Timeline, January 7th

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
January 1966 (late Year of the Snake/early Year of the Horse)(US Counteroffensive): Professor Roger Fisher suggests an alternative to the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign, the creation of a land barrier along Route 9, the highway running from the coastal plain of South Vietnam, past Khe Sanh and beyond Tchepone in Laos, as a defoliated "interdiction and verification zone" of minefields, bunkers, ditches and barbed-wire barriers that would stop infiltration of men and material from the North.

January 7, 1966 (15th day of the 12th month, Year of the Snake) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Crimp begins in III Corps.

According to Sedgwick Tourison, author of "Talking With Victor Charlie," and others, during these sweeps into VC base areas near Saigon, in the Ho Bo Woods and elsewhere, over 1.2 million pages of known or potential intelligence value are captured from VC tunnels.

January 7, 1967 (27th day of the 11th month, Year of the Horse) (US Counteroffensive Phase II)- Mobile Riverine Force begins arriving at Vung Tau.

January 7, 1967 (27th day of the 11th month, Year of the Horse) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Camp Holloway in II Corps is attacked.

Early 1967 (late Year of the Horse/early Year of the Goat) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): The Hamlet Evaluation System (HES) is begun under the Civil Operations and Rural Development Support (CORDS) pacification program. This involves a computerized monthly report on the security and development status of the 12,750 hamlets and more than 2000 villages in the 244 districts of South Vietnam's 44 provinces. To obtain reliable information as a basis for allocating resources and monitoring progress, American advisers in each district "keep score" on the Vietnamese by filling out standard questionnaires.

January 7, 1968 (8th day of the 12th month, Year of the Goat((US Counteroffensive Phase III): Operation Klamath Falls information.

January 7, 1968 (8th day of the 12th month, Year of the Goat( (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Operation Niagara I begins around the Khe Sanh base.

January 7, 1969 (19th day of the 11th month, Year of the Monkey) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): Two battalions of the Mobile Riverine Force arrive in Don Nhan District.

January 7, 1969 (19th day of the 11th month, Year of the Monkey) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): Army Reporter articles covering the week of 1/7-13 mention scattered actions in the Central Highlands on January 7 for soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, as well as action in IV Corps for the 9th Infantry Division, MRF 9th Infantry, 1st Brigade 9th Infantry and the 54th Artillery Brigade, and action for CIDG groups throughout the country. The 5/12th Inf conducts a reconnaissance-in-force operation two miles south of Duc Hoa and discovers bodies of two enemy soldiers killed the day before.

January 1971 (late Year of the Dog/early Year of the Boar)(US Counteroffensive Phase VII): South Vietnamese President Thieu agrees to invade the Laotian panhandle and designates the town of Tchepone, about 22 miles inside Laos, where Highway 9 intersects the Ho Chi Minh trail, as the objective of this first major test of "Vietnamization," called Operation Lam Son 719 (the American part of the action, limited by recent Congressional action, is known as Operation Dewey Canyon II). Thieu appoints the commander of ARVN's I Corps, Lt. General Hoang Xuan Lam to direct invasion planning and authorizes him to use the nation's general reserve, including the elite Airborne Division and the Marine Brigade. From I Corps, General Lam selects the ARVN 1st Infantry Division, which will be heli-lifted along the 1000 foot escarpment south of the Xe Pon River flowing parallel to Highway 9; the 1st Armored Brigade, which will move westward in Laos on Highway 9; and a Ranger Group of three battalions, which along with the Airborne Division will move toward Tchepone by helicopter along the hilltops north of Highway 9. The Marine Brigade will act as reserves.

January 7, 1972 (21st day of the 11th month, Year of the Boar) (US Consolidation II): ARVN troops are reported to have moved into NE Cambodia for the fourth time in two months.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
January 7, 1979 (9th day of the 12th month, Year of the Horse): The Cambodian government of Pol Pot is overthrown when Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, falls to PAVN after heavy aerial bombardment.

January 7, 1985 (17th day of the 11th month, Year of the Rat): In Cambodia, PAVN's 5th Division, sappers, tanks and artillery completely overwhelm KPNLF defenses around their headquarters in Ampil. After crushing the KPNLF, PAVN turns next toward the Khmer Rouge's Phnom Malai base.

1985-86 dry season (Year of the Ox/Year of the Tiger): In Cambodia, faced with Khmer Rouge mobile guerrilla units throughout the interior, PAVN conducts sweeps and tries to get the PRK army into shape to resist them. In addition, PAVN initiates the K5 Plan, an attempt to seal off the Thai-Cambodian border with a line of trenches, minefields and patrols, while increasing air support with Mi-24 gunships.