One of the images often associated with World War II as it affected England is that of barrage balloons. In 1938 the Royal Air Force Balloon Command was formed to protect targets in the kingdom, including major cities. The first balloons, 66 feet long and 30 feet high, were tethered with steel cables, were filled with hydrogen (each holding about 20,000 cubic feet of the gas), and were held at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. By 1940 there were 1,400 balloons, a third of them over London. The main purpose was to force German aircraft to fly high. Coming in low would increase their accuracy an ..read more

Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages  18 December 1966 – 24 December 1966 The Press, Pittsburgh PA A Christmas truce is swiftly violated. ***** Bloody jungle fighting erupted in the Central Highlands on Sunday as US Air Cavalrymen jockeyed to trap and destroy an estimated Communist battalion desperately trying to escape. The Communists were trying to flee soldiers of the First Division moving in on three sides towards the South China Sea coast. A multi-company force of cavalrymen suffered moderate casualties in fighting the previous day, 285 miles northeast of Saigon. The death toll for the Co ..read more

Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages  4 December 1966 – 10 December 1966 The Morning Call, Allentown, PA No one is safe anywhere at any time. ***** On Sunday the Viet Cong unleashed a mortar attack on the Tan Son Nhut Air Base, followed swiftly by a bombing at a US billet in downtown Saigon. Nine US Army soldiers were wounded in the downtown blast, none seriously. Casualties and damage to aircraft and other equipment in the airport attack were light. The Viet Cong started its attack by dropping more than 40 mortar rounds into the air base at 0128, then attacking with small arms fire. US and So ..read more

Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages  4 December 1966 – 10 December 1966 The Morning Call, Allentown, PA No one is safe anywhere at any time. ***** On Sunday the Viet Cong unleashed a mortar attack on the Tan Son Nhut Air Base, followed swiftly by a bombing at a US billet in downtown Saigon. Nine US Army soldiers were wounded in the downtown blast, none seriously. Casualties and damage to aircraft and other equipment in the airport attack were light. The Viet Cong started its attack by dropping more than 40 mortar rounds into the air base at 0128, then attacking with small arms fire. US and So ..read more

Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages  30 October 1966 – 6 November 1966 The Evening Gazette, Indiana, PA “War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument.” – Clausewitz ***** Vietnamese officials announced a sharp rise in Viet Cong desertions to the South Vietnamese side, with 2,062 defectors from the Communist cause reported in October, the third highest month in 1966. The announcement came on the eve of South Vietnam’s National Day, which would be celebrated with a big parade that would include 500 former Viet Cong in the line of march. Early in the week the war lapse ..read more

Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages  9 October 1966 – 15 October 1966 The Times, Chester, PA A “fight to the end for independence and freedom.” ***** The United States moved heavy reinforcements up to the embattled demilitarized zone on Monday as B-52 bombers raided North Vietnamese infiltration routes just above the buffer area. Simultaneously, US Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara arrived in Saigon for a four-day visit to the battlefronts and a survey of the men and money needed for the war. The two Marine divisions already in the northern provinces were moved closer to the 17th parall ..read more

Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages  25 September 1966 – 1 October 1966 The Centre Daily Times, State College, PA Grim new highs. ***** South Vietnam moved a few steps closer to civilian rule with the opening of a conference to draft a new national constitution. The 117-member Constituent Assembly hoped to complete the constitution in six months, paving the way for a popularly elected government by next summer. The meeting this week in the refurbished National Assembly Building would be largely ceremonial. Delegates would deal first with several election challenges from the 11 September ballo ..read more

Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages  4 September 1966 – 10 September 1966 The Morning News, Danville, PA The Rule of Law. ***** US B-52 bombers dropped tons of munitions on the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Vietnam as the Saigon government accused Hanoi of preparing a “direct invasion there.” A near-record 152 bombing missions hit North Vietnam on Monday. In South Vietnam, American fighter-bombers killed an estimated 75 fleeing Viet Cong near Da Nang, where a Communist battalion of about 40 men had been battling US Marines and Vietnamese 15 miles southeast of the base. The ..read more

Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages  29 August 1966 – 4 September 1966 The Republican, Kane PA A lull in ground fighting, but the air war intensifies. ***** US planes caught four North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin, sinking two and damaging the other two. In South Vietnam, the Viet Cong made two unsuccessful attempts to block the chief shipping channel between Saigon and the sea. One explosion near a U.S. Navy minesweeper caused no casualties and only minor damage to the ship. On Sunday a Communist mine sank a small South Vietnamese minesweeper in the Long Tao channel but the ..read more

Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages  13 August 1966 – 20 August 1966 The Evening Sentinel, Carlisle PA Better than 14 to 1. ***** North Vietnam’s anti-aircraft defenses knocked down two more US jets late in the preceding week raising to 13 the number of American planes lost in the costliest week of the two-year-old air war on the Communist north. The losses came as US pilots eluded Soviet-supplied surface-to-air missiles and battled with Communist MIG-17s during 121 missions against radar sites, oil depots, and supply and communication lines in North Vietnam. The news grew worse: it was repor ..read more