Battle of Kontum

Part of the Vietnam War

Date	May 26–27, 1972
Location	14°21′22″N 108°0′28″E / 14.35611°N 108.00778°E / 14.35611; 108.00778 (Kontum)Coordinates: 14°21′22″N 108°0′28″E / 14.35611°N 108.00778°E / 14.35611; 108.00778 (Kontum) Kontum, South Vietnam
Result	South Vietnamese and U.S. victory

Belligerents

South Vietnam

United States

North Vietnam

Commanders and leaders

Ngo Dzu (replaced by Nguyen Van Toan)
Ly Tong Ba

Units involved

Supported by:

2nd Division
3rd Division
320th Division

(~40.000), backed by 30 tanks

Casualties and losses

In this battle: 1000+
During the Central Highlands campaign: Unknown

During the Central Highlands campaign: (U.S. estimate) 20,000-40,000
24 T-54 and Type 59 tanks destroyed
5 PT-76s destroyed

ARVN II Corps

2nd Division
3rd Division
320th Division

The lead-up to the Battle of Kontum began in mid-1971, when North Vietnam decided that its victory in Operation Lam Son 719 indicated that the time had come for large-scale conventional offensives that could end the war quickly. The resulting offensive, planned for the spring of 1972, would be known as the Easter Offensive in the South and the Nguyen Hue Offensive in the North, Nguyen Hue being a hero of Vietnamese resistance against the Chinese in 1789. The Easter Offensive would make use of fourteen divisions and would be the largest in the war.

The 1972 Easter Offensive/Nguyen Hue Campaign began with a massive attack on the Demilitarized Zone with 30,000 People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) soldiers and more than 100 tanks. Two thrusts of equivalent size, one towards Saigon and a third to the Central Highlands and provincial capital of Kontum began soon after. The North Vietnamese knew that if they could capture Kontum and the Central Highlands, they would cut South Vietnam in half.

The Battle for Kontum would pit the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 22nd and (later) the 23rd Divisions under the command of Lt. Gen. Ngo Dzu and later Maj. Gen. Nguyen Van Toan against the equivalent of three North Vietnamese Army divisions, the 320th and 2nd Divisions plus combat units of the 3rd Division, B-3 Front, and local Viet Cong forces under the command of Lt. Gen. Hoang Minh Thao.

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Wikipedia