Post: fALL OF SaiGon
User: abi
Infraction: Spammer!
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Wikispammer
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Original Post:
The Fall of Saigon (in Vietnamese: Sự kiện 30 tháng 4 - April 30 Incident; Giải phóng miền Nam - The liberation of the south by supporters of the former North Vietnam and the current Socialist Republic of Vietnam; Ngày mất nước - The day of losing the nation by supporters of the former South Vietnam) was the capture of Saigon, the capital of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) by the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), on April 30, 1975. The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period leading to the formal reunification of Vietnam under communist rule.
PAVN forces under the command of the Senior General Van Tien Dung began their final attack on Saigon, which was commanded by General Nguyen Van Toan on April 29, with a heavy artillery bombardment. By the afternoon of the next day, North Vietnamese troops had occupied the important points within the city and raised their flag over the Independence Palace. South Vietnam capitulated shortly after. The city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
The fall of the city was preceded by the evacuation of almost all the American civilian and military personnel in Saigon, along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians. The evacuation culminated in Operation Frequent Wind, which was the largest helicopter evacuation in history.[3] In addition to the flight of refugees, the end of the war and institution of new rules by the communists contributed to a decline in the population of the city.
The rapid North Vietnamese advances of March and early April led to increased concern in Saigon that the city, which had been fairly peaceful throughout the war and whose people had endured relatively little suffering, was soon to come under direct attack.[11] Many feared that once Communists took control of the city, a bloodbath of reprisals would take place. In 1968, PAVN and National Liberation Front (NLF) forces had occupied Hue for close to a month. After the Communists were repelled, American and ARVN forces had found mass graves. A study prepared for the U.S. mission in Vietnam indicated that the communists had targeted ARVN officers, Catholics, intellectuals and businessmen, and other suspected counterrevolutionaries.[12] More recently, eight Americans captured in Ban Me Thout had vanished and reports of beheadings and other executions were filtering through from Hue and Da Nang, mostly spurred on by government propaganda.[13] Most Americans and other Westerners wanted to evacuate the city before it fell, and many South Vietnamese wanted to leave as well.
As early as the end of March, some Americans were leaving the city. For instance, ten families departed on March 31.[14] Flights out of Saigon, lightly booked under ordinary circumstances, were full.[15] Throughout April the speed of the evacuation increased, as the Defense Attaché’s Office (DAO) began to fly out nonessential personnel. Many Americans attached to the DAO refused to leave without their Vietnamese friends and dependents, who included common-law wives and children. It was illegal for the DAO to move these people to American soil, and this initially slowed down the rate of departure, but eventually the DAO began illegally flying undocumented Vietnamese to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines.[16]
On 3 April, President Gerald R. Ford announced “Operation Babylift”, which would evacuate about 2000 orphans from the country. One of the C-5A Galaxy planes involved in the operation crashed, killing 138 passengers and seriously reducing the morale of the American staff.[17] In addition to the 2000 orphans evacuated by Babylift, Operation New Life resulted in the evacuation of over 110,000 Vietnamese refugees.
At 06:00 on 29 April, General Dung was ordered by the Politburo to “strike with the greatest determination straight into the enemy’s final lair.”[40]
After one day of bombardment and general offensive, the North Vietnamese were ready to make their final push into the city. In the early hours of 30 April, Dung received orders from the Politburo to attack. He then ordered his field commanders to advance directly to key facilities and strategic points in the city.[41] The first PAVN unit to enter the city was the 324th Division.[42] Duong Van Minh, who had been president of South Vietnam for only three days, at 10:24 announced a surrender and asked South Vietnamese forces “to cease hostilities in calm and to stay where they are,” while inviting the Provisional Revolutionary Government to engage in “a ceremony of orderly transfer of power so as to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed in the population.”[43]
However, the North Vietnamese were uninterested in a handover and simply took the city, arresting Minh. The gates of the Independence Palace were destroyed by PAVN tanks as they entered, and the NLF flag was raised over the Palace at 11:30. At 15:30, Minh broadcast over the radio, stating “I declare the Saigon government…completely dissolved at all levels.”[citation needed] The dissolution of the South Vietnamese government effectively ended the Vietnam War.
