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Ngo Dinh Diem assassination
This event left Vietnam vulnerable and the country in shambles. The assassination left the U.S. no choice but to deploy more troops and take control of the territory. -
Gulf of Tonkin pt.1
The destroyer Maddox was on a daily patrol and 3 North vietnamese torpedo boats approached. The maddox fired warning shots and then the Boats opened fire on the Maddox. During the battle One torpedo boat was sunk and the other two heavily damaged. The maddox had one tiny hole from a bullet. -
Gulf of Tonkin pt.2
The USS maddox went out on another patrol but at this time the seas were roaring. They believed they saw multiple Vietnamese ships on the sonar. The report was sent to the White house and was used as a motive for president Johnsen to get the Gulf of Tonkin resolution passed which allowed him to send troops to vietnam without declaring war. -
Operation Flaming Dart
Was the first stages of U.S. bombing of North Vietnam. Targeted military bases, munition dumps, fuel storage depots, and critical infrastructures. This was the pretense to a larger scale bombing operation. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Bombing of the North Vietnamese lasted for more than three years under the name Rolling thunder. American aircrafts flew more than 300,000 sorties over North Vietnam and Viet Cong targets, dropping 864,000 tons of bombs. This was a larger step up in the war leading to increased Viet cong resistance. -
Ground troops arrive
The first ground troops arrive in Vietnam as a U.S. general believes they need more support. This is the first arrival of troops on foreign soil since Korea. These ground troops are used to try to push the Viet Cong out of south Vietnam. Many more battalions of soldiers arrived and sought to fight for their country. -
Operation starlite
Was the first major U.S. offensive on the V.C. using only american troops. It was used to launch a surprise attack on the unaware North Vietnamese. -
Search and Destroy
The bombing campaigns that the U.S. used against the VC weren't working so they used Search and destroy missions if they were given tips of where the VC were hiding. -
Zippo Missions
When American soldiers could not find the targeted VC or North Vietnamese they targeted villages. They would burn down greenhouses and poison livestock if they were suspected of helping the VC. -
Operation Popeye
The U.S. operation was to make the Ho chi minh trail less passable for the VC and fight back against the growing threat.
