|
The Viet Cong insurgency expanded in South Vietnam in 1962. U.S. military personnel flew combat missions and accompanied South Vietnamese soldiers in ground operations to find and defeat the insurgents. Secrecy was the official U.S. policy concerning the extent of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam. The U.S.'s commanding general of MACV, Paul D. Harkins, projected optimism that progress was being made in the war, but that optimism was refuted by the concerns expressed by a large number of more junior officers and civilians. Several prominent magazines, newspapers, and politicians in the U.S. questioned the military strategy the U.S. was pursuing in support of the South Vietnamese government of President Ngô Đình Diệm. Diệm created the Strategic Hamlet Program as his top priority to defeat the Viet Cong. The program intended to cluster South Vietnam's rural dwellers into defended villages where they would be provided with government social services. North Vietnam increased its support to the Viet Cong, infiltrating men and supplies into South Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh trail. North Vietnam proposed negotiations to neutralize South Vietnam as had been done in neighboring Laos and Cambodia, but the failure of the Laotian neutrality agreement doomed that initiative. ==January== ; 3 January The first U.S. military transport aircraft arrived in South Vietnam. The aircraft would be used to transport South Vietnamese soldiers.〔Daugherty, Leo (2002), ''The Vietnam War Day by Day'', New York: Chartwell Books, Inc., p. 23〕 ; 4 January Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell Gilpatric recommended to General Lyman Lemnitzer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that for military operations involving Americans in South Vietnam The Pentagon develop a "suitable cover story, or stories, a public explanation, a statement of no comment...for approval of the Secretary of Defense."〔Newman, John M., ''JFK and Vietnam: Deception, Intrigue, and the Struggle for Power'', New York: Warner Books, 1992, p. 205〕 ; 10 January The first Operation Ranch Hand mission began. Defoliants (Agent Orange) were sprayed from U.S. aircraft along several miles of Highway 15 leading from the port of Vũng Tàu to the airforce base at Biên Hòa near Saigon. Although the United States wished to keep the use of defoliants secret, the South Vietnamese government announced publicly that defoliants supplied by the U.S. were being used to kill vegetation near highway routes.〔Buckingham, Jr., William A. (1982), ''Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia 1961-1971'', Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, pp. 32-36〕 ; 12 January Operation Chopper was the first combat operation for American soldiers in Vietnam. U.S. pilots transported about 1,000 South Vietnamese soldiers by helicopter to land and attack Viet Cong guerrillas about 10 miles west of Saigon. The operation was deemed a success. Chopper heralded a new era of air mobility for the U.S. Army, which had been growing as a concept since the Army formed twelve helicopter battalions in 1952 during the Korean War. U.S. President John F. Kennedy said only that the U.S. was helping the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) with "training and transportation." He declined to offer more details about Operation Chopper to avoid "assisting the enemy."〔"On This Day: America begins first combat operation in Vietnam War" http://uk.news.yahoo.com/on-this-day-america-begins-first-combat-operation-in-vietnam-war-153329849.html#ORNfMSk, acccessed 3 Sep 2014〕 ; 15 January Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara met with his top military advisers. CINCPAC intelligence told him that the Viet Cong now numbered 20,000 to 25,000 and were increasing by 1,000 per month after casualties. South Vietnam's armed forces had suffered more than 1,000 casualties in the previous month, most by the paramilitary Self Defense Corps. McNamara ordered sending 40,000 M-1 carbines to Vietnam to arm the Self Defense Corps and the Civil Guard, although those two organizations were the sources of many of the Viet Cong's captured weapons. McNamara pressed for a "clear and hold" operation in a single South Vietnamese province. Clear and hold envisioned the ARVN securing the province followed by civic and political action to exclude the Viet Cong permanently. Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) chief General Lionel C. McGarr proposed instead using 2 ARVN divisions in a conventional military sweep focused on killing Viet Cong but without the followup to hold the area.〔Newman, John M., ''JFK and Vietnam: Deception, Intrigue, and the Struggle for Power'', New York: Warner Books, 1992, pp 175-178〕 ; 20 January Admiral Harry D. Felt, CINCPAC commander, authorized American advisers to accompany South Vietnamese military forces on combat operations.〔Daugherty, p. 24〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1962 in the Vietnam War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|