On March 30, 1972 some 30,000 North Vietnamese troops along with tanks
and heavy artillery surged across the demilitarized zone into South
Vietnam in the opening round of Hanoi's Easter Offensive. By early May
South Vietnamese forces were on the ropes and faltering. Without the
support of U.S. combat troops - who were in their final stage of
withdrawing from the country - the Saigon government was in danger of
total collapse and with it any American hope of a negotiated settlement
to the war. In response, President Richard Nixon called for an
aggressive, sustained bombardment of North Vietnam. Code-named Operation
Linebacker I, the interdiction effort sought to stem the flow of men and
material southward, as well as sever all outside supply lines in the
first new bombing of the North Vietnamese heartland in nearly four
years. To meet the American air armada, North Vietnamese MiG fighters
took to the skies and surface-to-missiles and anti-aircraft fire filled
the air from May to October over Hanoi and Haiphong.With the failure of
its Easter Offensive to achieve military victory, Hanoi reluctantly
returned to the negotiating table in Paris. However, as the peace talks
teetered on the edge of collapse in mid-December 1972, Nixon played his
trump card: Operation Linebacker II. The resulting twelve-day Christmas
bombing campaign from 18-30 December unleashed the full wrath of
American air power. More than 2,200 attack sorties, including 724 B-52
sorties alone, were flown by Air Force and Navy aircraft delivering
15,287 tons of bombs that laid waste to the North Vietnamese capital.
Railyards, military storage depots, power stations, and bridges, as well
as radar and communication sites, airfields, and anti-aircraft defenses
were pummelled day and night. Linebacker II would prove to be decisive:
a ceasefire agreement was signed on 23 January 1973.
