Operation
Rolling Thunder was the official codename for the bombardment campaign on the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) from the United States during
the Vietnam War. The campaign was originally intended to last eight weeks but
lasted almost four years. during this campaign over 643,000 tons of bombs were dropped on vietnam by the US.
it was during this period that USA began to deploy one of their newer forms of weaponry, napalm. while initially napalm was developed to be used in an attempt to end World War II, it was only truly put to the test by America during the Vietnam War. napalm is one of the most inhumane weapons on the planet. it is designed to burn victims who come into contact with it, and stick to them while their flesh melts off their bones. up to 400,000 tonnes of napalm were deployed over Vietnam by the United States Air Force.
The operation was approved by the US government on February 24 1965, although the first official attack did not occur until March 2 1965 when the United States sent 100 aerial units to attack an ammunition base at Xom Bang. The bombing campaign officially ended on November 1 1968. The initial intention of the operation was to assert dominance over North Vietnam and demonstrate their near total air and military supremacy, and in turn to demoralise the North Vietnamese people in order to undermine the North Vietnam government, forcing them into submission. On both accounts, the operation was a bust. Right from the debut of the operation, the lines were blurred as the air force was extremely restricted as to what it could and couldn’t attack due to the US fear of provoking a response from Vietnams northern superpower neighbours, China and Russia. the vietnamese people managed to survive the bombings by eliminating air attack effectiveness. they achieved this by making air strikes more of a loss than actually progressing through anything. the attempted disheartening attempt by the US did the exact opposite and instead brought the people together. those too old or young to join the army learned how to operate anti-aircraft artillery, and how to fire Surface to air missiles (SAM) at attacking planes. all non-essential citizens of Hanoi were evacuated to the country and within a few months, the population of the capital had reduced by more than half. this action saved millions of lives and perhaps saved vietnam from defeat during the war.
Frustration occurred in the military as the government’s aim was to demonstrate the awesome power the US possessed and to show that Vietnam could not possibly hope to match it, whereas the US military needed to see definitive results in order to progress. Because of this and also the fact that the government had failed to undermine Ho Chi Minh’s government, the purpose of Operation Rolling Thunder changed. By 1965 the US would use its power to bomb supply routes in an attempt to cut off the southern communist Vietnamese forces, the Viet Cong, from their allies in North Vietnam as opposed to specific targets in the North, although Hanoi (Vietnam Capital) and Haiphong (Vietnamese main sea port) were still major targets. The frustration of the US at this point in the war led to one of the most heinous acts of war ever seen by the United States of America, as seen on the following page.
it was during this period that USA began to deploy one of their newer forms of weaponry, napalm. while initially napalm was developed to be used in an attempt to end World War II, it was only truly put to the test by America during the Vietnam War. napalm is one of the most inhumane weapons on the planet. it is designed to burn victims who come into contact with it, and stick to them while their flesh melts off their bones. up to 400,000 tonnes of napalm were deployed over Vietnam by the United States Air Force.
The operation was approved by the US government on February 24 1965, although the first official attack did not occur until March 2 1965 when the United States sent 100 aerial units to attack an ammunition base at Xom Bang. The bombing campaign officially ended on November 1 1968. The initial intention of the operation was to assert dominance over North Vietnam and demonstrate their near total air and military supremacy, and in turn to demoralise the North Vietnamese people in order to undermine the North Vietnam government, forcing them into submission. On both accounts, the operation was a bust. Right from the debut of the operation, the lines were blurred as the air force was extremely restricted as to what it could and couldn’t attack due to the US fear of provoking a response from Vietnams northern superpower neighbours, China and Russia. the vietnamese people managed to survive the bombings by eliminating air attack effectiveness. they achieved this by making air strikes more of a loss than actually progressing through anything. the attempted disheartening attempt by the US did the exact opposite and instead brought the people together. those too old or young to join the army learned how to operate anti-aircraft artillery, and how to fire Surface to air missiles (SAM) at attacking planes. all non-essential citizens of Hanoi were evacuated to the country and within a few months, the population of the capital had reduced by more than half. this action saved millions of lives and perhaps saved vietnam from defeat during the war.
Frustration occurred in the military as the government’s aim was to demonstrate the awesome power the US possessed and to show that Vietnam could not possibly hope to match it, whereas the US military needed to see definitive results in order to progress. Because of this and also the fact that the government had failed to undermine Ho Chi Minh’s government, the purpose of Operation Rolling Thunder changed. By 1965 the US would use its power to bomb supply routes in an attempt to cut off the southern communist Vietnamese forces, the Viet Cong, from their allies in North Vietnam as opposed to specific targets in the North, although Hanoi (Vietnam Capital) and Haiphong (Vietnamese main sea port) were still major targets. The frustration of the US at this point in the war led to one of the most heinous acts of war ever seen by the United States of America, as seen on the following page.