Operation LINEBACKER I

Operation LINEBACKER I, conducted between April and October 1972, was a U.S. bombing campaign targeted against the specific North Vietnamese infrastructure of the Ho Chi Minh trail, with the operational-level goal of interrupting the supply line to People's Army of Viet Nam conventional troops in the South. It neither attempted to "send signals" as did Operation ROLLING THUNDER, nor to have a decisive effect on the ability of Hanoi to import supplies and put them onto the Trail.

It was successful in its objective of stopping the ongoing Eastertide offensive of South Vietnam, by interfering with the logistics necessary to support regular military units in the field. The campaign used both tactical fighter-bombers and B-52 heavy bombers, although the latter were not sent into the heart of the North Vietnamese integrated air defense system, as they were in Linebacker II.