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Presidential Guard (South Vietnam)
The Presidential Guard (Vietnamese: ''Lữ đoàn Liên binh phòng vệ Tổng Thống Phủ'') was a military unit of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) that was assigned to personally protect the President of the Republic of Vietnam, the nation-state that existed from 1955 to 1975. This force formed the bulwark of defences against continual coups, preventing previous coups against Ngo Dinh Diem, and would be maintained to prevent further coups in the wake of political instability following it. __TOC__ History The headquarters and barracks of the Guard were located at the Cộng Hòa barracks in close proximity to the Gia Long Palace and the Independence Palace. The former Foyer du Soldat et du Marin (now the Ho Chi Minh Campaign Museum) at 2 Le Duan Boulevard became a clubhouse for the Guard until 1967 when it was transformed into the National Defense College (''Truong Cao dang Quốc phòng'') to train ARVN officers above the rank of Colonel. During the 1960 South Vie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
President Of South Vietnam
This is a list of leaders of South Vietnam, since the establishment of the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina in 1946, and the division of Vietnam in 1954 until the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975, and the reunification of Vietnam in 1976. Legends Heads of state Chiefs of the State of Vietnam (1949–1955) Presidents of the First Republic of Vietnam (1955–1963) Vice president of the First Republic of Vietnam (1956–1963) Military junta (1963–1967) Heads of state During the military junta period, the heads of state of South Vietnam did not always hold real power, the heads of military were de facto leaders of the nation. Sometimes the heads of state and heads of military were held by the same person, for example: Duong Van Minh from 2 November 1963 to 30 January 1964 or Nguyen Khanh from 16 August 1964 to 27 August 1964. Heads of military During the military junta period, heads of military held the real power in governing the nation. Someti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1960 South Vietnamese Coup Attempt
On November 11, 1960, a failed coup attempt against President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was led by Lieutenant Colonel Vương Văn Đông and Colonel Nguyễn Chánh Thi of the Airborne Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). The rebels launched the coup in response to Diệm's autocratic rule and the negative political influence of his brother Ngô Đình Nhu and sister-in-law Madame Nhu. They also bemoaned the politicisation of the military, whereby regime loyalists who were members of the Ngô family's covert Cần Lao Party were readily promoted ahead of more competent officers who were not insiders. Đông was supported in the conspiracy by his brother-in-law Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trieu Hong, whose uncle was a prominent official in a minor opposition party. The main link in the coup was Đông's commanding officer Thi, whom he persuaded to join the plot. The coup caught the Ngô family completely off-guard, but was also chaotically execu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Republic Of Vietnam’s Military Forces
The Republic of Vietnam Military Forces (RVNMF; – QLVNCH), were the official armed defense forces of the defunct Republic of Vietnam and was responsible for the defense of the state since its independence from France in October 1955 to its demise in April 1975. Branches The QLVNCH was formally established on December 30, 1955, by the strongman and republican first South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem, which he declared on October 26 that year after winning a rigged referendumRottman and Bujeiro, ''Army of the Republic of Vietnam 1955-75'' (2010), p. 7. on the future of the State of Vietnam. Created out from ex-French Union Army colonial Indochinese auxiliary units (French: ''Supplétifs''), gathered earlier in July 1951 into the French-led Vietnamese National Army (VNA) (Vietnamese: ''Quân Đội Quốc Gia Việt Nam'' – QĐQGVN), Armée Nationale Vietnamiènne (ANV) in French, the armed forces of the new state consisted in the mid-1950s of ground, air, and naval bra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M41 Walker Bulldog
The M41 Walker Bulldog, officially 76-mm Gun Tank, M41, was an American light tank developed for armed reconnaissance purposes. It was produced by Cadillac between 1951 and 1954 and marketed successfully to the United States Army as a replacement for its aging fleet of World War II vintage M24 Chaffee tanks. Although engineered as a reconnaissance vehicle, the M41's weight and armament also made it effective in the close infantry support role and for rapid airborne deployments. Upon entering US service, all M41s received the designation ''Little Bulldog'' and subsequently, ''Walker Bulldog'' after the late General Walton Walker, who was killed in a Jeep accident in 1950. The M41 was the first postwar American light tank to see worldwide service, and was exported in considerable numbers by the United States, particularly to Asia. Development of the M41 proceeded slowly until the outbreak of the Korean War, when the US Army's renewed demands for more tanks resulted in its being ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the United States Armed Forces and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. The name is the truncated version of the Lunar New Year festival name in Vietnamese, Tết Nguyên Đán, with the offense chosen during a holiday period as most ARVN personnel were on leave. The purpose of the wide-scale offensive by the Hanoi Politburo was to trigger political instability, in a belief that mass armed assault on urban centers would trigger defections and rebellions. The offensive was launched prematurely in the late night hours of 30 January in the I and II Corps Tactical Zones of South V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF), became head of a military junta in 1965, and then president after winning an election in 1967. He established rule over South Vietnam until he resigned and left the nation and relocated to Taipei, Taiwan a few days before the fall of Saigon and the ultimate North Vietnamese victory. Born in Phan Rang–Tháp Chàm, Phan Rang in the South Central Coast, south central coast of Vietnam, Thieu joined the communist-dominated Việt Minh of Hồ Chí Minh in 1945 but quit after a year and joined the Vietnamese National Army (VNA) of the French-backed State of Vietnam. He gradually rose up the ranks and, in 1954, led a battalion in expelling the communists from his native village. Following the withdrawal of France ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
5th Division (South Vietnam)
The Fifth Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)—the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the III Corps that oversaw the region of the country surrounding the capital, Saigon. The Fifth Division was based in Biên Hòa, a town on the northern outskirts of Saigon, and due to the Division's close proximity to the capital Saigon was a key factor in the success or failure of the various coup attempts in the nation's history. As a result, the loyalty of the commanding officer of the Division was crucial in maintaining power. History The Division was originally established as the 3rd Field Division and redesignated as the 5th Infantry Division in 1960. In the 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt, the loyalist Colonel Nguyễn Văn Thiệu used the Division to storm into Saigon to save President Ngô Đình Diệm. However, in the successful coup attempt of 1963, Thiệu rebelled and the Division along with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1963 South Vietnamese Coup
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm and the Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of both the Buddhist crisis and the Viet Cong threat to the regime. In South Vietnam, the coup was referred to as ''Cách mạng 1-11-63'' ("1 November 1963 Revolution"). The Kennedy administration had been aware of the coup planning, but Cable 243 from the United States Department of State to U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., stated that it was U.S. policy not to try to stop it. Lucien Conein, the Central Intelligence Agency's liaison between the U.S. Embassy and the coup planners, told them that the U.S. would not intervene to stop it. Conein also provided funds to the coup leaders. The coup was led by General Dương Văn Minh and started on 1 November 1963. It proceeded smoothly as many loyalist leaders were captured after being caught off-guard a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M45 Quadmount
The M45 Quadmount (nicknamed the "meat chopper" and "Krautmower"Rottman, Gordon L., Browning .50-Caliber Machine Guns', Osprey Publishing (2010), , p. 19-20 for its high rate of fire) was a weapon mounting consisting of four of the "HB", or "heavy barrel" .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns (of the M2 Turret Type (TT) variant) mounted in pairs on each side of an open, electrically powered turret. It was developed by the W. L. Maxson Corporation to replace the earlier M33 twin mount (also from Maxson). Although designed as an anti-aircraft weapon, it was also used against ground targets. Introduced in 1943 during World War II, it remained in US service as late as the Vietnam War. History In order to develop a mobile anti-aircraft weapon, several 0.5 inch (12.7 mm) twin machine gun mounts were tested on the chassis of the M2 half-track including Bendix, Martin Aircraft Company, and Maxson. The Maxson M33 turret mount was preferred and—on the larger M3 half-track (T1E2) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M114 Armored Fighting Vehicle
The M114 Command and Reconnaissance Carrier is a Vietnam War-era tracked armored fighting vehicle, used by the United States Army. It was manufactured by the Cadillac Division of General Motors in the early 1960s. The M114 was designed to be fast and stealthy for use in the reconnaissance role. Like the larger M113, it was amphibious and could be deployed by parachute. However, unlike the M113 which became one of the most successful armoured vehicles, it quickly proved unsuited to use in the Vietnam War, and was replaced in the reconnaissance role by the M551 Sheridan light tank. By 1979, it had been branded a failure and retired from the US Army, but some were released as surplus and continue to be used by police departments. Description The M114 was a lightweight, low-silhouette vehicle, designed to complement the M113 in command and reconnaissance roles. The M114 was 4 inches lower than the M113, and its upper forward glacis plate had a shallower angle than on the M113, r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
