Operation Ivory Coast 1970
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 21 November 1970 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1970 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | derived from year |
| Location | Vietnam | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Vietnam War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United States, United States special operations forces | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 21.1446, 105.4958 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
Operation Ivory Coast was a mission conducted by United States Special Operations Forces and other American military elements to rescue U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. It was also the first joint military operation in United States history conducted under the direct control of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The specially selected raiders extensively trained and rehearsed the operation at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, while planning and intelligence gathering continued from 25 May to 20 November 1970.
On 21 November 1970, a joint United States Air Force and United States Army force commanded by Air Force Brigadier General LeRoy J. Manor and Army Colonel Arthur D. "Bull" Simons landed 56 U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers by helicopter at the Sơn Tây prisoner-of-war camp, which was located 23 miles (37 km) west of Hanoi, North Vietnam. The objective of the operation was the recovery of 61 American prisoners of war thought to be held at the camp. It was found during the raid that the camp contained no prisoners as they had recently been moved to another camp.
Despite the absence of prisoners, the raid's execution was nearly flawless, with only two casualties and two aircraft losses (one of the aircraft losses was due to a planned crash landing during the…
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Operation Ivory Coast (revision 1371258155), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Lam Sơn uprising 1418 · 38 km
- Battle of Hanoi (1946) 1946 · 39 km
- Siege of Songping 863 · 39 km
- Battle of Hòa Bình 1951 · 40 km
- Battle of Bình Lệ Nguyên 1258 · 44 km
- Battle of Chương Dương · 49 km
Other battles of the Vietnam War
- Battle of Saigon (1968) 1968
- New Year's Day battle of 1968 1968
- Siege of Khe Sanh 1968
- Battle of Binh Ba 1969
- Battle of Hamburger Hill 1969
- Battle of Fire Support Base Ripcord 1970
- Battle of Kompong Speu 1970
- Battle of FSB Mary Ann 1971
- Battle of Long Khánh 1971
- Battle of Snuol 1971
All 54 battles of the Vietnam War →
Browse more: battles in Vietnam · Asia · Post-1945 battles