Operation Linebacker II

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Operation Linebacker II
Part of: Vietnam War
Nalty1.jpg
date December 18 to December 29, 1972
place North Vietnam
output not clear
Parties to the conflict

Vietnam North 1955North Vietnam North Vietnam

United StatesUnited States United States South Vietnam
Vietnam SudSouth Vietnam 

Commander

Phung The Tai, Le Van Tri

John Dale Ryan; John W. Vogt Jr.
John C. Meyer

Troop strength
14 SA-2 batteries
100+ fighter aircraft anti-aircraft
units 		207 B-52, 2,000 tactical aircraft
losses

1,624 civilians killed; military losses unknown.
According to US information: 6 MiG-21s shot down (two of them by B-52 rear gunner)
According to Vietnamese information: 3 MiG-21s shot down

According to US data: 12 tactical aircraft shot down
15 B-52 shot down
4 B-52 heavily damaged
5 B-52 moderately damaged
43 killed
49 prisoners of war
According to Vietnamese data: 81 aircraft shot down
(including 34 B-52 and 4 F-111; among them the B-52, which was shot down by the MiG-21 pilot Phạm Tuân )

Battles and operations of the
Vietnam War

Battle of Tua Hai  (1960) - Battle of Ap Bac  (1963) - Battle of Nam Dong  (1964) - Tonkin Incident  (1964) - Operation Flaming Dart  (1965) - Operation Rolling Thunder  (1965-68) - Battle of Dong Xoai  (1965) - Battle of the Ia Drang Valley  (1965) - Operation Crimp  (1966) - Operation Hastings (1966) - Battle of Long Tan (1966) - Operation Attleboro  (1966) - Operation Cedar Falls  (1967) - Battle around Hill 881  (1967) - Battle of Dak To  (1967) - Battle of Khe Sanh  (1968) - Tet Offensive  (1968) - Battle of Huế  (1968) - Operation Speedy Express  (1968/69) - Operation Dewey Canyon  ( 1969) - Battle of Hamburger Hill  (1969) - Operation MENU  (1969/70) - Operation Lam Son 719  (1971) - Battle of FSB Mary Ann  (1971) - Battle of Quảng Trị  (1972) - Operation Linebacker  (1972) - Operation Linebacker II  (1972) - Battle of Xuan Loc  (1975) - Operation Frequent Wind  (1975)

Operation Linebacker II was a strategic bombardment carried out by the Seventh Air Force and Task Force 77 of the US Navy against targets in North Vietnam in the final stages of the Vietnam War . The fighting lasted from December 18 to 29, 1972, which is why they are also called December Raids and Christmas Bombings . Unlike Operation Rolling Thunder and Operation Linebacker , Linebacker II was a bombardment aimed at destroying important facilities in the Hanoi and Haiphong areas that could only be done by B-52 bombers . It was the heaviest US Air Force bombing since the end of World War II .

A total of 741 B-52 sorties were ordered, 729 of which were carried out; 15,237 tons of bombs dropped on 18 industrial and 14 military targets, including eight anti-aircraft positions , plus another 5,000 tons of bombs from fighter bombers. 212 additional B-52 sorties were flown in support of ground operations during the same period.

Trivia

Joan Baez experienced the Christmas bombing in December 1972 in Hanoi. She visited North Vietnam with a US peace movement delegation . The 1973 album Where Are You Now, My Son? gives her impressions of the bombings in Hanoi in the poem of the same name set to music, which is accompanied by live tape recordings of the events.

literature

  • Earl H. Tilford: Setup . Air University Press, Maxwell Air Force Base AL 1991.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Linebacker II. In: airforcemag.com , November 1997 (English).
  2. ↑ Zaloga 2007, p. 22nd
  3. ↑ John Morocco, Rain of Fire . Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1985, p. 150.
  4. ↑ http://kienthuc.net.vn/vu-khi/nga-noi-gi-ve-cuoc-dau-mig21-va-f4-o-viet-nam2-287379.html
  5. ↑ Robt. F. Dorr and Lindsay Peacock. Boeing's Cold War Warrior: B-52 Stratofortress. 1995.
  6. ↑ Pribbenow, p. 327.
  7. ↑ http://giaoducthoidai.vn/kinh-te-xa-hoi/anh-hung-pham-tuan-ke-chuyen-quotdanhquot-b52-15053-u.html
  8. ^ McCarthy and Allison, p. 3.
  9. ↑ Michel III, p. 271
  10. ↑ Smith and Herz, pp. 224--4
  11. ^ Tilford, p. 263.
  12. ↑ Bernard C. Nalty, Air War Over South Vietnam . Washington DC: Center of Air Force History, 1995, p. 178.
  13. ^ Andreas Margara : Where Joan Baez started against US bombs. In: Spiegel Online December 18, 2016.