Operation Linebacker II

In December 1972, the US military launched Operation Linebacker II, a massive and relentless aerial bombing campaign against North Vietnamese targets in the Hanoi and Haiphong areas. The bombing offensive was spearheaded by the US Air Force’s most versatile warplane - the B-52 Stratofortress.
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[@vinylcd3]

I was a B52 crewchief at Utapao during Linebacker2. It was madness on the flightline. Quick thruflights, fuel, bombs, lox, water and oil, crew change and off again within a hour.

[@Daz912]

Thank you for your service sir

[@dustygranata5903]

Thank you for your service

[@HungTran-gz5em]

I'm from Vietnam. Considering the massive civilian casualties, you'd have to forgive me if I do not thank you for your services

[@Daz912]

@@HungTran-gz5em who asked?

[@vinylcd3]

@@HungTran-gz5em, I have asked for forgivness from several Vietnamese people and friends. I have had nightnares and carry that guilt and told I have PTSD.

[@davidtgriffin7040]

These mini-docs are awesome. Keep up the great work guys

[@militavia-air-defense-aircraft]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKrIYodmrZufptE 2nd episode, Lin II. It is worth to check the rest.

[@charleswest6372]

8000 bombs in 15 minutes? How GD stupid, wasteful. Overkill totally. But Cunt Lemay had to get his hands in it.

[@duartesimoes508]

Linebacker II cannot be explained in five minutes.

[@Krevin1775]

Looks like it was tho

[@Krevin1775]

I could explain it shorter tbh

[@militavia-air-defense-aircraft]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKrIYodmrZufptE 2nd episode, Lin II. It is worth to check the rest.

[@thuankhong]

@@Krevin1775 ...in one word:" fiasco"

[@hiepla4974]

5 seconds : massive civilians massacre !

[@Mikey-mike]

I was USN TF 77.7.7 Linebacker 1&2 SAR Haiphong

[@swordhalk1]

8000 bombs in 15 minutes. Thats roughly 9 bombs per second for 15 minutes.

[@26michaeluk]

If we'd done this from the start, bombing Hanoi and Haiphong, the war could've been won in 2 years.

[@ReySchultz121]

"But the Chinese would've gotten involved." Korea lasted 3 years, this lasted 20, even if the war was a tie, the war ended faster.

[@ТамараИванова-ж2з]

Правительство США хотело полицейскую операцию по защите Юга Вьетнама от Севера. Администрация президента США не хотела победы, она предала собственную армию.

[@26michaeluk]

@@ReySchultz121 excellent point, and one I didn't even consider.

[@bruhlmao2499]

R u sure 'bout that ?

[@grandcanyon-d4d]

No, they would not, China and Russia would have interfered like in Korea.

[@JayKayKay7]

When asked about the precision of his bombing campaign, a US Air Force General was heard to say, "My bombs are 100% accurate. They hit the ground every damn time."

[@thuankhong]

Genial general ! Compliment from Vietnam!😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

[@my_rasjad]

15 of B-52s shot down during that operation

[@Lambzalot]

Analytics Comments. Found this through a shorts discrimination. Keep up the good work it's also how I found you.

[@Channel-23s]

if it lasted longer the South would’ve won or draw/end in stalemate due to Tet offensive being a failure and formal northern generals saying they were close to losing throughout the war basically 0 land was lost til the withdrawal in the 70s guess it would be like about to finish a race just to end up 3rd or 4th place

[@mullahgaming9446]

dumbest comment of the year so far

[@M_channel_92]

The level of destruction of B52s reached 17.6% (34/193 US B52s mobilized in the campaign; America had a total of 400 B52s at that time) - far beyond the acceptable level of the White House, forcing the US to ended the strategic raid and returned to the Paris Conference... Nearly a month later, on January 27, 1973, the Paris Agreement was signed, opening a new stage for the people's cause of national reunification. Vietnamese ethnicity.Only 12 days, the US has suffered a great loss, if it is prolonged, can the US withstand it.

[@30AndHatingIt]

Reunification was a lie, South Vietnam wanted to be free from oppression like South Korea is today. Instead, the lying gutless bastards waited for us to leave and then brutally conquered their southern neighbor. To hell with the communists.

[@huongnguyen-ci1yu]

😂 nó không kéo dài lâu vì Mỹ không dám. Người ta ước tính sau 3 tháng tất cả số lượng B52 của Mỹ sẽ tuyệt chủng với tốc độ bắn hạ trong 12 ngày tại Bắc Việt. Việt Nam là nước duy nhất trong lịch sử thế giới đã bắn hạ nhiều máy bay B52 của Mỹ bằng hệ thống phòng không gồm pháo cao xạ và cả tiêm kích.

[@grandcanyon-d4d]

It was a tactical failure but a strategical win

[@Apache410]

0:12 Zombie from black ops 1 pops out

[@yaboidspdadon5838]

Thats crazy even the sound 😂

[@pagansmc13]

frankly linebacker 2 should've started on December 18, 1966...

[@LeeLouise-bf7bs]

I got to play in the B52 flight simulator in 1972. I was just playing DOG BONE and wasn't a real pilot, just two year old baby girl. I liked left side pilot and my sister sometimes was my co-pilot on right side in the cockpit.

[@benjaminmwapenya8165]

The commentator actually didnt mention vietnam lives lost they didnt even concern him

[@dirkbruere]

ARVN M16s for sale - never fired, only dropped once

[@Chrisspoerl]

Great edit!

[@zhuangsaur227]

Wait... in Rolling Thunder the SAM sites were initially off limits due to fears Soviets or Chinese technicians and personel helping out at these sites could be killed or hurt so in the case of Linebacker campaigns...​ why didn't the Russians or Chinese send politicians or VIP diplomats to visit Hanoi or Haiphong and make a public announcement on this visit and hence if the US tried to bomb such areas there's political repercussions if the politician or VIP diplomat was killed or hurt...wouldn't that have been trickier to launch a bombing raid and a huge political diplomatic risk???

[@brightlord-ov7cm]

Without the chinese and russian help and equipment vietcong would've been absolutely buckled.

[@mullahgaming9446]

good old freedom

[@Channel-23s]

Or rather close to it

[@steve53LY]

What was winning? Define winning in Vietnam. What was there to win?

[@ReySchultz121]

Since no ground was ever permanently gained or loss, they kept going back to one single metric of success: counting corpses. *Body count.* Until they reached the _crossover point,_ the point in which more enemy soldiers were being killed than they could replenish.

[@SandfordSmythe]

The mission was to avoid a communist takeover of South Vietnam. We failed that. We lost.

[@khoaibig]

​@@ReySchultz121mỹ không tham chiến, họ dùng người Việt Nam đánh người Việt Nam, thương vong cả 2 bên là rất lớn, người mỹ không chết nhiều nhưng những người Việt Nam theo mỹ chết rất nhiều, họ coi đó là chiến thắng, thật buồn cười 😂

[@SandfordSmythe]

​@@ReySchultz121 The mission was to protect South Vietnam. This failed.

[@賴志偉-d7h]

That the US think it is not possible for Vietnam to survive without US help. Rich.

[@BASE5NYC]

Can't fk with that American airpower. 🤙🏼🇺🇲

[@tonkinthehanoian1843]

You meaning those flying aluminium scraps?

[@ernestov1777]

Italian history major here. I'm laughing so hard at Americans who believe they won this battle. Linebacker II was a utter and disastrous defeat for America. Nixon had to sign the teatry on North Vietnamese terms.

[@thuankhong]

You are right. Before LB2 took place, Nixon demanded to change 44 articles in the content of the signed Agreement. He wanted to use Linebacker 2 to force North Vietnam to make concessions, but the fiasco of LB2 forced Nixon must return to the previously agreed conditions. Vietnam knew in advance that the US would use B 52 to bomb Hanoi, so it had prepared for it 5 years ago. The Vietnamese army had to endure sacrifice to gain experience and skills to shoot down B 52. ( skill to find B52 in jamming, skill to disable Shrike anti-radar missile)

[@ernestov1777]

@@robertmandain5791 It destroyed absolute nothing. It did immense damage to civilian population and infrastructure, but Nixon plan failed completely. Don't try to rewrite history. It's not gonna work buddy.

[@robertmandain5791]

B-52 bombers destroyed the North vietnamiese SAM and air force, and of course, didn't suffer any significant losses. It is nothing more than propaganda that to present operation linebacker II as an failure. it was an american victory with low casualties. Historically, all us air bombing campaign had low losses : Linebacker II was a great victory that demonstrated, again, the power of the US air force against soviet air defense. North Vietnam had to sign the treaty that nixon wanted and that the north initialy didn't. For two year, the North couldn't seize Saigon as the B-52 and the other us plane would have bombed them. You studied in anatolia ? Because the lies about operation Linebacker II are debunked very easily.

[@Krevin1775]

Good thing we at least learned a lot from Vietnam so we don't repeat those mistakes in like... Afghanistan for example. Good video thanjs

[@11B30Inf]

You can thank your boy, cut and run away Joe Biden! He left many Americans behind in Afghanistan and Taliban now have tens of billions of dollars of assault rifles and military equipment.

[@Krevin1775]

@@11B30Inf yep. And trump made a deal with the taliban and released 5000 taliban prisoners.

[@duartesimoes508]

😂😂😂

[@ryansmith1115]

If the US had allowed the troops to take the gloves off and fight without restrictions, we would have won

[@tonkinthehanoian1843]

War is a measure, not a game.

[@thuankhong]

Don't brag. Who restricted you in Afghanistan?

[@ryansmith1115]

@@thuankhong they required our troops to capture too many combatants

[@thuankhong]

@@ryansmith1115 The US was against the will of the majority of the Vietnamese people, so it could never win against the Vietnamese

[@timf2279]

War has to be total and deliberate. Limited war is a battle for failure.

[@Clonefiles]

Have the outmost confidence in Japan there very meticulous and imaginative in what they produce. Unlike some countries that just copy and rebrand it as their own.

[@nguyendemo]

You may not know: With his extensive political experience, as early as December 29, 1967, President Ho Chi Minh told General Phung The Tai, who was then Deputy Chief of the General Staff, a prediction: “Sooner or later, the US imperialists will send B-52s to bomb Hanoi and only admit defeat when they lose. You should remember that before coming to Panmunjom to sign the armistice agreement in Korea, the US had its air force destroy Pyongyang. In Vietnam, the US will definitely lose, but it will only admit defeat after losing in the sky of Hanoi”  Ho Chi Minh. Since May 1972, General Vo Nguyen Giap and the combat staff of the Air Defense Corps have raised the question: "At what rate will the B-52s be shot down that will shake the White House, at what rate will the US not be able to bear it and have to lose?". After several weeks, the answer was given: N1 - the rate at which the US can endure is 1-2% (out of the total number of US B-52s participating in the war); N2 - the rate at which the White House will be shaken is 6-7%; N3 - the rate at which the US will be forced to lose is over 10%. If the B-52's loss rate is equal to or exceeds 10%, the US will not be able to endure and will have to stop the campaign, because the B-52 is the most powerful strategic weapon of the US Air Force, operated by carefully selected and trained pilots, if the loss exceeds 10%, it will be difficult for the US to replace it (in addition, many US pilots are given the honor of flying the B-52 because they are descendants of powerful families, if the death rate of these "aristocratic pilots" increases, the US government will be in big trouble). Furthermore, it is necessary to remember that the B-52 was a strategic weapon to deal with the superpower, the Soviet Union, a country with an air defense system dozens of times larger than Vietnam's, and much more modern equipment. If the B-52 suffered more than 10% damage against a country with a small air defense system like Vietnam, it would obviously be a failure for the US. If the campaign continued, the US would no longer have enough B-52 forces to deal with the Soviet Union. The Air Defense - Air Force eliminated N1, determined to achieve N2 and reach N3. As a result, in 12 days and nights of fighting in the winter of 1972, the Air Defense - Air Force exceeded the N3 target: the rate of B-52s shot down was 17.6% (34/197 aircraft, of which Hanoi air defense units shot down 23 aircraft). Even with the figures that the US admits (16 B-52s crashed, 4 severely damaged and 5 moderately damaged), it has already exceeded the N3 level.

[@sb859]

North Vietnamese: "What if we just delay the peace talks?" Nixon: "Fu@# around and find out!"

[@ernestov1777]

Trying to rewrite history huh? Operation Linebacker II was a North Vietnamese victory. American bombers were shut down.

[@havu-oj4qh]

The Vietnam War was the most humiliating defeat of the Yanks in their history

[@SandfordSmythe]

OK, we will pretend to be forced and give you a b.s. escape plan.

[@vinhlong7347]

Nixon and Kissinger was ones who delayed peace talk, he want the Vietcong to be disbanded but ended Linebacker with 12% of US Air Force B-52 lost and still agreed to recognize the Vietcong as a legitimate government in Southern Vietnam

[@HungTran-gz5em]

Incorrect. The Vietnamese delays were because the US tried to force terrible terms to the agreement. After the bombing failed, the old terms were reset and signed. The strategic goal of this campaign failed

[@transistorcito]

Cuantas toneladas de "democracia" exportaron a Vietnam?

[@NhatVinhLe-lm5jh]

Mỹ thả xuống Việt nam khoảng 15 triệu tấn bom và đạn pháo xuống Việt nam .

[@The_half_danish-sr8ys]

all vietnamese soldiers who served in anti-aircraft gun a big round of applause for services in vetname war

[@nguyendemo]

General Vo Nguyen Giap asserted that the US side left the meeting first and that it was the US side that proposed the meeting again in a telegram sent on December 22 (1 day after 7 B-52s were shot down in just one night). In the later declassified recording of the conversation between US President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Nixon made it clear that he had decided to abandon the "child" of the Republic of Vietnam in order to escape the war in Vietnam. Henry Kissinger: I think Thieu was right. That agreement (the Paris Agreement) would put the Republic of Vietnam in danger. Richard Nixon: It (the Republic of Vietnam) has to fend for itself... If it dies, let it die. It's grown up, we can't keep feeding it forever According to Henry Kissinger's memoir, on January 6, 1973, Nixon instructed Kissinger to return to Paris and reach a solution no matter what conditions the other side offered, with "a completely different appearance than usual" (meaning no longer showing the upper hand). The US President emphasized his readiness to accept the return of the text agreed upon in October 1972. Thus, the Paris Agreement was signed with content that was essentially not much different from the initialed version before the negotiations stalled due to the US's refusal to sign. The US lost dozens of aircraft and still had to sign a document that they did not want to sign, which meant that the US's key objective in conducting Operation Linebacker II had failed.

[@kawaiiVietCong]

My blood fucking boiled when he said North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam

[@jorai69]

It’s true. After the Tet Offense, no one wanted the Vietcong presence in the South no more. Should have respect the will of the people.

[@nguyenthuong3574]

​@@jorai69 people want the country to reunite

[@user-hr6nw9il2t]

​@@jorai69 You don't want the Vietnamese presence in Viet Nam?

[@khoaibig]

​@@jorai69Is that what the US government propagates to you? Do you know that currently the people in South Vietnam are honored to oppose America more than the number in the North

[@김범석-x8v]

왜불러형

[@gamaigia9270]

Linebacker Ii Is crime against humanity.

[@thuankhong]

But result of the war was the same :US puppets in Saigon were defeated,

[@tmoney007confederation7]

Punjie pit boobytraps are WARCRIME too, because used poison or biological toxicity to create used all by NVA and Viet-Cong... SHUT UP! Stagetic Bombing is definitely ugly but not technically a WARCRIME now using AGENT ORANGE is WARCRIME that created more casualties in Vietnam War than anything.

[@bantumwt]

Communism is a crime against humanity.

[@yamatomushashi5583]

Linebacker II actually forced North Vietnam back to the negotiating table.

[@beontimenow]

Perhaps the south were defeated, the cost to the north was very very high. Without the help from Russia and China, the north would have quit back in the 60's. There were large areas of the north that looked like a moon scape. But communist didn't care enough about the people, so they became expendable by the hundreds of thousands. The US lost about 58 thousand, even with the kill ratio Perhaps 100 to 1, the US left because there was actually nothing there worth continuing the fight for. Sure there could have been several more linebacker type missions killing almost every one left in the north. That was never the point, the point was to stop the spread of communism. Hindsight says it was not worth it for that little country.

[@김범석-x8v]

진지구축 잘햇는데요 1번봐준다 울형 왜불럿지

[@Woysla]

We should show the force of US air power against Russia

[@bshiesty_9917]

air power doesn’t beat the end of the world via nuclear war

[@bshiesty_9917]

why should we risk nuclear war and the lives of our citizens over the second most corrupt country in europe being invaded by the 1st

[@tonkinthehanoian1843]

What makes you think bullets can make an empire surrender?

[@stephenwright8824]

@@tonkinthehanoian1843 Wouldn't be bullets this time. The B-52 was built for *nukes* and that's what those big birds would be carrying in any war with Russia (also something they were built for, ironically).

[@tonkinthehanoian1843]

@@stephenwright8824 I meant by violence. Of course that would work somehow but nuclear war isn't a profitable move.

[@Gamingpro11_VN]

"this is a best war because i was won them >:D" -grandpa

[@tonkinthehanoian1843]

No war was better.

[@SFsc616171]

very apropriate timing!! "resident 12 Day Air War, U-Tapao RTNAF, 1971 - 1974"!!

[@militavia-air-defense-aircraft]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKrIYodmrZufptE 2nd episode, Lin II. It is worth to check the rest.