Timeline, May 9th

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
May 1965 (4th and 5th months, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): Individual Seventh Fleet cruisers and destroyers start ranging the South Vietnamese coast, initially bombarding VC supply caches used to support the Communist infiltration by sea.

May 1966 (3rd month, supplemental, and fourth month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Suspecting that the NVA plans on returning to the Ia Drang, Westmoreland sends the 3rd Brigade, with attached infantry division, back into the valley. Dividing the area into "checkerboard" squares, the brigade methodically searches each square. Small patrols set out ambushes and operate for several days without resupply to avoid having helicopters reveal their location. After several days in one square, the patrols leapfrog by helicopter to another. Though the Americans make only light, sporadic contacts, the cumulative toll of enemy killed is equal to many short, violent battles.

May 9, 1966 (18th day of the 3rd month, supplemental, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Montgomery/Lien Ket 40 begins in Quang Ngai Province.

May 9, 1967 (1st day of the 4th month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): NVA attacks on Con Thien continue.

May 9, 1968 (13th day of the 4th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Operation Toan Thang update: Battle four miles north of Cu Chi at FSB Maury.

May 9, 1968 (13th day of the 4th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Operation Golden Valley. Enemy movement is detected in the region around the South Vietnamese Mobile Strike Force outpost at Ngok Tavak outpost in Quang Tin Province.

May 9, 1970 (5th day of the 4th month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Sanctuary Counteroffensive): A/7/17 loses their observer and an OH-6A while on a scouting mission.

May 9, 1970 (5th day of the 4th month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Sanctuary Counteroffensive): The "Golf Course" in Binh Dinh Province is attacked.

May 9, 1970 (5th day of the 4th month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Sanctuary Counteroffensive): Cambodia: A naval blockade of about 100 miles of the Cambodian coast begins. The joint US-South Vietnamese naval task force continues up the Mekong. By the end of the day, Vietnamese naval units have reached Phnom Penh, while to the south the combined force storms enemy-held Neak Luong, a strategic ferry crossing point on the river. For political reasons, no U.S. personnel are allowed past Neak Luong, midway to Phnom Penh.

May 9, 1972 (26th day of the 3rd month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Nguyen Hue/Easter Offensive: Complementing the interdiction efforts that began with the mining of seven North Vietnamese harbors, the US Navy and Air Force start Operation Linebacker. Operational commanders are authorized to choose when, how, and in what order to strike and restrike targets. Commanders can adjust to changing weather and the enemy's defenses and concentrate their aerial firepower to best effect. As a result, American air squadrons interdict the road and rail lines from China and devastate North Vietnamese warmaking resources, including munition stockpiles, fuel storage facilities, power plants, rail yards, and bridges. Using B-52s and new, more accurate ordnance, such as laser guided bombs and advanced Walleye bombs, the Air Force and the Navy hit targets with great precision and destructiveness, destroying the Thanh Hoa and Paul Doumer bridges, long impervious to American bombing, and the Hanoi power plant deep in the heart of the populated capital city. They also will knock out targets as close as 10 miles to the center of Hanoi and 5 miles from Haiphong harbor. Between now and the end of September, the Navy will fly an average of 4,000 day-and-night attack sorties each month, reaching a peak of 4,746 in August, representing over 60% of the American combat support sorties during the same five-month period.

Meanwhile, near Kontum City the defending rangers at Polei KIeng camp are finally forced out by a massive NVA tank-infantry assault, despite knocking out several tanks and repulsing infantry attacks. Over the past three days, B-52 strikes have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy troops massed for the attack. At An Loc, the besieging enemy now starts strong ground probes and increases his artillery fire. The ground pressure abates within two hours but the heavy bombardment continues. When the same thing happens the next day, US-South Vietnamese forces recognize the pattern and start planning for imminent major attack.