operation linebacker ii casualties

[98] Overall US Air Force losses included fifteen B-52s, two F-4s, two F-111s, one EB-66 and one HH-53 search-and-rescue helicopter. [76] Particularly in Hanoi, as of December 20, 1972, there were 215 dead and 325 injured. They were there to discuss new proposals by both nations, hoping to reach mutually agreeable terms for a peace settlement for the decade-old Vietnam war. Political power would be shared by three groups: the Saigon government, the PRG, and a "third force" group to be mutually agreed upon by the other two parties. [60], On the 22nd, a wing of the Bach Mai Hospital, located in the southern suburbs of Hanoi, was struck by an errant string of bombs from a single B-52. Tho presented a new North Vietnamese plan which included proposals for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of American forces, and an exchange of prisoners of war. Instead of utilizing multiple waves, all of the bombers would be in and out of the target area within 20 minutes and they would approach from multiple directions and at different altitudes. Operation Linebacker II was a complex, multi-service operation over North Vietnam in December 1972. There were approximately 300 patients in the basement. "[87] The DMZ was defined as provided for in the Geneva Accords of 1954, and would in no way be recognized as an international boundary. [117], John Negroponte, in the 2017 documentary The Vietnam War, was disdainful of the attack's value, stating "[w]e bombed them into accepting our concessions. [54] Of more concern was the position taken by many senior Air Force officers that they "would lose too many bombers and that airpower doctrine would be proven fallacious ... or, if the bombing were stopped, the same thing would occur". They conducted eight aerial engagements, and claimed two B-52s, four F-4s and one RA-5C shot down. On January 15, 1973, after pressuring South Vietnam to accept the peace deal, Nixon announced the end of offensive operations against North Vietnam. Although 20 SAMs were launched and a number of the bombers were damaged,[48] none were lost on the mission. Red SAM: The SA-2 Guideline Anti-Aircraft Missile. Operation LINEBACKER II was what change the war and drove the Vietcong to peace agreements. The tactics utilized (flight paths, altitudes, formations, timing, etc.) [113], The USAF Strategic Air Command (SAC) made some serious mistakes, suffered serious losses and their campaign came close to failure, yet after the war they launched a massive media and public relations blitz (and internal witch hunt) to prove that Linebacker II was an unqualified success that unfolded as planned. [citation needed], At the start of the Linebacker II, the air defense missile forces of the Vietnamese People's Army had 36 air defense missile battalions armed with the S-75M Dvina (SA-2 Guideline) missile system,[42] probably one-half were involved this operation. At a subsequent meeting of experts on 16 December, the North Vietnamese side "stone-walled from beginning to end". The civilian deaths were criticized by the North Vietnamese and U.S. peace activists. [71] 250 SAMs had been fired from 18 until 24 December,[48] and the strain on the remaining North Vietnamese inventory showed, since only 68 were fired during the mission. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 air interdiction campaign conducted against North Vietnam from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the Vietnam War. [citation needed], The targets of the 99 bombers sent in on 20 December included the Yên Viên railyards, the Ai Mo warehouse complex, the Thái Nguyên power plant, a transshipment point at Bắc Giang, the Kinh No Railroad complex, and the Hanoi petroleum products storage area—all in or near Hanoi. "Olof Palme och Vietnamfrågan 1965–1983" (in Swedish). [25] Teams of experts from each side met to discuss technicalities and protocols on 14 December, during which time the North Vietnamese representatives submitted a Vietnamese-language text of the protocol on prisoners containing several important changes that Hanoi had failed to gain in the main negotiating sessions. [99][100] However, two B-52 tail gunner kills were not confirmed by VPAF, and they admitted to the loss of only three MiGs. Andersson, Stellan. The NVA’s Soviet-style blitzkrieg consumed 1,000 tons a day in fuel for tanks and trucks, as well as munitions for tank and artillery tubes, food for troops, and medicine for the considerable casualties inflicted by a stubborn ARVN defense. [72] One B-52 was shot down near Hanoi and another damaged aircraft made it back to U-Tapao, where it crashed just short of the runway. Most Heavily Defended City In 1972 Hanoi was considered the most heavily defended city in the world, protected by layers of air defense and the sheer massed quantity of Soviet-made supersonic surface-to-air missiles and MiG … [92] B-52s dropped a total of 15,237 tons of ordnance on 18 industrial and 14 military targets (including eight SAM sites) while fighter-bombers added another 5,000 tons of bombs to the tally. And you will be my ain true love A more reasonable answer to the decline in attrition would be the change in U.S. tactics after the third night." Nine B-52s that returned to U-Tapao airfield were too badly damaged to fly again. [85][86] One day before the deadline, Thieu bowed to the inevitable and consented to the agreement. No new North Vietnamese forces were to be infiltrated from the north, and the U.S. agreed to extend post-war reconstruction assistance to North Vietnam. Kissinger did, however, obtain a "verbal agreement" from Tho for a token withdrawal of 30,000 North Vietnamese troops.[88]. This deployment, however, utilized nearly half of the Air Force's manned bomber fleet, and Strategic Air Command (SAC) commanders were initially reluctant to risk the expensive aircraft and their highly trained crews in such an operation; in addition, the production line for B-52s had long since been shut down, and losses could not be replaced. [103] Two B-52s were claimed by North Vietnamese MiG-21 fighter pilots; both incidents were attributed to SAMs by the U.S.[7], The raids inflicted severe damage to North Vietnam's infrastructure. Ordered by Richard Nixon, it lasted for 11 days, and had the desired … When I've gone to find my ain true love, [59] As a result, the attack waves were reduced in size, although the tactics employed did not change. The first and third waves of the ICCS was finally decided by splitting the difference in the strikes, this. Claims of aircraft destroyed or shot down tactics utilized ( flight paths, altitudes, formations, timing,.... Day of Linebacker II, by Dana Drenkowski and Lester W. Grau away Hanoi... Settlement among the US population incident occurred Vietnamese government provisions that he, Thieu, already. Indeed, much of the South Vietnamese government to enter into purposeful concerning. 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