Timeline, December 10th

[David]

PREBELLUM:
December 1927 (Year of the Hare [Dinh Mao]): Nguyen Thai Hoc, a teacher from a peasant family, founds Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang, (VNQDD, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party), in Hanoi. It is patterned after the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang), and the Kuomintang will give the VNQDD financial support in the 1930s. The membership consists mostly of students, low-ranking government employees, soldiers, and a few landlords and rich peasants. Another source of funds for the VNQDD will be the Vietnam Hotel in Hanoi, which it will open in 1928 as both a commercial enterprise and a party headquarters. The hotel restaurant, however, gives French agents an easy in for penetrating the party and monitoring its activities.

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
December 10, 1951 (Year of the Hare [Tan Mao]): Hoa Binh campaign: As the spoiling attack progresses, Mobile Group 4 pushes in from Van Mong and Yen Le toward Mount Ba Vi, but gets bogged down in heavy terrain. A CEFEO covering group from Task Force North therefore conducts the principal assault. The 1st Colonial Parachute Battalion, moving east, runs into four to five battalions from Regiment 209 in the Xom Sui depression. The fighting there soon is hand to hand. The paras manage to break contact only with the help of close air support. 15 paratroopers are dead and 87 are missing, but Regiment 209 pulls back its units and the 312 Division attack against Rocher Notre-Dame is canceled. However, General Giap's original plan had called for two simultaneous attacks, one against Rocher Notre-Dame and another against Tu Vu. Starting at 2130, Tu Vu is hit with heavy mortar fire that is soon followed by human-wave assaults. The battlefield is lit by parachute flares as the two companies of Moroccan tirailleurs and platoon of tanks at Tu Vu fend off the attacks.

December 1953 (Year of the Snake [Quy Ti]): The French Army Light Aviation (Aviation L?g?re de l'Arm?e de Terre, or ALAT) transfers 18 Sikorsky H19s to the French Army, which forms the first all-helicopter unit, the Indochina Helicopter Units Group (Groupement des Formations d'H?licopt?res en Indochine GFHI), composed of the First and Second Medical Evacuation Helicopter Companies (Compagnie d'H?licopt?res d'Evacuations Sanitaires (CHES).

December 10, 1953 (Year of the Snake [Quy Ti]): The 301 Vietnamese Infantry Battalion, a paratroop company, parts of the 2nd Moroccan Tabor (Battalion), the 8th Company of the 2nd T'ai Battalion, and 327 Senegalese of the HQ Detachment have all been airlifted out of the CEFEO outpost at Lai Chau, north of Dien Bien Phu, and Operation Pollux begins when as many as 29 T'ai Irregular Light Companies (a total of 2100 T'ai tribesmen and 36 Europeans) start out cross-country toward Dien Bien Phu. Each company of some 110 men is armed with rifles and submachine guns, and some have a few 60mm mortars; all have also been given American 694 radio sets so they can stay in touch with each other and the units have been telescoped to avoid their getting hopelessly lost. Approaching the area is the Viet Minh 316 Division. Three French sergeants use their Light Companies to shield the retreat of the remaining forces from Lai Chau to Partisan Pass. However, as the T'ai begin to realize they are going to leave their homeland and often families and villages in enemy hands, they start deserting. On December 10th, 52 men of the 547th Company disappear with four automatic rifles and a 60mm mortar.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
December 1964 (Year of the Dragon [Giap Thin]) (US Advisory): About 10,000 NVA regulars arrive in the Central Highlands, providing Viet Cong battalions with sophisticated weapons from the USSR and Communist China as well as with experienced leaders.

December 10, 1966 (Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Blackjack 22 starts.

December 10, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): At 0200, Fire Base Caisson VI in the Xa Cat Rubber Plantation is attacked.

December 10-14, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): A/7/17th Cavalry conducts reconnaissance in various AOs in Pleiku Province.

December 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Operation Pershing update: The battle of Tam Quan continues, with massive artillery, tactical air support, and air assaults by both the US and ARVN troops ongoing. There is frequent hand-to-hand combat in trenches and bunkers. US mechanized forces try to fix enemy troops and drive them from fortified positions, while airmobile units hit any enemy on the move.

December 10, 1969 (Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): 8 RAR begins Operation Atherton in AO Ashgrove, per the source below. I don't know how or if this is related to the August-September 1967 Operation Atherton that was conducted by 7 RAR (which incorporated Mosman, Burnside amd Ulmarra).

December 10, 1970 (Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): President Nixon warns Hanoi that its continued attacks in the South will result in increased bombing raids.

December 1971 (Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Consolidation II): G-2 Division of the National Khmer Armed Forces General Staff confirms the presence of approximately 30 NVA tanks in Base Area 361, based on local informant sources. However, air photo missions do not record any traces of enemy armor movements.

December 1972 (Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Kansas O1B goes down and 40th ARRS scrambles.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
December 10, 1978 (Year of the Horse [Mau Ngo]): Thailand claims that 40,000 Vietnamese troops have entered Kampuchea from Laos and puts its army on alert.