Posted on Nov 25, 2018
Communist activity increases along Cambodian border
1.47K
46
17
18
18
0
Communist forces step up attacks against U.S. troops shielding Allied installations near the Cambodian border. Ten Americans were killed and 70 wounded. U.S. troops reported killing 115 enemy soldiers. North Vietnamese troops destroyed more than a dozen tanks and tons of ammunition near the Cambodian border.
SSG William Jones Samantha S. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL Mikel J. Burroughs Cynthia Croft LTC Stephen F. ] Alan K. SGT John " Mac " McConnell LTC (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SPC Douglas Bolton Lt Col Charlie Brown Sgt Randy Wilber MSgt John McGowan Cpl (Join to see) PO3 John Wagner PO3 Bob McCord SGT Jim Arnold SPC Margaret Higgins
SSG William Jones Samantha S. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL Mikel J. Burroughs Cynthia Croft LTC Stephen F. ] Alan K. SGT John " Mac " McConnell LTC (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SPC Douglas Bolton Lt Col Charlie Brown Sgt Randy Wilber MSgt John McGowan Cpl (Join to see) PO3 John Wagner PO3 Bob McCord SGT Jim Arnold SPC Margaret Higgins
Communist activity increases along Cambodian border
Posted from history.com
Vietnam War
American History
Military History
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 8
4
4
0
Early Vietnam War History - Did a decision by Macarthur in 1945 Cause our later involvement?
In July 1945 at Potsdam, Germany, the Allied leaders made the decision to divide Indochina in half—at the 16th parallel—to allow Chiang Kai-shek to receive the Japanese surrender in the North, while Lord Louis Mountbatten would receive the surrender in the South. The Allies agreed that France was the rightful owner of French Indochina, but because France was critically weakened as a result of the German occupation, a British-Indian force was installed in order to help the French in re-establishing control over their former colonial possession.
To carry out his part of the task, Lord Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia Command, was to form an Allied Commission to go to Saigon and a military force consisting of an infantry division that was to be designated as the Allied Land Forces French Indochina (ALFFIC). It was tasked to ensure civil order in the area surrounding Saigon, to enforce the Japanese surrender, and to render humanitarian assistance to Allied prisoners of war and internees.
The concern of the Allies' Far Eastern Commission was primarily with winding down the Supreme Headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army Southeast Asia and rendering humanitarian assistance to prisoners of war. Thus Major-General Douglas Gracey was appointed to head the Commission and the 80th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier D.E. Taunton, of his crack 20th Indian Division was the ALFFIC which followed him to Vietnam.
In late August 1945, British occupying forces were ready to depart for various Southeast Asian destinations, and some were already on their way, when General Douglas MacArthur caused an uproar at the Southeast Asia Command by forbidding reoccupation until he had personally received the Japanese surrender in Tokyo, which was actually set for 28 August, but a typhoon caused the ceremony to be postponed until 2 September.
MacArthur's order had enormous consequences because the delay in the arrival of Allied troops enabled revolutionary groups to fill the power vacuums that had existed in Southeast Asia since the announcement of the Japanese capitulation on 15 August. The chief beneficiaries in Indochina were the Communists, who exercised complete control over the Viet Minh, the nationalist alliance founded by Ho Chi Minh in 1941. In Hanoi and Saigon, they rushed to seize the seats of government, by killing or intimidating their rivals.
While the Allies stated that the French had sovereignty over Indochina, America opposed the return of Indochina to the French; but there was no such official America animosity towards the Communist-led Viet Minh.
MacArthur finally had his ceremony on board the USS Missouri on 2 September, and three days later the first Allied medical rescue teams parachuted into the prisoner of war camps. During the following days a small advance party of support personnel and infantry escort from Gracey's force arrived in Saigon to check on conditions and report back; on the 11th a brigade was flown in from Hmawbi Field, Burma via Bangkok. When these advance Allied units landed in Saigon, they found themselves in a bizarre position of being welcomed and guarded by fully armed Japanese and Viet Minh soldiers. The reason these soldiers were armed was because six months earlier (March 9) they disarmed and interned the French, for the Japanese feared an American landing in Indochina after the fall of Manila and did not trust the French.
In July 1945 at Potsdam, Germany, the Allied leaders made the decision to divide Indochina in half—at the 16th parallel—to allow Chiang Kai-shek to receive the Japanese surrender in the North, while Lord Louis Mountbatten would receive the surrender in the South. The Allies agreed that France was the rightful owner of French Indochina, but because France was critically weakened as a result of the German occupation, a British-Indian force was installed in order to help the French in re-establishing control over their former colonial possession.
To carry out his part of the task, Lord Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia Command, was to form an Allied Commission to go to Saigon and a military force consisting of an infantry division that was to be designated as the Allied Land Forces French Indochina (ALFFIC). It was tasked to ensure civil order in the area surrounding Saigon, to enforce the Japanese surrender, and to render humanitarian assistance to Allied prisoners of war and internees.
The concern of the Allies' Far Eastern Commission was primarily with winding down the Supreme Headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army Southeast Asia and rendering humanitarian assistance to prisoners of war. Thus Major-General Douglas Gracey was appointed to head the Commission and the 80th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier D.E. Taunton, of his crack 20th Indian Division was the ALFFIC which followed him to Vietnam.
In late August 1945, British occupying forces were ready to depart for various Southeast Asian destinations, and some were already on their way, when General Douglas MacArthur caused an uproar at the Southeast Asia Command by forbidding reoccupation until he had personally received the Japanese surrender in Tokyo, which was actually set for 28 August, but a typhoon caused the ceremony to be postponed until 2 September.
MacArthur's order had enormous consequences because the delay in the arrival of Allied troops enabled revolutionary groups to fill the power vacuums that had existed in Southeast Asia since the announcement of the Japanese capitulation on 15 August. The chief beneficiaries in Indochina were the Communists, who exercised complete control over the Viet Minh, the nationalist alliance founded by Ho Chi Minh in 1941. In Hanoi and Saigon, they rushed to seize the seats of government, by killing or intimidating their rivals.
While the Allies stated that the French had sovereignty over Indochina, America opposed the return of Indochina to the French; but there was no such official America animosity towards the Communist-led Viet Minh.
MacArthur finally had his ceremony on board the USS Missouri on 2 September, and three days later the first Allied medical rescue teams parachuted into the prisoner of war camps. During the following days a small advance party of support personnel and infantry escort from Gracey's force arrived in Saigon to check on conditions and report back; on the 11th a brigade was flown in from Hmawbi Field, Burma via Bangkok. When these advance Allied units landed in Saigon, they found themselves in a bizarre position of being welcomed and guarded by fully armed Japanese and Viet Minh soldiers. The reason these soldiers were armed was because six months earlier (March 9) they disarmed and interned the French, for the Japanese feared an American landing in Indochina after the fall of Manila and did not trust the French.
(4)
(0)
4
4
0
3
3
0
Great history share. Sad body count day two. Can't imagine who thought this was a good way to determine who win a battle within the war. Morning Mark
Lt Col Scott ShuttleworthSGT Gregory Lawritson SGT Jim Arnold SSgt Brian BrakkeCMSgt (Join to see) LTC (Join to see) MSG Frederick Otero SSG David Andrews SCPO Morris Ramsey PO1 William "Chip" Nagel TSgt Joe C. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. LTC Greg Henning PO2 Rick Fox Lt Col Charlie Brown Sgt Albert Castro Samantha S. CPT Scott Sharon PO3 Craig Phillips SPC John Waisman
Lt Col Scott ShuttleworthSGT Gregory Lawritson SGT Jim Arnold SSgt Brian BrakkeCMSgt (Join to see) LTC (Join to see) MSG Frederick Otero SSG David Andrews SCPO Morris Ramsey PO1 William "Chip" Nagel TSgt Joe C. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. LTC Greg Henning PO2 Rick Fox Lt Col Charlie Brown Sgt Albert Castro Samantha S. CPT Scott Sharon PO3 Craig Phillips SPC John Waisman
(3)
(0)
MSG Frederick Otero
Winning was not an issue, attrition was the goal and they were willing to lose more of theirs then we were of ours. We know by now that after 1965 it was no longer a war we could win the way we were fighting it, rather it became a political debacle of wills that led to the death of so many.
(2)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google