1972 Spring Invasion
Further information: Easter OffensiveIn 1970, the war was winding down as the conflict was being Vietnamized. Units from the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) took on more and more combat to defend their nation and USAF tactical air strength was being reduced as several air bases were turned over to the VNAF.
Bombing of North Vietnam (Operation Rolling Thunder) had ended in 1968, and as a result North Vietnamese forces had built up their air defenses and continued to pour men and equipment into the South via the Ho Chi Minh Trail. By the beginning of 1972 there were only about 235 USAF tactical combat aircraft in Southeast Asia.
Vietnamization was severely tested by the Easter Offensive of 1972, a massive conventional invasion of South Vietnam by North Vietnamese Army forces in spring 1972. On 30 March 1972 the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched an all out invasion of South Vietnam with over 13 divisions, pushing South Vietnamese units aside with little difficulty. President Nixon stepped up air strikes to turn back the invasion, or at least to slow it down.
In response to the invasion, TAC deployed both squadrons and wings to air bases in Thailand. Known units deployed were:
- Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base
- 8th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Eglin AFB, Florida (F-4E)
- 414th Fighter Weapons Squadron, Nellis AFB, Nevada (F-4E)
- Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base
- 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina
- Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base
- 49th Tactical Fighter Wing, Holloman AFB, New Mexico(F-4D)
By October 1972, the effect of the air campaign was being felt in North Vietnam. North Vietnamese delegates returned to the bargaining table in Paris to engage in peace talks in a serious manner. Besides the pressure from USAF, USN and USMC tactical fighters, fighter-bombers and fighter aircraft, as well as USAF B-52 bombers, the political climate in Moscow and Peking had changed to encourage the North Vietnamese to agree to a settlement.
Read more about this topic: Tactical Air Command, History, Vietnam War
Famous quotes containing the words spring and/or invasion:
“Tomorrow let loveless, let lover tomorrow make love;
O spring, singing spring, spring of the world renew!
In spring lovers consent and the birds marry
When the grove receives in her hair the nuptial dew.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“In our governments the real power lies in the majority of the community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of government contrary to the sense of the constituents, but from the acts in which government is the mere instrument of the majority.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)