The Vietnam War by General William C. Westmoreland

Author:General William C. Westmoreland [C. Westmoreland, General William]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781849943192
Publisher: Pavilion Books
Published: 2015-06-25T07:00:00+00:00

■ Exploiting Communist losses in the Tet offensive

When Komer and his staff learned of the serious losses that the VC and VPA had sustained in the Tet offensive – the South Vietnamese claimed that some 7,000 Communists were captured jlowDMZ,ajabepMarputt KnhGiapryoccDiBiPhuurswouhatblowswsatoathirerve;sifssfla304tDiBiPhuthisjrabysydevawfivAjrobviquid;dexpvlabyARussiovdmao achithiss30Ma1972,n 54,000opdovo athree-o,imfreewo-thircouyy. Fstook part, each artillery, tank, anti-aircraft, and missile units, with Viet Cong regional units attacking ARVN rear areas. The NVA captured one provincial capital – Quang Tri – only to lose it later, and the offensive was another setback for the North. The NVA also did badly at a tactical level. At An Loc, for example, the attack was opened by a heavy artillery barrage on the town, which reduced much of the place to rubble and gave ideal cover to the defenders. Then, as the Soviet-built T-54 tanks went in, they were canalized by the rubble and then picked off one by one by the defenders using LAW (light anti-tank weapon) missiles. Meanwhile, the main body of the NVA infantry formed up outside the town where it was devastated by B-52 and fighter-bomber strikes.

By the autumn, there was stalemate: the NVA had gained a small amount of territory but could expand no father, while the ARVN had stopped the invasion but could not expel the Communists from the ground they had taken. In November, therefore, both sides moved towards a political settlement and - following the renewed bombing of the North from 18 to 30 December 1972 – the Paris Agreements were signed on 27 January 1973. These resulted in the complete withdrawal of United States and other “foreign” forces from South Vietnam – but not of the NVA, which expanded apace, especially as the cessation of the bombing cut the time needed to traverse the Ho Chi Minh Trail by 75 percent.

As South Vietnam’s last remaining friends deserted her, the NVA stepped up the pressure. A general offensive started in 1974, involving 13 divisions (160,000 men) and 600 or more tanks. Once again they learned from their mistakes; the errors of the 1972 offensive were avoided. Steady progress was made; in January 1975 the first complete province was over-run (Phuoc Long) and President Thieu began to abandon other provinces. The steam-roller quickly gathered momentum and the NVA soon took to bypassing even quite major resistance in its drive for the golden prize – Saigon. As the world’s attention concentrated first on the evacuation of orphans and then on the final, undignified withdrawal of United States nationals, the tanks of the NVA swung into Saigon. At 1215 hours on 30 April 1975, the Communist flag was hoisted over the city – just one week short of the twenty-first anniversary of the victory at Dien Bien Phu.

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