Easter Offensive
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| Easter Offensive | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Vietnam Conflict | |||||||
| Image:DRVA.jpg PAVN artillery goes into action on the Kontum front | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Image:Flag of South Vietnam.svgRepublic of Vietnam (RVN) Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States (U.S.) | Image:Flag of North Vietnam.svgDemocratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Ngo Quang Truong | Vo Nguyen Giap | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ??? | 200,000 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 40,000+ KIA and wounded | 100,000+ KIA | ||||||
| Vietnam War |
|---|
| Ap Bac – Binh Gia – Song Be – Dong Xoai – Ia Drang – Long Tan – Dak To – Tra Binh Dong –Ong Thanh – 1st Tet – Khe Sanh – 1st Saigon – Lang Vei – Hills 881 & 861 – 2nd Tet – Hamburger Hill – Binh Ba – Ripcord – FSB Mary Ann – Easter '72 – An Loc – Kontum – Phuoc Long – Ho Chi Minh – Buon Ma Thuot – Xuan Loc – 2nd Saigon – Barrell Roll – Rolling Thunder – Pony Express – Steel Tiger – Commando Hunt – Linebacker I – Linebacker II – Chenla I – Tiger Hound – Lima Site 85 – Tailwind – Chenla II – Cambodia |
The Easter Offensive (also known as the Nguyen Hue Offensive or Spring Offensive) was a military campaign in the Vietnam Conflict. It lasted from March to October 1972. It was North Vietnam's first attempt to invade South Vietnam since the third phase of the General Offensive had been stalled at the Battle of Dai Do in May 1968.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
When North Vietnam launched the offensive in 1972 it had every reason to be confident of victory. US forces had been gradually withdrawing from South Vietnam for the previous three years, mass demonstration against American involvement in the conflict, and South Vietnamese failure during Operation Lam Son 719 added to the DRV's confidence. However, it was during this offensive that the North Vietnamese failed as the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) put up heavy resistance and inflicted much damage on their opponents, the result was a military disaster for North Vietnam.
[edit] The Offensive
The offensive began on 30 March 1972, when 200,000 People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) troops under the command of General Vo Nguyen Giap,
crossed the Demilitarized Zone and attacked the three northernmost provinces of South Vietnam. Rolling over the border outposts, PAVN then attacked the city of Quang Tri from the North and West. This wave of attacks was followed by offensives against Kontum Province on 12 April and the city of An Loc, in Binh Long Province on 19 April.
The second wave of the offensive was designed to split South Vietnam in two by driving through the Central Highlands to the sea. The attack on Quang Tri was met by heavy aerial bombardment by aircraft of the United States Navy. B-52 Stratofortress bombers were used to extend the air strikes against North Vietnamese forces in the DMZ zone on 4 April, and into areas of North Vietnam on 10 April, in a bombing campaign unprecedented during the Vietnam War. The capital of Hanoi was bombed on 15April.
Quang Tri fell to PAVN on 1 May. In response, the US and South Vietnamese withdrew from the Paris Peace Talks three days later, although talks resumed on 13 July. PAVN soon pressed the attack southward from Quang Tri southward toward Hue, where they were rebuffed with the assistance of American air support on 5 May. The US military reinforced aircraft by shuttling squadrons in from as far away as Japan and the continental US. The aerial armada continued to provide to South Vietnamese troops, and began Operation Linebacker I
Simultaneously, the US continued to withdraw combat troops from South Vietnam, culminating in the departure of the last US combat troops from South Vietnam on 23 August. With Linebacker I underway, the PAVN offensive was slowed by supply shortages. PAVN withdrew from the offensive on Kontum on 30 May, and An Loc, which had been besieged unsuccessfully by the communists, was relieved on 11 July.
ARVN launched an offensive to re-take Quang Tri on 28 June, finally recapturing the city on 16 September. One-tenth of the DRV's air force was destroyed during the bombing campaign by the end of September. The peace talks in Paris reached fruition on 8 October when both sides agreed to major concessions. However, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's proposals were initially rejected by the South Vietnamese government. The US military ended Operation Linebacker I on 22 October amid talks of an end to the Vietnam Conflict, although PAVN troops remained in South Vietnam.
[edit] Aftermath
Estimated troop casualties during the offensive were 100,000 for North Vietnam and 40,000 for South Vietnam. Following the failure of the offensive, General Giap was replaced by his deputy, General Van Tien Dung.
Due to the intransigence of South Vietnam's President Nguyen Van Thieu (who demanded reassurence that the US would not abandon his nation after any agreement) and by new demands by the DRV, the peace talks stalled in December. This led Preaident Richard M. Nixon, to launch Operation Linebacker II, a bombing campaign aimed at Hanoi and the port of Haiphong. The Paris Peace Accords, signed in January 1973 confirmed that PAVN troops would remain in South Vietnam in the areas that they then occupied. The US ended its involvement in South Vietnam in April 1973. PAVN launched its third offensive (the Ho Chi Minh Campaign) in 1975, and was successful.
