The Cộng Hòa barracks ("Republic barracks") were the barracks of the

Presidential Guard Presidential Guard may refer to: *President Guard Regiment (Bangladesh) *Presidential Guard Regiment (Turkey) *Presidential Guard (Greece) *Presidential Guard (Belarus) *Presidential Guard (South Vietnam) *President's Own Guard Regiment (Ghana) * ...

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

. It was located in the centre of

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

, near the

Gia Long Palace Gia Long Palace ( vi, Dinh Gia Long, french: palais de Gia Long), now officially the Ho Chi Minh City Museum (Vietnamese language: ''Bảo tàng Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh'') is a historical site and museum in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, Vietnam. ...

and the

Independence Palace The Independence Palace ( vi, Dinh Độc Lập), also publicly known as the Reunification Convention Hall ( vi, Hội trường Thống Nhất), is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon), Vietnam. It was designed by architec ...

.Misalliance Edward Miller - 2013 -"... mayor who had spoken to Nhu earlier by phone, as well as a small detail of officers from Nhu's Republican Youth movement. ... By midnight, the coup forces had seized the Cong Hoa barracks and were preparing for an all-out assault on the ... The barracks were originally built by the French in the 1870-3 as the Caserne de l'Infanterie on the site of the former Phoenix Citadel (Thành Phượng) built by the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

Emperor

Minh Mang {{Orphan, date=December 2021 Minh (Chữ Nôm: 明) is a popular unisex given name of Vietnamese origin, written using the Chinese character (明) meaning "bright", and is also popular among other East Asian names. The Chinese name Ming has the sa ...

. Following the

Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina The Japanese ''coup d'état'' in French Indochina, known as , was a Japanese operation that took place on 9 March 1945, towards the end of World War II. With Japanese forces losing the war and the threat of an Allied invasion of Indochina immin ...

in March 1945 the Caserne was used to imprison French soldiers and officials. In 1956 President

Ngo Dinh Diem Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of ...

renamed the Caserne as the Cộng Hòa barracks and used them as the headquarters and barracks of the Presidential Guard. During the

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 V ...

rebel forces from the ARVN

5th Division In military terms, 5th Division may refer to: Infantry divisions *5th Division (Australia) * 5th Division (People's Republic of China) *5th Division (Colombia) *Finnish 5th Division (Continuation War) *5th Light Cavalry Division (France) *5th Moto ...

commanded by Colonel

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 o ...

attacked both the barracks and the Gia Long Palace. At the barracks 5th Division armored and artillery units faced off with the Guard forces armed with tanks, artillery, mortars and machine guns. Rebel artillery soon reduced the barracks to rubble while Guards forces fired back causing damage to the surrounding area. The barracks were largely destroyed in the 1963 coup and now the only part of the barracks that remains are the two gatehouses at 2a Le Duan Boulevard on opposite sides of Dinh Tien Hoang ( and ).

References

Installations of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam {{vietnam-struct-stub