#WAR THUNDER VICTORY DAY PLUS#

Precision-guided munitions had been tested in World War II, but it was in Vietnam that they were first used extensively. This time, a remarkable new weapon was available: the laser-guided bomb. Aircraft not only blunted the invasion, but also went far north again for the first time since Rolling Thunder.

Nixon reacted quickly, even mining Haiphong harbor, an idea that had been suggested for years but never implemented. Eventually, 14 North Vietnamese divisions were involved. The Vietnamese assault began on March 30 with 100,000 regular troops supported by 400 tanks. Smith in The Linebacker Raids: The Bombing of North Vietnam, 1972 (Arms and Armour, 1998). The story of this air response, termed Linebacker I and Linebacker II, is told in Wayne Thompson’s To Hanoi and Back and by John T. Prados does not give an overall figure of the number of Vietnamese who died but notes tellingly that there are 72 military cemeteries along the Trail, holding the remains of those who labored there. Although our aircraft came every day, 100,000 Vietnamese and Chinese workers were there every night to make repairs-rebuilding bridges or trails, clearing damaged vehicles out of the way or repairing them, and ensuring the supplies kept moving.

#WAR THUNDER VICTORY DAY PLUS#

Indeed, by the end, the Trail-which consisted of 12,000 miles of roads-supplied nearly 500 tons per day, enough to supply nearly 12 regular divisions plus the Viet Cong. This was easily maintained, and soon 10 times that much was on the move. Hanoi estimated a mere 20 to 30 tons of supplies per day would sustain the insurgency in the South. The Vietnamese were every bit as determined, clever, and innovative as the Americans-maybe more so. To understand the war from the other side, John Prados offers The Blood Road: The Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Vietnam War (NY: John Wiley, 1999). Johnson once commented that Airmen couldn’t hit an outhouse in North Vietnam without his approval. When they were struck, it was a decision often made by the President himself. Targets such as bridges, rail lines, marshaling yards, power plants and steel mills were also off-limits most of the time. Fuel sites and storage facilities were seldom targeted. Also off-limits: Ships in the port of Haiphong delivering deadly weapons-along with tons of additional military equipment and precious fuel-many were crewed by Russians, Chinese, or neutrals. Hampered by restrictions, USAF could not establish air superiority over North Vietnam, driving up the costs of each strike mission. aircraft was downed by a SAM three months later-and 109 more SAM shootdowns would follow by the end of the war. When surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites were established in the north in April 1965, they too were declared off-limits-one of Johnson’s advisers opined the missiles were there simply to boost the morale of the North Vietnamese and would not be used.

Strict rules of engagement (ROE) meant the Air Force would not strike North Vietnamese airfields-Washington saw this as a provocative escalation-so the deadly MiGs could not be attacked while on the ground and vulnerable.

War thunder victory day