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Chapter 2: Deciding to Launch the Operation
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24 CHAPTER TWO Deciding to Launch the Operation Nixon believed that the Cambodian incursion of 1970 had “gravely undermined Hanoi’s capacity to conduct offensive operations ,” thus buying much-needed time for the allies.1 The North Vietnamese had long depended on the overland route from the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia to supply their forces in South Vietnam. The coup that deposed Prince Sihanouk and put Lon Nol in power, together with the subsequent allied invasion of Cambodia in April 1970, had effectively closed that route. Additionally , a second route that involved shipment from North Vietnamese ports down the South China Sea to many points on the South Vietnamese coast had been severely curtailed by the fall of 1970 by an increasingly effective coastal interdiction campaign under Operation Market-Time. Deprived of its sanctuaries and bases in Cambodia, and with the coastal infiltration route from Sihanoukville effectively interdicted, Hanoi had to turn almost entirely to cross-country routes through the panhandle of Laos from North Vietnam for the resupply of its forces in the south.2 By 1971 the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos was a system of roads, command centers, transshipment points, base areas, and way stations , which were called binh trams. The binh trams were located about a day’s march from each other, and each operated as a complete logistical center with an assigned area of responsibility and its own medical, engineering, storage, transportation, and maintenance support as well as infantry and antiaircraft troops to provide security. The trail stretched from North Vietnam through the Mu Gia, Ban Karai, and Ban Raving Passes in the Annamite (or Truong Son) Mountains southward to Base Area 604, a key base in Laos near Tchepone, located on Route 9 about forty kilometers from the border with South Vietnam, adjacent to Khe Sanh in Quang Tri Province. From Base Area 604, men and supplies moved to Deciding to Launch the Operation 25 two other key NVA base areas, 611 to the southeast and 612 to the south near Saravane (see Map 2). From these intermediate base areas, replacements, reinforcements, and supplies could be readily moved into South Vietnam via Route 9 or through the A Shau Valley. The North Vietnamese boasted after the war that they had built over thirteen thousand kilometers of trails and roads as part of the system. Beginning in 1959, the trail network had been built, maintained, and defended by Transportation Group 559 using an estimated one hundred thousand NVA and Laotian volunteers and forced laborers.3 US intelligence estimated that between 1966 and 1971, 630,000 NVA troops, one hundred thousand tons of foodstuffs, four hundred thousand weapons, and fifty thousand tons of ammunition moved from North Vietnam down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.4 In the fall of 1970, joint MACV and South Vietnamese JGS intelligence estimates indicated that the North Vietnamese had two primary goals for the approaching 1971 dry season. First, they would conduct an intensified resupply and reinforcement operation in southern Laos. Then, using this buildup, they would strike DMZ Laos North Vietnam South Vietnam Rockpile CAM LO Vandegrift Camp Carroll Route 9 Khe Sanh Lang Vei Lao Bao Dong Ha THE LAOTIAN SALIENT QUANG-TRI PROVINCE River Da Krong River Thach Han River Ben Hai River X e B a n g Tchepone Houay Nam Xe H ia n g R iv e r South China Sea SAVANNAKHET PROVINCE 1 Combat Base Quang Tri City Ÿ 1 Cua Viet Laos Route 9 Viet River BASE AREA 612 BASE AREA 611 BASE AREA 604 Xe Pon River Cua River Quang Tri DMZ Laos North Vietnam South Vietnam Rockpile CAM LO Vandegrift Camp Carroll Route 9 Khe Sanh Lang Vei Lao Bao Dong Ha THE LAOTIAN SALIENT QUANG TRI PROVINCE River Da Krong River Thach Han River Ben Hai River X e B a n g Tchepone Houay Nam Xe H ia n g R iv e r South China Sea SAVANNAKHET PROVINCE 1 Combat Base Quang Tri City Ÿ 1 Cua Viet Laos Route 9 Viet River BASE AREA 612 BASE AREA 611 BASE AREA 604 Xe Pon River Cua River Quang Tri Map 2.Area of Operations [44.204.99.5] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 12:10 GMT) Chapter 2 26 from Laos with large-scale operations in the spring and summer of 1971 against the lowlands of Quang Tri and Thua Thien Provinces in South Vietnam’s Military Region I.5 After the allied invasion of Cambodia...