Forty years ago, Vietnam wrote “An epic of the 20th century” with its historic “Hanoi-Dien Bien Phu in the air” victory, exciting peace lovers around the world.

Nearly ten years after bringing combatant troops into Vietnam, the US imperialists were bogged down in battlefields in the south. The US wanted to withdraw from the war without admitting failure. In December 1972, President Richard Nixon approved the Linebacker II operation. It was a sudden attack on Hanoi with B-52 Stratofortresses to force the Vietnamese Government to sign the Paris Peace Accords with terms favourable to the US.

The US mobilised 197 out of their 207 B-52 bombers and 1,077 other aircraft from three air force bases and six aircraft carriers during the campaign. Each wave of B-52 bombers dropped bombs onto Kham Thien Street, Bach Mai Hospital, Giap Bat, Van Dien, Uy No, Co Loa and Yen Vien in Hanoi, and many other big cities. The busy Kham Thien Street was leveled. Bach Mai, the largest hospital in the north, was destroyed. Up to 40 percent of the 100,000 tonnes of bombs dropped on the north during the campaign rained down on Hanoi. As many as 1,318 Hanoians were killed and 2,000 houses destroyed.

In response to the cruel US war machine, the entire nation was “willing to sacrifice all but not lose independence”. In 1968, President Ho Chi Minh stated that in Vietnam, the US will be surely defeated, but it will only be vanquished after its failure in the Hanoi sky.

The “Hanoi-Dien Bien Phu in the air” victory proved his genius judgement. That judgement also indicated that the victory over the B-52 raids in the skies of Hanoi in 1972 was a result of multiple years of research into the enemy, careful strategic, campaign and tactical preparations, and efforts to build the high will and determination of all forces, especially the air force.

The US underestimated its rival. It declared to “bomb Vietnam back to the stone age”, but the US was defeated by a nation with a glorious tradition in fighting invaders and belief in victory.

Hanoi and the whole country were determined to fight for victory. In one night, more than half a million Hanoians were evacuated, and tens of thousands were ready for action. During the 12-day-and-night resilient struggle, the Vietnamese army and people shot down 81 aircraft, including 34 B-52s , and took alive many enemy pilots.

The victory forced the US to sign the Paris Peace Accords recognising Vietnam’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and withdraw troops from the country.

It symbolised the strength of Vietnam ’s revolutionary heroism and intelligence during the Ho Chi Minh era, as well as the strength of the Vietnam people’s war against the US .

It was a strategic battle in a major campaign with political, military and diplomatic significance. It helped Vietnamese people triumph against the US , liberating the south and reunifying the country.-VNA