Battleplan 02. Assault From The Air (1 of 19)

Battleplan

Battleplan is a military-based television documentary series examing the various military strategies used in modern warfare, since World War I. It is shown on the Military Channel and UKTV History. Each episode looks at a particular military strategy (or "battleplan") used in warfare, through two well-know historical examples and compares them both with the military requirements needed in order to conduct that "Battleplan". All the episodes use examples from modern warfare, dating from the First World War (1914–18) up to the recent Iraq War (2003).

South Vietnam, 1966.
Elite US paratroops jump into action in the biggest operation of the Vietnam War to date.
Holland, 1944.

British and American paratroops fill the skies in the largest and most ambitious airborne plan ever launched.
Assault from the air is always bold and risky.
No other strategy depends so much on precise timing and co-ordination of forces.
Every commander knows that this battleplan should be used only when there is no other option.
The battleplan is Assault From The Air.
Vietnam, 1966.
The Vietcong believe they are gaining ground in their ongoing guerrilla war against the US military.
They have established key areas in the South which they use as supply bases and holding areas for their forces.
One of these areas is what the American military has designated as War Zone C.
War Zone C is north-west of the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, along the border with Cambodia.
It is the base for the 9th Vietcong Division and the 101st North Vietnamese Army Regiment.
And it is the location of the political headquarters of the Communists' Central Office in South Vietnam.