Timeline, April 6th

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
April 6, 1954 (4th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Horse [Giap Ngo]) (Fall): Dien Bien Phu: The day is calm, except for the arrival of the last plane, an unarmed recon plane that is shot down and then destroyed on the runway by enemy fire. At the main garrison, artillery ammo is down to one night's worth of fairly serious combat and there are no more mines to put in front of rear area strongpoints such as Huguette 1 or the newly created Lily (carved out of Claudine 1) or the new bunker system between H4 and C5. There are also no more flare shells for the 60mm mortar shells. This day, 18 tons of howitzer ammo is misdropped behind enemy lines, requiring an infantry breakout on the 7th to retrieve part of it. The battles have gone through specialists at a fast pace, and the garrison now has less than 2600 infantrymen -- five battalions of paratroopers, two of Legionnaires, and a mix of T'ai and North African units which are often unreliable -- to hold a perimeter almost 10 km long, protect over a thousand wounded, and guard 2200 POWs as well as the deserters who live in an enclave near the river inside the fortress. Hanoi agrees to drop another battalion of paratroopers and Bigeard decides to retake strategic E1. Meanwhile, negotiations with the US for a major bombing operation on the forces besieging Dien Bien Phu are bogging down and General Navarre orders a diversionary operation from Laos to begin on April 13, code-named Condor, that is designed, if unable to break through to the fort, at least to divert parts of the Communist divisions holding the valley.

INTERBELLUM:
April 6, 1956 (26th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Binh Than]): South Vietnam refuses to accept the Geneva agreement and will not negotiate with Hanoi.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
April 6, 1965 (5th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): Rolling Thunder update: The Joint Chiefs of Staff give LBJ their overall appraisal of the operation to date.

April 6, 1965 (5th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): National Security Council Action Memorandum No. 328.

April 6, 1966 (16th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Two Falcon gunships of the 155th AHC are credited with four enemy KBA in the vicinity of Dalat. One gunship is hit be enemy automatic weapons fire but completes its mission and returns home.

April 6, 1966 (16th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Ambassador Lodge reports that Thieu and Ky have decided to seek a political solution before a military one and have accepted the Buddhist proposal offered to Ky the previous evening to hold a constitutional convention within six months.

April 6, 1967 (27th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Three Australian SAS ambush patrols are inserted into an area north of the Nui Thi Vai hills.

April 6, 1968 (9th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Khe Sanh/Operation Pegasus: The 1/5th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Division battles NVA elements holed up in the abandoned French fort about three miles south of the base. The first element of Pegasus, a company of 3rd ARVN Airborne Task Force, is airlifted to the base for the initial link up with defenders. Elements of the 2nd Brigade, 1st ACD relieve 1st Battalion, 9th Marines on Hill 471; 1/9 commences sweep to northwest toward Hill 689. 1st Brigade, 1st ACD is helilifted north of KSCB. 2/26 and 3/26 push north of combat base; Company G, 2/26 engages enemy force and kills 48 NVA.

April 6, 1968 (9th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Operation Weatherford starts in I Corps.

April 6, 1968 (9th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): A five-man SAS recon-ambush patrol is inserted into the area 12 km north of Nui Thi Vai, Bien Hoa Province, and over the next four days, discovers VC camps and activity. The patrol comes under fire, killing one VC and then extracting.

April 6, 1968 (9th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): The USS New Jersey is recommissioned for shore bombardment duty in Vietnam.

April 6, 1970 (1st day of the 3rd month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): B Company 8 RAR react to an area north east of Binh Ba and return same day.

April 6, 1972 (23rd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty] (US Cease-Fire): Easter Offensive: The third front opens in the Central Highlands when three NVA division (the 2nd Division of Front B3, the 320th Division and the Gold Star Division) and several independent battalions assault Kontum, Dak To, Tan Canh, and the Mang Yang pass, aiming to cut Route 1 at the borders of Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh Provinces. In the south, the ARVN regiment with cavalry and a Ranger battalion attached at Loc Ninh has forced the enemy back from the base perimeter several times, assisted by many close-in air strikes. The NVA therefore sends in its armor on the 6th. Elsewhere, US Marine aircraft begin landing at Da Nang; the chairman of the JCS announces the resumption of aerial attack and naval bombardment against North Vietnam.