Timeline, March 30th

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
March 30, 1954 (26th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Giap Ngo]) (Fall): Dien Bien Phu: Shortly before dawn, a platoon from Huguette 7 goes 150 m north of the position to flush the enemy from trenches dug during the night, but this time the Viet Minh fire on their own work site with 120mm heavy mortars and a 57mm recoilless rifle. The platoon nonetheless completes its mission and returns to Huguette 7 at 0900. The day is calm with rain hampering both enemy flak and French supply planes, with many loads being misdropped.

At 1800 a heavy Communist artillery barrage begins to land on all the Dominiques, Elianes and the HQ area, marking the beginning of the Battle for the Five Hills. Within a few minutes, assault waves of two Viet Minh divisions begin to follow the rolling barrage. D1 and D2 have fallen by 2150. D3 is crucial to prevent outflanking of the whole Eliane position and the passage of the river, but many of its Algerian troops are demoralized and flee. The African artillerymen there, however, standing in open gun pits, begin firing point-blank into the massed Viet Minh infantry, which is too close for artillery support from its own pieces. The assault waves stop and recoil from D3's guns, and then the quad-50s on Sparrowhawk open up on them. The enemy breaks and runs directly into a new mine field which has been laid a few days before, where over 200 Viet Minh are killed.

Meanwhile, Eliane is under heavy attack. By 2300 the radio on E2 falls silent. E4 is now in the front line, with the Vietnamese paratroopers there bearing the brunt of the fighting and losing three French officers and their entire weapons platoon. Elements of an enemy division are also attacking Huguette 7 and starting to pour through a gap, but a surviving platoon noncom takes over the defense of the northern bunker there and, in hand-to-hand fighting seals the breakthrough. Around midnight, a counterattack in the direction of E2 starts and one of the fort commanders throws in hastily assembled paratroop and Foreign Legion companies.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
March 30, 1965 (28th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): Rolling Thunder update: South Vietnamese and U.S. aircraft bomb the North Vietnamese at Dong Ho.

March 30, 1965 (28th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): A bomb explodes outside the US Embassy in Saigon, killing two Americans and wounding the US Deputy Ambassador.

March 30, 1966 (9th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Abilene starts east of Saigon.

Information from the Australian 1 RAR 7/66 portion of Operation Abilene: "Description: 1 RAR was to secure the Ist Inf Div logistic base, initially at the Courtenay rubber plantation, in AO Queensland of 58 sq km, later at the Binh Ba rubber plantation adjoining Route 2 in AO Victoria of 87sq km. Undulating terrain, dominated by rubber plantations with mainly jungle and clear forest. Search-and-destroy operations by HQ lst Inf Div's subordinate formations, 2nd and 3rd Infantry Brigades (US), were targeted against 274 and 275 VC Main Force Regts and the May Tao Secret Zone (a VC staging area in Phuoc Tuy Province). Deployment by APC and helicopter. Location: Long Khanh and Phuoc Tuy provinces, approximately 55 km SE of Bien Hoa air base. Results: Casualties: own: WIA 4; VC: KIA 8,wounded/escaped 12, PW 8, with 38 persons detained as suspects. One camp for a two company sized force and one training camp located. More than six tonne of rice and five cubic metres of salt were recovered or destroyed. Nine ox-carts were captured. Remarks: During this operation other elements of Ist Inf Div were involved with ARVN units in the resettlement of Xa Long Tan in Phuoc Tuy province."

March 30, 1967 (20th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Blackjack 12/Oconee starts in I Corps.

March 30, 1967 (20th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): In Quang Tri Province, the command group of a company of US Marines is attacked by a reinforced North Vietnamese company supported by heavy automatic weapons and mortar fire.

March 30, 1967 (20th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Junction City update: The battle of Ap Gu develops.

March 30, 1968 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Operation Dan Sinh begins in II Corps.

March 30, 1968 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Operation Cochise Green starts.

March 30, 1968 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): "Air America Participates in Thai Police Ceremony"

March 30, 1968 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): A mission to recover 14 crewman from six USMC helicopters downed by hostile fire in the A Shau Valley.

NOTE: During this period in 1968, according to Zaffiri, "The NVA had nearly every mountain on both sides of the valley floor defended by antiaircraft guns. Most were the 12.7mm heavy machine guns, but they also had a large number of 37mm flak guns. On wheels and with seven-man crews, the 37mm was capable of blowing a helicopter or jet from the sky at twenty-five thousand feet. As the aerial rifle teams roared down the center of the valley, they had to run a gauntlet of flak and machine-gun fire. They did not have any trouble finding targets because they were everywhere. Hitting them proved to be much more difficult...B-52s flew almost two hundred sorties and Air Force and Marine fighter-bombers another three hundred. And it was all for naught. Most of the enemy positions were dug in so deeply that the bombs and rockets had little effect on them, and the enemy quickly replaced the few that were knocked out."

March 30, 1968 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive)(AR): A platoon-size CIDG Camp Strike Force on a search and destroy operation near Dong Tre makes contact with an estimated VC squad.

March 30, 1968 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive)(AR): A search of the village of Tan Hiep in IV Corps erupts into a 10-hour battle.

March 30, 1968 (2nd day of the 3rd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Khe Sanh: At 0800, B/1/26, with artillery support, attacks the same enemy fortified position south of combat base where it had lost 26 KIAs on February 25, killing 115 North Vietnamese in a three-hour battle; 9 Marines are KIA. Operation Scotland I (the battle for Khe Sanh) terminates with 1,602 confirmed NVA and 205 Marines KIA; estimates place probable enemy dead between 10,000 and 15,000. Task Force Kilo launches diversionary attack along Gio Linh coastal plain to divert attention away from Ca Lu where 1st ACD, and 1st Marines are staging for Operation Pegasus (the relief of Khe Sanh by some 30,000 US and ARVN troops).

March 30, 1970 (23rd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Counteroffensive, Phase VII): The 119th AHC reports on its month's activities.

March 30, 1970 (23rd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Counteroffensive, Phase VII): The South Vietnamese launch a surprise attack on COSVN. NLF Minister Nhu Tang Truong hears explosions bursting around his bunker and the sound of choppers landing nearby, and watches as his bodyguards fire through the gunslits at the attacking forces. With the Cambodian army attacking from the east down Route 7 and the South Vietnamese from the west, COSVN personnel are forced to flee when the battle eases at dark. While the 5th VC Division tries to hold back the Cambodians and the 9th VC Division, the South Vietnamese, COSVN leadership flees for five days through a narrow muddy corridor protected by the 7th VC Division, all the while trying to avoid American strafing fire.

March 30, 1972 (16th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): An AC-130 is hit over Laos.

March 30, 1972 (16th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): At noon, the campaign known variously as the Nguyen Hue (the birth name of emperor Quang Trung, a Vietnamese national hero who in the year of the Rooster (1789) maneuvered his troops hundreds of miles through jungles and mountains from central to northern Vietnam to surprise and attack invading Chinese forces in the early days of spring, defeating them in the outskirts of Hanoi) or the Easter Offensive begins when over 45,000 NVA troops of the 304 and 308 Divisions and 200-300 armored vehicles cross the DMZ in northern Quang Tri Province, with the 308th moving toward Dong Ha and the 304th curving below the Song Cua Viet to the west. The communists have Soviet T-54, T34 and PT-76 tanks as well as S-2 and SA -7 missiles. and the dreaded 120mm and 130mm guns. Their target is the city of Quang Tri, which they intend to capture in a week. Defending the region are three ARVN divisions, two brigades of Vietnamese Marines and the Regional and Popular Forces. Southern fire support bases are swept away in the onslaught. The weather is overcast, so the only aerial assistance available to support the southern forces is radar-controlled bombing, although 15-20 cruisers and destroyers of the US Seventh Fleet provide heavy naval gunfire against the invading forces.

At the same time, the 324B Division moves out of the A Shau Valley to the southwest of the city of Hue, on a line generally parallel to Route 547, while the 312th Division, which had seen heavy action in northern Laos since December 1971, moves into Khe Sanh as a reserve. The 1st ARVN Division stands in their way.

March 30, 1975 (18th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Hare [At Mao]): Ho Chi Minh Campaign: Order in the city of Da Nang and in the harbor has completely broken down. Armed South Vietnamese deserters fire on civilians and each other, the enemy fires on the American vessels and sends sappers ahead to destroy port facilities, and refugees try to board any boat or craft afloat. The hundreds of vessels traversing the harbor endanger the safety of all. Weighing these factors, the remaining U.S. and Vietnamese Navy ships load all the people they can (a total of over 30,000 over the entire four days of the operation are evacuated) and steam south. American Challenger stays offshore to pick up stragglers until day's end on 30 March, when the North Vietnamese overrun the city.