, as was the case in Laos, they have already fled. In Laos, Nationalist Chinese of the 96th Division also arrive to disarm the Japanese and, finding them gone, loot the country, gathering up in particular the opium crop, but on the whole they behave neutrally, only acting against those who threaten them, and so the Viceroy's troops and supporters go out of their way not to provoke trouble with them.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
September 1960 (Year of the Rat [Canh Ty]): At a Party Conference in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh vows to "liberate" South Vietnam.

September 6, 1961 (Year of the Ox [Tan Suu]): Viet Cong attack a South Vietnamese self defense corps post on Highway 19 near An Khe.

September 6, 1964 (Year of the Dragon [Giap Thin]) (US Advisory): Ambassador Taylor reviews the current political situation, and General Westmoreland the current military situation in South Vietnam.

September 6, 1966 (Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Bangor begins.

September 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Attack squadrons from the Oriskany, Constellation, Coral Sea, and Intrepid hit previously off-limits areas in North Vietnam: the port of Haiphong and in the smaller ports of Hon Gai and Cam Pha.

September 6, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Operation Swift update: Two battalions of the 1st VC Regiment attack the lead company of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. Bravo Company is isolated and nearly overrun before artillery-delivered tear gas drives the enemy back. During the fight, Sgt. Rodney Davis sacrifices his life so his platoon can hold onto its position. Meanwhile, the nearby 3rd Battalion becomes heavily engaged a few hours later. When India Company is dispatched to attack a VC-held hill, it is isolated and nearly overrun by the 1st VC Regiment's previously uncommitted 3rd Battalion. Kilo Company is sent to relieve India and, though it eventually fights through, the two-company force can't move because of many casualties. That night, they repulse two VC assaults, and Mike Company eventually fights through to them against what is now meager opposition. By dawn on the 7th, the VC have disappeared.

September 6, 1971 (Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Consolidation I): South Vietnamese launch a major sweep against North Vietnamese positions near the Laotian border.

September 6th 1967 (year of the goat) I arrive in Cam Ranh Bay to start my first tour in Nam. I was 18 years old, full of piss and vinegar, and rarein to kick Charlies Ass. Tet 1968 changed that way of thinking.