Timeline, April 5th

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
April 5, 1954 (1st day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Giap Ngo]) (Fall): Dien Bien Phu: At 0030, H6 reports it's being attacked simultaneously from the west, north and east and that its survivors are withdrawing into the southern part of the strongpoint. French reserve units are now thrown in piecemeal as they become available. At 0115, a company begins to move north inside the airfield drainage ditch, supported by two tanks. In spite of antitank fire, they all manage to reach the southwestern corner of H6, where the Communists have dug in their forward base of fire. One of the tanks hits a mine; the other takes a bazooka hit, but stays in the fight. The company is split into two parts, one of which breaks through to the garrison, while the other, with the help of the remaining tank, keep the enemy mortars pinned down temporarily. At 0315 another understrength company is committed to the battle under the command of an officer who had just arrived at Dien Bien Phu the day previously. He decides to take his men right across Sparrowhawk to the drainage ditch, but is informed that further progress along the ditch is impossible. Rather than being pinned down, in one flying leap he and his company cross with wide-open airstrip and rush head-on into the southernmost Viet-Minh elements covering H6 on its southern face, not giving them even a chance to take aim. At 0420 his company closes in on them and in a vicious hand-to-hand fight mows them down and breaks into H6, where about 20 survivors are still holding on to one bunker. Without breaking pace, his men begin to mop up the peripheral trenches. Meanwhile, the fort's commanders have turned to Bigeard again for "one of his instantaneous operations." He devises a counterattack with two companies (less than 160 men--there are more than 3000 troops on the other side) with the 1st BEP standing by in reserve; the French Air Force promises a major effort as soon as weather permits. The counterattack starts at 0600 and the two companies arrive just as the Viet Minh commit a fourth battalion for one last furious attack. However, it's now light and the French artillery is pounding the enemy infantry. As they begin to recoil at 0830, the first French fighter-bombers appear, catching the Viet Minh completely in the open, far away from the protective shelter of the jungle. By 1015, over a thousand Viet Minh dead litter the field and there are 21 prisoners. Gen. Giap is soon heard over the radio, asking for replacements from his reserve scattered through North Vietnam (of the estimated 23,000 Viet Minh casualties during the whole siege, more than 10,000 occurred by April 5). At the same time, messages to China are intercepted, requesting delivery of another flak regiment with 67 37mm guns. The French have won the battle, but have lost more than 200 men and some ground; the Foreign Legionnaires who had garrisoned H6 have practically ceased to exist. Only four tanks remain in working order at the main fort, with two more still operating at Isabelle. The American 105mm howitzers have also proven to be very vulnerable to counterbattery fire, with six being disabled in one unit during the night's battle. Heavy mortars had to be used instead for infantry support. At Isabelle, enemy trenches are now within 100 meters.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
April 1960 (2nd and 3rd months, Year of the Rat [Canh Ty]): North Vietnam establishes a draft and sends troops south.

April 5, 1965 (3rd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): Rolling Thunder update: The first surface-to-air missile (SAM) site is detected 15 miles southeast of Hanoi.

April 1965 (1st and 2nd months, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Advisory and Defense campaigns): The carrier task force at Yankee Station creates a radar picket station between the Communist mainland and Task Force 77 sailing in Tonkin Gulf to provide early warning of air attack.

April 5, 1966 (14th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): William Bundy notes "cautious optimism" in the overall outlook in South Vietnam's recent disturbances.

April 5, 1967 (25th day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Francis Marion begins near the Cambodian border.

April 1968 (2nd and 3rd months, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): The big battles of Tet-68 have wrought such heavy casualties that in North Vietnam draft exemptions are dropped and virtually everybody from age 18 to 35 is called up, though the majority come from the rural countryside as draft resistance, including bribery, feigning illness and going into hiding, is easier in the big cities of Hanoi, Haiphong and Nam Dinh where Party officials and government workers live.

April 5, 1968 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Operation Tokabi begins near Phu Hiep.

April 5, 1968 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): 1/9 from the 26th Marines repulses a counterattack and kills 122 of the NVA attempting to retake Hill 471, two miles south of Khe Sanh. 1st Brigade, 1st ACD departs Ca Lu and assaults LZ Snapper.

April 5, 1970 (28th day of the 1st month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): Two South Vietnamese battalions move against Viet Cong sanctuaries in Cambodia across the border from Tay Ninh.

April 5, 1970 (28th day of the 1st month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): In Chau Doc Province, a Vietnamese mobile strike force platoon and its American advisor seize a strategic pass.

April 5, 1972 (20th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Nguyen Hue/Easter Offensive: The second front opens as an unprecedented artillery barrage hits Loc Ninh, and then an assault by the 5th VC Division.

US Air Force fighter bombers reinforce units in Thailand. The Navy's Task Force 77 now includes five carriers: Constellation, Kitty Hawk, Hancock, Coral Sea, and Saratoga. Operation Freedom Train begins as the Joseph Strauss (DDG 16) and Richard B. Anderson (DD 876) open fire on the Ben Hai Bridge in the northern half of the DMZ. Freedom Train is aimed at key military and logistic facilities at Dong Hoi, Vinh, Thanh Hoa, Haiphong, and Hanoi, as well as enemy troop units, supply convoys, and headquarters in the areas around the DMZ, and it involves multiaircraft strikes, gun cruisers and destroyers off the southern North Vietnamese coastline.

April 5, 1974 (12th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Tiger [Giap Dan]): In Cambodia, Communist insurgents overrun six outposts protecting Phnom Penh.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
April 1985 (2nd month, Year of the Ox [At Suu]): Vietnam claims to have withdrawn from Cambodia four technical brigades which had been conducting counterinsurgency and civic action operations in the interior.