Posted on 04/29/2005 5:08:24 AM PDT by Chairman_December_19th_Society
We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail!
Good morning!!
Do not let the victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, nor the brave members of our Nation's military who have given their lives to protect our freedom, die in vain!!
You have nothing left to turn over. [North Vietnamese colonel Bui Tin after being offered the surrender of South Vietnam by Doung Van Minh]
March 9, 1975, was as many other days in South Vietnam--hot, sultry, the steam rising from the jungle. This day, however, heavy fighting broke out between government soldiers of the Army of the Republic of South Vietnam (ARVN) and the Viet Cong (VC) at a place called An Loc.
Three years earlier, the location had been the site of a fierce battle between United States forces and those of North Vietnam, a battle the Americans ultimately won.
This day, the attack was being joined not against the Americans, but against an allegedly well-trained army seeking to defend the free portion of Vietnam from a take over, liberation they called it, by the Communist North. The ARVN forces were well supplied and were acquitting themselves well in this town near Saigon.
It was a part of a trap.
The North Vietnamese, in total violation of an agreement they had signed two years earlier in Paris, had been sending whole, divisional-sized units, down, and into Laos and on into Cambodia. These forces then infiltrated the Central Highlands, preparing for the day they were to move.
Movement for these forces started on March 10, 1975, as North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces struck at Ban Me Thot in division strength, moving toward the Pacific Ocean. The town falls that day, and the ARVN regiment in the region collapses.
Now at this point, the only fighting that was occurring was in the Central Highlands and near Saigon, and could have been fairly easily contained, even with the disaster at Ben Me Thot. President Thieu, however, paniced. ARVN forces were ordered to abandon the Central Highlands and the provinces to its north immediately. President Thieu worried his narrow country was going to be split in half. The withdrawl begins four days after the fall of Ban Me Thot.
Normally, general withdrawls need to be planned well in advance. ARVN didn't even have a contingency draft to cover what they were now called upon to do by Theiu. The NVA, however, had been preparing for such a possibility for years.
The original plan of attack by the NVA did not call for a general offensive striking from the North at this point, but probably late in 1975. Noticing ARVN forces abandoning positions, and having thought the whole process through, NVA generalship ordered a general attack by forces near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The ARVN forces began to disintegrate into a rout. They simply couldn't move south fast enough.
What followed, the "convoy of tears", goes down in history as one of the great tragedies. ARVN forces became little more than scared animals searching for their own survival and those of their loved ones. Country meant nothing. Indeed, these forces would hoard food and water in Hue, for example, over the needs of the terrified civilian population they were to defend.
The military debacle then set toward becoming one of the all-time great defeats of a major armed force. On March 19, 1975, Quang Tri, site of tremendous battles in 1972, fell to the NVA. Five days later, Tam Ky is captured by the Communists and seige is laid upon the ancient capital of Hue. It would become part of North Vietnamese military territory on March 26, the same day Chu Lai falls.
On the 28th or March, NVA forces attack Da Nang, and military officers of the ARVN take flight, leaving non-coms and soldiers to their own fate. Nearly 100,000 ARVN soldiers surrender in Da Nang two days later. The attacking NVA force was only two divisions: 35,000.
April opened with the North Vietnamese in control of the northern half of Free Vietnam.
April also started with President Lon Nol of Cambodia deciding the gig was up and he fled his country. The American embassy in Phmon Penh begins to evacuate the country.
Finally, by the middle of April, the ARVN decides it is time to fight. Unfortunately, Xuan Loc is not all that far outside of the capital of Saigon. NVA forces, however, are overextended having moved hundreds of miles in a month, and cannot immediately overcome the resistance of the ARVN 18th Infantry Division--one of the few remaining units in the South's order of battle. ARVN forces would resist at this location for 13 days, starting on the 8th of April.
Meanwhile, sensing complete victory, political elements of North Vietnam make it clear they will not discuss terms with South Vietnamese President Thieu. They hold out a fig leaf of talks were someone else to enter power. Thieu resigned on April 12.
On April 17, 1975, Cambodia fell to Khmer Rouge forces. Thieu is helped into exile in Taiwan by the CIA four days later; on April 22, 1975, Xuan Loc falls. NVA forces begin the encirclement of Saigon.
On the 27th of April, the encirclement is complete, and NVA forces begin to rocket the capital of Free Vietnam, virtually the last remaining territory under the control of the ARVN. Only 30,000 troops remain in the order of battle for the South. Thieu's Vice President flees, setting forth a consitutional crisis as no one wants to lead the South. Eventually Minh, who had been President in the 1960s, would take over.
The battle of Tan Son Nhut would signal the final battle for Saigon had started; this commenced 30 years ago today. The Americans being the airlift out of the embattled capital. The next day, resistance would end and NVA forces would stream into the capital nearly unopposed.
After crashing down the gates of the Presidential Palace--which NVA forces couldn't find, they had to ask directions--forces stormed into the building to find a nervous Minh.
Minh declared to the leader of the NVA contingent, Colonel Bui Tin, "We have been waiting for you so that we could turn over the government." The response was there was nothing left to turn over. The Second Indochina War had come to an end, not with a bang but a whimper.
[Answers.com, 1st Battalion 50th Infanty Website, and Vietnam Voices were used in the preparation of this short history.]
Next: The Tactics Employed by the North
For AMERICA - The Right Way, I remain yours in the Cause, the Chairman.
LET'S ROLL!!!
Took longer than I thought. Sorry I'm late.
Thank you Chairman, and good morning...happy Friday to you, everyone.
The We're Smart, You're Dumb Principle David Gelernter...on the Dems
Rush to Victory : Why is Harry Reid acting like David Koresh? Daniel Henninger
Love to all...back later...
Good morning; yes, it is Friday!
I want to point something out about the press conference.
By running the press conference up to 9PM, the President kept them from doing any analysis of what he said, which is a good thing.
I am certain it was intentional, because early in the press conference he intentionally called on TV reporters first, and said so. He knew the TV people would be under pressure to finish by 9. After he had called on all of them, he went to the print press, who of course didn't care about any deadline. He ran that conference right up to the wire on purpose.
So, he spoke to a large audience supplied by two popular network shows, got his message on Social Security and energy out, spoke plainly enough that most average people could understand, and managed to avoid the partisan pundits attacking him.
Pretty smart, if you ask me.
MRO ARRIVES AT THE CAPE TONIGHT! STILL GO FOR AUGUST 10 LAUNCH!
Good job.
WOOHOOO!!!!!!!! Congrats 2/3rds. So proud & thrilled for you! Keep us updated okay?
Congrats!!
That is SUCH a cool picture! Thanks 2/3's. Happy Friday to you.
Good morning everybody.
How very exciting! Keep us posted and good job.
They deserve to, though, becasue they have worked on her the whole time. Once the fuel tank was installed DEEP in the heart of MRO, I was pretty much done and started working on the Hubble Servicing/orbit-deboost Module.
In an EXTREMELY ironic fashion, I DID have to perform some structural analysis THIS WEEK on some brackets I worked on on MRO so I could say they were good before shipping. YIKES!
Thanks prairie....and Happy Friday to you, too!
Thanks Peach! I certainly will. Hopefully there will be some actual pics of MRO shipping on their site soon.
We shouldn't slight the credit that the RATS in Congress deserve for stabbing South Vietnam in the back after Watergate. That's Ketchup Boy's idea of diplomacy in a nutshell: "Cut and run, and screw your allies".
On a more mundane note, I have just been out chasing the trash truck, because I cannot get used to the trash pick-up date having been changed from Monday to Friday.
PLUS, the legislature has voted to go to Daylight Savings time.
And it is raining.
Grrrr.
But that's another program.
I agree with you, but it doesn't work toward where I'm driving this series. The point, which will start to emerge around installment 5, is our current enemy learned well from our enemy of the 60s. So my focus will be more upon the efforts of the NVA and the Hanoi regime than in the collosal errors of the RVN and the US because, it simply misses the point of today.
Maybe sometime I'll write some stuff on that and stick it on the web.
Actually, I think it's just as relevant today as it was in 1975, because the RATS are actively trying to undermine our efforts in Iraq. However, I look forward to your next installment, all the same. ;^)
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