Operation+LinebackerTEF

Operation Linebacker By Ted

Operation Linebacker, or Operation Freedom Train, was President Richard Nixon’s bombing campaign. This campaign resulted after a North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam on March 29, 1972. There were actually two “Operation Linebackers”. The first one involved 20 U.S. cruisers, destroyers, and other warships. The operation also expanded the number of aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin from one to five. The actual Operation Linebacker began with the mining of Haiphong Harbor by the U.S.S Coral Sea. Other ports were subjected to mining as well. This resulted in a negation of exports and imports by large merchant ships. No ships of this classification were able to enter or exit the harbors until December. This proved a devastating blow to the North Vietnamese, with 85% of their war supplies coming by sea. The U.S Navy opened fire on North Vietnamese coastal strongholds in coordination with the mining. The Air Force played a dominant part in Operation Linebacker as well. They had three objectives. The first one close off all land and rail supply routes from China; this would further weaken the North Vietnamese, especially after cutting off supplies by sea. The second objective was to destroy all weapon, oil, and food caches that had been previously stockpiled before the bombing runs. The last objective was to cut off or interfere with the North Vietnamese delivery of supplies to Southern Vietnamese communists. When the operation was called off on October 22, 1972, Air Force, Navy, and Marine pilots had flown 40,000 flights and dropped 125,000 bombs. When peace talks collapse on December 13 of that year, Operation Linebacker II was conceived. Its only purpose was to get the North Vietnamese back to the negotiating table. The operation commenced the next day. It was effective. The North Vietnamese came back to the table on December 26, 1972 and Operation Linebacker II was ended. This campaign earned another name. Because of a one-day stand down on Christmas Day, the war earned the nickname the 11-Day war. Some Air Force members point to this as confirmation that a highly concentrated air war would have accomplished the coercion of the North Vietnamese into the negotiation of peace more expediently than a ground war. Others argue that it was Nixon’s diplomacy as well as his bombing that ended the war. Whatever would have ended the war, the civilian casualties were still high. In Hanoi, North Vietnam’s capital, 1,318 died in the bombing. In Haiphong, a major city, 305 died. The bombing also had a valuable, if unintended, side effect. When POW’s heard the bombings and how they scared the North Vietnamese, they gained hope. As you can imagine, this kept up their morale where it was flagging. Operation Linebacker I and II own a couple records, too. For example, Operation Linebacker assembled the largest bomber force in the world since World War II. Unlike the Korean War, the bomber forces were coordinated Strategic Air Command, not split up between theater commanders. In conclusion, I believe that both Operation Linebackers, 1 and 2, were a successful pair of campaigns after many incompetent attempts to accomplish the exact mission: to bring the North Vietnamese to the terms of peace.

Sources: Summers, Harry G. Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War. New York City: Houghton Mifflin Publishing Co., 1995

Operation Freedom 23 May 2007 Operation Linebacker I 

Boyne, Walter. Linebacker II. 23 May 2007 