Word: dienbienphu
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...mainland. In the process, CAT became Nationalist China's civilian transport arm and the most shot-at airline in history. When Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan, CAT went along. From time to time, its crackerjack pilots moonlighted, accepting such missions as dropping French paratroopers into Dienbienphu...
...they'll stop now," said Khe Sanh's commander, Colonel David E. Lownds, 47. With new NVA bunkers spotted only 300 yards from Marine lines, corpsmen with stethoscopes knelt on Khe Sanh's red clay to see if the enemy had tunneled underneath, as occurred around Dienbienphu. So far, they have heard nothing suspicious...
...doubt and deepening divisions. Some ranking officers wondered if the enemy buildup there was only a diversion for the urban offensive further south or for a bypass thrust at Quang Tri or Danang. There was also a dawning realization that, for all President Johnson's warning against another Dienbienphu, Khe Sanh could be overrun by overwhelming human-wave attacks. A top U.S. general in Saigon reckoned that the base could be taken by 25,000 men in concerted assaults, "but a hell of a lot of them would stay on the wire...
Nonetheless, there are analysts who fear that Westmoreland may be falling into a trap set by North Viet Nam Defense Minister Vo Nguyen Giap, hero of Dienbienphu and strategist of the current offensive. Indeed, there are some chilling parallels between Giap's winter-spring offensive in 1954 and the current Red strategy. While the Communists built up their strength at Dienbienphu to 40,000 men-the estimated force now around Khe Sanh-they simultaneously launched assaults against the French throughout Indo-China. The Tet offensive was a similar widespread assault by the Communists which may have been aimed...
Westmoreland and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who unanimously approved his strategy, are counting on U.S. airpower, firepower and troop strength to make the difference. Unlike the French, who had few warplanes and were able to mount only 10,400 air missions to Dienbienphu in five months, the U.S. could equal that number in a few days with the 5,900 planes and helicopters it has in Viet...