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Southeast Asia War: Rolling Thunder – 34

Although the U.S. Air Force began sending advisory personnel to South Vietnam in 1961, and carried out combat missions in South Vietnam shortly thereafter, U.S. forces did not initially strike North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese Navy attack in the Tonkin Gulf in August 1964, however, led to retaliatory raids by U.S. Navy aircraft. The U.S. Air Force made its first strike against North Vietnam on February 8, 1965, in response to a Viet Cong attack against Pleiku Air Base, South Vietnam.

OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER: 1965-1968

On March 2, 1965, the U.S. Air Force began a systematic bombing campaign against North Vietnam named ROLLING THUNDER. Planners hoped to provide a morale boost to South Vietnamese forces, interdict the flow of supplies going south and discourage North Vietnamese aggression.

Flying from bases in South Vietnam and Thailand, the U.S. Air Force started hitting targets near the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, between North and South Vietnam. By advancing the target areas northward across North Vietnam, planners intended to apply gradual pressure and halt bombing raids as incentives to negotiate.

Sanctuaries and Bombing Halts

To avoid the possible entrance of Chinese or Soviet forces into the conflict, Washington tightly controlled these bombing operations. Limitations included no bombing in the “sanctuaries” around Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, Haiphong, North Vietnam’s main port, and a buffer zone along the Chinese border. Moreover, many types of targets remained off limits early in the campaign, including enemy airfields, surface-to-air missile, or SAM, sites and petroleum facilities.

In July 1965, the U.S. had its first loss by a SAM in Southeast Asia when a Soviet-built SA-2 shot down a U.S. Air Force F-4 Phantom. The U.S. began flying anti-SAM IRON HAND missions against the rapidly expanding missile sites, which the North Vietnamese concentrated in the Hanoi-Haiphong sanctuary. The Hanoi-Haiphong SAM sites were initially placed off limits for fear of killing Soviet or Chinese technicians working there. By the end of the year, U.S. reconnaissance aircraft had located 56 multiple-launcher SAM sites.

Planners hoped to halt bombings to encourage Hanoi to discuss a political settlement. The first ROLLING THUNDER bombing halt lasted six days during May 1965. On December 24, 1965, President Johnson declared another bombing halt that lasted until January 30, 1966. Hanoi used

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these pauses to rebuild its strength, repair damage and send more troops and supplies to the battle zone. So, when ROLLING THUNDER missions resumed, U.S. aircrews not only had to attack new targets, but also those previously destroyed and repaired during the bombing halts.

In September 1966, North Vietnam sent up MiG-21 interceptors in force for the first time. They flew from five undamaged air bases not previously attacked due to U.S. policy. By the end of the year, ROLLING THUNDER had progressed northward, finally reaching the Hanoi area.

In early 1967, Washington approved ROLLING THUNDER targets closer to Hanoi. By this time, North Vietnam fielded about 100 MiG fighters, and U.S. aircraft losses mounted. Finally, in April, U.S. aircrews received permission to attack four of the five MiG airfields. By the end of 1967, the U.S. aircrews downed 75 MiGs at a cost of 25 U.S. aircraft in air-to-air combat.

On March 31, 1968, President Johnson ordered another bombing halt north of the 20th parallel, hoping once again to bring North Vietnam's leaders to the peace table. As before, North Vietnam continued to move troops into South Vietnam. With operations against North Vietnam halted, the U.S. doubled its air operations south of the 20th parallel, concentrating on enemy troops and supplies crossing the DMZ.

After several months of discussion in Paris, on October 31, 1968, Johnson ordered a complete halt to all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam, and the ROLLING THUNDER campaign came to an end.

Reconnaissance and Retaliatory Strikes

President Johnson ended the bombing of North Vietnam in October 1968, believing that U.S. Air Force unarmed reconnaissance aircraft would be permitted to fly over the country unopposed. When North Vietnam fired on some of these planes, newly elected President Richard Nixon ordered several retaliatory strikes against air defense sites.

Still, North Vietnam imported materiel by rail from China or by sea through North Vietnam’s ocean ports, primarily Haiphong, without fear of attack. Furthermore, the rainy season that began in May greatly limited the effectiveness of U.S. air attacks, and North Vietnam began stockpiling supplies and equipment inside its border with Laos—it even built an oil pipeline into the panhandle of Laos.

Although the bombing halt continued throughout 1970, the U.S. Air Force attacked antiaircraft and SAM sites that fired at unarmed reconnaissance aircraft. Because of the repeated North Vietnamese SAM firings, Washington directed the U.S. Air Force to intensify its retaliatory strikes. From February through September 1971, U.S. Air Force fighter-bombers attacked SAM

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sites, enemy road construction through the DMZ and oil storage facilities. Most of these missions were in southern North Vietnam, leaving Hanoi to continue its build-up in the north. By late in the year, the North Vietnamese Air Force’s MiGs had become a significant threat. As a result, Washington authorized the U.S. Air Force and Navy to bomb the three MiG airfields in southern North Vietnam, and in November, the U.S. neutralized these bases, making them inoperable. (Narrated by Carl Day).