Vietnam ground combat operations in 1965, and at their peak they numbered more than 500,000. The US also engaged in a sustained aerial bombing campaign. Meanwhile, China and the Soviet Union provided North Vietnam with significant material aid and 15,000 combat advisers. Communist forces supplying the Việt Cộng carried supplies along the Hồ Chí Minh trail, which passed through the Kingdom of Laos. The communists attacked South Vietnamese targets during the 1968 Tết Offensive. Although the campaign failed militarily, it shocked the American establishment, and turned US public opinion against the war. During the offensive, communist troops massacred over 3,000 civilians
1965 in the Vietnam War strikes, the U.S. 173rd Airborne began another sweep through Zone D with 2,500 men and ARVN and Australian participation. The allies claimed to have inflicted 100 Viet Cong casualties. Maxwell Taylor resigned as U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam. Taylor had earlier been opposed to the introduction of U.S. ground troops into South Vietnam, proposing instead an intensified air campaign against North Vietnam. Taylor would be replaced by Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., who returned to Saigon for his second stint as ambassador. The New York Times reported that the 173rd Airborne suffered 10 killed and 42 wounded on its sweep through