During the Vietnam War, 1972 was supposed to be the quiet part of the war, as this was the time when the U.S. and the North Vietnamese were negotiating for peace. The U.S. government was trying to convince the public at the time that “Vietnamization” was working. It was a U.S. strategy during the Vietnam War to train and prepare the South Vietnamese to fight on their own so the American troops could go home.

Even though everything was calm, things turned sideways. North Vietnam launched a massive attack, called the Easter Offensive, that shocked everyone. This prompted the U.S. to launch Operation Linebacker I, an air campaign so effective that it had never been seen before in war.

No one knew at the time that this was the moment the entire war would take a sharp turn, and the rest is history.

The Beginning of the Easter Offensive

The spring of 1972 was when everyone thought the Vietnam War was finally coming to an end. The U.S. had withdrawn its ground forces, and negotiations in Paris were already underway.

But here comes the Easter Offensive, which began on March 30, 1972. This was an operation by the North Vietnamese that attacked the Central Highlands and around Saigon, involving a conventional assault with tens of thousands of troops, tanks, and coordinated maneuvers.

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In the face of this massive attack, the South Vietnamese defense collapsed quickly. Quảng Trị Province fell just during the early days of the attack, which shocked the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and the U.S. leadership.

At this point, it was clear to both leadership that North Vietnam’s goal was not to pressure the negotiations, but rather to win major territory before even the U.S. involvement ended for good. Given that the American ground units had been pulled out, they only had one reliable strategy to respond to the attack. And that strategy was airpower, officially called Operation Linebacker I.

The Strategy of Cutting Supplies

President Richard Nixon allowed Operation Linebacker I on May 10, 1972. That was the first major bombing strategy against North Vietnam since Operation Rolling Thunder ended in 1968.

Now, this operation wasn’t about punishing the enemy. It was mainly to stop North Vietnam’s ability to sustain the Easter Offensive. North Vietnam had a complex supply network, including the following:

1. Their rail lines run from China into North Vietnam
2. The bridges connect to key transport routes
3. Soviet and Chinese supplies entered the port of Haiphong
4. The road networks feed into the Ho Chi Minh Trail

With these supply networks, the U.S. started targeting these lifelines, which made the North Vietnamese run out of supplies. Within weeks, they started to get results, and by early Summer, the North Vietnamese felt the strain. The Easter Offensive began to lose momentum because they no longer had the flow of supplies they had before.

No Battle on the Ground

The amazing thing about Operation Linebacker I is that it didn’t involve infantry, armored units, or Marines. There were no ground battles during this operation; they relied entirely on air power.

But of course, that doesn’t mean this operation had no risk at all, because North Vietnam built one of the most heavily guarded air environments on earth by 1972. Yep, that was not exaggerated, literally the most heavily guarded airspace on earth during that time.

The American air forces flew into the walls of surface-to-air missiles, radar-guided guns, and Mikoyan-Gurevich (MIG) fighters. But even with these risks, the U.S. maintained steady pressure, and the operation was effective.

Plus, North Vietnam was already struggling to move fuel and ammunition, so its Easter Offensive was slowing. And by that, Operation Linebacker I proved that airpower alone was enough to change the direction of the war.

The Operation Didn’t Stop the War

By late Summer of 1972, the Easter Offensive really slowed to the point that it lost the strength to continue pushing into South Vietnam. By this time, the South Vietnamese forces had retaken their positions.

Operation Linebacker I didn’t win or stop the war, nor did it guarantee stability in South Vietnam, but it prevented the Easter Offensive’s goal. The operation bought everyone time and kept the South Vietnamese government from being pushed to the edge, and the North Vietnamese then returned to the negotiations.

It just proves that this operation was effective, even above the ground. The right strategy at the right time can change a conflict without a single American troop deployed on the ground.

Little did everyone know that the war would still continue, and somehow, another strategy of Linebacker would commence, now known as Operation Linebacker II, helping the Paris Peace Accords to be signed and end the war.

Read next:

• The Sinking of the USS Lexington and the Tales That Survived
• “Confederate Army of Manhattan:” The 1854 Plot to Burn Down New York City
• Operation Linebacker II: The Holiday Attack Hanoi Expected Least

Sources:

• Operation Linebacker I
• Linebacker and the Law of War
• Vietnam War: Operation Linebacker