Nixon began to withdraw combat troops immediately upon being sworn into office and before the war had been won, The North Vietnamese continued to test our resolve with massive conventional force invasions. I was personally involved in the attacks across the borders in the Central Highlands in 1971. The biggest attacks occurred in 1972, when all our grounds forces had either left the country or withdrawn to coastal enclaves.
Through the course of these offensives, we continued to withdraw ground troops demonstrating our unwillingness to stand up to outright invasion. The South Vietnamese were able to stand up against these attacks with American air and artillery support, but soon even these units were gone, the Paris Accords were signed and all that was left was a promise to provide financial and military logistical support.
When the 1975 invasion started, the Democrat Congress refused to deliver on the United States promise. But, without American forces, the South Vietnamese had insufficient forces to stop a multi-corps armor and infantry invasion.
The North Vietnamese won the war with conventional forces fighting conventional tactics in an undeveloped country. We did the same thing in the South Pacific in WWII. The South Vietnamese were left to defend their country with what little they had, much like Japanese forces in the Pacific.
Certainly, if the Congress had lived up to our promises, the South Vietnamese could have held out longer, but they almost certainly couldn’t have won.
Thank you for your service!
“Certainly, if the Congress had lived up to our promises, the South Vietnamese could have held out longer, but they almost certainly couldn’t have won.”
Obviously you know way more about this than what I have only read. So the South didn’t have much in the way of artillery? I imagine that they had some form of an air-force, but probably on the order of a few dozen planes.
“Nixon began to withdraw combat troops immediately upon being sworn into office “
Nixon’s ‘Vietnamization’ campaign.
“The biggest attacks occurred in 1972, when all our grounds forces had either left the country or withdrawn to coastal enclaves.”
‘Easter Offensive 1972’- the ARVN and SVN Marines actually acquitted themselves well for once and repulsed the NVA invasion.
“without American forces, the South Vietnamese had insufficient forces to stop a multi-corps armor and infantry invasion... The North Vietnamese won the war with conventional forces fighting conventional tactics in an undeveloped country. “
You know your stuff.
“Certainly, if the Congress had lived up to our promises, the South Vietnamese could have held out longer, but they almost certainly couldn’t have won.”
I agree. If you are going to fight off an aggressive enemy you have to feel like you are a nation. South Vietnam was a splintered society with factions that weren’t much interested in cooperating with each other. Not a recipe for success.