Kham Thien Street, central Hanoi, 27th December 1972. Source: salon.com
On 18th December 1972, in an effort to bring the North Vietnamese back to the negotiating table, Nixon ordered the intense bombardment of military, industrial and civilian infrastructure in and around Hanoi and Haiphong. The air assault, known as Operation Linebacker II, lasted eleven days from 19th December until 30th December, with one day’s break on Christmas Day.
The US flew 729 B-52 sorties over North Vietnam and dropped over 20,000 tons of ordnance on the two cities targeted, resulting in immense damage, including to residential areas. The campaign was the most concentrated and destructive American bombing campaign of the Vietnam War and resulted in the loss of at least 1,200 Vietnamese lives; the US lost 15 B-52s to North Vietnamese air defences and 75 airmen were killed. In the US, the campaign became known colloquially as the “Christmas Bombings”.
With its air defences ultimately overwhelmed, Hanoi indicated that the DRV would resume talks in Paris once the bombing stopped.








