The Son Tay Raid, codename Operation King Pin, lasted for just 27 minutes. 61 American prisoners of war were being held at the Son Tay Prison Camp just outside of Hanoi. For months, U.S. Special Forces made plans for rescuing the prisoners and trained meticulously for every contingency.

On November 21, 1970,  U.S. Special Forces soldiers and airmen executed a swift and stunning raid of the Son Tay prison camp with zero American casualties, amd 100-200 enemy casualties. However, not a single prisoner was found. Despite this, the raid stands as one of the most significant operations in modern military history. Immediately after, the North Vietnamese started treating U.S. POWs a lot better.

Some speculate that the U.S. knew the prisoners were moved already. But wanted to make a show of force to the North Vietnamese that we were ready to start hitting their prison camps. No better way than to hit a camp, still full of guards, and kill 100-200 of the enemy with zero collateral damage to our own POWs.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZBTMOPXC5I