World: Opening the Envelope

In from the sea at 1,000 feet darted the 36 sweptwing F-105 jets armed with rockets and 3,000-lb. bombs. Over North Viet Nam’s port city of Haiphong, they were mere minutes from the target: the Uong Bi power plant, newest and most modern in all North Viet Nam, supplying 33% of Haiphong’s electricity and 25% of Hanoi’s. Low cloud cover and a deadly hail of antiaircraft fire made the mission as hairy as any carried out over the North so far. But down went thousands of rockets and 14 tons of bombs. When the smoke cleared, Uong Bi was destroyed, and much of the Hanoi-Haiphong “red envelope” of industry was blacked out. It was the first time the envelope had been opened, and the raid served notice that what sanctuary the U.S. gives Hanoi the U.S. can at any time take away.