Timeline, April 10th

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
April 10, 1954 (8th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Horse [Giap Ngo]) (Fall): At dawn, every 105mm in Dien Bien Phu as well as Isabelle, opens up on enemy positions on Eliane 1, delivering 1800 rounds in ten minutes. After a series of smoke shells marks the end of the barrage, the first wave of French infantry starts climbing E1's steep slopes 20 meters behind a rolling barrage of mortar shells, while the fort's artillery fires 100 meters ahead of the French troops and French dive bombers begin working over the enemy positions to the rear of the Eilanes and Dominiques, thus sealing off the battlefield completely.

Meanwhile, as soon as the artillery lifts, the remaining four French tanks, drawn up on the road below E4, head for the hilltop of E1 under direct fire, while the quad-fifties from Sparrowhawk and the six machine guns and 12 automatic rifles dug in on neighboring E2 pin down anything that still moves on E1's top. The Viet Minh can't organize defensive fires because the French troops are completely intermingled with their own, but eventually their 120mm mortars on E1 mange to box in the French rear with a counterbarrage and the French infantry is pinned down high up on E1's western slope.

Major Bigeard then sends in a company with a flame-thrower team and an automatic rifle team, which clears the enemy mortars and western bunkers, though with heavy losses, including the complete annihilation of the automatic rifle group. At 1400, the French reach the top of E1. At 1600, an enemy counterbarrage hits and, at 1845, General Giap mounts a counterattack. E1's defenders, even with automatic weapons, can't mow down the advancing human waves fast enough and, by 2000, are fighting in isolated small groups as the vanguard of the Viet Minh reach the hill's crest. At 2100, Bigeard decides to make a stand for it and sends in the counterattack companies, organized on a stand-by basis by all the paratroop battalions; at the same time, Giap throws a fourth infantry battalion into the battle. By midnight, the onrushing Legionnaires and French and Vietnamese paratroopers, some of them singing French or German paratroop songs, and the Vietnamese the Marseillaise, as they storm E1, have again cleared the position in hand-to-hand fighting and the Viet-Minh begin to fall back. Perhaps 400 Communists lie dead intermingled with the heavy French casualties.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
April 10, 1964 (28th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Dragon [Giap Thin]) (US Advisory): Mortar attack on the 121st AVN position at Soc Trang.

April 10, 1964 (28th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Dragon [Giap Thin]) (US Advisory): An entire UH-1B crew and 8 ARVN soldiers are killed during an Eagle assault operation south of Ca Nau when the tail boom separates from their helicopter near the engine compartment. As a result of this tragic accident, all UH-1B's are grounded, pending a modification of the tail boom.

April 10, 1965 (9th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): A third US Marine battalion, BLT 2/3, lands at Da Nang and two companies are immediately helilifted to Phu Bai to defend the airfield there.

April 10, 1966 (20th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): River Patrol Boats of River Patrol Force commence operations on inland waters of South Vietnam.

April 10, 1967 (1st day of the 3rd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Project Delta puts 48 patrols into the A Shau Valley.

April 10, 1968 (13th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): LBJ announces that Gen. Creighton Abrams will take over from Gen. William Westmoreland as Commander, MACV, in June.

April 10, 1968 (13th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Operation Carentan II update: the battle of Thon Phuoc Dien.

April 10, 1968 (13th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): A/7/17 Cavalry gunships are called on to cover the extraction of a LRRP team who is in contact and has one WIA, northeast of Ban Me Thuot.

April 10, 1968 (13th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Khe Sanh: Lt. General Rosson arrives at the base and directs Lt. General Tolson to disengage and prepare for Operation Delaware in the A Shau Valley.

April 10, 1970 (5th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): Dak Seang update: An ARVN rifle battalion finally reaches the camp and the VC are slowly beaten back, although fighting there and at Dak Pek, another camp 17 miles to the south, will continue for several more weeks.

April 10, 1970 (5th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): An enemy complex is found near Camp Holloway.

April 10, 1972 (27th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Nguyen Hue/Easter Offensive: Deep penetration raids into North Vietnam are begun by B-52 aircraft for the first time since November 1967 In I Corps, FSB Pedro is retaken after troops there have repulsed three major attacks. At the end of the day, the 3rd Division 5 perimeter, which runs from the coast line along the Cua Viet River westward through Dong Ha, then veering south to join FSB Pedro and the Thach Han River, is still intact.

A five-man patrol led by a SEAL crosses 2 km of enemy-held territory to locate and rescue two pilots, locating one of them at daybreak and returning to the forward base.

Near Hue, the 1st Regiment of the 1st ARVN Infantry Division attempts to clear Route 547 but encounters resistance from the NVA 24th Regiment, which holds fast in spite of heavy ARVN artillery fire and B-52 strikes. Attempts to resupply FSB Bastogne and Checkmate by helicopters and air drops are only partially successful while the increasing number of wounded caused by daily enemy attacks presents a critical medical evacuation problem.

April 10, 1973 (8th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Ox [Quy Suu]): Complaints of Violations of Cease-Fire given to participants in the International Conference on Vietnam.

April 10, 1975 (29th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Hare [At Mao]): Ho Chi Minh campaign: The US Congress rejects President Ford's request for $972 million emergency aid to Thieu and begins debate on whether to give President Ford the authority to use American troops to safeguard the evacuations. Ford's later action in ordering American military forces to protect the evacuations has to be based only on a moral rationale. All ships at Phu Quoc are now empty, thus bringing to a close the intracoastal sealift of 130,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese citizens.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR - OTHER:
April 10, 1979 (14th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Goat [Ky Mui]): It is estimated that China holds some 2000 Vietnamese POWs and that fewer than 1000 Chinese POWs are held in Hanoi at the "Peking Hotel" prison.

April 10, 1986 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Tiger [Binh Dan]: The government of Vietnam turns over to US officials in Hanoi 21 remains believed to be those of US personnel.