1 / 18

Operation Niagara

Operation Niagara. Research Presented by Mackenzie Tansey. Background Information and Thesis Statement. Operation Niagara was a United States military plan during the Vietnam War that was initially designed to allow the enemy to surround the 26 th Marine Regiment in Khe Sanh in 1968.

rex
Download Presentation

Operation Niagara

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Operation Niagara Research Presented by Mackenzie Tansey

  2. Background Information and Thesis Statement • Operation Niagara was a United States military plan during the Vietnam War that was initially designed to allow the enemy to surround the 26th Marine Regiment in Khe Sanh in 1968. • The way in which the American forces carried out this plan, they allowed the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) to increase their reinforcement strength and reveal their patterns and logistic routes to the American soldiers, in order to further prepare for siege works. • The United States involvement in the Vietnam War seemed to have caused more destruction than improvement, seen through the outcomes of various operations and missions. • (“Militaria”)

  3. Input from President Johnson • The United States President addressed the manner of the arising continuation of Operation Niagara on January 21, 1968. • Johnson stated "...the eyes of the nation and the eyes of the entire world, the eyes of all of history itself, are on that little brave band of defenders who hold the pass at Khe Sanh..." describing that the fate of this operation may be able to make or break American confidence in their strength of limited numbers. • (“History.com”)

  4. A scene to recognize • About 24 miles east of the KheSanh base was Camp Carroll, in which military weapons contributed to the delay of further combat against the north Vietnamese. • (“Militaria”)

  5. At a glance • The picture here depicts part of the special forces keeping cover during part of the battle of Khe Sanh, on February 7th, 1968. • During the siege of KheSanh, a precaution was established limiting the aerial combat within a specific radius of the base. • (“Militaria”)

  6. In the Words of Lyndon B. Johnson • "Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose. " • President Johnson’s words have a meaning that may cause public opinion to raise higher in tensions with the fact that we may not win the war in which we’ve become involved in. • This statement in particular indicates the high possibility for the United States to be losing more battles than ever won. • (“Great Presidential Quotes”)

  7. The F-105 Thunderchief • This particular aircraft was the most dominant model at the time, and was often involved in almost all missions, and were later used very effectively in operation Rolling Thunder against the north Vietnamese near Laos. • (“Indochina Database”)

  8. Weapons of the siege • F 4 Phantom II participated in a variety of roles during the siege. The involvement of it was included in aerial combat missions to air support tactics. • ("McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II Multirole Fighter")

  9. Rf-4c Phantom II • This aircraft has been involved with many air combat missions over North Vietnam, form 1966 to about 1970. • The RF-4C model was meant to be a modified version a the original F-4C, with specifc developments created on the aircraft to ensure a more efficient function of the model. • (“National Museum of the US Air Force”) • (“Mayfield Rescue”)

  10. B-52 • An event that followed shortly after the seige of KheSanh was Operation Niagara, lasting from January until March in and around the base of KheSanh. • B-52s would often travel in a triplet formation in order to prepare for a possible attack, raid, or unexpected combat mission or distress call. • These aircrafts were first seen in action in 1966 from US bombers and Southern Vietnam forces gaining control on two major cities; Hue and Danong. • (“The Vietnam War”)

  11. The meaning behind the name • The very name of this operation was created by President Johnson in belief that the name of this defensive plan would “provoke an image of cascading shells”, in reference to the power and force of Niagara Falls itself. • (Tucker)

  12. Feedback, after the matter • Words in response to the Vietnam war told on September 30th, 1968 by Hubert Humphrey were “The policies of tomorrow need not be limited by the policies of yesterday.” • As he shared his opinion of Vietnam with the public he felt as though if escalation were to continue further then it would only raise a higher level of danger for both the allies and the enemies. • “To escalate the nuclear missile arms race is to raise the level of danger and total destruction. It is costly, menacing, fearsome and offers no genuine defense.” • These words above depict the exact words from Humphrey’s speech in 1968 addressing how he felt we should face the continuation of the war, and what should not be in our nation’s future decision making. • (“Campaign Speech on Vietnam”)

  13. Strategical weapons in the operation • All the available aircraft was in Southern Vietnam, and Some aircrafts within the North were used at the Marines disposal; this is one of the simplest definition’s for Operation Niagara. • General Westmoreland gave this operation its name, based upon its mission tactics. • On an average day about 350 strategical fighters operated over the mission base. Some of these involved included about sixty B-52s, ten RF-4c reconnaissance jets, and about thirty O-1 and O-1 Birddogs. • The formation of three B-52s took off from bases such as Guam, Okinawa, and U Tapao,Thailand. These foramtions would take off every ninety minutes, enabling the aircrafts to maintain a constant presence over the area of Laos. • (Morrocco)

  14. The Marines other purpose • One of the fighter pilots involved in this operation said “the controllers had to be on their toes” essentially providing an emotional point of view as to how many of the pilots had to be prepared for combat within a short amount of time. • The Marine air capabilities were traditionally devoted to supporting operations on the seas, rather than the prolonged air offensives covering wide areas around Vietnam during this particular point in history. • Further on in the operation of early 1968, General Westmoreland said that the spectacular firepower display in aerial missions was “the key to our success at KheSanh” • With those words from Gen. Westmoreland, it provided a small amount of lost hope to return to the many troops participating in Vietnam • (Morrocco)

  15. From an insider’s point of view • General Momyer stated during a meeting of future combat tactics, “To have several tactical air systems functioning in the same confined region was simply too ponderous, too extravagant with resources, [and]… too conducive for errors”, this was in response to a newly developed strategy with the aircraft positions. • For the first time in the Vietnam War, air operations were placed firmly under the control of a single manager, and the operation itself swung into a higher gear of force. • As the operation continued, safety precautions were taken to prohibit fire within a two mile radius of the marine bases. • (Morrocco)

  16. Power in numbers • With the newly established safety precautions, nearly 100,000 tons of ordinance was expended during almost 25,000 actions by the marines, navy and the air force. • A result of more than 15,000 tons of “beans, bullets, and bandages” had been delivered, furthermore surpassing the total of these specific supplies air dropped to troops in fields across Vietnam to that day. • The more weaponry that was imputed into the war, the higher the risk of danger rose, and the harder it became for the United States and allied forces to break the secret war tactics of the enemy and push towards victory. • (Morrocco)

  17. Works cited • Morrocco, John. Thunder From Above (The Vietnam Experience). Time Life Education, 1984. (pages 65, 66, 178) • "Campaign Speech on Vietnam." American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=E14479&SingleRecord=True (accessed June 6, 2012). • Tucker, Spencer C. "Battles of KheSanh." In Tucker, Spencer C., gen. ed. Encyclopedia of American Military History. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=EMHII0149&SingleRecord=True (accessed June 6, 2012). • "The Vietnam War – The U.S. Enters the War." Vietnam Travel. Nomadic Media, 2009. Web. 8 Jun 2012. <http://www.vietnamtravel.org/vietnam-war>. • "Lyndon B. Johnson Quotes." Great Presidential Quotes. Novare Digital Corp., 2012. Web. 7 Jun 2012.

  18. Works Cited Continued • "The Battle of KheSanh." History.com. A&E Television Organization, 2012. Web. 9Jun 2012. <http://www.history.com/topics/battle-of-khe-sanh>. • "Operation Niagara: Siege of KheSanh." Militaria. phpBB, 2007. Web. 6Jun 2012. <http://militaria.forum-xl.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=594>. • "Military Factory." McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II Multirole Fighter. MilitaryFActory.com, 2012. Web. 10 Jun 2012. • "Laos, 1948-1989; Part 2." Indochina Database. ACIG.com, 2003. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_348.shtml>. • "Rescue of Capt. Marvin Mayfield, USAF." Mayfield Rescue. N.p., 2009. Web. 8 Jun 2012. <http://raunchyredskins.us/operations/mayfield rescue/mayfield rescue.htm>. • "McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom II." Naitonal Museum of the US Air Force. Naitonal Museum of the USAF, 2012. Web. 9 Jun 2012.

More Related