Timeline, December 29th

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
December 1945 (Year of the Rooster [At Dau]): Ho Chi Minh sends armed forces into Camphu District, where a miners' uprising in August has taken over all production and set up a workers' government. Under Nguyen Binh (the future Commander-in-Chief of the guerillas of Cochin China), Communist troops enter the district promising to respect the status quo, but by means of "police intrigues," arrest the militant leadership and representatives the miners have elected, and take them to Haiphong. Several of them are released after the miners protest, but the entire region is soon completely under Ho's control.

December 29, 1951 (Year of the Hare [Tan Mao]): Hoa Binh campaign: While CEFEO commandos continue to call in air strikes and artillery fire on units of the Viet Minh 308 Division in the Ba Tai Forest of the Black River Sector, and CEFEO plans are being made for an operation there to prevent enemy reinforcement, French intelligence notes increasing signs of Viet Minh regulars in the nearby Colonial Route 6 sector. Regiment 66 is identified to the north of Route 6, with Regiment 9 to the east. Various elements of the 308th and 312th divisions are plotted along the length of Route 6.

December 29, 1953 (Year of the Snake [Quy Ti]): Operation Castor update: Elements of the 3rd Battalion, 13th Foreign Legion Half-Brigade (3/13/DBLE) open the road beyond the village of Ban Him Lam, near Dien Bien Phu, and immediately run into heavy Viet Minh resistance.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
December 29, 1964 (Year of the Dragon [Giap Thin]) (US Advisory): Battle of Binh Gia update: Three U.S. helicopters carrying South Vietnamese troops are shot down in a Viet Cong ambush.

December 29, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Prince Norodom Sihanouk gives the okay for US to pursue Communist Vietnamese into Cambodia under "certain circumstances."

December 29, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): A/7/17 Cavalry Blues are inserted twice in an area of Pleiku Province and destroy 900 pounds of rice.

December 29, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): Soldiers of the 9th Division and supporting elements kill 36 Viet Cong in scattered contacts in the Mekong Delta. Riflemen from the 3/47th Infantry kill two VC after receiving automatic weapons fire while extracting troops during airmobile operations 15 miles south of Dong Tam.

December 29, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): A unit from the 3/12th Infantry surprises and kills two NVA soldiers 16 miles southeast of Kontum, while a 3rd Brigade recon patrol kills one NVA soldier in a mid-afternoon action 12 miles southeast of Dak To.

December 29, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): A reconnaissance patrol from the 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne engages an estimated enemy squad, killing three VC nine miles north of Saigon. A light fire team called in to extract the patrol kills one more.

December 29, 1968, - January 6, 1969 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI) (AR): Update on activities of the 1st Infantry Division/11 ACR near Lai Khe.

December 29, 1968 - January 6, 1969 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI) (AR): Update on activities of the 173rd Airborne near An Khe.

December 29, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): Artillerymen from the 54th Arty Group kill eight enemy soldiers during two fire missions in the Ben Luc area.

December 29, 1968 - January 6, 1969 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): At some point during the week, elements of the 1/61st Infantry, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division detain three suspects who have an AK47 rifle in a camouflaged bunker on a beach eight miles east of Quang Tri City. The suspects are later confirmed as VC.

December 1969 (Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): 1/26 Marines continue their assigned mission in southwest Da Nang. Considerable enemy effort is focused on the collection, transportation, and storage of rice. During patrols from Hill 41, Delta Company engages the NVA/VC in a series of small-unit clashes.

December 1970 )Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): The remaining river combat craft, which include 293 PBRs and 224 riverine assault craft, are transferred to South Vietnam. The River Patrol Force is disestablished and the Task Force 116 designator is reassigned to Commander Delta Naval Forces, a new headquarters controlling SEAL and naval aircraft units still in-country.

December 29, 1970 )Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): Congress adopts legislation that denies funds for the introduction of ground combat troops into Laos or Thailand but does not include a proposed ban on further operations elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

December 28-30, 1972 (Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Nguyen Hue/Easter Offensive: Operation Linebacker II: Day 11. Sixty B-52s strike with impunity over two days, as SAM fire has dropped off. On the 28th, the Duc Noi warehouse storage area, seven miles north of Hanoi, is struck.

On the 28th, thanks to its FLIR (forward-looking infrared) detection, the USS Preble interdicts a truck convoy traveling down the coast and destroys several vehicles with naval gunfire, setting off numerous secondary explosions and fires. On the 29th, after having fired 532 rounds of 5-inch/54-caliber ammunition in four days on the gunline, the Preble is relieved and departs for Japan.

At midnight on the 29th, operations north of the 20th Parallel cease. Operation Linebacker II is officially over after agreement is reached to resume talks in Paris by both sides, which includes the release of all US POWs being held by the North Vietnamese. Over 1,510 night combat sorties have been flown in 11 days, including 729 B-52 strikes (340 from U-Tapao and 389 from Guam). SAMs have accounted for all 15 B-52s lost; nine other B-52s have been damaged. Twenty-nine crewmen have been killed in action or crashes, 33 have been captured and will be returned later, and 26 have been rescued in post-strike operations. The bombers have hit 34 targets, expending nearly 13,400 tons of ordnance, while tactical aircraft in daytime missions have hit many other targets with the loss of 11 aircraft. North Vietnam has lost its internal communications system, electrical power grid and its entire air force. The North Vietnamese at the time report between 1300 and 1600 civilian casualties.

BORDER CLASHES - OTHER:
December 29, 1976 (Year of the Dragon [Binh Thin]): In answer to a petition presented to the UN by 90 former leading US opponents of the Vietnam War, protesting at violations of human rights by the Communist regime, Vietnamese officials claim that 95% of soldiers and officials of the former regime now enjoy full civil rights.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
December 1988 (Year of the Dragon [Mau Thin]): Cambodia: PAVN conducts its largest withdrawal to date, reducing its strength in-country to approximately 80,000 men by bringing out elements of the 4, 5, 307, 309, and 339 Divisions, as well as support personnel from the 479 and 579 Fronts.