Chronology McNamara Line

1 chronology

1.1 cover name change
1.2 1967
1.3 1968

chronology

on january 13, 1967, president johnson authorized construction, , assigned highest national priority.

cover name change

in june 1967, existence of practice 9 leaked press. project renamed illinois city , in september called project dye marker. further, referred spos (strong-point-obstacle-system), 2 different components, dump truck (anti-vehicle) , mud river (anti-personnel), collectively referred muscle shoals.

1967

usmc engineers in 1967 ordered bulldoze strip @ least 500 meters wide gio linh westward con thien. became known marines trace. construction began in summer 1967.

1968

at beginning of 1968, western end of fortified part of barrier stretching khe sanh through special forces camp @ lang vei, still under construction, attacked multiple north vietnamese troops. special forces camp @ lang vei overrun , khe sanh placed under siege. battle of khe sanh lasted 77 days. in july 1968, general abrams, newly appointed commander in south vietnam, ordered khe sanh , surrounding area abandoned. base dismantled , infrastructure along route 9 toward laos, including roads , bridges, systematically destroyed.

on october 29, 1968, construction work on physical barrier along demilitarized zone on south vietnam s side ceased. physical infrastructure created barrier converted series of strong-points , support bases new strategy of mobile operations. marked end of mcnamara line operational strategy.