Timeline, February 22nd

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
February 22, 1966 (3rd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Clean Sweep starts in Hau Nghia Province, III Corps.

February 22, 1966 (3rd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): 1 RAR assists the US 1st Division in an operation near Ben Cat. Australia casualties, 1 wounded.

February 22, 1967 (14th day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Junction City starts in War Zone C.

February 22, 1968 (25th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Elements of the 17th Cavalry see action north of Pleiku.

February 22, 1968 (25th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): MAG-16 update.

February 22, 1969 (7th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Counterffensive Phase VI): US Army Rangers on patrol in Tinh Phuoc Tanh Province encounter an enemy patrol.

February 22, 1969 (7th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Counterffensive Phase VI): The battle for Tien Phouc SF camp begins late in the evening.

February 22, 1969 (7th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Counterffensive Phase VI): In the northern A Shau Valley, a company of US Marines comes under heavy fire from a large, well-concealed enemy force.

February 22, 1969 (7th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Counterffensive Phase VI): Company A, 4/47th, 9th Infantry Division, encounters intense fire from an enemy bunker during a reconaissance-in-force operation in Kien Hoa Province.

February 22, 1971 (27th day of the 1st month, Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VII): Operation Lam Son 719: North Vietnamese have ARVN's Ranger Base South surrounded while their AA fire prevents aerial resupply of Ranger Base North. The ARVN rangers withdraw with 298 killed and wounded, claiming to have killed 639 of the enemy.

SINO-VIETNAMESE WAR:
February 22, 1979 (25th day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Ky Mui]): It is estimated that 90,000 Chinese in Vietnam are facing some 100,000 Vietnamese militia. Vietnamese regulars are moving up to Lang Son from the Hanoi area. It is thought that the initial failure to engage Vietnamese regulars and the relatively heavy casualties inflicted by the militia have caused the Chinese to prolong the invasion. Vietnam now claims that Chinese casualties total 12,500 killed or wounded, 138 tanks, and 26 other military vehicles. Yuri Andropov, head of the KGB and a senior Politburo member warns China to withdraw "before it is too late." The US states that Soviet troop movement into Vietnam would be viewed with "considerable disfavor and concern."

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR - OTHER:
February 22, 1985 (3rd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Ox [At Suu]): US and Lao technical personnel conduct the first joint site crash excavation.

[frisco-kid]

1965 Westmoreland asks for Marines

General William Westmoreland, commander of Military Assistance Command Vietnam, cables Washington, D.C., to request that two battalions of U.S. Marines be sent to protect the U.S. airbase at Da Nang.

Ambassador Maxwell Taylor [CG of the 101st Abn. Div. during WWII], aware of Westmoreland's plan, disagreed and cabled President Lyndon B. Johnson from Saigon to warn that such a step would encourage South Vietnam to "shuck off greater responsibilities." The Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, supported Westmoreland's request and on February 26, White House officials cabled Taylor and Westmoreland that the troops would be sent, and that Taylor should "Secure GVN [Government of South Vietnam] approval." General Westmoreland later insisted that he did not regard his request as "the first step in a growing American commitment," but by 1969 there were over 540,000 American troops in South Vietnam.

1967 Operation Junction City begins

Operation Junction City is launched to ease pressure on Saigon. It was an effort to smash the Viet Cong's stronghold in Tay Ninh Province and surrounding areas along the Cambodian border northwest of Saigon.

The purpose of the operation was to drive the Viet Cong away from populated areas and into the open, where superior American firepower could be more effectively used. In the largest operation of the war to date, four South Vietnamese and 22 U.S. battalions were involved--more than 25,000 troops. The first day's operation was supported by 575 aircraft sorties, a record number for a single day in South Vietnam. The operation was marked by one of the largest airmobile assaults in history when 240 troop-carrying helicopters descended on the battlefield. It was also the first, and last, time that a parachute combat assault was made during the Vietnam War. The combat jump was made by the 2nd Bn., 503rd PIR, 173rd Abn. Bde. on the first day of the operation.

There were 2,728 enemy casualties by the end of the operation on March 17.
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