1.
South Vietnam
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South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam, was a state governing the southern half of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. It received international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam, the term South Vietnam became common usage in 1954, when the Geneva Conference provisionally partitioned Vietnam into communist and non-communist parts. The Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed on 26 October 1955, with Ngô Đình Diệm as its first president and its sovereignty was recognized by the United States and eighty-seven other nations. It had membership in several committees of the United Nations. After the Second World War, the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh, in 1949, anti-communist Vietnamese politicians formed a rival government in Saigon led by former emperor Bảo Đại. Bảo Đại was deposed by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm in 1955, after Diệm was killed in a military coup led by general Dương Văn Minh in 1963, there was a series of short-lived military governments. General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu led the country from 1967 until 1975, the Vietnam War began in 1959 with an uprising by Viet Cong forces armed and controlled by Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Fighting reached a climax during the Tet Offensive of 1968, when there were over 1.5 million South Vietnamese soldiers and 500,000 U. S. soldiers in South Vietnam. Despite a peace treaty concluded in January 1973, fighting continued until the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong armies overran Saigon on 30 April 1975, the creation of this republic, during the Indochina War, allowed France to evade a promise to recognise Vietnam as independent. This pre-Vietnam government prepared for a unified Vietnamese state, but the countrys full reunification was delayed for a year because of the problems posed by Cochinchinas legal status, Nguyễn Văn Xuân 1949–55 State of Vietnam. Roughly 60% of Vietnamese territory was controlled by the communist Việt Minh. Vietnam was partitioned at the 17th parallel in 1954, once highly lauded by America, he was ousted and assassinated in a U. S. -backed coup. In 1963–65, there were numerous coups and short-lived governments, several of which were headed by Dương Văn Minh or Nguyễn Khánh, Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ was the top leader in 1965–67. Surrendered to Communists when others abandoned their posts, 1975–76 Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. Huỳnh Tấn Phát Before World War II, the third of Vietnam was the concession of Cochinchina. Between Tonkin in the north and Cochinchina in the south was the protectorate of Annam, Cochinchina had been annexed by France in 1862 and even elected a deputy to the French National Assembly. It was more evolved, and French interests were stronger than in parts of Indochina. During World War II, Indochina was administered by Vichy France, japanese troops overthrew the French administration on 9 March 1945, Emperor Bảo Đại proclaimed Vietnam independent
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
1st Marine Division (United States)
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The 1st Marine Division is a Marine infantry division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force. It is the oldest and largest active duty division in the United States Marine Corps and it is one of three active duty divisions in the Marine Corps today and is a multi-role, expeditionary ground combat force. It is nicknamed The Old Breed, the division is employed as the ground combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force or may provide task-organized forces for assault operations and such operations as may be directed. The 5th Marines were created in Vera Cruz, Mexico on 13 July 1914 and participated in 15 major engagements during World War I, including Belleau Wood, Chateau Thierry, and St. Mihiel. On 7 August 1917, 7th Marines were activated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the 11th Marines was formed in January 1918 at Quantico, Va. as a light artillery regiment. The regiment went to France as a unit, providing a machine gun company. Decommissioned and reactivated twice between the wars, the regiment was re-formed in 1940 as a full-fledged artillery unit. The 1st Marine Division was activated aboard the USS Texas on 1 February 1941, the 1st Raider Battalion was on New Caledonia, and the 3rd Defense Battalion was in Pearl Harbor. All of the units, with the 11th Marines and 75mm howitzer armed 10th Marines battalion would rendezvous at Fiji. Also, because the Wellington dock workers were on strike at the time, other things not yet available to this first wave of Marine deployments were insect repellent and mosquito netting. On 31 July the entire Marine task force was placed under the command of Vice Admiral Frank J. Fletchers Task Force 61, the division as a whole would fight in the Guadalcanal Campaign until relieved at 1400 on 9 December 1942 by Alexander Patchs Americal Division. This operation won the Division its first of three World War II Presidential Unit Citations, the battle would cost the division 650 killed in action,1,278 wounded in action with a further 8,580 contracting malaria and 31 missing in action. Others were awarded for the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa, following the Guadalcanal Campaign, the divisions Marines were sent to Melbourne, Australia for rest and refit. It was during this time that the division took the traditional Australian folk song Waltzing Matilda as its battle hymn, to this day, 1st Division Marines still ship out to this song being played. The division would see action during Operation Cartwheel which was the codename for the campaigns in Eastern New Guinea. They came ashore at the Battle of Cape Gloucester on 26 December 1943 and fought on New Britain until March 1944 at such places as Suicide Creek, during the course of the battle the division had 310 killed and 1,083 wounded. Following the battle they were sent to Pavuvu in the Russell Islands for rest, the next battle for the 1st Marine Division would be the bloodiest yet at the Battle of Peleliu
4.
Battle of Ia Drang
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It was the first major battle between the United States Army and the North Vietnamese Army-NVA during the Vietnam War as part of the U. S. airmobile offensive code-named Operation Silver Bayonet I. The battle was part of the phase of a search-and-destroy operation code-named Operation Long Reach that took place from October 23 to November 26 during the Pleiku Campaign. The battle derives its name from the Drang River which runs through the valley west of Plei Me, where the engagement took place. Representing the American forces were elements of the 3rd and 2nd Brigades, 1st Cavalry Division, the 1st and 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, representing the North Vietnam forces were elements of the B3 Front of the NVA. The battle involved close air support by U. S. Army helicopter gunships and U. S. Air Force and U. S. Navy tactical jet aircraft, and a bombing attack by Air Force B-52s. General Knowles, Forward CP Commander, 1st Cavalry Division, did not see the engagement as an ambush, the battle at LZ X-Ray was documented in the CBS special report Battle of Ia Drang Valley by Morley Safer and the critically acclaimed book We Were Soldiers Once. And Young by Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, in 1994, Moore, Galloway and men who fought on both the American and North Vietnamese sides, traveled back to the remote jungle clearings where the battle took place. At the time the U. S. did not have relations with Vietnam. The risky trip which took a year to arrange was part of an award-winning ABC News documentary, They Were Young, in 2002, Randall Wallace depicted the battle at LZ X-Ray in the movie We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson and Barry Pepper as Moore and Galloway, respectively. Galloway later described this battle that he calls Ia Drang as The battle that convinced Ho Chi Minh he could win, in 1963 and 1964, a series of political and military mishaps had seriously affected the capabilities of the South Vietnamese Armys main forces in South Vietnam. After Diems overthrow in a 1963 coup, the new military leadership largely consisted of commanders put in place by Diem prior to the coup and they showed equal lack of interest in fighting the NLF, spending their time in a series of coups and counter-coups. In this unstable climate, the NLF units were able to mount increasingly larger military operations. At first these were limited to building up larger formations, but by late 1964 they had evolved into a war against ARVN units. At the end of 1964, Chairman Mao Zedong of the Peoples Republic of China turned on the light for the Viet Cong to upgrade attacking forces to division size in its conquest of South VietNam. In the meeting dated October 5,1964, Mao Zedong told Pham Van Dong, According to Comrade Le Duan, probably you have not dispatched that division yet. When should you dispatch it, the timing is important, American advisers in the field had long been pushing for South Vietnamese Army forces to be taken over by U. S. commanders. In addition to getting the men to fight, the U. S. commands better training. By early 1965, Westmoreland had secured the commitment of upward of 300,000 U. S. regulars from Lyndon B. Johnson and a build-up of forces took place in the summer of 1965
5.
Operation Crimp
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Heavy fighting resulted in significant casualties on both sides, but the combined American and Australian force was able to uncover an extensive tunnel network covering more than 200 kilometres. The operation was the largest allied military action mounted during the war in South Vietnam to that point, despite some success, the allied force was only able to partially clear the area and it remained a key communist transit and supply base throughout the war. Although the initial American commitment to the war in Vietnam had been limited to advice and materiel support, at first the Americans had adopted a cautious strategy, applied to the strictly limited role of base defence by US Marine units. This was abandoned in April 1965, and replaced by a new strategy of defending key coastal population centres. This strategy required the introduction of nine additional US battalions, or 14,000 troops, allied nations of the Free World Military Forces were expected to contribute another four battalions. Such areas included Di An which was intended to become the headquarters of the US 1st Infantry Division, however, large-scale military operations to clear the intended base areas had to wait until the dry season. Yet the allied enclave strategy proved only transitory and further led to additional troop increases to halt the losing trend. Australias growing involvement in Vietnam reflected the American build up, in 1963, the Australian government had committed a small advisory team, known as the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, to help train the South Vietnamese forces. However, in June 1965 the decision to ground troops was made. Although logistics and resupply were primarily provided by the Americans, a small logistic unit—1st Australian Logistics Company—was situated at Bien Hoa airbase, unlike later Australian units that served in Vietnam, which included conscripts,1 RAR was manned by regular personnel only. The battalion commenced operations in late June 1965 and initially focussed on defeating the Viet Congs wet season offensive, meanwhile, Brumfield was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Alex Preece, after an old football injury forced his evacuation to Australia in mid-November. On 24 November D Company,1 RAR carried out an attack on the fortified village of Duc Hanh which had been occupied by the Viet Cong, killing 10. Operation Marauder on the Plain of Reeds in the Mekong Delta was subsequently launched on New Years Day 1966, although its precise position was unknown, it was believed to be concealed in an extensive underground bunker system. Agents reports, the interrogation of prisoners, and aerial surveillance all pointed to the presence of this vital communist facility, communist units detected in the Ho Bo Woods by allied intelligence included the C306 Local Force Company, 3rd Quyet Thang Battalion and 7th Cu Chi Battalion. The commander of the Cu Chi Battalion was later identified after the war as Captain Nguyen Thanh Linh, in total, local communist defensive strength was believed to include 1,000 men. In response, a large American search-and-destroy operation was launched in January 1966, at the time it was the largest military operation mounted in South Vietnam, being the first divisional offensive to date. 1 RARs role was to establish a position in a village beside the river on the northern flank of the brigades area of operations. In order to achieve surprise, the operation was launched immediately following Operation Marauder
6.
Battle of Suoi Bong Trang
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The Battle of Suoi Bong Trang was an engagement fought between US, Australian and New Zealand forces, and the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War. Repulsed by massed firepower from artillery and tanks, the Viet Cong suffered heavy casualties and were forced to withdraw by morning, after the attack, the Americans and Australians made no attempt to pursue the Viet Cong, focusing on securing the battlefield and evacuating their own casualties. The Viet Cong continued to harass the American sappers with occasional sniper and mortar fire, but these proved ineffective. The US 1st Brigade under the command of Colonel Edgar N, Major General William E. DePuy had selected the Australians specifically because of their reputation for dispersed, aggressive patrolling. The brigades constituent battalions were widely dispersed carrying out search and destroy operations, nevertheless, except for the harassment faced by the engineers, contact between the Americans and the Viet Cong had been infrequent during the first weeks of the operation. On 19 February,1 RAR was inserted by helicopter, taking over from 2nd Battalion, Preece immediately instituted a program of twenty-four-hour dispersed patrolling, and within two days this had succeeded in reducing the level of Viet Cong activity against the road construction. Two platoons of American M48 Patton tanks were moved into the area, patrolling by day with the Australian armoured personnel carriers. Several contacts took place and by 22 February the Australians began to suspect that an attack on them was being planned. In the early morning of 23 February three Viet Cong soldiers were killed in an Australian ambush, while others were wounded but escaped. The dead soldiers were equipped with new AK-47 assault rifles and webbing. Also captured was a quantity of ammunition, rations and medical supplies. Later that night a North Vietnamese engineer officer was killed in a separate ambush. As dawn broke the day, two half-platoon ambushes from B Company,1 RAR—under the command of Major Ian McFarlane—engaged two squads of Viet Cong Main Force. Meanwhile, to the west three battalions of Viet Cong 9th Division were massing for a blow, preparing a regimental attack on the American and Australian positions. Units included J10 Battalion of the 761st Regiment,707 Battalion of the 763rd Regiment and D800 Independent Battalion, in total around 2,000 men. By 20,00 they had completed a 25-kilometre approach march and were in areas near the village of Ap Bo, using local women and youths as porters to carry ammunition, equipment. Small reconnaissance parties moved forward as pathfinders, easily locating the American headquarters due to the amount of noise. 1st Battalion, US 26th Infantry Regiment—under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Y. Y, phillips—returned from the field and also deployed in defence by last light, augmenting Company B, 1st Battalion, US 28th Infantry Regiment
7.
1st Battalion, 1st Marines
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They fall under the command of the 1st Marine Regiment and the 1st Marine Division. 1/1 is an infantry unit composed of infantry Marines and support personnel. The battalion has been organized around fire and maneuver warfare in tropical, woodland, desert, from at least 1989, the units were organized as such, Company A -trained for insertion by Amphibious Assault Vehicles. Company B - trained for insertion by boats, also complimented with mountain warfare and various swimming specialties Company C - trained for insertion by helicopter. Weapons company - usually split into 3 infantry platoons, each vehicle-borne through a variation of the Humvee, Mortar platoon - deploy and deliver 81 mm mortars via a M252 mortar system. Javelin platoon - employ the SMAW and, since its introduction in 2002, CAAT platoon - includes heavy machine gunners and anti-armor missilemen. Headquarter and Service Company - The largest company, H&S includes the Battalion Commander, some of these operations have demanded reconfiguring the battalions organization in order to conduct missions which are not included in traditional maneuver warfare. Military transition teams have used to provide assistance for the transition of power from the coalition forces to the local police. In addition, the companies were redrawn in order to reflect their new duties. Normal training was complemented with responsibilities befitting an urban environment, Rifle companies focused less on fire team rushing, the mortar platoon of the Weapons company has experimented with various vehicle of mortarmen as riflemen. Weapons company utilized Mobile Assault Platoons to provide quick reaction and mobility in urban missions, when trained as a battalion landing team, the battalion can attach to a Marine Expeditionary Unit and become the ground combat element. 1st Battalion 1st Marines was activated on March 1,1941, at Guantanamo Bay, a month later they redeployed to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, but were quickly deactivated on June 18,1941. 1/1 was reactivated on February 7,1942, at New River, after a few months of training they were deployed to Wellington, New Zealand in July 1942. Following the outbreak of the Korean War, 1/1 was reactivated at MCB Camp Pendleton on August 9,1950, later that month they deployed to Kobe, Japan and from there took part in the amphibious landing during the Battle of Inchon. In October, the Marines were withdrawn from the Seoul area, from there 1st Battalion 1st Marines participated in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. They pushed as far north as Koto-ri, spending much of the defending their perimeter in this vicinity. The battalion spent much of the remainder of the war defending the thirty-eighth parallel, all told, it fought in the Korean War from September 1950 through July 1953. Following the war, the participated in the defense of the Korean Demilitarized Zone from July 1953 to April 1955
8.
2nd Battalion, 7th Marines
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The 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines is a light infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. They are based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms and consist of approximately 1,200 Marines, the battalion falls under the command of the 7th Marine Regiment and the 1st Marine Division. As the war progressed, the company was eliminated and the component elements redistributed throughout the headquarters. During the Korean War, the three rifle companies were designated D, E and F. During the Vietnam War, the battalion was organized under a four rifle company order of battle – E, F, G and H, the battalion was activated on 1 January 1940 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On 18 September 1942, 2/7 landed on Guadalcanal and they fought the Battle of Guadalcanal for four months until they were relieved by elements of the United States Armys Americal Division. The battalion was sent to Australia along with the rest of the 1st Marine Division for rest. 2/7 landed on Cape Gloucester, New Britain on 26 December 1943 securing an airfield the first day and that night, Japanese Marines counterattacked and 2/7 took the brunt of the assault and the fighting continued throughout the night. By the time the sun began to rise, the entire Japanese force had been wiped out, on 14 January, 2/7 along with the rest of the regiment assaulted and took the last Japanese stronghold on the island, Hill 660. Two days later, the counter-attack came but the Marines held the hilltop often resorting to hand-to-hand fighting, the battalion continued to run patrols around the island to protect against guerrilla attacks from hold-out Japanese soldiers. In March 1943, New Britain were declared secure and on 1 April Marine Division was relieved by the US Army 40th Infantry Division, 2/7, and the rest of the 1st Marine Division again returned to Australia. On 15 September 1944, the 7th Marines landed along with the rest of the 1st Marine Division, note, The 2nd battalion was the only battalion to be held in reserve. They were to go in later in the day in support of the 7th Marines, on the night of 20 September the 2nd battalion went out to the transfer line, but there were not enough LVTs. Instead, they had to wait and go in the next morning directly in support of Chesty Pullers 1st Marines, the 2nd battalion went right into the middle of the fighting of the 1st marine regiment. When they landed they were met by intense artillery and mortar fire from Japanese positions that had not been touched by the pre-invasion bombardment, on 20 September, the 7th Marines broke out of their beachhead and linked up with the 1st Marines. The battalion fought on the island for eight weeks before it was secured. On 1 April 1945, was part of the 80,000 Marines that landed on Okinawa, the 1st Marine Division landed on the southern portion of Okinawa against light resistance. Their beachhead was secured and supplies began flowing in
9.
Battle of Ap Bac
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The Battle of Ấp Bắc was a major battle fought on 2 January 1963 during the Vietnam War. It was fought in Định Tường Province, South Vietnam, the infantry units would be supported by artillery, M113 armored personnel carriers, and helicopters. In addition to the intelligence he provided, An also devised the NLF battle strategy ahead of time to defeat the South Vietnamese forces, for his winning strategy, after the battle, An was decorated with North Vietnam’s highest military-exploit medal. On the morning of 2 January 1963, unaware that their plans had been leaked to the enemy. However, when reached the hamlet of Ap Bac, southeast of Ap Tan Thoi. Just before midday, further reinforcements were flown in from Tan Hiep, the 15 US helicopters ferrying the troops were riddled by NLF gunfire and five helicopters were lost as a result. Ultimately, their presence made little difference as the NLF stood its ground, under the cover of darkness the Viet Cong withdrew from the battlefield, having won their first major victory. At that time, North Vietnam was hoping for an election, promised under the Geneva Accords of 1954 and it was also worried about inciting the United States into directly supporting South Vietnam, and had recommended a policy of avoiding battle at all costs. However, Diems campaign was too successful to allow them to do nothing, North Vietnam remained worried about US involvement and refused any sort of military support, forcing the remaining Viet Minh to retreat into inaccessible areas in the hills and river estuaries. A stalemate of sorts followed, as South Vietnamese forces took so long to reach areas that the guerrilla fighters were able to retreat with little difficulty. Large-scale American support began during the Kennedy Administration in the early 1960s, the arrival of helicopters changed the nature of the battle considerably. Helicopters enabled South Vietnamese soldiers to fly to almost any point in the country. Throughout 1962, the forces were increasingly effective in routing the Viet Cong. These tactics, combined with the use of armored personnel carriers, the lightly armed Viet Cong had no weaponry capable of stopping the armored carriers and inevitably were forced to flee, taking heavy casualties. The most successful South Vietnamese force had been the 7th Infantry Division and his US adviser was Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Vann, who directed much of the units activity in concert with his planner, Captain Richard Ziegler. However, South Vietnamese officers were reluctant to absorb heavy casualties. This behavior initially mystified Vann, who was attempting to build Cao into an aggressive commander, unknown to Vann, Diem would reprimand or demote any officer who lost too many men, no matter how successful the operation. Diem was more interested in using the military to protect his regime than to take on the Viet Cong, after a skirmish on a highway that resulted in a small number of South Vietnamese casualties along with several trucks destroyed, Cao was called to Saigon and reprimanded by Diem
10.
Battle of Dong Xoai
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The Battle of Đồng Xoài was a major battle fought during the National Liberation Front Summer Offensive of 1965 as part of the Vietnam War. The battle took place in Phước Long Province, South Vietnam, in 1964, General Nguyễn Khánh gained control of the South Vietnamese government after General Dương Văn Minh was overthrown in a military coup. He then had a falling-out with the Catholic faction within his own government, consequently, on February 20,1965, General Khánh was ousted from power and was forced to leave South Vietnam forever. The political instability in Saigon gave North Vietnamese leaders in Hanoi an opportunity to step up their campaign in the south. They believed the South Vietnamese government was able to survive because it still had a military to combat the growing influence of the Viet Cong. With the summer campaign of 1965, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces aimed to inflict significant losses on the South Vietnamese military, in Phước Long Province, the Communist summer offensive culminated in the Đồng Xoài campaign. The fight for Đồng Xoài began on the evening of June 9,1965, in response to the sudden Viet Cong assault, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Joint General Staff ordered the ARVN 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, to retake Đồng Xoài district. They arrived on the battlefield on June 10, but were overwhelmed by the Viet Cong 271st Regiment near Thuận Lợi. Later that day, Đồng Xoài was recaptured by the ARVN 52nd Ranger Battalion, on June 11, further South Vietnamese reinforcements arrived in the form of the ARVN 7th Airborne Battalion. The South Vietnamese paratroopers, while searching for survivors of the 1st Battalion in the Thuận Lợi rubber plantation, were defeated in an ambush by the Viet Cong. By that time, however, the Viet Cong had already withdrawn from the battlefield, in January 1964, General Khánh ousted General Dương Văn Minh as the leader of South Vietnams military junta in a bloodless coup. Khánh drafted a new constitution, which would have expanded his power within the military junta, fearing that his power could be weakened by those demonstrations, General Khánh immediately repealed his constitution and new police powers. He promised to reinstate civilian rule and remove members of the Catholic-based Cần lao from power, subsequently, General Khiêm fell out with General Khánh over policy issues along religious lines, even though an alliance between both men had enabled Khánh to remove General Minh from power. As military support for his regime diminished, Khánh had to rely upon civilian Buddhist activists to maintain power, for the Americans, Khánhs increased reliance on the Buddhists was a cause for concern, because the Buddhists favoured a political resolution to the conflict with the Communists. Thus, by the end of 1964 the Americans looked for someone to overthrow Khánh, on February 20,1965, Khánh was finally removed from power, and he was forced to leave South Vietnam. From the Communist perspective, even though South Vietnam was plagued by political instability, so shortly after the Binh Gia campaign, North Vietnamese leaders reached a resolution to launch a summer offensive, to destroy the regular units of the South Vietnamese military. Following their victory at Ba Gia, the National Liberation Front turned its attention to the Mekong Delta region, to prepare for their next offensive, Major-General Le Trong Tan was given the task of directing Viet Cong military operations in the provinces of Phước Long, Bình Phước. Since May 1965, the Viet Cong offensive in Phước Long Province had been in full-swing, beginning on May 10, the Viet Cong 271st Regiment, supported by the 840th Battalion and local sapper units, attacked the district town of Phước Long, capital of the province
11.
Vietnam War
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It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. As the war continued, the actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role. U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, in the course of the war, the U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam and they viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. The U. S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and this was part the domino theory of a wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina, U. S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. Regular U. S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965, despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued. In the U. S. and the Western world, a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture, the war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs, and altered North–South relations. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973, the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 240, 000–300,000 Cambodians,20, 000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict. Various names have applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English and it has also been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ. It is also called Chiến tranh Việt Nam, France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the seven decades
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This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps.