Vietnam is 21 years old, thousands and thousands of dead, hundreds of thousands of dead. I can end the Vietnam War with victory in one week," Trump said during a meeting in Iowa ahead of the congressional midterm elections. Trump also criticized the methods of fighting in Vietnam, recalling the long years of spraying the highly toxic defoliant Agent Orange in the jungle. Instead, Trump believes, it was necessary to hit key enemy centers such as Ho Chi Minh City.
It must be said that Trump's strategic genius is amazing.
The bombing of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam (now called Ho Chi Minh City) is powerful. If we count this as a reservation - and to the fact that he meant Hanoi, then Hanoi and especially Haiphong (through which the military aid went to Vietnam) were constantly bombed by the United States.
Yes, these cities were not the main targets of the bombings. The main ones were airfields and air defense facilities for obvious reasons: the United States needed normal control of the skies to provide air support to troops on the ground. Oil storage facilities and railroads were bombed. And Hanoi... 300,000 mostly up-to-date farmers, light industry, the absence of serious military and industrial facilities, plus a good air defense system around the city.
In general, the goal is so and so.
As for air defense and the actions of American aircraft in Vietnam, indeed, in the initial phase of the war, the United States had absolute air superiority. In the middle of the war you could forget about him. Yes, the United States maintained an advantage when it was necessary to carry out large-scale operations (like Linebacker * in 1972), but there is no need to talk about unconditional dominance throughout the war.
Therefore, Trump, of course, is a strategist, and the idea of bombing Saigon is usually brilliant. But still, it should be noted that the US Air Force during the Vietnam War was by no means idiots.
Operation Linebacker II ("Linebacker-2", "Christmas Bombing"). Held in December 1972 (December 18–29). It was one of the most powerful air operations of the entire war.