Linebacker II Air Campaign of Vietnam War
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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the U.S. strategy in the Linebacker II air campaign during the Vietnam War. This campaign, which occurred in December 1972, was the last major U.S. offensive of the war. It was followed by a peace agreement in January 1973 which resulted in the removal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. The method to be used in evaluating the strategy used in the Linebacker II campaign will be Crowl's "Six Questions." Stated briefly, Crowl's six questions are: (1) What is the conflict about?; (2) What are the proper methods for fighting the battle?; (3) What are the limits of military power; (4) What are the alternatives?; (5) How strong is the domestic support; and (6) Does today's strategy overlook points of difference and exaggerate points of likeness between past and present? Using these six questions as a guideline for analysis, it can be seen that the military strategy in Linebacker II was highly successful in meeting U.S. objectives at the time. American involvement in Vietnam began in the 1950s, when the United States started providing support to the South Vietnamese in their struggle against the Communists of North Vietnam. U.S. military involvement escalated after the 1964 attack on American forces in the Gulf of Tonkin. From the start, the political purpose of America's involvement was to control the spread of Communism in the region of Southeast Asia. In view of the popular "domino theory" of the time, it was as
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e North Vietnamese" while minimizing civilian casualties, U.S. planners "not only picked targets to avoid population centers but established procedures (bomb runs and instructions) that would also avoid people" (Werrell, 1987, p. 52).
In the night assaults, each wave consisted of approximately 30 B-52s with an equal number of support planes. The bombers were generally preceded by F-111 fighters which attempted to knock out the enemy's MiGs, as well as its anti-aircraft defenses and SAMs (Momyer, 1978, p. 240). Nevertheless, the Vietnamese air defense systems were not effectively destroyed until the final phases of the campaign. Working in groups of three, the B-52s dropped their bombs in box-shaped rows "a mile and a half long by half a mile wide" (Nixon's blitz, 1973, p. 10). During the first few days of the campaign, the assault waves maintained the exact same flight pattern. In order to avoid predictability, U.S. military planners switched tactics on December 21, and began varying the timing, headings, and altitudes of the attacks (Werrell, 1987, p. 55). The planners also began making better use of chaff (small strips of foil dropped by fighter to block enemy radar). In earlier air campaigns, chaff was dropped in a pat
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Approximate Word count = 4818
Approximate Pages = 19 (250 words per page)
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