Timeline, May 26th

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
May 26, 1968 (30th day of the 4th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Foxtrot Ridge: The Marines spend the day digging in deeper, running short patrols around the area, and looking for shade during the day's heat. The ridge north of Route 9 begins to prove its strategic value when Foxtrot Company spots a small group of NVA on an adjacent ridge just after 1900. The Marines direct arty and air strikes onto the enemy, killing five of them and disclosing 15 newly constructed bunkers. An hour later, the Marines see a whole column of NVA moving across an open area nearby and call in arty and mortars, killing seven of the enemy and scattering the rest. The next 24 hours are quiet. During the night, small groups of three or four Marines at a time slip out of the company's perimeter and set up listening posts along likely avenues of approach the enemy might use, but no movement is detected.

May 26, 1968 (30th day of the 4th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Camp Coryell, Darlac Province: At 0240, 16 rounds of 82mm mortars land inside the compound, damaging three aircraft and 22 vehicles and destroying one generator. APU personnel suffer only three minor injuries.

May 26, 1968 (30th day of the 4th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Battle of FSB Coral: The forward command post of the VC 141 Regiment is about 1500 meters east of the new Australian FSB Balmoral and it doesn't take the enemy long to shift their attention to this new intrusion. A battalion attack begins this date against 3 RAR at Balmoral with mortars and a feint to the west, with the main assault coming from the northeast. The Australian rifle companies and a troop of Centurion tanks, supported by artillery fire, gunships and spooky turn the attack. There are also mortar attacks at FSPB Coral.

May 26, 1969 (11th day of the 4th month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): Operation Pipestone Canyone starts south of Da Nang.

May 26, 1970 (22nd day of the 4th month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat] (US Sanctuary Counteroffensive): D Company 8 RAR is ambushed south of Hoa Long and replaces C Company south of Long Dien. C Company then deploys to block southwest of Le Loi in conjunction with 2 RAR's initial operation.

May 26, 1972 (14th day of the 4th month, Year of the Rat [Nham ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Easter Offensive: At first light, NVA tanks, having no cover in the open terrain north of the city, are taken under fire by TOW-equipped choppers and, inside the city, by ARVN with LAW. South Vietnamese reinforcements arrive, but enemy indirect fire against Kontum city increases and a coordinated attack by enemy tanks and infantry presses the ARVN 53rd Regiment from the north. Pressure also mounts against territorial forces south of the city. With the support of Cobra gunships, a task force of one battalion of the ARVN 44th Regiment and eight tanks counterattacks and successfully contains an enemy penetration between the 45th and 53rd Regiments. Still, they can't eject the enemy from the positions already seized. The military situation remains stable for the day, however. Meanwhile, supply shortages have become critical, since the airfield is closed to fixed-wing aircraft, and the city's soccer field is being used to accommodate CH-47 Chinooks hauling in emergency supplies and evacuating the seriously wounded. From the soccer field, VNAF helicopters shuttle supplies to ARVN units north and northwest of the city. At nightfall, the NVA 64th Regiment attacks again, penetrating between the 53rd and 45 Regiments, and concentrating its effort against the latter. B-52 strikes diverted from scheduled missions help to blunt the attack.

POSTBELLUM:
May 26, 1990 (3rd day of the 5th month, Year of the Horse [Canh Ngo]): The USS Beaufort rescues 24 Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea.