Mohamed Berzig, Secretary General of the Algeria-Vietnam Friendship Association (Photo: VNA) In December 1972, the US imperialists launched a strategic aerialbombing operation called “Linebacker II” in the capital city of Hanoi and the northern port city of Hai Phong.
In thisoperation, the US military mobilised the greatest force since World War II: 193of the 400 B-52 bombers that the US had at that time; 1,077 of the 3,043tactical aircraft (including a squadron of about 50 F-111 fighters); six of the24 aircraft carriers; more than 50 tanker aircraft, other types of serviceplanes, and 60 warships of all kinds from the US Seventh Fleet in the Pacific.
Throughout 12 days and nights, the US planes dropped morethan 100,000 tonnes of bombs onto Hanoi, Hai Phong and a number of localitiesin northern Vietnam.
Vietnamese defence forces and people of the Northresisted strongly, shooting down 81 aircraft, including 34 B-52s, and killingor catching hundreds of US pilots. The heavy losses forced the USadministration to stop bombardments on areas to the north of the 20th parallel,invite Vietnam to return to the negotiations in Paris, and prepare for thesigning of the agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam.
The Paris Agreement, signed on January 27, 1973, laidthe foundation for the complete liberation of the South and reunification ofthe country.
Berzig, a researcher on Vietnam, described the victoryas glorious and decisive to the liberation of the South, saying it created apremise for national reunification in 1975.
The Vietnamese people proved their resolve and courage inthe wars against France and the US, which have been carried forward in the current process of nationalconstruction and development, he stressed.
Berzig also lauded Vietnam’s rapid development atpresent and expressed his hope that relations between Vietnam and Algeriawill be consolidated in the time ahead./.
VNA
