Jet fighters of Vietnam depart to attack the enemy during the brutal, ineffectual US bombing campaign in Hanoi, Hai Phong and its vicinity, the last US military raid during the war that lasted for 12 days from December 18-29, 1972. (Photo: VNA)
A military unit of the capital city of Hanoi uses an anti-aircraft gun to show down a number of US B-52 bomber aircraft in the 12-day-and-night 'Dien Bien Phu in the Air' battle. (Photo: VNA)
Wreckage of a B-52 shot down on December 21, 1972. Some 4,181 airplanes, including 34 expensive B-52s, were shot down in the raid. (Photo: VNA)
Young Hanoian men join the army to fight against the US troops. (Photo: VNA)
Wreck of one among four B-52s shot down by Hanoi's people and soldiers from late night of December 18 to dawn of December 19, 1972. (Photo: VNA)
Drowned B-52 in a lake. The B-52 is referred as flying fortress, which had its own radar bomb navigation system with well-trained crews. (Photo: VNA)
B-52 fighter aircraft used by the US to drop bombs on villages in Hanoi, Hai Phong and other targets from December 18-29, 1972. (Photo: VNA)
The combat troops of Tu Liem district get ready to defend the Hanoi sky. (Photo: VNA)
A Vietnamese soldier stands near an anti-aircraft missile in Hanoi in 1972. The anti-aircraft missile troops was Vietnam's core military force during many years of war, defeating over 1,000 enemy aircraft, including 65 B-52s. (Photo: VNA)
Ly Quoc Su Street in downtown Hanoi was turned to rubble after the American bombing campaign in 1972. (Photo: VNA)
The US's B-52 bombing attack on December 26, 1972 destroyed nearly 2,000 civilian houses and injured 266 others in Kham Thien Street, central Hanoi. Residents living on the street called it 'the B-52 Night'. (Photo: VNA)
Dien Bien Phu in the Air: Victory in memories
The Hanoi air defence grids and all across northern Vietnam defended their skies with bravery in an aerial raids, known in VN as "Dien Bien Phu in the Air" and in the US as the 1972 Christmas bombing.
