1975 Spring Offensive
| 1975 Spring Offensive | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Vietnam War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 North Vietnam Viet Cong
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 South VietnamLimited support:  United States |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Lê Trọng Tấn (Tri Thien Front) Hoang Minh Thao (Tây Nguyên Front) Trần Văn Trà (Southern Regional Headquarters) Nguyen Minh Chau (232nd Tactical Forces) |
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Cao Văn Viên Ngô Quang Trưởng (I Corps) Phạm Văn Phú (II Corps) Du Quoc Dong (III Corps, replaced by Nguyễn Văn Toàn) Nguyễn Khoa Nam (IV Corps) Trần Quang Khôi (ARVN III Armor Brigade and III Corps Assault Task Force) |
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| Strength | |||||||
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US Figures: In South Vietnam: 270,000 Total Forces: 1,000,000 Vietnamese Figures:: 270,000 men 1,076 artillery pieces, mortars and recoilless guns 320 tanks and 250 armoured vehicles 679 trucks Six A-37 Dragonfly aircraft |
Sources 1: 1,110,000 men (710,000 regulars, 400,000 armed CIDG) 1,559 artillery pieces (not including mortars or recoilless guns) 2,044 tanks and armoured vehicles 1,556 aircraft and helicopters 579 war ships At 26 April: In the perimeter around Saigon: 250,000 men (152,000 regulars) 407 artillery pieces 624 tanks and armoured vehicles 229 aircraft At 4th Tactical Zone: 175,000 men (66,000 regulars) 386 artillery pieces 493 tanks and armoured vehicles 118 aircraft Sources 2: Regular Forces: 495,000 Regional Forces: 475,000 Popular Force: 381,000 |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| ~20,000 killed and wounded |
~90,000 killed and wounded. ~1.1 million surrendered or captured877 aircraft were captured (41 were F-5s and 95 were A-37s). |
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| 155,000 refugees killed or abducted | |||||||
~90,000 killed and wounded.
The 1975 Spring Offensive (Vietnamese: Chiến dịch Mùa Xuân 1975) was a series of increasingly large-scale and ambitious offensive operations by North Vietnam and the Viet Cong that began on 13 December 1974. The eventual goal of these operations was to defeat the armed forces and force the surrender of the government of South Vietnam. After the initial success of what was to be a limited campaign in Phước Long Province, the North Vietnamese leadership increased the scope of the People's Army of Vietnam's (PAVN) offensive and quickly threatened the Central Highlands city of Buôn Ma Thuột.
The new offensive was different from the ill-fated Easter Offensive of 1972. The subsequent resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon following the fallout of the Watergate scandal meant that the diplomatic promises of the disgraced former president would not be honored by the United States Congress. Decreases in American military aid, which had become the lifeblood of South Vietnam's armed forces, created material and psychological turmoil in an army steeped in the American way of war. Inability to cope with the situation and find alternative military methodologies contributed heavily to the rapidity of South Vietnam's collapse. The gradual impact of the American abandonment of South Vietnam on the psyche of that nation's political and military leadership and civilian population was devastating.
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