Going to Tchepone: Oplan El Paso.
Abstract
The Ho Chi Minh Trail, which linked North and South Vietnam via the Laotian panhandle, was an indispensable source of supplies for communist forces operating below the 17th parallel in the 1960s and early 197Os. Air interdiction and special operations forces slowed but never stopped the flow of materiel. President Lyndon Johnson, primarily for political considerations, would not approve air strikes around Hanoi and Haiphong, which might have been more successful in the overall effort to disrupt enemy activities. General William Westmoreland-the commander of U.S. &Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, from 1964 to 1968 commissioned an operation plan designated El Paso to interdict the trail. It was a corps-sized operation to seal off the trail at Tchepone in Laos for 18 months during the dry season which was preceded and followed by torrential rains that reduced vehicle traffic to a trickle. Planners who worked on the operation bull between November 1967 and March 1968 discovered that geography profoundly influenced every pat aspect of a large-scale, long-duration operation mounted far from existing support facilities. This article examines the geographic considerations which the author encountered as a member of the El Paso planning staff while assigned as chief the of the campaign planning group at Headquarters, per U.S. Army Vietnam.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA356338
Entities
People
- John M. Collins
Organizations
- National Defense University