Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #798… AT THE SAME TIME–MAY 1968–SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CLIFFORD WAS PUTTING TOGETHER THE “STRONGEST CASE POSSIBLE…FOR DISENGAGEMENT” (See Ripple Salvo #797 of 11 May) and the President’s Special Advisor General Maxwell Taylor, the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of State Rusk and Ambassador Bunker were pursuing actions to add military success on the battlefields that would “gain an aura of success in order to gain advantage in Paris talks.” The result was an administration in complete disarray. Historian Edward J. Drea described it this way: “Dissension over Vietnam policy within the administration manifested itself in distrust and secretiveness.” And more… but first…
GOOD MORNING…Day SEVEN HUNDRED NINETY-EIGHT of History 404: The air war with North Vietnam 1965-68: Operation Rolling Thunder…
HEAD LINES from THE NEW YORK TIMES on Mother’s Day, Sunday, 12 May 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “ALLIES HAMMER ENEMY IN SAIGON–VIETCONG ATTACK IS BELIEVED TO BE OVERCOME–POSITIONS IN CAPITAL ARE BOMBED”… “Bombs and artillery fire continued to rattle Saigon this morning as allied units tried through the night to dislodge pockets of enemy resistance. It appeared that the Vietcong were almost defeated in their week-long effort to disrupt the capital. During the night the South Vietnamese Air Force jets made bombing attacks in the Cholon area south of downtown Saigon, and in a slum just to the south of the ‘Y’ bridge about a mile and half from the heart of the city. This morning, the military command said that 98 enemy soldiers had been killed near the bridge since fighting began there four days ago. Fighter-bombers have dropped 500-pound and 1000-pound bombs into the tin shacks near the bridge. …Late yesterday the allied forces reported they had killed more than 100 of the enemy in a series of fights in the countryside around Saigon….The United States Embassy announced that the number of refugees in the city had soared to some 80,000. However, many were unable to get to their houses in sealed-off sections. Civilian casualties in Saigon were put at 95 dead and 2,449 wounded of whom 1,099 were in hospitals…Air strikes and artillery have reduced a good part of the shantytown to rubble, but the Vietcong have not retreated….Elsewhere in South Vietnam United States and South Vietnamese Army units continued to pound North Vietnamese and Vietcong. Near Dongha, in Quangtri Province to the north, units of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade and the First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) supported by artillery and naval gunfire was reported to have killed 41 enemy soldiers in a battle six miles north of Hue. One United States paratrooper was killed…. Page 23: “LAOTIANS DOUBTFUL THE MONSOON WILL CURB GUERRILLAS’ ATTACKS”… “The dark clouds that had been gathering each afternoon in the western sky over central Laos finally broke open last week dumping gray sheets of water on the thirsty plains and hills. In this divided and troubled kingdom, the arrival of the annual five-month monsoon has a military as well as an agricultural significance. In the past, the start of the rainy season has meant the end of the annual offensive staged by the Pathet Lao, the indigenous Communist insurgents and the 40,000 North Vietnamese troops that are said to be operating in the country. But 1968 has not been a normal year, and the Laotian military command is concerned that this year the fighting may continue…. More than 250,000 Laotians have been displaced and are refugees (10% of population)….”
PEACE TALKS: Page 1: “PROCEDURES SET FOR PARIS TALKS–2 SIDES PLEASED–DELEGATES BAR THE NLF AND SAIGON FROM TALKS FOR PRESENT–Atmosphere Seems good–Daily Meetings Likely–North Vietnamese Expected to make Opening Statement–Agenda Left Open”… “…Both sides made it clear privately that they hd no illusions about the difficulties of resolving the substantive issues that will be taken up in the official conversations’–the term agreed upon to describe the meetings. The first such issue is Hanoi’s demand for a halt in American bombing and ‘other acts of war’ against North Vietnam and President Johnson’s counter appeal for ‘mutual restraint’ by Hanoi to insure that the United States is not giving away what it regards as a military advantage. Hanoi has steadfastly rebuffed Washington’s requirement.”… Page 17: “THE AMERICAN’S AND NORTH VIETNAMESE ARE TAKING EACH OTHER’S MEASURE”…
Page 1: “RIOTING IN PARIS–STUDENTS BACKED BY FRENCH UNIONS–3 BIGGEST FEDERATIONS CALL 24-HOUR STRIKE TOMORROW–PARIS RIOT TOLL HEAVY”… “French labor moved to support the students of Paris today… a nationwide strike called to protest police tactics in suppressing student demonstrations. Such strikes have all but paralyzed France in the past. But government sources today said that essential communications services would be maintained to permit talks between the United States an North Vietnam to take place…. It was the third and most serious clash between policemen and students within a week and the toll was 367 injured , 468 arrested, 788 cars and trucks burned out or damaged and heavy damage to property.”… Page 1: “30,000 MARCHERS ASSAIL BONN BILL–Oppose Broad Emergency Power of Government“… “About 30,000 Germans descended yesterday on the Federal capital waving red flags and shouting rhymed slogans to protest against proposed emergency legislation that would empower the federal government to suspend Parliament during a major crisis. The legislation is opposed by German liberals and leftists who compare it with the emergency law of the prewar Weimar government.”… Page 1: “STRIKING STUDENTS AT COLUMBIA ASK TO SEE TRUSTEES–SEEK TALKS AS FIRST STEP TOWARD ENDING DISPUTE–President Kirk Called intransigent”… “The request for the meeting with the Trustees wa made by the official spokesman of the student group Mark Rudd of the Students for a Democratic Society.”…
12 MAY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times… No coverage of the air war north of the DMZ… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were five fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 12 May 1968 and all five were involved in the evacuation of the Special Forces outpost at Kham Duc in the Annamite Mountains 55 miles west of Chu Lai… 10 May RTR post covered the seige and evacuation of Kham Duc and linked to two sources for the full story of one of the most costly three-day battles of the war for the allies. An excellent narrative of the event is at:
COMBAT CONTROLLERS: First in, Last out…
http://www.sgtmacsbar.com/Articles/KhamDuc/KhamDuc.html
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 12 MAY FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION…
1965… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1967… COLONEL NORMAN CARL GADDIS, USAF… (POW)… 1LT JAMES MILTON JEFFERSON, USAF… (KIA)… CAPTAIN EARL WILFRED GRENZEBACH, USAF… (KIA)… CAPTAIN PETER POTTER PITMAN, USAF… (KIA)… and … CAPTAIN ROBERT ANNEN STEWART, USAF… (KIA)…
1968… NONE…
Humble Host flew #161: led a division against a small bridge near Vinh Son about 20 miles west of Vinh… 24 Mk-82s all over the bridge and both approaches, but it was still standing when we left… off target armed recce the river eastward and flight put 8 pods of zunis on a large barge halfway between Vinh Son and Vinh… left it smoking… light 37mm opposing the dives oon the bridge… good flying weather…
RIPPLE SALVO… #798… Continuing from Ripple Salvo 797… and Edward J. Drea’s McNamara, Clifford, and the Burdens of Vietnam, 1965-1969, Volume VI of the Defense Historical Series… Pages 192-3…
At the same time Secretary Clifford was preparing to make the “strongest case possible to the president for disengagement” ….
“Maxwell Taylor had concluded that the current low-key approach to reinforcing MACV and reconstituting the strategic reserves units diminished the international perception of U.S. deterrent strength. On 6 May he suggested that the president obtain a progress report from State, OSD, and the JCS on plans to reinforce American forces in Vietnam, to expand South Vietnamese forces, and to rebuild the strategic reserve. At the president’s direction, Clifford requested the JCS to address these matters, particularly the readiness of the diminished strategic reserves to respond to possible enemy pressure elsewhere around the world.
“They replied on 21 May that no Army forces based in the United States were available for deployment to Vietnam.; sustaining additional Marine units necessitated mobilization. Increased Navy carrier support for Southeast Asia would denude naval units operating in the Mediterranean. Only four Air Force tactical squadrons based in the United States, two of them reserve units, were ready for immediate deployment. According to the Joint Chiefs, diminished readiness and reduced strategic capabilities limited U.S. response to communist bloc initiatives outside of Southeast Asia. In no less than five instances in their reply, the Joint Chiefs reiterated that the recall of 56,877 reserves they had sought on 2 and 6 April had been turned down. Actual call-up of 24,550 was authorized on 11 April, this number was reduced by 1,262 on 7 May.
“Meanwhile the situation in Vietnam appeared to worsen. Wheeler’s 20 May update for Clifford stressed that the enemy offensive showed no signs of diminishing, a massive infiltration from North Vietnam was under way, and an accompanying logistics build-up indicated Hanoi was strengthening its ability to fight in South Vietnam. At the president’s request, the Joint Chiefs were quietly evaluating military options in late May should the Paris talks stall or collapse entirely. The options mulled by the chiefs resembled those that Clifford had offered the Wise Men in late March: continue the current strategy; expand the ground war into Laos, Cambodia, or North Vietnam; revise strategy to minimize U.S. casualties; reinstitute the bombing of North Vietnam or cease all bombing of North Vietnam.
“The Joint Chiefs again called for expanding the air and ground wars. They opposed relinquishing territory as defeatist because any withdrawal would cede battlefield initiative to the enemy and only prolong the war. Nitze disagreed, questioning their assumptions and the lack of any end game should their recommendations be implemented. ISA Assistant Secretary Warnke prepared a draft presidential memorandum that refuted the JCS proposals and advocated continuing the current course in Vietnam, developing contingency plans to respond as needed to enemy actions directly endangering U.S. forces attempting to broaden the talks to include South Vietnam and Viet Cong representatives, and informing Hanoi that under appropriate conditions the United States would halt the bombing of the North.”
And that’s the way it was in May 1968. Unity of command? Not hardly… Negotiating from a position of strength? Not hardly…. As a consequence, the “fighting while negotiating” would go on, and on. In the first two weeks of May 1968 more than 1,100 American warriors were killed-in-action in Vietnam to surpass 23,000 KIA since the first KIA in 1961. The tragic truth? 35,000 more American warriors would die in an endless war that could not be won…
RTR Quote for 12 May: PHAEDRUS, Fables: “Out of breath to no purpose, in doing much doing nothing.”
Lest we forget… Bear
