The Second Indochinese Wars

“Our Government is united in its determination to take all necessary measures, in support of freedom and in defence of peace, in Southeast Asia.” ~ President Lyndon B. Johnson, August 4, 1964.

The year is 1968 and the Vietnam War is in full swing. The United States’ Forces alongside the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) have been closely involved in the war for a few years now. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam along with its Communist Allies in Laos, Cambodia and supporters are in open combat with Western Forces including the opposing factions in Cambodia, in Thailand and the Philippines. A new fighter emerged in the past few years with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) participating. To the West, this is the War defining the Domino Theory. To the East, this is a war of imperialism and neo-colonialism as well as religious persecution of Natives under the dictators in the Region. To those involved, this is a war of liberation, independence, a war of resistance.

The United States has instituted several policies in dealing with Indochina, two critical ones being the McNamara Line and the General Selective Service Draft. Under JFK’s presidency, the draft first began with specific verbal terms. Under his Presidential Policy, married men were at the bottom of the draft list, these men who were in these categories were nicknamed the “Kennedy Husbands” - LBJ descended this in 1964 following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

As for the McNamara Line, its employment was aimed to prevent North Vietnamese Forces from infiltrating into the South, running from the Laotian Border to the South China Sea. Along it, it holds fortified fields and stretches of roads that are guarded with heat-detecting sensors and acoustic indicators. It wasn’t until late-November of ‘67 that the orders were sent in to continue fortifying the Western parts of the barrier - these areas are seeing the most resistance.

Vietnam

Southern Vietnam

The United States, Australia, New Zealand and the Republic of Vietnam have been involved in ferocious fighting across the country, but nothing compares to the experiences that Western Forces have encountered in the South. Their operations ranged from successful to inconclusive with only minimal declared and clear defeats. It seemed to the US Armed Forces and their ARVN counterparts that the war was going in their favor, especially given how the South recently adopted what is known as the “Chieu Hoi” program, or the “Open Arms” initiative. Roughly 67,000 defectors had left the NLF and the PAVN, siding with the ARVN along with the United States Marine Corps in a special detachment known as “Kit Carson Scouts.” Despite the massive amounts of defectors, only about 1,500 were selected into the program citing “egregious concerns of ingenuine defection with the aim of gathering intelligence against friendly forces.”

Despite this, forces all over the South have been struggling to find a sound method in defeating the VC forces. Majority of American forces in the South are either garrisoned in the cities, on patrols in the jungle or find themselves stationed along the Cambodian border, hopeful to halt future smuggling and supply routes from the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Central Vietnam

Operation Badger Tooth

A search and destroy mission in the Quang Tri Province had delivered inconclusive results. Elements from 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment had encountered heavy fire in the village of Tham Khe but it was here that they discovered something in the village that Lieutenant Colonel Max McQuown quoted as, “you could stand up in… a village that was literally a defensive bastion, prepared for all-around defence in-depth with a network of tunnels you could stand up in, running the full length of the village.”

Through the day, it was intense fighting: but in the night, what was believed to be the Viet-Cong, evacuated a number of their casualties up until December 31st. It wasn’t until 6:00PM on December 31st that a New Year’s truce went into effect and patrolling ARVN forces searched the village. They determined in their search that due to the amount of machine guns, RPGs, AK-47s and thousands of rounds of ammunition present that this was not in-fact the Viet-Cong. These forces were PAVN from the 116 Battalion.

They weren’t waiting for the DMZ to be broken, hundreds of these soldiers snuck into the South and were armed to the teeth. Although this battle was one of many “inconclusive” defeats, several other operations saw allied victory such as Operation Napoleon, whose mission was to reinforce the ARVN’s position along the Cua Viet River and establish strongpoints that reinforced the McNamara Line. Even Operation Manchester with an estimated 450 enemy KIA’s for a loss of 37 Americans whose task was to intercept VC supply networks along the dong Nai River. As far as it seemed in Central and Northern Vietnam, American ground operations were successful. Would these continue is yet to be determined.

Northern Vietnam

The propaganda machine has been hard at work in Northern Vietnam. Thanks to the Northern Vietnamese citizenry receiving only news from the State, their insistence to stand with their government in this war continues. It is of no help with the constant bombings by Americans on several targets (for a variety of locations that seem to be changing by the day) and is clearly not making an impact beyond increasing civilian casualties. Initially, the plan was to be a shock and awe strategy; if the United States showed their overwhelming power to North Vietnam, they would see how futile it was to fight against such a force. As support continued to flow to the NLF, the objective shifted to cutting off the logistical and transportation chains that flowed south of the DMZ. Then, as this failed, the task has now changed to destroying air-defences in the Communist regions.

The response by the North Vietnamese however was one of brutal response - the United States had not faced such a formidable foe since the Second World War. They would see well-trained dogfighting as well as an amazingly effective network of SAM systems that the US Air Force had attributed most of their loses to. The Americans had their own share of issues in dealing with the campaign, including a complex system of communication from Thai Air Bases to Filipino Air Bases which had created a bureaucratic buffer between reconnaissance acquisition and deployment of bombers. Luckily, the General Staff has fixed this issue at the start of the year. These campaigns were not entirely in vain just yet, either. Unknown to the United States, the operation has killed approximately 18,000 support personnel from the Chinese, but at the expense of approximately 140,000 civilians killed in the bombings. The US has thus far lost 821 aircraft since its implementation in 1965, but despite the civilian tolls, the PAVN and the NLF have encountered zero issue in recruitment. In fact, it has become even easier.

Thanks to the propaganda from the North and the journalism in the South, the lines between fact and fiction have muddled the public support within the Republic of Vietnam. Many people, even now, are unsure of where they stand on the war.

Cambodia

Cambodia has found no solace. Since the past year of 1967, they’ve been finding themselves in dangerous positions. Communists on almost of their borders and the only non-Communist nation wants nothing but to annex its Western and Northern Territories. Through precarious dealings with both China and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, he negotiated the allowance of large-scale PAVN and Viet Cong troop deployments, logistical bases and listening posts in Eastern Cambodia. Further, communist-flagged vessels delivering supplies and materials saw no resistance when docking in the port of Sihanoukville, all supporting and supplying the military effort in South Vietnam.

When questions concerning this were raised by American authorities, then Head of State Norodom Sihanouk insisted it was simply due to “Cambodia’s neutrality”, something guaranteed by the Geneva Conference of 1954. Despite these concessions, Minister of Defence, General Lon Nol, has been cracking down on leftist groups and organizations within regular life inside of Cambodia since the early-60’s and shows no signs of stopping. It wasn’t until 1966 that the repression under his watch became worse. In this year, the 1966 parliamentary elections were heavily in him and his party’s favour. The conservatives won with a suprising majority and Lon Nol was made Prime Minister. He retired in late-67 due to a car accident and is still in recovery.

In his country, despite Sihanouk offering amnesty to the rebels, his administration ensured that anyone surrendering would be executed. Eye-witness accounts of trucks filled with severed heads, summary executions and the mass-burning of villages. With every body that came in, two or three more people were recruited into the network of communist bases. Every passing day saw support for the revolutionary Kumpuchean movement against the Royal Government.

The worst day of this rebellion thus far was earlier in the wet season when the military began strafing villages and jungle hide-outs, dropping bombs on these civilian centers before the military went in to kill any peasants left remaining. Those villages spared in the East were headed by clear loyalists, corrupt and given their rank out of nepotism or by party allegiances by the provincial authorities. There was never going to be any representation in these countries. The Communist Party of Kampuchea promised to change this, however.

Laos

The Kingdom of Laos has been in turmoil for decades, with its own communist movement, the Pathet Lao, sweeping through the peasantry. The Laotian Civil War has come to claim the lives of many thousands on both sides, and the weakness of the Central Government has allowed the North Vietnamese to operate logistical routes throughout the east of the country. While the cities are mostly safe for now, the countryside is firmly in the hands of the Pathet Lao in many areas. Royal Army troops have been dispatched to try to take control of strategic areas surrounding Nam Bac to support the garrison there.

The CIA is involved through various means with Laos, including but not limited to smuggling drugs into the nation with the goal of supporting the war effort. Multiple black sites, notably an entire secret city at Long Tieng, are facilitating American “aid” with multiple branches of the US military and its allies operating inside Laos. The Thai “volunteers” and “mercenaries” have been especially brutal in their campaigns, with their treatment of locals lending weight to the Pathet Lao cause.

The West find themselves in the precarious situation of either maintaining Laotian neutrality or stepping up their efforts with Thailand assisting regardless. Majority of the "mercenaries" are soldiers and officers who 'just happen to be on leave.' "What they do on their own accord is their business," said Thai's Defence Minister, Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn.

Those inside Laos are reporting dark clouds on the horizon, as the corruption and ineptitude of the Royal Army is not predicted to stack up well against any serious threat. Luckily, they’re being sent to face Pathetic Laotian rebels… right?

The Kingdom of Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand under the administration of Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn has taken an active role in the Vietnam War, participating more aggressively to support South Vietnam since late-67. Prior to this, since 1962 the United States has been leasing bases all over Thailand, utilizing them as stepping stones campaigns in Laos, Vietnam and in limited arming campaigns in Cambodia. The Thai Government has been considering and discussing deployment of additional forces into Vietnam, knowing the Domino Theory will come for them next.

Their intelligence had gathered information concerning permanent communist bases within Cambodia that are present in agreement with the government, declaring an officially “neutral” stance. The Thai knew better - there was no neutrality in Indochina, it simply cannot coexist with these ideologies. Their claims to the Cambodian-held Dangrek Mountains is something that some in the government have been inspired to speak up about.

It wasn’t until October of 1967 that the Field Marshal sent over the Royal Thai Volunteer Regiment (the Queen’s Cobras) to assist in the fighting. Immediately, 3,500 soldiers were flown to the Bearcat Base, also known as Camp Martin near the city of Bien Hoa in Dong Nai Province, Southern Vietnam. They’re expected to be reinforced and have an additional 10,000 men coming in, paving the way for deeper Thai involvement - unless somebody changes this. It is this country’s first official, and legal, involvement in the Vietnam War after sending thousands of mercenaries into Laos.

The Total Numbers

1,117,700 Communist Forces in Indochina vs. the Anti-Communist Forces totalling 1,424,000.

The West

• The United States currently has 512,767 forces inside of South Vietnam
• The ARVN has 850,000 soldiers
• South Korea has ~55,000 (as of December, 1967)
• Thailand has 3,500 and will have a total count of 15,300 men by July
• Australia has 7,672 combat troops
• New Zealand has ~600 combat troops
• The Philippines has 2,061 combat troops
• 32,500 Royal Lao Armed Forces (45,000 On Paper)
• 18,500 Thai Mercenaries operating in Laos
• 19,500 Hmong militia soldiers in Laos

The East

• ‭880,000 ‬PAVN all over Indochina
• 190,000 Viet Cong Guerrillas
• 4,500 Khmer Rouge Guerrillas (Inactive, poised to strike - recruitment will be more successful as time develops)
• 38,000 Pathet Lao
• 2,500 Soviet Armed Forces Advisors, Trainers and Pilots
• ~200 KPAAF (DPRK) Pilots

Note:

What happens next is entirely up to the players involved. We will be running a day-one Tet Offensive, just wanted to post this to separate both of them so it's not an eye sore. This is just a "story up till now" situation.

Post made by Bailey, MiddleNI, Panzerbirb and Comrademoose