Timeline, May 10th

[David]

PREBELLUM:
May 10, 1941 (15th day of the 4th month, Year of the Snake [Tan Ti]): The Viet Minh -Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, League for the Independence of Vietnam - is born at the 8th Plenum of the Indochinese Communist Party, held in South China, initially as a "united front" organization composed of the ICP, Revolutionary Youth League, the New Vietnam Party, and factions of the Vietnam Nationalist Party (VNQDD).

Membership is open to any other individuals or groups willing to join in struggling for "national liberation" and the announced program calls for a wide range of social and political reforms designed mainly to appeal the Viet patriotism, with emphasis placed on an anti-Japanese crusade and preparation .for "an insurrection by the organization of the people into self-defense corps," not on communist cant. Though a Kuomintang general originally sponsors the Viet Minh, Ho Chi Minh soon becomes suspect, and will be jailed by the Chinese in a year. While he is in prison, the KMT fosters a rival Viet "popular. front," the Vietnam Revolutionary League (Dong Minh Hoi), which is supposed to include the Viet Minh. In fact, however, the Dong Minh Hoi never acquires more than a nominal control over the Viet Minh.

After Ho is released in 1943, he is put in charge of the Dong Minh Hoi--a status apparently conditioned on his accepting overall Chinese guidance and providing the allies with intelligence. As the war progresses, though, Ho and the Viet Minh will draw apart from the Dong Minh Hoi, and the latter will never succeed in acquiring apparatus within Vietnam comparable to the Viet Minh's.

INTERBELLUM:
May 10, 1955 (19th day of the 3rd month, supplemental, Year of the Goat [At Mui]): South Vietnam formally requests US instructors for armed forces.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
May 10, 1965 (10th day of the 4th month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): LBJ calls for the first bombing halt in Rolling Thunder. He asks the Soviets to act as intermediary but they refuse. Two messages intended for the North Vietnamese, one to their embassy in Moscow and the other through another government, are returned without comment. After eight days, the President orders the bombing resumed.

May 10, 1966 (20th day of the 3rd month, supplemental, Year of the Horse [Binih Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Paul Revere/Than Phong 14 begins in Pleiku Province.

May 10, 1967 (2nd day of the 4th month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): The 155th AHC conducts combat assaults with the 23d ARVN Division near the Cheo Reo valley in Darlac Province.

May 10, 1968 (14th day of the 4th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Ngok Tavak is attacked by an NVA infantry battalion at 0315 hours and the US 23rd infantry begins Operation Golden Valley, the evacuation of approximately 1400 people from the Kham Duc Special Forces Camp.

May 10, 1968 (14th day of the 4th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): The 282nd AHC loses a man in Quang Nam Province.

May 10, 1968 (14th day of the 4th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): 3 RAR continues Operation Toan Thang (Phase I), relieving 2 RAR at Fire Base Andersen.

May 10, 1969 (24th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): Operation Apache Snow starts. The landings into the A Shau Valley in the morning go smoothly. Three of the five battalions brought in have been tasked with specific missions: in the far north the 2/1 ARVN has orders to cut Highway 548 and block any enemy attempts to withdraw from the valley, while in the south the 1/506th has orders to interdict Highway 922 from the Laotian border to its juncture with Highway 548. The 3/187th is given the task of securing Dong Ap Bia, a hill believed to be used by the enemy as a way station for the transshipment of supplies. At noon, about four hours after A/3/187 and C/3/187 have landed and started RIFs along the ridge--Alpha northwest towards Laos and Charlie southeast toward the summit of Dong Ap Bia--the 3/187th commander, Lt. Col. Honeycutt, a Korean War hero, arrives and links up with Delta Company on the ridge, and starts setting up a temporary CP about 1000 meters from the top of Dong Ap Bia (he plans to put a more permanent CP on the hill's summit in the morning). When his companies start finding recently abandoned hooches and bunkers, and other signs of a large enemy presence nearby, he has his Bravo Company released from reserve and brought in. Honeycutt tells Bravo Company they're to head up the ridge to the top of the hill, in advance of setting up the permanent CP up there. They start out at 1620. About 300 meters in, they start getting hit with rocket and AK47 fire from several well concealed enemy positions up ahead, taking three casualties. An air strike is called in and is completed too close to darkness for the Americans to advance further, so Bravo Company forms a night defensive position with orders to continue on up in the morning.

May 10, 1970 (6th day of the 4th month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Sanctuary Counteroffensive): LZ Wildcat update.

May 10, 1970 (6th day of the 4th month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Sanctuary Counteroffensive): Operation Delta Dagger I starts.

May 10, 1972 (27th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Operation Linebacker update: The North Vietnamese attempt to counter Operation Linebacker with thousands of antiaircraft weapons, and they will fire almost 2,000 SAMs between now and the end of September, shooting down 28 American planes. On the 10th , the Communist air force challenges U.S. air supremacy by sending up 41 MIG-17s, which shoot down six American craft. Flying from the USS Constellation, sister squadrons VF-92 "Silver Kings" and VF-96 "Fighting Falcons," armed with AIM-7 Sparrow radar missiles and AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared missiles, destroy seven enemy MIGs while a VF-51 crew downs another. Not to be outdone by the Navy, USAF Phantoms account for another three MIGs. One Navy Phantom F4J, nicknamed "Showtime 100," is hit by a SAM, forcing Lt. Randy Cunningham and Lt. Willie Driscoll to bail out over the sea, but not before they have shot down their third, fourth and fifth kills, the last an epic battle against "Colonel Tomb," reputedly the leading North Vietnamese ace. The two men, the Navy's only aces of the war in Southeast Asia, are rescued safely. Meanwhile, the 8-inch guns of heavy cruiser Newport News bombard targets near Hanoi from a position off Do Son while guided missile cruisers Oklahoma City and Providence and three destroyers suppress the enemy's counterbattery fire from the peninsula.

May 10, 1972 (27th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Nguyen Hue/Easter Offensive: Prisoners confirm that the NVA 320th Division is moving into assembly areas north of Kontum city. The NVA once again sends strong ground probes against An Loc, while intensifying the artillery bombardment.