The 1975 spring offensive (Vietnamese: chiến dịch mùa Xuân 1975), officially known as the general offensive and uprising of spring 1975 (Vietnamese: Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy mùa Xuân 1975) was the final North Vietnamese campaign in the Vietnam War that led to the capitulation of Republic of Vietnam. After the initial success capturing Phước Long Province, the North Vietnamese leadership increased the scope of the People's Army of Vietnam's (PAVN) offensive and captured and held the key Central Highlands city of Buôn Ma Thuột between 10 and 18 March. These operations were intended to be preparatory to launching a general offensive in 1976.

Following the attack on Buôn Ma Thuôt, the Republic of Vietnam realized they were no longer able to defend the entire country and ordered a strategic withdrawal from the Central Highlands. The retreat from the Central Highlands, however, was a debacle as civilian refugees fled under fire with soldiers, mostly along a single highway reaching from the highlands to the coast. This situation was exacerbated by confusing orders, lack of command and control, and a well-led and aggressive enemy, which led to the utter rout and destruction of the bulk of South Vietnamese forces in the Central Highlands. A similar collapse occurred in the northern provinces.

Surprised by the rapidity of the ARVN collapse, North Vietnam transferred the bulk of its northern forces more than 350 miles (560 km) to the south in order to capture the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon in time to celebrate their late President Ho Chi Minh's birthday and end the war. South Vietnamese forces regrouped around the capital and defended the key transportation hubs at Phan Rang and Xuân Lộc, but a loss of political and military will to continue the fight became ever more manifest. Under political pressure, South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned on 21 April, in hopes that a new leader that was more amenable to the North Vietnamese could reopen negotiations with them. It was, however, too late. Southwest of Saigon IV Corps, meanwhile, remained relatively stable with its forces aggressively preventing VC units from taking over any provincial capitals. With PAVN spearheads already entering Saigon, the South Vietnamese government, then under the leadership of Dương Văn Minh, capitulated on 30 April 1975.

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  • MeltyBloodPlayer [it/its,they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I've started watching msnbc every morning

    when did american news networks get so psychotic, endlessly talking about the war against communist and how we need to destroy everyone in order to spread our 'democratic' values? was it always THIS bad?

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      idk. The 24 hour news cycle started back in 91 when the US invaded Iraq the first time, and it was just 24/7 images of Baghdad blowing up and tracer fire fruitlessly trying to take down US bombers. So it started out pretty bloodthirsty and evil. I assume it's just gotten worse since then. Like Maddow and other liberal talking heads have been pushing RussiaGate every waking minute for years leading up the war with Ukraine, and now it seems like they've effortlessly pivoted to China and somehow managed to make people give a shit about the plight of Taiwan.

    • Soap_Owl [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yes. If you look old news stuff it was probably worse but cocane and slurs were legal then so it was a mixed bag