Timeline, November 17th

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
November 17, 1952 (Year of the Dragon [Nham Thin]): Operation Lorraine update: More CEFEO units withdraw toward the De Lattre Line. Following the paras down Colonial Route 2 is a convoy from March Groups 1 and 4 (GM1 and GM4, or Groupement de Marche d'Extr?me Orient) made up of the Indochinese March Battalion, II/2 Foreign Legion Infantry Regiment, the fourth March Battalion (a provisional unit made up of companies from various battalions), the Seventh Algerian Infantry Regiment, and tanks of the Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco (an armored unit, in spite of its name). As the convoy enters the Chan Muong Gorge, where the road narrows to no more than 150 meters wide, they are hit with a heavy mortar attack, and then by an infantry assault in two ambushes set for them by three Viet Minh regiments, two from the 308 and one from the 316 Divisions. Only the presence of the tanks in the van and rear-guard prevents a total massacre. Further ambushes will be sprung on the withdrawing CEFEO forces for the next week, leading to some 1200 casualties in all, a figure which would be much higher, if not for French air cover.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
November 17, 1965 (Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): A US aircraft is hit by ground fire over North Vietnam and the pilot is forced to eject off the coast.

November 17, 1965 (Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): Ia Drang valley: With B-52's scheduled to arrive in two hours for a massive air strike, the 2/5 and 2/7 are ordered to move at least two miles away from the strike zone. With no choppers available to lift them, the plan is for the troops to march overland to two LZ's a few km away. The 2/5 heads for LZ Columbus, and arrives there without incident. The 2/7 follows, but then is ordered to break northwest and head for LZ Albany. Two NVA are captured at the head of the 2/7 column shortly before noon, some 100 yards east of LZ Albany; unbeknownst to the Americans, a third enemy soldier escapes and raises the alarm. In the vicinity are the 8th Battalion, 66th NVA Regiment; the 1st Battalion, 33rd NVA Regiment; and the HQ of the enemy 3rd Battalion. While the others are below strength after the battle of Plei Me, the 8th Battalion's only loss has been that of most of its Heavy Weapons Company two weeks earlier; with new replacements, the 8th Battalion now numbers some 550 men. As the Communists rush toward the 400-some Americans near LZ Albany, those men, exhausted by the events of the last several days and unaware of danger, settle down in the deep grass for a break while the two prisoners are interrogated. The NVA deploy around the column and, some time after 1300, attack, starting at the column's head and running its length, cutting the column in half. Some Americans near the front of the column manage to form a defensive perimeter at LZ Albany, and another one is formed at the rear by A/2/7. In the 700 yards in between are the remains of two rifle companies, a HQ company, and a weapons company who, for the rest of the day and night, fight it out in groups of two's and three's. The first effective air support comes from USAF prop-driven Skyraiders, which napalm and machine-gun the NVA. B/2/7 is brought back into the area from Camp Holloway and arrives at LZ Albany at around 1845.

November 17, 1966 (Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Attleboro update: Throughout the day the 1/5th Mech conduct patrols in its sector. Company A elements find nothing south, southwest and west of the battalion base. Shortly before noon, Company C local patrols find and destroy 29 three- or four-day-old machine gun positions with aiming stakes for sectors of fire. Mid-morning, the Scout Platoon finds and destroys three huts, three bunkers, a khaki uniform and a large VC classroom. Several documents are also found in the area, and numerous bunkers are found along the trail. While returning, at 1105 hours, the Scouts sustain four WIA's from VC mortar fire. The Platoon returns to base just before noon, and at 1351 departs again to make a reconnaissance of a nearby stream. A log bridge is found there and one APC crosses it with no difficulty. The Platoon then returns to base. Three ambushes and six OP/LPs and set out at night, but no contact is made.

November 17, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): U.S. aircraft bomb Haiphong's shipyard Number 2 and the Bac Mai airfield for the first time.

November 17, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Operation Macarthur/battle of Dak To update: 1/503 places an air strike which kills four NVA.

November 17, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Hanoi proposes an extended truce over the upcoming Tet holiday: a seven-day cease-fire from January 27 to February 3, 1968. American politicians, hoping that the cease-fire is a precursor to peace negotiations, quickly accept the offer. Following an optimistic briefing earlier by General Westmoreland, US officials interviewed on TV this date report that "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." However, on the ground in South Vietnam, at Song Be and Loc Ninh in III Corps, and all along the northern border of I Corps, the enemy has exposed his positions and is engaging US and allied forces in heavy fighting; the US 1st Infantry Division has again concentrated near the Cambodian border; and another US division has returned to War Zone C. Hard pressed to find additional Army units to shift from III Corps and II Corps to I Corps, Westmoreland has asked for accelerated deployment of two remaining brigades of the 101st Airborne Division from the United States, and these will arrive in I Corps in December.

November 17, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): An SAS patrol ambushes a VC patrol close to Nui Dinh, killing three.

November 17, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): The battle of Nui Chom Mountains begins in I Corps.

November 17, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): An estimated NVA battalion and a VC company attack the town of Dien Ban, ten miles southwest of Da Nang, and the adjacent compound.

November 17, 1969 (Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): US aircraft attack enemy guns just across the Cambodian border near the Special Forces camp at Bu Prang.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR - OTHER:
November 17, 1985 (Year of the Ox [At Suu]): US and Vietnamese technical officials meet in Hanoi to conduct the first joint excavation of a US crash site in that country.