Son Tay
Encyclopedia
Sơn Tây is an urban district and city in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...

, the capital of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

. It was the capital of Son Tay province before merging with Ha Dong province in 1965. Son Tay lies 35 km west of the capital Hanoi and is often referred to as “soldier town” due to the proliferation of army barracks and military institutions that surrounds the town, including the Vietnamese People's Army Infantry Academy.

A U.S. military's prisoner-of-war rescue attempt
Operation Ivory Coast
Operation Ivory Coast was a failed rescue mission conducted in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War by United States Special Operations Forces and other elements of the U.S. Military....

 occurred here in the early morning hours of November 21, 1970. A special task force of Green Berets, supported by Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 and Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 assets, raided a POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 camp
Son Tay prison camp
The Son Tay prison camp was a POW camp operated by North Vietnam near Son Tay town in the late 1960s through late 1970. About 65 captured US military personnel were held there during the middle of the Vietnam War.- Operation Ivory Coast :...

 located in the province. The raid failed when it was discovered there were no prisoners there, but managed to depart with minimal loss in equipment and no loss of life for the raiding force.

Son Tay’s future is seen as being very much that of a satellite city of Hanoi and as a result there are plans to relocate universities and other public facilities to Son Tay where land is cheaper and more plentiful. The government have commenced this ambitious program by duplicating the main Hanoi—Sơn Tây carriageway which was expected to be completed in 2009.

Pham Van Son, a general was from Son Tay.

Link


See also

  • Son Tay Campaign
    Son Tay Campaign
    The Son Tay Campaign was a campaign fought by the French to capture the strategically important city of Son Tay in Tonkin from Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and allied contingents of Vietnamese and Chinese troops...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK