Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #727… NYT OPED: “It is evident that something is fundamentally wrong with both the American assessment of the Vietnam problem and the strategy adopted to deal with it. More of the same in terms of method is unlikely to bring anything other in results than more of the same.”… but first…
Good Morning: Day SEVEN HUNDRED TWENTY-SEVEN of a long look back of fifty years to the air war secretly called ROLLING THUNDER…
HEAD LINES from the Saturday, 2 March 1968 New York Times, at home and where the war was fifty years ago…
THE GROUND WAR: Page 1: “CLASHES FLARE NEAR SAIGON; CITY PUT ON ALERT FOR ATTACK–South Vietnamese Paratroopers Battle With Foe Near Tansonnhut Base–B-52s Batter Enemy At Khesanh”... “Fighting on the northern outskirts of Saigon quickened today, with the South Vietnamese and American commands reporting more than 20 engagements in the last two days. South Vietnamese paratroopers fought a bitter battle only about a quarter of a mile from the runway at Tansonnhut Airport…The site was the ruins of the Vinatexco textile plant, the largest in the country before it was destroyed in the enemy’s Lunar New Year offensive. Vietcong forces used it as a stronghold for their initial attacks on the airport on January 31…At Khesanh B-52s bombed enemy tunnels and bunkers only 1,000-yards from the perimeter this morning. The American command reported that four B-52 raids had been made in the last 24 hours, all within four miles of the isolated combat base. according to the command the 20,000-man enemy force surrounding Khesanh has pushed its trenched within 100-yards of the marines’ barbed wire entanglements at the southern edge of the base. The Spokesman also said that an Air Force C-123 transport plane had burned after being hit by a mortar round as it was taking off from the Khesanh airstrip yesterday. Six crewmen were wounded…. In the fighting near Quangtri, the capital of South Vietnam’s northernmost province, South Vietnamese troops reported having killed 189 of the enemy yesterday.”... Page 1: “THIEU IS REBUFFED BY SAIGON’S HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BY DECREE--Emergency Power For Year Denied To President By Legislators, 85 to 10–Setback Is Surprise–Reversal Of Action Possible–Measures Are Taken to Bolster Military”… “The South Vietnamese House of Representatives today rejected a request by President Nguyen Van Thieu that he be given emergency powers to rule by decree for one year.”... Page 3: “ENEMY’S USE OF NEW SOVIET AND CHINESE WEAPONS CHANGE THE PATTERN OF WAR IN VIETNAM--Foe’s Basic Weapon is Ak-47, 7.62mm rounds in 30-round cartridge effective to 440-yards versus the M-16 20-round magazine. RPG-7 rocket grenade launcher also proving lethal.”…
Page 1: “MAYOR LINDSAY ORDERS ACTION ON THE RIOT REPORT–City Aides Told To Make Findings Guidelines–Rights Leaders Support Criticism of Whites–Congress Dispute Rises Over The Proposals”… Page 1: “Rockefeller Says He will Run if Asked By G.O.P. –-Asserts He Will Not Divide The Party By Competing In Primaries–Will Speak On Issues–Governor Bars A Race With Nixon In Oregon But Won’s Move to Stop Write-Ins”… Page 3: “JOHNSON WELCOMES CLIFFORD AS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE”… Page 3: “Draft Inquiry Told College Graduates Will Fill Up Quotas”... “A panel of educators and manpower experts said today that college graduates would be filling nearly all draft quotas starting next year under current draft policies. Their testimony before a House of Representatives Education subcommittee left Lieutenant General Lewis B. Hershey, Director of Selective Service unruffled… The hearing focused on recently announced regulations ending graduate student deferments and most occupational deferments, an on the long-standing practice of calling up draftees in the order of the oldest.”…
2 MARCH 1968… The President’s Daily Brief (CIA- Top Secret Declass)… VIETNAM: Enemy military activity is down almost to the pre-Tet pace at the moment, but there are mounting indications that attacks are planned against the western highlands. Pleiky, Kontum, and Ban Me Thot appear to be key targets for an offensive that could begin as early as tomorrow… LAOS: fighting remains at a relatively low-level. Recent Communist gains, however, have rekindled southern separatist tendencies….
State Department, Office of the Historian, Historical Documents, Foreign Relations, Vietnam 1964-68 Vietnam, Vol 6, Document 100. of 2 March 1968. Editorial Note. This one pager sets the stage for “the Clifford Task Force to begin a “comprehensive reassessment of Vietnam policy” which produced a Draft Presidential Memorandum on 3 March. The DPM recommendations are included in this Editorial Note. Read at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d100
1-2 March 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times articles. From NYT 29-Feb-68 Page 1: “22 Killed Near Khesanh As Foe Shoots Down Transport Copter”… “North Vietnamese machine gunners shot down a Marine transport helicopter 111 miles northeast of Khesanh yesterday (28th). Twenty-two men were killed and one wounded when the Ch-46 crashed and burned near ‘the Rockpile.’ ‘… The same article reported the following regarding the number of American personnel serving in Southeast Asia at the end of February 1968…
“Last Thursday the United States command reported that there were about 495,000 American military personnel in Vietnam–325,000 of the Army, 79,000 Marines, 57,000 Air Force, and 33,000 Navy. In addition, 1,200 Coast Guardsmen are on hand. Other Allied forces total 61,000. South Vietnamese strength was about 600,000. In addition, about 35,000 men are assigned to warships in the Gulf of Tonkin and the South China Sea. Several thousand Air Force men fly and service planes in Thailand that raid in North Vietnam and South Vietnam.”
The following concerning casualties and aircraft losses is quoted from the NYT 01-Mar-68, page 1: “The American casualty report continued the upward trend since the start of the Lunar New Year offensive and brought THE TOTAL KILLED IN VIETNAM SINCE JANUARY 1, 1961 to 18,709. South Vietnamese casualties for the week were 434 killed and 1,532 wounded. Of the 11,413 South Vietnamese troops killed and wounded since January 28, just before the start of the Lunar New Year offensive, nearly three-quarters were local militia. During the week 5,769 enemy troops were reported killed. Enemy losses since the start of the offensive are put at 39,007 killed and 7,062 captured. However, only 11,822 weapons were said to have been taken….. Total enemy strength before the offensive at 223,000 to 248,000 men, of whom 118,000 were said to be from North Vietnamese or main Vietcong units. About 60,000 troops were committed to the offensive.”…
“In the air war against North Vietnam, the main radio communications station 10 miles south of Hanoi was bombed Wednesday (28th) by radar guided Navy planes (A-6As)…The station was first hit on 10 February….Navy pilots also struck again at the Haiphong rail yards, which stretch along the south bank of the Red River about two miles northwest of the port city. An Air Force F-105 was brought down by ground fire yesterday (29 Feb) in southern North Vietnam (Major Crosley James Fitton, KIA, and Captain Cleveland Scott Harris, KIA). It was the 802nd United States plane lost over the North”…
NYT, 02-Mar-68 (reporting Rolling Thunder ops for 1 Mar) Page 1: “Low ceilings over North Vietnam again largely limited the air offensive, allowing only radar strikes. The United States command reported that A-6 Intruder aircraft from the nuclear powered aircraft carrier Enterprise struck yesterday (1st) at the wharves of Hanoi which line the banks of the Red River 1.8 miles from the center of the city. The area, hit for the first time last week, is used by shallow-draft barges rather than ocean-going shipping, as at Haiphong, 60 miles east. Because of the presence of foreign-flag vessels, the Haiphong docks have never been a bombing target, although on several occasions ships there are said to have been damaged. On Thursday (29th), Air Force planes hit a truck maintenance area seven miles west of Hanoi for the first time. Navy planes launched several strikes Thursday and yesterday near Thanh Hoa, a port 100 miles south of Haiphong, and marine pilots attacked Donghoi 60 miles above the DMZ….. In the raids on the North, a radar-equipped F-105F was reported shot down by ground fire, with both crew members reported as missing…. The loss of three other planes previously unreported in the weekly summary, bringing the total number of downed aircraft over the north to 806 while 233 have been downed in the south... The loss of six other planes also announced in both North Vietnam and South Vietnam in the command’s ‘Category 2,’ combat aircraft lost in accidents and all losses of support aircraft, such as transports and spotter aircraft. The total in this category is now 934. In addition, combat helicopter losses in South Vietnam increased from 535 to 546 in the seven-day period ended Tuesday (27th). Only nine rescue aircraft have been downed over North Vietnam.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were four fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 1 and 2 March 1968…
(1) 1 March: A C-123K Provider of the 311 ACS and 315th ACW out of Phang Rang and Danang was hit by a mortar round on takeoff from Khesanh and crashed and burned. All ten crew and passengers survived the combat loss…
(2) 1 March: LCDR TOMAS EDWIN SCHEURICH and LTJG RICHARD CLIVE LANNOM were flying an A-6A Intruder of the VA-35 Black Panthers embarked in USS Enterprise on a low-level night strike on the army barracks at Cam Pha. Three VA-35 aircraft rendezvoused after launch and proceeded north to an IP from which each aircraft made independent attacks on their respective targets. LCDR SCHEURICH and LTJG LANNOM failed to return from their mission and no trace of the aircraft or the two warriors was found in a lengthy search. It is assumed that the aircraft was downed by ground fire in the attack or simply flown into the sea. In any case, two brave warriors gave their lives for their country 50 years ago and continue to lie in peace where they fell… two more shipmates, remembered here…
(3) 2 March: MAJOR R.J. NORLEY, USMC, and CAPTAIN D.C. RICHARDS, USMC, were flying an RF-4B of VMCJ-1 and MAG-11 out of Danang on a photo mission in South Vietnam when hit and downed by ground fire about 50 miles southwest of Danang. they were rescued by an Army helicopter to fly and fight again…
(4) March 2: A C-130A of the 21st TAS and 374th TAW out of Naha, Guam was destroyed on a rainy night landing at Hue/Phu Bai. All six crew members survived, however six of an unknown number of passengers were killed in the operational accident…. fifty years ago this day…
From the Compilation “34TFS/F-105 History” of Howie Plunkett: 01-Mar-68: The 77th mission of Major Sam Armstrong is indicative of the missions flown during the marginal weather of March in Southeast Asia. LGEN Armstrong: “We were airborne spares and I let Ed Hartman led the flight to get some experience. We headed toward Mu Gia Pass and found the weather real bad over there. We went up to 21,000-feet and couldn’t stay on top so we were down to west of Khesanh and worked with a FAC and made some road cuts in Laos. We had to work beneath the low ceiling and consequently some of our bombs were duds.” (not enough time after release to fuse….)
RIPPLE SALVO… #727… The New York Times Opinion Editorial, 01-Mar-68, Page 36:
“NEW LOOK AT VIETNAM NEEDED”…
“The conference of General Wheeler with General Westmoreland in Vietnam and his return to Washington with pacification chief Robert Komer have brought President Johnson the action proposals of his military and civil proconsuls in Saigon. One such proposal clearly is the dispatch of more American troops. What is less clear is the purpose to be served by the troop reinforcement and other measures recommended’
“General Westmoreland has said that he sees ‘no requirement to change our strategy.’ His view is that Hanoi cannot stand a long war and that the Communist Tet offensive resembles the Battle of the Bulge of World War II, the last major blow by the Germans a few months before their defeat.
“General Wheeler, however, left Saigon remarking that he saw ‘no early end’ to the war. ‘It is clear that the enemy has launched a major offensive,’ he said. ‘The enemy retains substantial uncommitted resources. We must expect hard fighting to continue.’
“The difference of assessment is evident, yet the recommendations of the two generals were identical in one respect: more United States troops. General Westmoreland admits that he ‘underestimated’ the capability of the communists to attack South Vietnam’s cities. What he does not say–and what badly needs saying–is that at every stage of the Vietnam conflict the enemy’s capability has been underestimated. And the response of American military leaders each time, with President Johnson’s acquiescence, has been the same: more troops.
“But every upward spin on the escalation spiral has simply restored the military stalemate at a higher level of forces, firepower and casualties. The Communists have covered every American bet. Won’t they do so again?
“Former Secretary McNamara’s admission that many mistakes have been made in Vietnam over the past seven years does not alter the fact that he has made a distinguished contribution to his country as Secretary of Defense, and once again we salute him as he steps down. But his remark does suggest that some new effort is needed to reassess both the problem the United States faces in Southeast Asia and the strategy employed to solve.
“A month ago every indicator used by Washington to judge the status of the war seemed favorable. the South Vietnamese Army was improving steadily. The ‘big unit war’ had seen the Americans drive the Communists back to border sanctuaries. The pacification program had brought back more than two-thirds of the countryside under substantial Government control. A new legitimacy cloaked Saigon’s military leaders as a result of a new Constitution, new elections and relatively free debate in a national assembly containing most of the Country’s non-Communist factions.
“Now it is clear that what was being measured by Mr. Komer’s computers was the calm before the storm’
“Assistant Secretary of State William Bundy has evaluated the damage to the pacification program as disruption ‘to a significant degree in about one-third of the country and to some degree in another third.’ The Saigon regime, over American opposition, is arresting some of its most prominent opponents. South Vietnam cities and other population centers, hitherto considered secure, have become battlefields. American and South Vietnamese forces are stretched thin. The Communists seen to hold the initiative.
“It is evident that something is fundamentally wrong with both the American assessment of the Vietnam problem and the strategy adopted to deal with it. ‘More of the same’ in terms of method is unlikely to bring anything other in results than more of the same. But there can be no change in strategy unless there is a change in the assessment of the problem.
“Secretary Rusk rejects Senator Fulbright’s proposal for a full-scale Congressional investigation of Vietnam before further escalation. But the Administration owes it to itself, as well as the country, to bring fresh minds to bear upon the problem.
“The time clearly has come for the President to appoint a prestigious task force of distinguished citizens, men relatively free from involvement in the Vietnam debates, to assess the facts and help him redesign the country’s answer to its Vietnam dilemma. He need not even reach outside the circle of present and recent pubic servants to find a man of character to head such a survey. Men like John McCloy, Douglas Dillon, General Lauris Norstad, Averill Harriman or David Bruce come to mind; but there are many others whose tested judgment would both aid the Administration and be accepted by the country as impartial, balanced and wise. The man-made disaster in Vietnam cries out for new and independent evaluation.”
RTR Quote for 2 March: SUN TZU, The Art of War: “With many calculations, one can win; with few one cannot. How much less chance of victory has one who makes none at all! By this means I examine the situation and outcome will be clearly apparent.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
