Battle Of West Saigon
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Battle Of West Saigon
The Battle of West Saigon took place from 5–12 May 1968 during the May Offensive of the Vietnam War as South Vietnamese and United States forces countered the main thrust of the offensive against the western suburbs of Saigon. Background The second wave of the Tet general offensive began at 04:00 on 5 May with a Viet Cong (VC) mortar attack on the Saigon Bridge, Newport Bridge, a two-lane concrete and steel span that conveyed traffic across the Saigon River from the capital to Biên Hòa. When the barrage ended a few minutes later, several hundred soldiers from the 4th Thu Duc Battalion and the 2nd Battalion, 274th Regiment, emerged from a nearby rubber plantation and assaulted the men from the South Vietnamese Republic of Vietnam Marine Division, 5th Marine Battalion that were guarding the eastern end of the bridge but the assault was repulsed. The VC made a second attempt to cut Saigon off from Biên Hòa at 05:00 when elements from the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Dong Nai R ...
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May Offensive
Phase Two of the Tet Offensive of 1968 (also known as the May Offensive, Little Tet, and Mini-Tet) was launched by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Viet Cong (VC) against targets throughout South Vietnam, including Saigon from 29 April to 30 May 1968. The May Offensive was considered much bloodier than the initial phase of the Tet Offensive. U.S. casualties across South Vietnam were 2,169 killed for the entire month of May, making it the deadliest month of the entire Vietnam War for U.S. forces, while South Vietnamese losses were 2,054 killed. PAVN/VC losses exceeded 24,000 killed and over 2,000 captured. The May Offensive was a costly defeat for the PAVN/VC. Background In late March 1968 COSVN and B2 Front leaders held meetings to review the results of the Tet Offensive. Lê Duẩn, the driving force behind the Tet Offensive, and General Hoàng Văn Thái wished to renew the offensive before the start of the southern monsoon began in mid-May in order to improve their po ...
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Vietnamese Rangers
The Vietnamese Rangers ( vi, Biệt Động Quân), commonly known as the ARVN Rangers, were the light infantry of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Trained and assisted by American Special Forces and Ranger advisers, the Vietnamese Rangers infiltrated beyond enemy lines in search and destroy missions. Initially trained as a counter-insurgency light infantry force by removing the fourth company each of the existing infantry battalions, they later expanded into a swing force capable of conventional as well as counter-insurgency operations, and were relied on to retake captured regions. Later during Vietnamization the Civilian Irregular Defense Group program was transferred from MACV and integrated as Border Battalions responsible for manning remote outposts in the Central Highlands. Rangers were often regarded as among the most effective units in the war. Part of this was due to the specialized role of these units, given that they had their origins in French-raised Commando U ...
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II Field Force, Vietnam
II Field Force, Vietnam was a United States Army Corps-level command during the Vietnam War. Activated on 15 March 1966, it became the largest corps command in Vietnam and one of the largest in Army history. II Field Force was assigned the lineage of the XXII Corps, a World War II corps in the European Theater of Operations. II Field Force was a component of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) and had its headquarters in Long Binh. Area of responsibility II Field Force's area of responsibility was III Corps Tactical Zone, later renamed Military Region 3, which comprised eleven provinces surrounding Saigon. This was designed to mimic the ARVN III Corps region. II Field Force controlled units participating in the 1968 Tet Offensive and the 1970 Cambodian Incursion. Units assigned At various times during the Vietnam War, II FFV controlled the following units: * 1st Infantry Division * 9th Infantry Division * 25th Infantry Division *101st Airborne Division *1st Caval ...
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Nguyễn Ngọc Loan
Major General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan (; 11 December 193014 July 1998) was a South Vietnamese general and chief of the South Vietnamese National Police. Loan gained international attention when he summarily executed handcuffed prisoner Nguyễn Văn Lém, on February 1, 1968 in Saigon, Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. Nguyễn Văn Lém was a Viet Cong (VC) member. The event was witnessed and recorded by Võ Sửu, a cameraman for National Broadcasting Company, NBC, and Eddie Adams (photographer), Eddie Adams, an Associated Press photographer. The photo and film became two famous images in contemporary American journalism. Early life Loan was born in 1930 to a middle-class family in Huế, and was one of eleven children. He studied pharmacy at Huế University before joining the Vietnamese National Army in 1951. He soon studied at an officer training school, where he befriended classmate Nguyễn Cao Kỳ. Loan received pilot training in Morocco before returning to Vietnam in ...
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Republic Of Vietnam National Police
The Republic of Vietnam National Police – RVNP ( vi, Cảnh sát Quốc gia Việt Nam Cộng hòa, links=no), Police Nationale de la République du Vietnam or Police Nationale for short ( vi, Cảnh sát Quốc gia, links=no – CSQG) in French, was the official South Vietnamese national police force from 1962 to 1975, operating closely with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) during the Vietnam War. __TOC__ History The Republic of Vietnam National Police was officially created by President Ngô Đình Diệm's national decree in June 1962, integrating all the existing internal security and paramilitary agencies raised by the French Union authorities during the First Indochina War between 1946 and 1954, into a single National Police Force who answered to the Directorate General of National Police (Vietnamese: ''Tổng cục cảnh sát quốc gia'' – TCCSQG). These included the Vietnamese ''Sûreté'', the Saigon Municipal Police, elements of the colonial National G ...
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South Vietnamese Regional Force
The South Vietnamese Regional Forces ( vi, Địa phương quân, lit. "Local Army"), originally the Civil Guard, were a component of Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) territorial defence forces. Recruited locally, they served as full-time province-level forces, originally raised as a militia. In 1964, the Regional Forces were integrated into the ARVN and placed under the command of the Joint General Staff. The concept of Regional Forces was to counter the Viet Cong (VC) Local Force units, while the ARVN regular forces fought the better equipped VC Main Force units and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). Local militia came to play a very effective role in the war, as the style of small-unit warfare was better suited for guerrilla conflicts with most more familiar with the region and terrain. Despite being poorly paid, these forces were much more capable at detecting infiltration and holding civilian areas. Accounting for an estimated 2-5% of war budget, the Regional Force a ...
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Army Of The Republic Of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. It is estimated to have suffered 1,394,000 casualties (killed and wounded) during the Vietnam War. The ARVN began as a postcolonial army that was Military Assistance Advisory Group, trained by and closely affiliated with the United States and had engaged in conflict since its inception. Several changes occurred throughout its lifetime, initially from a 'blocking-force' to a more modern War in Vietnam (1959–63)#Republic of Vietnam strategy, conventional force using Air assault, helicopter deployment in combat. During the American intervention, the ARVN was reduced to playing a defensive role with an incomplete modernisation, and transformed again following Vietnamization, it was upgeared, expanded, and reconstructed to fulfill the ...
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People’s Army Of Vietnam
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wing of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam. The PAVN is a part of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and includes: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Border Guard and Coast Guard. However, Vietnam does not have a separate Ground Force or Army branch. All ground troops, army corps, military districts and specialised arms belong to the Ministry of Defence, directly under the command of the Central Military Commission, the Minister of Defence, and the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army. The military flag of the PAVN is the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with the words ''Quyết thắng (Determination to win)'' added in yellow at the top left. During the French Indochina War (1946–1954), the PAVN was often referred to as t ...
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Satchel Charge
250px, Weapons used in the Winter War. The original Finnish satchel charge is on the left. A satchel charge is a demolition device, primarily intended for combat, whose primary components are a charge of dynamite or a more potent explosive such as C-4 plastic explosive, a carrying device functionally similar to a satchel or messenger bag, and a triggering mechanism; the term covers both improvised and formally designed devices. In World War II, combat engineers used satchel charges to demolish heavy stationary targets such as rails, obstacles, blockhouses, bunkers, caves, and bridges. The World War II–era United States Army M37 Demolition Kit contained eight blocks of high explosive, with two priming assemblies, in a canvas bag with a shoulder strap. Part or all of this charge could be placed against a structure or slung into an opening. It was usually detonated with a pull igniter. When used as an anti-tank weapon, charges were sufficient to severely damage the tracks. ch ...
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Biên Hòa
Biên Hòa (Northern accent: , Southern accent: ) is the capital city of Đồng Nai Province, Vietnam and part of the Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area and located about east of Ho Chi Minh City, to which Biên Hòa is linked by Vietnam Highway 1. Classified as a class-1 provincial city, it is the sixth largest city in Vietnam by population. Geography Topography Biên Hòa spans 264 square kilometers of midland terrain in the west of Đồng Nai province. Most of the city lies east of the Đồng Nai River. Biên Hòa shares borders with: * Trảng Bom district to the east * Bình Dương Province to the west *Long Thành district and Ho Chi Minh City to the south * Vĩnh Cửu district to the North Administrative divisions Biên Hòa has 30 divisions (29 wards and 1 commune), include: Demographics In 1989 the estimated population was 273,879. In 1999, the population was 435,400, and in 2009 it was 701,194. In December 2012, the population of the city crossed the one ...
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Saigon River
The Saigon River ( vi, Sông Sài Gòn) is a river located in southern Vietnam that rises near Phum Daung in southeastern Cambodia, flows south and south-southeast for about and empties into the Soài Rạp, which in its turn empties into the South China Sea some northeast of the Mekong Delta. The Saigon River is joined northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly named Saigon) by the Đồng Nai river, and just above Ho Chi Minh City it is joined by the Bến Cát River. Saigon River is important to Ho Chi Minh City as it is the main water supply as well as the host of Saigon Port, with a total cargo volume loaded and outloaded of more than 35 million metric tons in 2006. The Bình Quới Tourist Village is located on the Thanh Da peninsula on the Saigon River, in the Bình Thạnh District of Ho Chi Minh City. Thủ Thiêm Tunnel, an underwater tunnel passing below the Saigon River, was opened to traffic on November 20, 2011. Since its completion, it has been the longes ...
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Saigon Bridge
Saigon Bridge, known as Newport Bridge () before 1975, is a bridge crossing the Saigon River, connecting Bình Thạnh District and District 2, Ho Chi Minh City, on the Hanoi Highway. The bridge has four lanes for cars and two lanes for motorcycles and bicycles. It was the only bridge linking District 1 to the new Thu Thiem New Urban Area in District 2 until the Thủ Thiêm Bridge opened in 2008 and the Saigon River Tunnel opened in 2011. The bridge was one of the most vital gateways for vehicles traveling from northern and central Vietnam to the city, and therefore was a key point of contention during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and the Fall of Saigon in 1975. In 2013, a new parallel bridge, Saigon 2 Bridge, was opened to ease congestion on the bridge. Vietnam War On 5 May 1968 during the May or "mini-Tet" Offensive, a 300-man Vietcong (VC) regiment attacked the bridge and the adjacent Newport dock facility but were driven off by Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) force ...
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