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The attack on Camp Holloway occurred during the early hours of 7 February 1965, in the early stages of the Vietnam War. Camp Holloway was a helicopter facility constructed by the United States Army near Pleiku in 1962, to support the operations of Free World Military Forces in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. In August 1964, the United States Navy reported they were attacked by torpedo boats of the North Vietnamese Navy in what became known as the Tonkin Gulf Incident. In response to the perceived aggression of Communist forces in Southeast Asia, the United States Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which enabled U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson to deploy conventional military forces in the region to prevent further attacks by the North Vietnamese. Immediately after the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed, Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnamese Navy bases in retaliation for the reported attacks on U.S. Navy warships between 2 and 4 August 1964. However, the Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam were not deterred by the threat of U.S. retaliation. Throughout 1964, the Viet Cong launched several attacks on U.S. military facilities in South Vietnam but Johnson did not start further retaliations against North Vietnam, as he tried to avoid upsetting U.S. public opinion during the 1964 United States Presidential Election. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, were experiencing political changes of their own as Nikita Khrushchev were removed from power. As leader of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev had begun the process of disengagement from Vietnam by reducing economic and military aid to North Vietnam. However, in the aftermath of Khrushchev's downfall, the Soviet government had to redefine their role in Southeast Asia, particularly in Vietnam, to compete with the growing influence of the People's Republic of China. In February 1965 Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin travelled to Hanoi to rebuild Soviet ties with North Vietnam, and the formation of a military alliance was on the agenda. Coincidentally, senior security adviser to the U.S. President McGeorge Bundy was also in Saigon to report on the political chaos in South Vietnam. In the shadow of those events, the Viet Cong 409th Battalion staged an attack on Camp Holloway on 7 February 1965. This time, with his victory in the 1964 presidential election secured, Johnson decided to launch Operation Flaming Dart which entailed strikes on North Vietnamese military targets. However, with Kosygin still in Hanoi during the U.S bombing, the Soviet government decided to step up their military aid to North Vietnam, thereby signalling a major reversal of Khrushchev's policy in Vietnam. ==Background== On 2 August 1964, while operating off the North Vietnamese coast in the Gulf of Tonkin, the was engaged by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats. In the ensuing battle, a North Vietnamese torpedo boat was reported to be heavily damaged by U.S. fire, while the remaining North Vietnamese vessels were chased off by aircraft from the .〔Jowett & O’Donnel, p. 264〕 On 4 August 1964, the United States Navy claimed that a second attack occurred when North Vietnamese Navy vessels fired torpedoes at the USS ''Maddox'' and . In response to the second "unprovoked attack" on U.S. warships, on 7 August 1964 the United States Congress unanimously passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which gave President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to deploy conventional U.S. military forces in Southeast Asia to "prevent further aggression" from North Vietnamese forces, without the formal declaration of war by the Congress.〔Jowett & O’Donnel, p. 265〕 Even though Johnson had been given a mandate to take military action against North Vietnam and their Viet Cong allies in South Vietnam, he hesitated to take further steps to retaliate against North Vietnam. Towards the end of 1964, Johnson was in the midst of a presidential election and he did want the U.S. public to believe that he was leading their country into war.〔Worth, p. 30〕 Therefore, Johnson decided to wait until after the election, when his presidency was assured, that he would decide on other military moves.〔 Meanwhile, the political situation in South Vietnam continued to worsen; in August 1964, South Vietnamese General Lan Van Phat tried to overthrow General Nguyễn Khánh, but the coup was aborted and Phat handed power to Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, and Generals Nguyễn Chánh Thi and Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. However, on 20 December 1964, Khánh formed a new military junta with Kỳ and Thi and the civilian-led High National Council was subsequently dissolved. Thus, the South Vietnamese Government was once again plunged into chaos.〔Brune, p. 743〕 In Moscow, between November and December 1964, at two sessions of the Presidium of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee, Soviet leaders discussed the topic of Soviet military aid to North Vietnam.〔Khoo, p. 24〕 Although details of the discussions were not made public, the first indication of Soviet strategy in Vietnam came on 24 December 1964, when the Soviet government invited the North Vietnamese-backed National Liberation Front to open a permanent mission in Moscow.〔 Then on 4 February 1965 McGeorge Bundy, national security adviser to President Johnson, arrived in Saigon to meet with the then U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam, General Maxwell Taylor, to discuss the political situation in the country.〔Van de Mark, p. 46〕 Two days later on 6 February 1965, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin arrived in Hanoi for a historic visit to North Vietnam, included in his entourage was a team of Soviet missile experts.〔Khoo, p. 25〕 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「Attack on Camp Holloway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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