Timeline, March 19th

[David]

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
March 1954 (1st and 2nd months, Year of the Horse [Giap Ngo]): Dien Bien Phu: While the French rely on parachute drops for resupply after his artillery has closed down the airstrips, General Giap's troops take out their shovels and begin digging a maze of tunnels and trenches, slowly inching their way toward the main French position and surrounding it.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
March 1959 (1st and 2nd months, Year of the Boar [Ky Hoi]): Ho Chi Minh declares a People's War to unite all of Vietnam under his leadership. His Politburo now orders a changeover to an all-out military struggle and the Second Indochina War begins.

March 18-19, 1966 (27th and 28th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): The beginning of Operation Texas in Quang Ngai Province.

March 19, 1966 (28th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): The Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research reports on the confrontation between the government and Buddhists in South Vietnam.

March 19, 1967 (9th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Prairie III begins in Quang Tri Province.

March 19, 1967 (9th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Junction City update: At 1150, A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regimen deploys within the perimeter of FSB 20, just north of the village of Ap Bau Bang. At 2250, a VC probe, spearheaded by a herd of fifteen belled cattle being driven across Route 13 at a point 150 meters northeast of the perimeter, signals the start of the second battle of Ap Bau Bang. Ten minutes later, the Viet Cong open up on the northeast section of the perimeter with a wheel-mounted .50-caliber machine gun located on the railroad track embankment.

Elsewhere the same day, in Suoi Tre, an area surrounded by a tree line cleared by defoliants, U.S. helicopters airland the 3d Battalion of the 22d Infantry and the 2d Battalion, 77th Artillery (-). Their mission is to establish a fire support base (Gold) in support of Phase II of Junction City. Heavy action isn't expected. However, as the three lifts of choppers touch down, five heavy command-detonated charges are set off by the Viet Cong in the tiny clearing. Three helicopters are destroyed and 6 more damaged with a toll of 15 killed and 28 wounded. A Viet Cong claymore-type mine is also detonated against C Company of the 3d Battalion, wounding 5 infantrymen. Company B of the 3d Battalion, 22d Infantry, is assigned the east portion of the defensive perimeter, Company A the western half. Later in the day the 2d Battalion, 12th Infantry, lands at Fire Support Base GOLD and moves to the northwest.

March 19, 1968 (21st day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): The 1st Platoon of the 155th AHC supports the B-23 Special Forces Detachment in the vicinity of Ban Me Thuot. In an operation conducted against the 32d NVA Regiment, 260 CIDG forces are airlifted in 42 sorties.

March 19, 1968 (21st day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Operation Box Springs update: At daybreak, Captain Bucha leads a rescue party to recover the dead and wounded members of the ambushed friendly element. The enemy has left 156 dead on the field.

March 19, 1969 (2nd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): Lead elements of the Americal's A/2/1/196th come under heavy fire in Quang Tin Province.

March 19, 1969 (2nd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): A battalion-sized enemy force attacks the US Marines of Battery D, 2d Battalion, at Phu Loc 6, near An Hoa in Quang Nam Province.

March 1972 (1st and 2nd months, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (U.S. Consolidation II): In the Central Highlands, acting on intelligence reports of enemy tanks and artillery movement (two NVA divisions are in the highlands), ARVN units successfully engage the Communists wherever they try to resort to large unit tactics; in the meantime, B-52 strikes pound enemy troop concentrations, training areas and bunker complexes.

March 19, 1972 (1st and 2nd months, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (U.S. Consolidation II): The 100th "protective reaction" strike by U. S. aircraft is carried out against North Vietnam.

March 19, 1975 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Hare [At Mao]): Ho Chi Minh campaign update: NVA troops throw pontoon bridges across the Song Thanh Hoa north of Quang Tri, across which pour tanks followed by the NVA's II Corps, composed of the 304, 324B and 325 Divisions. Communist troops are also moving out from the hill country toward Hue. Resistance is short-lived, partly because of an earlier decision to withdraw the ARVN airborne division. South Vietnamese Marines in and to the north of Hue are accordingly ordered to take the place of the paratroops at Da Nang. The result is a disorderly exodus of troops and civilians toward Da Nang by land, sea and helicopter.