Timeline, July 6th

[David]

PREBELLUM:
July 6, 1920 (21th day of the 5th month, Year of the Monkey [Canh Than]): Test and first use of radio compass in aircraft off Norfolk, Virginia.

July 6, 1945 (27th day of the 5th month, Year of the Rooster [At Dau]): The Fountainebleau conference begins.

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
July 1950 (5th and 6th months, Year of the Tiger [Canh Dan]): Dinassaut 4 conducts riverine Operation Ramadan in Mocay.

July 1951 (5th and 6th months, Year of the Hare [Tan Mao]): Dinassaut 10 conducts riverine Operation Grapefruits in Sadec.

July 1953 (5th and 6th months, Year of the Snake [Quy Ti]): Dinassaut 4 begins Operations Delta (Haiphong), Bordeaux (Haiphong), Claude (Tien Lang) and Brochet (Bamboo Canal).

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
July 6, 1964 (27th day of the 5th month, Year of the Dragon [Giap Thin]) (US Advisory): The battle at Nam Dong SF camp, during which Captain Roger Donlon's actions in leading the defense will result in his becoming the first recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded in the Vietnam war. Warrant Officer Class 2 Kevin Conway will become the first Australian to be killed in contact with the enemy in Vietnam. The battle also possibly marks the first documented presence of NVA regulars reinforcing the VC in the South, and is the first major assault an isolated Special Forces camp has survived.

July 6, 1965 (8th day of the 6th month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): The State Department announces that air reconnaissance has shown that two Soviet-type anti-aircraft missile sites are combat-ready in the Hanoi/Haiphong area and two more are under construction.

July 6, 1965 (8th day of the 6th month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): Multiple allied air assaults into War Zone D begin. I think 1 RAR called its involvement in this Operation 3/65 and they were active in a brigade AO east and northeast of Tan Uyen, part of the southwest area of War Zone D. The Australians lost one man who died of wounds and had three WIA; they claimed 2 VC KIA and 7 wounded/escaped. Six camps and one old ambush position for 200-300 personnel were located, also one tonne of rice. The ARVN 48th Infantry Regiment blocked VC escape routes to the west of the brigade AO. The American 173rd Brigade reported own: KIA 10, WIA 46, with VC: KIA 5 1, possible KIA 350, PW 28, and more than 300 VC buildings destroyed, with 100 tons of rice destroyed or recovered, also one tonne of documents, 30 weapons and five radios captured.

July 6, 1966 (18th day of the 5th month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Thang Long begins in II Corps.

July 6, 1966 (18th day of the 5th month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Combat Skyspot, ground radar-controlled bombing, is employed in B-52 operations for the first time.

July 6, 1966 (18th day of the 5th month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Springfield begins in Binh Duong Province.

July 6, 1966 (18th day of the 5th month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Hanoi Radio reports that captured American pilots have been paraded though the streets of Hanoi.

July 6, 1966 (18th day of the 5th month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Phase II of Operation Macon begins.

July 6, 1966 (18th day of the 5th month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Kaizer, a USMC Scout Dog, is the first scout dog to be killed in Vietnam.

July 6, 1966 (18th day of the 5th month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Washington begins in the Do Xa region.

July 6, 1967 (29th day of the 5th month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): The Communists again attack Con Thien, losing another 150 KIAs.

July 6, 1968 (11th day of the 6th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than])(US Counteroffensive Phase V): Operation Pochahontas Forest begins in Antenna Valley.

July 6, 1968 (11th day of the 6th month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than])(US Counteroffensive Phase V): A/7/17th Cavalry Scouts kill 6 NVA in sporadic contacts.

July 6, 1970 (4th day of the 6th month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Counteroffensive, Phase VII): Operation Texas Star update: Nightly probing ground attacks against Ripcord's perimeter continue, and Company D, 2/501st is still surrounded at the base of Hill 805 in the valley below Ripcord. In the morning, a six-man recon team from E Company, 2/506th, moves out from Ripcord to search Hill 1000, the apparent source of enemy attacks and mortar fire. By mid-afternoon, the team is on the base of Hill 2000 and can hear NVA troops moving munitions and mortar pieces; the six men are ordered to attack the position and proceed but are hit with rocket-propelled grenades before catching sight of the enemy defensive position. All members of the team are badly wounded, but are rescued by soldiers from Company D, carried out of the fire zone and medevacked out.

ONGOING OPERATIONS:
SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
July 1972 (5th and 6th months, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Nguyen Hue/Easter Offensive:
- Operation Lam Son 72 (6/28-9/16/72) (18th day of the 5th month through 9th day of the 8th month): In Thua Thien Province, ARVN 1st Division troops at FSB Checkmate are subjected to heavy enemy attacks during which the fire base is overrun and retaken several times during the month; the South Vietnamese Airborne Division and Marines continue advancing on Quang Tri City; the three provinces south of the Hai Van Pass were able to maintain reasonable control despite the low strength of friendly forces.
- The Chu Pao Pass area is cleared and the highway between Kontum and Pleiku opens to commercial traffic in early July. However, the enemy continues to harass traffic with sporadic attacks by fire and Route QL-14, although open, remains insecure.
- A total of six enemy regiments are reported in northern Dinh Tuong Province, about 65 km southwest of Saigon. After taking Kompong Trabek, NVA forces, probably elements of the 9th Division, supported by local Khmer Rouge units, are tightening control over Route QL-l from the Parrot's Beak area to Neak Luong on the Mekong River. By July 2 (22nd day), only two towns in the area remain under National Khmer control, Neak Luong and Svay Rieng. The series of heavy engagements between the NVA and South Vietnamese troops in the Elephant's Foot area in Military Region 4 continue; NVA continues to put pressure on QL-4, the supply route between the Delta's rice bowl and the nation's capital, while launching a series of coordinated attacks on the towns of Sam Giang, Cai Be and Cai Lay in Dinh Tuong Province from mid-May through mid-July; the attacks are driven back by territorial forces with strong support from U.S. tactical air and helicopter gunships.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
July 1979 (6th month and supplemental month, Year of the Goat (Ky Mui]): The Vietnamese have consolidated control over all major Cambodian towns and cities. PAVN forces in Cambodia reach a high of 224,000 in 1979, and then stabilize at an average of 170,000 to 180,000 troops, including 11 combat divisions. Up to eight divisions operate along the border in the dry season (December to June) and pull back to established garrisons during the rainy season (July to November).

July 1981 (6th and 7th months, Year of the Rooster [Tan Dau]): The beginning of the rainy season forces the Vietnamese to pull back from the border town of Pailin, which they have occupied since May in response to Khmer Rouge advances at Phnom Malai.

July 1982 (5th and 6th months, Year of the Dog [Nham Tuat]): Some 20,000 PAVN troops are sent home in the first major troop rotation since 1978. Taking their place are fresh troops, many of them southern draftees sent to complete basic training in the forward bases of understrength divisions.

July 1983 (5th and 6th months, Year of the Boar [Quy Hoi]): The Khmer Rouge increase their attacks on PAVN garrisons during the rainy season.

June-July 1984 (5th, 6th and 7th months, Year of the Rat [Giap Ty]): PAVN rotates its troops again, sending home three brigades and replacing these with an estimated 14,000 fresh troops, many of whom are sent to reinforce the weakned 5th Division.

July 1985 (5th and 6th months, Year of the Ox [At Suu]): This year as the rainy season begins ten PAVN combat divisions remain in Cambodia, all of them understrength, some with as few as 5000 troops. Meanwhile, the non-Communist resistance is recovering from PAVN's most recent dry season offensive.

July 1986 (5th and 6th months, Year of the Tiger [Binh Dan]): During this summer, PAVN withdraws Divisional Group 98 from Cambodia, replacing some of the troops with fresh men.

July 1988 (5th and 6th months, Year of the Dragon [Mau Thin]): PAVN has moved the bulk of its combat troops inland, with PRK Cambodian troops increasingly deployed on the border.