Vietnam's Final Air Campaign

Stephen Emerson

"On March 30, 1972 some 40,000 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. 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 end the war. In response, President Richard Nixon called for an aggressive, sustained bombardment of North Vietnam. Codenamed Operation Linebaker, the interdiction effort sought to stem the flow of men and matériel southward, as well as sever all outside supply lines in the first bombing of the North vietnamese heartland in nearly four years. To meet the American air armada, North Vietnamese MiG fighters took to the...