However, there were still about 420 Vietnamese and other non-Americans left inside the Embassy compound. Added to these problems were the long-standing corruption and incompetence within the officer corps itself. The NVA then moved on Saigon, aiming to take it before On 21 April, Xuan Loc finally fell to the NVA after twelve days of resistance. Additional helicopters were then sent to evacuate the Marine guards, under the command of Major James Kean, with the last eleven leaving the Embassy at 07:53. "The critical decision for the Saigon government was made two days later at Cam Ranh Bay during a meeting between Thieu and General Phu. As most senior ARVN officers had departed the highlands by helicopter, many of the remaining soldiers were a leaderless mob mixed with fleeing civilians. Dougan and Fulghum, p. 26.Worldwide rises in fuel process, a result of the Arab oil embargo instituted in 1972 and poor rice harvests throughout Asia directly affected South Vietnam's military and economic situation.Willbanks, pp. During the two years prior to the offensive (when aid cuts were already occurring), neither he nor the General Staff made any adjustments in strategy, doctrine, organization, or training to compensate for the inevitability of further aid reductions. (1996)m New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. Quoted in Isaacs, p. 500. Those areas that were to be held also included coastal areas where oil had been discovered on the continental shelf. General Dung had already worked out a plan for taking Ban Me Thout. The 420 people awaiting evacuation were abandoned.Twenty-five years of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam had ended. Douglas Kinnard, Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. "We must be in Saigon to celebrate Ho Chi Minh's birthday. Of the more than 5,400 South Vietnamese troops originally committed to the battle, only 850 returned to government lines.Word of the fall of Phuoc Long reached the North Vietnamese Politburo in the midst of its Twenty-third Plenum, and the body immediately ordered the General Staff to develop a follow-up plan. "He did not tell General Truong whether to withdraw or to hold and fight" said General Vien, who was with Thieu. Vietnam War. Clark Dougan, David Fulghum, et al. The general had developed two contingency plans: The first was predicated on government control of Highway 1, which would be utilized for two simultaneous withdrawals from Huế and By the time of the second meeting it was obvious that the second plan was the only possible recourse, since any phased withdrawal along Highway 1 had become impossible. At 10:24 President announced on the radio the surrender of South Vietnam.About noon and almost unopposed, a column of PAVN tanks and armored vehicles advanced into downtown Saigon. 161–162.These forces included the crack 2nd, 304th, 324B, 325C, and 711th PAVN Divisions.After once again abandoning his troops at Nha Trang, General Phu committed suicide in Saigon on 30 April.South Vietnam's second largest city was to be held due to possible future exploitation of offshore oil deposits.
The plan was turned down for three reasons: first, there were simply no reserve forces of sufficient size available anywhere in the country for the task; second, with all overland routes in enemy hands, all movements and logistics would have to depend entirely on airlift, a capability that no longer existed; and third, despite advantageous defensive positions, the forces at Phuoc Long could not hold off two communist divisions long enough for any relief effort to succeed.The fighting around Phuoc Long continued until 6 January 1975, after which the town became the first provincial capital permanently seized by PAVN.
Called the "blossoming lotus", the objective was to avoid outlying South Vietnamese positions and strike at the primary target first, "like a flower bud slowly opening its petals.
With escape impossible, five battalion commanders of the Marine Division said their farewells and then shot themselves rather than face capture .
In 1974 that total increased to 3.5 million metric tons ($1.7 billion).As a result, the number of artillery tubes within South Vietnam increased to 430, including new 122 mm and 130 mm guns, while armored forces were estimated to have increased to 655 tanks and armored personnel carriers, including the new Soviet-built The northern high command had also recognized the need for improvements to their logistical network to facilitate the transport of sufficient supplies of food, weapons, and ammunition necessary for continuous large-scale operations. Momyer, p. 55.It was quite common for family members to accompany soldiers to their areas of operations. Military Region 1's forces disintegrated during the 1975 Spring Offensive (the Hue–Da Nang Campaign).The situation for the South Vietnamese in Military Region 1 had regained some stability after the defeat of a three-division PAVN push during late 1974. Only 900 of 7,000 The ARVN abandon An Lộc with the 32nd Ranger Group withdrawing along Highway 13 to North Vietnam changed the name of Campaign 275 to the "Ho Chi Minh Campaign." The ships of the task force would be the destination for those evacuated from Saigon by helicopter and the tens of thousands of South Vietnamese who were fleeing in private boats, barges and Vietnamese naval vessels.The U.S. Embassy in Saigon decided that, to signal "Evacuation Day" for all Americans, the The last Australians including Ambassador Geoffrey Price of the Australian Embassy in Saigon were evacuated by the RAAF. On the 13th, the 44th ARVN Regiment of the 23rd Division and a battalion of the 21st Ranger Group were helelifted to Phuoc An, 20 miles east of Ban Me Thuot, to form a relief force for the beleaguered city.
William E. Le Gro, Spencer Tucker, Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History, ABC-CLIO, 1998, p 770. This attempt, however, provoked the civilian population in the affected areas to take to the roads, making coherent military movements virtually impossible. For a start, not because of a lack of military resources, either in manpower or equipment.