: 50–63īy 4 April, ARVN officers had patched together a defensive line that held the PAVN at bay, but it was only a temporary respite. ARVN forces then fell back, and a race began between both belligerents to the bridges at Đông Hà and Cam Lộ. The PAVN force struck the defensive positions of the ARVN 3rd Division and threw it into disarray. This three-division force caught the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and their American allies unprepared.
Linebacker was the first continuous bombing effort conducted against North Vietnam since the end of Operation Rolling Thunder in November 1968.įurther information on the PAVN offensive: Easter OffensiveĪt midday on 30 March 1972, 30,000 PAVN troops, supported by regiments of tanks and artillery, rolled southward across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separated the two Vietnams.
Its purpose was to halt or slow the transportation of supplies and materials for the Nguyen Hue Offensive (known in the West as the Easter Offensive), an invasion of the South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) that had been launched on 30 March. Navy Task Force 77 air interdiction campaign conducted against North Vietnam from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the Vietnam War. Operation Linebacker was the codename of a U.S.