Operation Rolling Thunder

From Free net encyclopedia

Operation Rolling Thunder (also known as the "Rolling Thunder Program", in terminology of the McNamara Department of Defense) was the code name for a U.S. military campaign during the Vietnam War, the bombing of North Vietnam by air units of the U.S. Seventh Air Force, Task Force 77, and the South Vietnamese Air Force. Rolling Thunder was the first of three sustained bombing campaigns against North Vietnam, followed in 1972 by Operation Linebacker and Operation Linebacker II.

Objectives of the operation were to destroy the will of the North Vietnamese to fight, to destroy their industrial base and air defenses (including SAMs), and to stop the flow of men and supplies down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Though periodically interrupted by "bombing pauses" the US dropped a greater tonnage of bombs during this campaign than with all the bombs dropped during World War II.

Beginning in the early 1960s, communist North Vietnam (The Democratic Republic of Vietnam, or DRV) began sending arms and reinforcements to the guerrillas of the National Liberation Front (NLF) fighting a guerrilla war against the Saigon government in South Vietnam. To combat the NLF and shore up the regime in the south, the United States sent advisors, supplies and combat troops. A war escalated that eventually resulted in the commitment of major U.S. ground forces against NLF (Vietcong or "VC") insurgents and North Vietnamese regular troops in the field.

Communist supply lines for the NLF ran south across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Vietnam, or in Laos and Cambodia along the "Ho Chi Minh Trail". The source of these supplies was the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The road and rail network of the north was vital for transporting material south. The hub of this network was the national capital, Hanoi.

In August 1964, as a result of the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident", in which United States Navy ships claimed they were attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats (the validity of the incident is still debated due to hearings conducted in the U.S. Senate during the war and information releases later) President Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered a series of "retaliatory" air strikes against North Vietnamese installations for the stated purpose of discouraging further "Communist aggression", Operations Pierce Arrow and Flaming Dart.

In late 1964 the Joint Chiefs of Staff drew up a list of 94 targets to be destroyed as part of a coordinated interdiction air campaign against the North's supply network. Bridges, rail yards, docks, barracks and supply dumps would be targeted. However, President Johnson feared that direct intervention by the Chinese or Russians could trigger a world war and refused to authorize an unrestricted bombing campaign. Instead, the attacks would be limited to targets cleared by the President and the Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara.

Beginning March 2, 1965, Rolling Thunder was a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam. In the February of 1965, Viet Cong guerrillas attacked a U.S. air base at Pleiku, South Vietnam. President Johnson immediately ordered retaliatory bombing raids against military installations in North Vietnam. Early missions were against the south of the DRV, where the bulk of ground forces and supply dumps were located. Large-scale air strikes were launched on depots, bases and supply targets, but the majority of operations were "armed reconnaissance" missions in which small formations of aircraft patrolled highways and railroads and rivers, attacking targets of opportunity.

Afraid the war might escalate out of hand, Johnson and McNamara micromanaged the bombing campaign from Washington. Rules of engagement were imposed to limit civilian casualties or attacks on other nationals, such as the Eastern Bloc-crewed supply ships in Haiphong harbor or the Soviet and Chinese advisors helping train the Vietnamese military.

However, the American policy of "graduated response" (slowly "ramping up" pressure on the DRV leadership) meant that more targets were incrementally authorized for attack. The bombing moved progressively northwards toward Hanoi. Exclusion zones were maintained around Hanoi and Haiphong to keep bombers away from the population centers, but eventually raids would be authorized even into these sanctuaries.

To limit airspace conflicts between United States Air Force and US Navy strike forces, the DRV was divided into six target regions called "Route Packages" (RPs), each assigned to a service. The northern region of the DRV was divided into RP4 (south of Hanoi-Haiphong), RP5 (northwest of Hanoi), and RP 6, which was further subdivided into 6A (Hanoi) and 6B (Haiphong and the northeast rail line). The Air Force was assigned responsibility for RP 5 and 6A, the Navy RP4 and 6B. Strikes into RP6 were extremely hazardous because of the intensity of air defenses there. The North Vietnamese, with Soviet and Chinese assistance, had built a formidable system there consisting of anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), MiG fighter jets, and after July, 1965, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). A sophisticated radar warning net covered the entire country that tracked incoming US raids and directed SAMs or MiGs to attack them.

To survive in this lethal air defense zone the U.S. adopted special tactics. Large-scale strikes, known as "force packages" in the Air Force and "Alpha strikes" in the Navy, were assigned numerous support aircraft to protect the strike force. These included escort fighters (Combat Air Patrol or "MIG CAP") to combat MiGs, electronic jamming aircraft to degrade enemy radars, and "Iron Hand" Wild Weasel fighter-bombers for SAM supression. New electronics countermeasures devices were hurriedly deployed to protect aircraft from missile attacks but were subject to frequent breakdowns because of climate conditions in Southeast Asia.

The air war in the higher Route Packages progressively intensified as Rolling Thunder continued. Though most aircraft losses were from AAA, F-105 Thunderchiefs and A-4 Skyhawks increasingly encountered SAMs and MiGs. MiGs became a particular problem because the a lack of radar coverage in the Hanoi region allowed MiG-21 interceptors and sub-sonic MiG-17s to surprise strike forces. Airborne Early Warning aircraft had difficulty detecting MiGs at low altitudes and the aircraft themselves were difficult to detect optically.

The majority of USAF strikes during Rolling Thunder were launched from four Royal Thai Air Force Bases in Thailand: Korat, Takhli, Udorn, and Ubon. These would refuel over Laos before flying on to their targets. Some U.S. strike aircraft used a prominent terrain feature referred to by U.S. pilots as "Thud Ridge" to mask them from radar as they approached the Hanoi area. After attacking the target — usually by dive-bombing — the strike force would either fly directly back to Thailand or exit over the relatively safe waters of the Gulf of Tonkin.

Navy strikes were launched from Task Force 77's carriers cruising on Yankee Station. Alpha Strikes were formed using all aircraft types in a carrier's Air Wing. Navy aircraft approached their targets from seaward with the majority of their strikes flown against coastal targets.

Bombing halts became a feature of the war. Some of these were politically created, as President Johnson tried a "carrot and stick" approach to coax the DRV into a peace agreement. Others were the fault of the weather that for six months a year made visual dive bombing near impossible. Attempts were made to overcome the weather by developing blind bombing techniques using radar or radio navigation systems, but at best they generated mediocre results and were often useless. As a result Rolling Thunder was conducted in seven incremental phases:

  • Phase I-- March 2, 1965-May 12, 1965, ended in a 6-day bombing halt
  • Phase II-- May 18, 1965-December 24, 1965, a resumption allowing for some attacks north of the 20th parallel, ended in a 37-day bombing halt for diplomatic overtures
  • Phase III-- January 31, 1966-March 31, 1966, a resumption again restricting operations only below the 20th parallel
  • Phase IV-- April 1, 1966-February 6, 1967, all of North Vietnam cleared for attack except buffer zones and the city centers of Hanoi and Haiphong, Route Packages assigned to USAF and USN; ended in a 7-day bombing halt
  • Phase V-- February 14, 1967-January 2, 1968, increased industrial, ports, and airfields targeting; mining of intercoastal waterways; and decreased restricted zones in Hanoi and Haiphong, with two-day bombing halts at Christmas and New Year's.
  • Phase VI-- January 3, 1968-March 31, 1968, final phase with increased targeting, ended in restriction of attacks to below 20th parallel
  • Phase VII-- March 31, 1968-October 31, 1968, targets restricted below 19th parallel, and then ended altogether

1967 saw America's most intense and sustained attempt to force the North Vietnamese into peace talks. Almost all the targets on the Joint Chiefs list was authorized for attack, including airfields previously off-limits. Only the center of Hanoi (nicknamed "Downtown" after the Petula Clark song) and Haiphong harbor remained prohibited from attack. The North Vietnamese responded with increasingly effective MiG attacks and losses to North Vietnamese defenses were the heaviest of the Vietnam War.

Over the first two years of Rolling Thunder the North Vietnamese counteracted U.S. strikes by dispersing their supplies and systematically repairing the supply network after raids using a large manpower base of labor. Their strategy was to absorb punishment and outlast the patience of the United States.

By 1968 McNamara had become convinced that airpower could not win the war. In spite of the air campaign, the NLF and NVA mounted a massive country-wide offensive in the south, striking during the Tet New Year holiday . The Tet Offensive was a military disaster for the North and their NLF allies, but adversely affected U.S. public opinion, which in turn broke the will of the U.S. leadership. Hoping that Hanoi would enter into peace talks, President Johnson on March 31, 1968, announced that all bombing north of the 20th Parallel would cease. The North Vietnamese, in the wake of their heavy military casualties in the Tet offensive, agreed to talks. President Johnson ended bombing in the remainder of North Vietnam on October 31, 1968, just prior to the 1968 U.S. Presidential election, ending Operation Rolling Thunder.

On December 31, 1967, the DoD announced that 864,000 tons of bombs had been dropped on North Vietnam during Rolling Thunder, compared to 653,000 tons dropped during the Korean War and 503,000 tons in the Pacific during World War II. In all, over both North and South Vietnam, 1.6 million tons had been dropped, exceeding the U.S. total in World War II of 1.5 million tons.

CIA estimates on January 1, 1968 of damage and casualties to North Vietnam were $370 million in physical damage , including $164 million damage to capital assets (such as factories, bridges, and power plants); and approximately 1,000 casualties per week, or approximately 90,000 for the 44-month period, 72,000 of them civilians.

Approximately 750 USAF and 470 USN aircraft were lost in combat during Rolling Thunder.

[edit]

References

[edit]

Related content

Template:Wikisourcecatde:Rolling Thunder it:Operazione Rolling Thunder

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Operation_Rolling_Thunder"