Timeline, September 16th

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
September 16, 1950 (Year of the Tiger [Canh Dan]): General Giap begins his main assault against French forces in northern North Vietnam with an attack on Dong Khe, an outpost on the ridge forming the northeast border with China. The fort's defenders, some 260 Legionnaires in two companies, are outnumbered eight-to-one, facing first a mortar barrage, and then human wave infantry assaults that turn into bitter hand-to-hand-fighting. After another shelling, the Legionnaires abandon the outpost and manage to escape through the encircling troops. Although recaptured three days later by a surprise French parachute assault, the outpost won't survive long. Instead of counterattacking, the French commander, General Carpentier, decides to abandon the frontier outposts. "The result was a debacle. The Cao Bang and That Khe garrisions were cut to pieces as they attempted to withdraw. Lang Son, the bastion of the border defenses was abandoned without a fight... 'When the smoke had cleared,' wrote Bernard Fall (per quote at "The Indochina Border Fights" war gaming site) of the 1950 debacle along the Chinese border on Route Coloniale 4, 'the French had suffered their greatest colonial defeat since Montcalm had died in Quebec.' These defeats, rather than the later battle at Dien Bien Phu, were the real death knell for France in Indochina, for with the loss of the China frontier, the end was foreordained."

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
September 16, 1966 (Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Prairie update: A Marine is ambushed and surrounded for over two days.

September 16, 1966 (Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): A SAS patrol contacts an enemy group on the eastern approaches of Nui Dat. Result: 2 VC WIA.

September 16, 1966 (Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Golden Fleece 7-1 begins.

September 16, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase V): Operation Golden Sword is conducted.

September 16, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase V): 326th Med, 101st Airborne receives a commendation for its support during Operation Somerset Plain.

September 16, 1969 (Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Summer-Fall 1969): Further troop withdrawals of 35,000 are announced by the US.

September 1970 (Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Consolidation I): The South Vietnamese Navy takes charge of the inshore barrier.

September 16, 1972 (Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Nguyen Hue/Easter Offensive: The South Vietnamese flag is once more raised over the Old Citadel in Quang Tri City. Most of the rest of Quang Tri Province, however, still is in enemy hands. In southern Quang Ngai Province, North Vietnamese forces begin a new offensive.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
September 16, 1989 (Year of the Snake [Ky Ti]): Withdrawal from Cambodia/Kampuchea: PAVN's 302 Division (Osprey says "probably" here) begins to evacuate from Oddar Meanchey through Stung Tren, where it links up with Front 579 and crosses the border back into Vietnam.