Operation Fishermen-The 1971 Raid on Hoa Loa Prison

[TRoehl]

What if, seeing the success of Operation Kingpin in 1970, members of the military(particularly the Air Force and Navy) start thinking mounting of a larger scale raid on Hoa Loa (aka: the Hanoi Hilton) in early 1971, without the approval of the civilian leadership(think of something on a vastly bigger scale than proposed in Stephen Coonts' "Flight of the Intruder") . They're driven both by the horrible restrictions placed on them in fighting the war and the overwhelming desire to rescue their fellow comrades out of the horrible situation that exists at Hoa Loa.

The plan would probably be a one night coup de main. Air Force, Navy, and Marine attack and fighter aircraft would pound the crap out of the air defenses around Hanoi as well as go after the NVA's fighter aircraft. Meanwhile, Air Force B-52s level the NVA's airfields, paving the way for a raiding force of 300 heliborne Marines to seize and hold Hoa Loa prison with while the POWs are evacuated. The helicopters would recieve close air support provided by A-1 Skyraiders to help with the exfiltration.

I guess the big question is, could the military get away with doing something this big without approval from higher up? I highly doubt that any of the brass would have had qualms about running an operation like this, and I doubt that you'd have problems finding pilots and troops who were willing to participate in something like this.

Finally if it is successful, the raid could help do a couple of things:
1)Convince the North Vietnamese that we've gotten serious about fighting the war.
2)If you're able to grab a few Soviets/East Germans at Hoa Loa and show them off to the world, it will succeed in embarassing the Russians on the world stage.
3)Provide a bump for the approval rating of the war.

Thoughts?

 

[Melvin Loh]

Only a force of 300 Marines as the ground component of this hypothetical rescue force to be landed in the heart of Hanoi ? Could a heliborne assault force and A1 Skyraiders operate that far inside enemy territory ? And to "Convince the North Vietnamese that we've gotten serious about fighting the war"- wasn't it a little late by then to achieve this aim ?
OTOH, I think that the experience of planning Op KINGPIN by Bull Simons, Dick Meadows & co would've been a very good basis on which to build a rescue mission plan to liberate the POWs at Hoa Loa. And nabbing a few Russians at or near the prison would've definitely been egg in the face for Moscow.

Does anybody know whether such a raid had ever been contemplated at all in real-life by highranking US generals ?

 

[TRoehl]

If you're willing to put a carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin, you can fly anything you want to in and out of Hanoi. As for the number of Marines, that can be adjusted as needed, but the first wave could be 300, and you can fly in more if you need them. Once you've gotten control of the place, it's a fortress, and I don't know of many folks who are dumb and brave enough to try to assault a fortress defended by Marines. It's a quick way to end up dead.

 

[Susano]

Ah so it being a fortress would hold up any further attackers, but not the marines?

 

[TRoehl]

Ah so it being a fortress would hold up any further attackers, but not the marines?

True, but most fortresses are built to withstand a ground assault. Doing it from the air with helicopters is something that was probably never thought about when Hoa Loa was built. Advantage-Marines

 

[Mike Collins]

First off, the mission could have worked. Even though the Hilton is in the heart of Hanoi, a fairly small ground force could fend off the bad guys for a little while. Even though KINGPIN showed the vulnerability of the enemy rear, they still focused their effort South. As to running the operation without government approval....no way. The careerists needed to plan the mission would not have done it for fear of their careers. Even if you get past that, somebody somewhere would have noted the movement of personnel, equipment, weird message traffic etc.