American Strategic Deception Bureau

　So, in order to calm down our little Vietnamese brothers and prove their innocence in front of the angry Americans, and to show that the assassination of President Kennedy had nothing to do with Moscow and Beijing, it was necessary to appropriately reduce aid to Vietnam in the short term after the assassination.

　China's support for its engineering, air defense and transport troops, which were originally planned to be sent to Vietnam by the end of the year, will probably have to be delayed until next year.

　Of course, the Soviet Union and China would certainly not watch North Vietnam fall. If North Vietnam was completely defeated and the US military broke through the 17th parallel north, it would destroy Hu.

　During the Zhiming regime, the Chinese should have rushed out of Friendship Pass (Zhennan Pass) and engaged the Americans on the Red River Plain - just like in 1950, when the Chinese Volunteer Army crossed the Yalu River and saved the North Korean red regime that was on the verge of destruction.

　But south of the 17th parallel, Hue and Saigon, which were captured just this year, have to be defended by the Vietnamese themselves, and they cannot expect China to help fill the gap.

　Just as North Korea cannot expect to unify the peninsula with the help of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

　Finally, compared to the United States, which had already sent a large army to the border, Cambodia, or the Khmer Republic, which suddenly turned hostile, was also a problem.

　——After the assassination of Prince Sihanouk, who was always jumping around, Lon Nol, Prince Sirik Mada, Son Ngoc Thanh and others, who had just joined forces to depose the royal family and established the pro-American reactionary government of the "Khmer Republic", immediately purged the country's legal left-wing political forces, severed diplomatic relations with North Vietnam and "Red South Vietnam", and issued an ultimatum to Hanoi, demanding that the North Vietnamese army withdraw from the eastern border territory of Cambodia that it had previously occupied.

　Naturally, the Vietnamese Communist Party sternly rejected this and stated that it would not recognize the reactionary regime in Phnom Penh and would mobilize the Cambodian people to launch a revolutionary struggle.

　Lon Nol and Prince Sirik Mada responded with a vehement call to action, waving the banner of nationalism, urging the people not to be deceived by the communists and to recall their centuries-long bloody history with the Vietnamese. They urged the people to unite and "expel the Vietnamese invaders," especially in the Mekong Delta, which had transformed from "Lower Cambodia" into a Vietnamese homeland.

　It has to be said that in this era of awakening nationalism around the world, the above slogan is still quite contagious.

　Of course, words are words, actions are actions. Despite stirring up ethnic conflict between Vietnam and Cambodia in Congress, and shouting anti-Vietnamese slogans in newspapers and on the radio, General Lon Nol did not immediately dispatch the Cambodian army to the east to recapture lost territory and cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail—because they simply could not defeat the Viet Cong!

　Since Cambodia and India both gained independence peacefully, the Cambodian army, which inherited from the French colonial authorities, naturally did not have much combat effectiveness.

　The total strength of the national government army was only about 30,000. After deducting the less obedient local warlords' private soldiers, the actual number of the Khmer Army that was fully under the command of Commander-in-Chief Lon Nol, not counting the ghost soldiers who were paid without working, was difficult to say whether it actually numbered 10,000.

　Aside from the insignificant and ineffective government forces, San Ngoc Thanh's "Free Khmer Rouge" (Blue Khmer Rouge) had experienced numerous bloody battles with colonialists and various local tyrants and warlords, making them relatively more combat-ready. However, General Lon Nol viewed the Khmer Rouge much like the Junker officers of Nazi Germany or Röhm's SA—so wary of them that he dared not employ them.

　——It is true that the Khmer Rouge are traitors, but the Khmer Rouge are also traitors!

　Even though the Khmer Rouge had transformed into a CIA-trained mercenary force, Lon Nol still used and guarded against these "allies."

　Besides, the Khmer Rouge could only fight the Khmer Rouge guerrillas on equal terms. If they were to fight against the elite Viet Cong troops, they would still have basically no chance of winning.

　Given its current state of being short of soldiers and generals and having dilapidated armaments, the Khmer Republic did not have the strength to launch an offensive against the Viet Cong-occupied areas and engage in a head-on confrontation with the Viet Cong, which had rich combat experience, before receiving military assistance from the United States and carrying out large-scale conscription and military expansion.

　Although General Lon Nol did not yet have the courage to engage in a full-scale battle with the elite Viet Cong troops, he certainly had the guts to massacre Vietnamese immigrants and plunder under the slogan of "resisting Vietnamese aggression," and it was quite substantial.

　——No matter how weak the combat effectiveness of the Khmer Republic’s army is, it still has the ability to attack some villages and massacre some civilians.

　So, in late November, Lon Nol ordered the arrest of all Vietnamese in the capital Phnom Penh, and sent three regiments of troops to the countryside to sweep through Vietnamese villages in the government-controlled areas along the Mekong River, as well as fish processing plants and rubber factories that employed Vietnamese workers.

　As a result, the Lon Nol regime massacred more than 7,000 Vietnamese immigrants in one week and dumped their bodies into the Mekong River, forcing tens of thousands of Vietnamese immigrants to flee across the border and cry out to the Viet Cong troops who had occupied the Mekong Delta about the Khmer people's bloodiness and brutality, begging the Viet Cong to avenge them.

　Although the South Vietnamese government in Saigon, aware that hundreds of thousands of US troops stationed in Vietnam were eyeing Nha Trang and Da Dao and could launch a dry season offensive at any time, did not want to open a second front immediately, it initially attempted to suppress information and control the situation.

　However, as more and more corpses floated down the Mekong River, the bloody tragedy that occurred on the Vietnam-Cambodia border eventually spread, and aroused great anger among the people in the south and grassroots officers and soldiers. Various voices of revenge and requests for war could not be suppressed for a while.

　This posed a dilemma for the "Red South Vietnamese" in Saigon: should they send troops to protect their compatriots and retaliate against the atrocities of the Khmer Republic? Or should they sit back and watch their compatriots being slaughtered, thereby maintaining strategic composure and focusing on dealing with the US military, regardless of the loss of public support?

　In addition, Lon Nol also expelled merchant ships from socialist countries from Cambodian ports, cutting off the "Ho Chi Minh Trail on the Sea" from Sihanoukville (Kampong Som) to the southern Vietnamese base, putting the logistical supply of "Red South Vietnam" into a very embarrassing situation.

　In 1963, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which was called the "Long Son Road" by the North Vietnamese, was a road that had not been widened or expanded. The road surface was narrow and bumpy, and most sections could only be used by porters and bicycles, not cars. As a result, this road was

　The annual transport volume of the "Ho Chi Minh Trail overland" that crosses the border between Laos and Cambodia is only one-tenth of that of the "Ho Chi Minh Trail by Sea".

　Today, with the closure of Sihanoukville Port and the US Navy's continued naval blockade of Red South Vietnam, the Viet Cong's "Republic of South Vietnam" has fallen into trouble and can only rely on smuggling to obtain a small amount of goods from the outside world, the quantity of which is far from enough to supply the daily needs of the military and civilians.

　Although the Mekong Delta is fertile and a land of fish and rice, Saigon, apart from rice, freshwater fish, and sea salt, has almost no local access to other resources necessary for maintaining modern warfare, such as coal, gasoline, steel, ammunition, and medicine.

　Due to the lack of fuel, the power supply has not yet been restored in half of South Vietnam, which is now ruled by the Viet Cong. It is pitch dark at night, and even the tap water in Saigon is cut off. The remaining citizens can only rely on drinking rainwater, well water and turbid Saigon River water, which has led to the spread of the plague.

　In addition, due to the interruption of supply of pesticides, fertilizers and high-yield seeds, agricultural production in southern Vietnam is also expected to decline sharply soon.

　As a result, it became an urgent task to lift the imperialist blockade of the southern base areas as soon as possible and resume industrial and agricultural production.

　Ho Chi Minh discussed this issue with everyone at the meeting for a long time and came up with many solutions and countermeasures, but none of them were enough to meet the urgent needs. Meanwhile, the US offensive was imminent...

　Some cadres implicitly expressed that if Saigon was about to fall, why should we think so much about it?

　By then, all the remaining supplies in the city will be looted, the guerrillas will evacuate, and an empty city will be left to American imperialism. Isn't that the end of it?

　Both Ho Chi Minh and Le Duan were fed up with hearing these unambitious complaints. Just as they were about to scold them harshly for their "defeatist thinking", they suddenly heard long and shrill air raid sirens blaring outside!

　Woo——woo——

　Come on, the US imperialist strategic air force is here to bomb Hanoi again!

　Therefore, the meeting had to be temporarily interrupted. The cadres who had gone out to get some fresh air earlier, along with their families, flocked into the underground shelter. For a moment, the shelter, which was not spacious to begin with, became even more crowded than a bus during rush hours. The strong smell of sweat made people dizzy.

　Listening to the sound of the bomb exploding, feeling the shaking of the ground and the rustling of dust falling overhead makes people feel both frightened and irritated.

　Ho Chi Minh had no choice but to be patient and try to comfort the people around him, telling them not to worry about the solidity of this place.

　After waiting for a long time until the long sound of the air raid alarm was lifted, people finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to leave the dark and damp shelter. Ho Chi Minh, with the help of others, staggered up the stairs and prepared to go out for some fresh air.

　As a result, when he arrived on the ground, in addition to the burning flames and the burnt smell carried by the wind, he also saw many airdropped leaflets scattered on the ground.

　Ho Chi Minh bent down, reached out and picked up a leaflet dropped by an enemy plane, and looked at it. He found that it was printed very crudely, with various curses written on it in four languages: English, French, Chinese and Vietnamese. The Chinese content was the most concise, just six words: "Ho Chi Minh, the shovel of the house!"

　He gave a wry smile, dropped the leaflet, and looking at the enemy planes flying away in the sky, he sighed, "Let the front-line troops prepare for battle! Until we defeat the Americans, nothing we say will be of any use!"

　Through his interactions with war correspondents from major media outlets, Fili discovered that the assassination of Kennedy by the Vietcong in Phnom Penh had not only stirred up widespread outrage in the United States, but also within the military. Even Republicans were clamoring for revenge.

　The American troops stationed on the front lines in Vietnam, who had been somewhat disorganized and exhausted by the long and boring rainy season in Vietnam, were also stimulated and perked up.

　It is probably similar to the situation in another period of history when the United States just suffered the 9/11 terrorist attack and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York collapsed.

　Therefore, in response to this intense desire for revenge, General Westmoreland of the US Army in Vietnam believed that the dry season combat plan of "retaking the Hue Plain" finalized by President Kennedy during his lifetime was obviously too conservative and far from enough to punish the "Vietnamese bandits" who committed such heinous crimes.

　To this end, he and Secretary of Defense McNamara, who flew to the front line to supervise the battle, prepared to summon civilian and military officers on the front line to discuss how to change the combat plan.

　On November 25, a military meeting was officially held in a cafe in the ancient town of Hoi An that was requisitioned as a meeting venue.

　Secretary of Defense McNamara, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, first led everyone in a three-minute silence to pay tribute to the spirit of President Kennedy. He then discussed the current situation in the Vietnam War with the frontline generals and civilian officials present.

　All present agreed that if the war continued according to the original plan, and if they were merely satisfied with annihilating the North Vietnamese heavy forces in the Hue area and withdrawing the battle line northward to the 17th parallel north armistice line, then it would obviously not be enough to comfort President Kennedy's spirit.

　How to further expand the war and make Ho Chi Minh and his North Vietnamese bandits suffer even more...

　The civil and military officials present were roughly divided into two groups: conservative and radical.

　Conservatives believed that the original, stingy Hue operation should be canceled, and more troops and warships should be mobilized to march south by land and sea, and attack Saigon directly to destroy the troublemaker club called "Red South Vietnam" in one fell swoop, and drive the evil red bandits into the mountains!

　The radicals believed that the conservatives were too conservative. Although Saigon had to be taken, there was no need to give up Hue.

　The invincible American imperial army can unite with all its allies to attack from two fronts, heading north to attack Hue while heading south to attack Saigon!

　Furthermore, Dr. Kissinger, the Consul General in Phu Quoc Island, stated that the Khmer Republic had declared war on the Viet Cong. However, the nation was in a state of peace and war, completely unprepared for a fight. If the weak Phnom Penh authorities were to be prevented from being swept away by the battle-hardened Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge, the US military in Vietnam would have to provide military assistance to Phnom Penh as soon as possible—otherwise, preparations would have to be made for Lon Nol to flee to Phu Quoc Island and establish a government in exile.

　Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Chinese ambassador to the Central Highlands, stated that while there are no longer any significant Vietcong bases within the coastal region of Quang Nam, the Central Highlands region remains far from being completely annihilated. Gia Lai and Kon Tum, in particular, in the northern Central Highlands, have long been hardest hit by the Vietcong.

　As a loosely knit nation composed of numerous mountainous indigenous peoples, the Central Highlands Federation, despite receiving significant military aid this year, lacks the military strength to rival the Viet Cong in the short term. US forces are stationed only at the seaports where remnants of the Champa remnants live, not deep inland. The Hmong militia in Dak Lak Province is limited in number, sufficient only to control the southern Central Highlands. The Jarai, the most populous people, have historically been inexperienced in warfare. Even with US military aid, six months wouldn't be enough to train a crack army from scratch.

　Therefore, in Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces in the northern Central Highlands, numerous Vietcong strongholds are still scattered throughout the region. While the indigenous people are well aware of this, they are powerless to disrupt these strongholds. The most they can do is direct the US Air Force to bomb them, but bombing alone will not defeat the Vietcong.

　What's even more terrible is that as the flood-prone rainy season came to an end and the dry season arrived again, the Ho Chi Minh Trail became passable again. More Viet Cong fighters were coming down from North Vietnam or heading north from Saigon, constantly using the Ho Chi Minh Trail to infiltrate the Central Highlands and strengthen the local Viet Cong forces.

　At the same time, because they were unable to hold their ground in the coastal provinces due to the encirclement and suppression of the powerful US regular army, the remnants of the Viet Cong after their defeat in the Battle of Phong Son this autumn also fled the coastal plains and retreated to the inland Central Highlands region to join their own friendly forces and compete with the indigenous ethnic minorities in the mountains for territory.

　Today, five Vietnamese army regiments, at least six to seven thousand troops, have gathered in the Zhubang Mountains and the Delang River Valley in Gia Lai Province.

　There were still more than 10,000 Vietcong scattered in other strongholds in the Central Highlands, and 40,000 Vietcong west of the border in Laos and Cambodia.

　Professor Brzezinski stated that the indigenous mountain peoples of the Central Highlands Federation were currently incapable of annihilating such a large Vietcong force. Furthermore, the Vietcong had dug strong air-raid shelters and tunnels in the area, making the US Air Force's tactical bombing campaigns of limited effectiveness.

　According to him, if the US military in Vietnam continues to ignore the enemy situation in the Central Highlands, then once the main US military forces are transferred out of Da Nang and sent to the north or south, the Viet Cong who have infiltrated the Central Highlands will immediately rush out of the mountains and attack the coastal plains, causing a fire in the US military's backyard!

　Therefore, even if it is just for the sake of stabilizing the rear, the US military stationed in Vietnam must launch a clearing operation against the Central Highlands region as soon as possible.

　In this way, the US troops stationed in Vietnam faced four battlefields at the same time: Central Highlands, Hue, Saigon and Cambodia, and even Laos in the north was fighting.

　As a result, although the US (Combined Forces) in Vietnam now has 300,000 troops, which seems to be strong, if it launches an all-out attack and disperses its forces across so many battlefields, it will still be like scattering peppers, being stretched everywhere, and may even break a few teeth.

　But if it only attacks one route, it seems that it cannot demonstrate the majesty of the United States as the world hegemon?

　As everyone was discussing this, Fili stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "Gentlemen, you are all too conservative! Even if we take Hue and recapture Saigon, so what? We will only restore the battle line to the situation of this spring. How can we talk about revenge for President Kennedy? Ho Chi Minh has not been punished at all!

　To make Ho Chi Minh truly feel pain, we had to send tanks crashing through his fence and sending army boots into his living room!

　Just as we had to march into Berlin to punish the Nazis, we must march into this place to punish the Vietcong now!"

　Ferry leaned over the sand table map, reached out and pulled up a small American flag, moved it north across the 17th parallel, and planted it over Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam. "Only in this way can we truly be called 'Ho Chi Minh, the King of the House!'"

　Author's Note: PS: The famous opera "Turandot" is said to take place in China. But as a Chinese, it always seemed strange to me. Later, after some research, I discovered that the story is set during the Yuan Dynasty, the "Chinese princess" is actually a Mongolian princess, and the princes are from several Mongol khanates to the west.

　Well, since we cannot deny that the Yuan Dynasty is also China, we can only admit that "Turandot" is a Chinese story.

　Just like "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp", the story also takes place in "China", but this "China" refers to the Western Liao Dynasty...

　Chapter 295: Crossing the 17th Parallel North!

　What? You're saying we're all too conservative?

　What? Your idea is to break through the 17th parallel? To march into North Vietnam and march straight to Hanoi? To kick down Ho Chi Minh's door?

　Isn't this a bit too extreme?

　But why does it sound so pleasant?

　After hearing Fili's bold suggestion, although some of the American officers present were indignant, most of them were eager to try it out and were happy to do so.

　As a soldier with a martial nature, who doesn't long to be able to plant the flag on the enemy's capital and step into the enemy's palace with his military boots?

　For soldiers, this is the greatest honor and a glorious memory that they can brag about at home for the rest of their lives.

　What's the point of hunting down a few bandits in the mountains? Only when you can destroy an enemy army and capture a city, parading your troops through the streets of an enemy nation's capital, can you be a true hero!

　However, the United States has always insisted on civilian control of the military and has always strictly prevented the military from acting independently. So everyone quickly turned their attention to the Secretary of Defense.

　"Of course, I also know that crossing the 17th parallel will lead to a further escalation of the Vietnam War and even invite the Chinese to join the war."

　Seeing that Secretary of Defense McNamara seemed unhappy, Ferry immediately added, "Thirteen years ago in Korea, the Chinese warned us not to cross the 38th parallel drawn by Secretary Rusk. Marshal MacArthur ignored this warning. Not only did he capture Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, but he also continued to attack northward, all the way to the Yalu River on the Sino-North Korean border. We all know the consequences of this."

　In Vietnam today, the Chinese are warning us not to cross the 17th parallel. Otherwise, they'll cross the border and join the war. While we shouldn't ignore their warnings, there's no need to act like a well-behaved child and completely obey their orders.

　Indeed, the Chinese certainly have the courage to fight us in North Vietnam, and there is no need to deny this fact.

　However, even if we are not prepared to actually break through the bottom line set by the enemy, there is no need to treat it as a golden rule and not dare to cross it. This would make us and the Vietnamese fighting in a Chinese-made Colosseum, which would be too humiliating and too cowardly.

　No matter how brave and skilled a gladiator was, he was at best just a plaything for the audience's entertainment!

　I think a more appropriate approach would be to stand on the edge of this line and jump back and forth repeatedly, so as to put extreme pressure on the enemy.

　Therefore, I suggest that the US military headquarters in Vietnam can deploy the mobile forces originally assembled in Da Nang for crossing the sea and landing in Hue to the Red River Delta further north, and launch a quick in and quick out blitzkrieg against Hanoi!

　Today, North Vietnam’s elite troops are basically on the Hue front line or have been sent to the south, leaving the rear relatively empty.

　If our army could attack Hanoi as quickly as possible, and then voluntarily abandon Hanoi and retreat to the sea before the Chinese army arrives.

　So, even if the Chinese reacted quickly and quickly assembled the border defense forces of Guangxi and Yunnan and marched south across the mountains on the border, they could only chase after the tire tracks of our retreating army and then look at the empty beach and vent their impotent anger.

　Next, they had to make a difficult choice between returning empty-handed or attacking Haiyunling with bloodshed for the Vietnamese.

　Since the Chinese couldn't break through the 38th parallel defenses that stretched across the Korean Peninsula ten years ago, they certainly can't break through the Haiyunling Line now, which is shorter, has more rugged terrain, and is more easily covered by our naval and air force firepower..."

　"Having conquered Hanoi and then giving it up? Well, if you retreat quickly enough, you can certainly make the Chinese

　It’s true that you can’t catch it.

　I also have full confidence in the strength of Haiyunling's defense line."

　A US Army major general stood up and said, "But what's the point of such a one-hit-and-run operation for us?"

　"Of course, the most important thing is the political significance! If our army can occupy Hanoi for 48 hours, then raise the American flag in Ba Dinh Square or somewhere else in Hanoi and hold a victory parade, it will greatly boost our reputation and wash away the shame of President Kennedy's assassination.

　In addition, on the one hand, this blitzkrieg would let the North Vietnamese Workers' Party know that they did not have a safe rear, and the 17th parallel north could not guarantee their absolute safety, so they could not rest and recuperate in peace in the north of Vietnam, but were in constant fear. They had to spend huge manpower and material resources to build a long coastal defense line - similar to the "Atlantic Wall" built by Nazi Germany on the French coast.

　On the other hand, this Viking-style warfare, which only involves surprise attacks and no occupation, can also allow our army to gain the initiative in the war.

　In the past, our troops were either trapped in a series of strongholds and transportation lines, waiting for the endless harassment from the Viet Cong guerrillas, or they carried out mopping-up operations in the countryside and forests. Even if they were able to destroy the Viet Cong base areas, they would always suffer heavy casualties, which would damage morale over time.

　After the blitzkrieg on Hanoi, in order to defend against our army's next landing surprise attack, North Vietnam had to disperse a large number of troops along the long coastline in northern Vietnam. It was unable to deploy these manpower to fight in the south, and might even have to withdraw troops from the war zone south of the 17th parallel north.

　In this way, our army became Viking pirates who could come and go freely, while the Viet Cong were the English lords, who had their troops deployed everywhere but could not defend anywhere!

　By then, it will be much easier for our army to recapture Saigon and Hue than to confront the main force of the Vietnamese army head-on now."

　Ferry pointed at Saigon and Hue on the sand table, then changed the subject, "Also, there is a window of opportunity for a blitzkrieg on Hanoi.

　If we do not launch an operation now, but wait until the next dry season a year from now, by which time the heat of President Kennedy's assassination will have dissipated, and the Chinese and Soviet armies, no longer disturbed by international public opinion, will have begun to enter North Vietnam in large numbers and in an organized manner... By then, if our army wants to launch another blitzkrieg against Hanoi, it may have to engage the Chinese or even the Soviet army in the Red River Delta, and it will be difficult to say whether we can capture Hanoi.

　If the Soviets deploy nuclear mines and nuclear missiles in North Vietnam as they did in the Cuban battlefield before, our army will be in greater danger of encountering a nuclear war!

　On the contrary, Ho Chi Minh at the moment did not expect that we had the courage to attack him at his doorstep. The elite troops of the North Vietnamese People's Army were either transferred to the Mekong Delta in the south or pressed on the front line of Hue, dozens of kilometers north of Da Nang. There were almost no reserve troops left in the capital Hanoi.

　Moreover, Hanoi itself had been severely damaged by General LeMay's carpet bombing, and its defenses were greatly weakened.