|
March |
|
7th |
Walter Robertson, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs recommends
that the UK, Canada, France and India be sounded out about increasing the number
of MAAG personnel
|
|
June |
|
7th |
Walter Robertson sends a letter to the Secretary of State stressing the need to
abolish the 342 ceiling on MAAG personnel and explains, "...for some time now only
a handful of TERM personnel
has been engaged in the original mission of equipment salvage. Practically, the
duties of most TERM personnel are indistinguishable from those of the MAAG personnel."
|
|
July |
|
14th |
MAAG objects to ARVN
plans to open a Commando Training School a Nha Trang
|
|
August |
|
12th |
Thirty Binh Xuyen members are killed during their attack on the Michelin rubber
plantations
|
|
January |
|
|
North Vietnam's Central Executive Committee issues Resolution 15, changing its strategy
from “Political struggle” to "“armed struggle"
|
|
April |
|
4th |
President Eisenhower makes his first commitment to maintain South Vietnam as a separate
National State
|
|
May |
|
19th |
North Vietnamese high command organizes the 559th Transportation Group to construct
and maintain a route for infiltration into South Vietnam. The route would become
known as the Ho
Chi Minh Trail and facilitated the movement of troops and transportation
of supplies from North of the
DMZ.
|
|
25th |
Commander in Chief, Pacific (CINCPAC) extends the advisory and training operation
in Vietnam as follows:
- Provide MAAG advisors down to and including Infantry Regimental
level and Artillery, Armored and separate Marine Battalion level.
- Place the advisors in the field with the HQ of the units being
advised in order to furnish advice on the preparation of daily plans, monitor the
day-to-day conduct of operations and render on the spot advice based on the situation
as it exists at the time. This will include tactical advice as well as that provided
on logistical matters, including medical support problems, the evacuation of the
wounded, transportation problems, road and rail construction, bridging supply procedures,
maintenance of equipment etc.
- Evaluate Vietnamese requests for additional equipment, road building
materials, heavy engineering equipment etc. in the light of the direct observations
of the on-the-spot advisors as well as upon other information available.
- Evaluate the level of cooperation and coordination among Vietnamese
Army, Navy and Air Force elements and take necessary corrective action with Vietnamese
officials in those instances where deficiencies are reported by on-the-spot advisors.
- The activities of MAAG Advisors must be limited to advisory functions
and under no circumstances shall they participate directly in combat operations
nor will they accompany units on anti-guerrilla operations in areas immediately
adjacent to national boundaries.
|
|
July |
|
7th |
Saigon embassy informed that the DoD is considering detailing U.S. Army Special
Forces teams to MAAG Viet-Nam to act as advisors on anti-guerrilla tactics
|
|
8th |
Viet Cong guerrillas
armed with small arms and home made bombs attack the U.S. 7th Infantry Advisory
Detachment at Bien Hoa. American advisors Major Dale Buis and Master Sergeant Chester
Ovnard, who were watching a movie in the mess hall, are killed along with a Vietnamese
mess attendant and an ARVN soldier. One VC member was also killed.
|
|
August |
|
|
10 ARVN officers attend the British Jungle Warfare School in Johor, Malaya
|
|
30th |
90% of voters turn out in elections for the National Assembly in South Vietnam
The election results are:
- National Revolutionary Movement: 78 seats
- Independents: 36 seats
- Socialist: 4 seats
- Social Democrats: 3 seats
- Vietnam Restoration Party: 2 seats
|
|
February |
|
15th |
CINCPAC argues against using U.S. Special Forces teams to train the Vietnamese civil
guard because:
- If overt it would violate the MAAG / TERM ceiling
- If covert, experience in Laos has shown the difficulty in maintaining
plausibility of such cover
Instead, Admiral Felt believes the training of selected Vietnamese civil guard personnel
on Okinawa by Special Forces instructors is the only practical and feasible solution
|
|
19th |
Elbridge Durbrow, U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam, strongly recommends that U.S.
Army Special Forces be assigned to USARMA (United States Army Attaché) Saigon, to
give anti-guerrilla training to the Vietnamese civil guard. He indicates that GVN
is agreeable to this extension of USARAMA activities and regards this type of training
as an urgent need.
Edward Lansdale informs John Irwin, Secretary of Defense for International Security
Affairs, that the Office for Special Operations (OSO) concurs with Durbrow’s recommendation.
|
|
27th |
President Diem states he is anxious
to have sufficient numbers of U.S. Army Special Forces personnel brought in to train
both the Civil Guard and ARVN.
|
|
March |
|
11th
|
Secretary of Defense notifies CINCPAC that from April 1st personnel arriving
in Viet-Nam will no longer be assigned to TERM and that the mission will be phased
out by 31st December 1960
|
|
30th
|
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reverse MAAG policy by deciding that the Army of
Vietnam should develop an anti-guerrilla capability within the regular force structure
|
|
April |
|
|
North Vietnam imposes universal military conscription and begins infiltration of
cadres in to the South
|
|
May |
|
5th
|
U.S. announces an increase in the number of MAAG advisors above the Geneva imposed
ceiling of 342
|
|
August |
|
9th
|
Captain Kong Le leads the 2nd Lao Paratroop Battalion in a coup d’etat against the
right wing government of Prince Somsanith and forms a neutralist government of Laos,
open to both Royalists and the
Pathet Lao.
|
|
15th
|
General Phoumi Nosavan demounces Kong Le as a communist and forms a counter-coup
committee (Revolutionary Committee) nominally under Prince Boun Oum in Savannakhét.
|
|
16th
|
Wishing to end the fighting in Laos, Kong Le hands over power to a neutralist government
under Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma.
|
|
September |
|
1st
|
Lieutenant General Lionel C. McGarr replaces General Samuel Williams as Chief of
MAAG-Vietnam
|
|
November |
|
9th
|
Senator John F. Kennedy narrowly defeats Vice President Richard M. Nixon in the
U.S. Presidential election
|
|
11th
|
South Vietnamese paratroopers stage a failed coup d’état against President Ngo Dinh
Diem
|
|
December |
|
4th
|
The Soviet Union begins airlifting Supplies to Kong Le’s neutralist forces in Vientiane.
Thailand, which supplies food and fuel to the city, had previously imposed a blockade
on the Laos capital
|
|
9th
|
Laos Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma hands power to the military and leaves Vientiane
for Cambodia
|
|
13th
|
Backed by the CIA, Phoumi Nosavan’s Royal Laotian Army begin their assault on the
capital.
|
|
16th
|
Phoumi’s royalist troops retake Vientiane. Kong Le retreats north towards the Plaine des Jarres. |
|
20th
|
National
Liberation Front of South Vietnam forms with the aim of overthrowing Diem’s
government and reunifying the country
|
|
31st
|
U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam: Approximately 900
|