Timeline, March 23rd

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
March 23, 1951 (16th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Hare [Tan Mao]): In the second of a series of full-scale attacks on the De Lattre Line in the Red River Delta (extending from Hanoi to the Gulf of Tonkin) with a Viet Minh army some 20,000 strong, General Giap hits the Mao Khe outpost near Haiphong. The open areas of the Delta, in contrast to the jungle, allow French troops to strike back from their fortified line with devastating results, and Giap withdraws after losing another 3000 Viet Minh to French naval gunfire and air strikes (6000 had already died in the first battle, during January, at Vinh Yen).

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
March 23, 1966 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Mang Ho V begins in Binh Dinh Province.

March 23, 1966 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive: Massive strikes led by students and Buddhist activists that started after Thieu and Ky removed a popular I Corps commander, General Thi, for allegedly failing to crack down on Buddhist dissidents, spread north to DaNang and Hue. The Buddhist leaders begin seeking sympathizers among ARVN troops.

March 23, 1967 (13th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Junction City update.

March 23, 1969 (6th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): Camp Coryell's "Rocket Party."

March 23, 1969 (6th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): MACV reports that a mechanized infantry convoy from an element of the 2nd Brigade, US 4th Infantry Division, has been ambushed by an unknown size enemy force two miles northwest of Plei Mrong, in Kontum Province.

March 23, 1971 (27th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Counteroffensive, Phase VII): A company of North Vietnamese sappers infiltrate an area of Khe Sanh held by troops of the 101st Airborne.

March 23, 1972 (9th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (U.S. Consolidation II): Paris Peace talks stall, Americans announce suspension.