Battle of Xuân Lộc

Battle of Xuan Loc
Part of the Vietnam War
ARVN 18th Division soldiers at Xuân Lộc
Date April 9–21, 1975 Location Xuân Lộc, Đồng Nai Province, South Vietnam Result North Vietnamese strategic victory
Belligerents
North Vietnam Viet Cong	South Vietnam
Commanders and leaders
Hoàng Cầm	Lê Minh Đảo
Strength
Total forces: 40,000 At Xuan Loc: at least 20,000	Total forces: about 25,000 - 30,000 At Xuan Loc: at least 12,000
Casualties and losses
Lê Minh Đảo estimate: 50,000 dead and wounded PAVN's figure (only 4th Corps): 460 dead and 1,428 wounded	At Xuan Loc: 2,036 dead and wounded, 2,731 captured

The Battle of Xuan Loc (Vietnamese: Trận Xuân Lộc) was the last major battle of the Vietnam War in which the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) committed almost all their remaining mobile forces, especially the South Vietnamese 18th Infantry Division, under General Le Minh Dao to the defence of Xuân Lộc, hoping to stall the advance of the North Vietnamese Army. The battle was fought between April 9 and 21, 1975, and ended when the town of Xuân Lộc was captured by the PAVN 4th Army Corps. This was the ARVN III Corps' last defensive line of South Vietnam's capital, Sài Gòn (Saigon). The line connected the city of Bình Dương, Biên Hoà Air Base, Vũng Tàu, Long An and the lynchpin centered on the strategic city of Xuân Lộc, where both the ARVN-JGS and RVNAF-JGS committed the nation's final reserve forces in Saigon's defense. Once Xuân Lộc fell on 21 April 1975, the PVN battled with the last remaining elements of III Corp Armored Task Force, remnants of the 18th Infantry Division, and depleted ARVN Marine, Airborne and Ranger Battalions in a fighting retreat that lasted nine days, until they reached Saigon and PVN armored columns crashed throughout the gates of South Vietnam's Presidential Palace on 30 April 1975, effectively ending the war.

From the beginning of 1975, North Vietnam's military forces swept through the northern provinces of South Vietnam virtually unopposed. In the Central Highlands, South Vietnam's II Corps Tactical Zone was completely destroyed, whilst attempting to evacuate to the Mekong Delta region. In the cities of Huế and Da Nang, ARVN units simply dissolved without putting up resistance. The devastating defeats suffered by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam prompted South Vietnam's National Assembly to question President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's handling of the war, thereby placing him under tremendous pressure to resign.

In the last-ditch effort to save South Vietnam, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu ordered his last military units, namely the ARVN 18th Infantry Division "The Super Men", to hold Xuân Lộc at all cost. The North Vietnamese 4th Army Corps, on the other hand, was ordered to capture Xuân Lộc in order to open the gateway to Saigon. During the early stages of the battle, the ARVN 18th Infantry Division managed to beat off early attempts by the Communists to capture the town, forcing North Vietnamese commanders to change their battle plan. However, on April 19, 1975, Dao's forces were ordered to withdraw after Xuân Lộc was almost completely isolated, with all remaining units badly mauled. The 18th disintegrated shortly afterward.

...
Wikipedia