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THE EASTER OFFENSIVE

SOUTH VIETNAM ON TRIAL

North predicates their conventional attacks, no longer a guerrilla or insurgency war, on an ability to

1. capture a provincial capital, any of Quang Tri, Pleiku, An Loc

2. split the country in two through the highlands

3. apply sufficient pressure close to Saigon to draw off any reserves that might have been deployed to the northern attacks in the highlands or Quang Tri areas.

A completely different type of war was now being fought.

it is a staggeringly hard fought campaign,

The NVA runs rampant from the start to the end of april.

There is a precarious balance reached in may.

The ARVN counterattacks and regains a part of what was lost, with the final clearing of Quang Tri city in september. They do not clear the PAVN from the territory of RVN, nor shut down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

the US concludes the ARVN can now succeed.

The oil crisis of '73 & economic issues that rippled through our country laid the trap for failure. 

US/ARVN claims

allied casualties

10,000 killed

33,000 wounded

3,500 missing in action 

enemy casualties

40,000-75,000 killed

60,000 wounded or missing

250-700 tanks & APC's destroyed 

PAVN claims

Their own casualties not divulged

“If your son doesn’t return, then he did not survive” 

enemy casualties claimed inflicted on South Vietnamese & Free World Allies

213,307 killed & wounded

13,000 captured

more than a 1000 tanks & APC's destroyed (this is more gear than the ARVN has) 

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That's me toting the '60 and Bob Thompkins, son of a sharecropper, a countrified Virginian, walking my slack.

Note the fireteam wedges making their way up the hill. The explosions are mortar rounds impacting, fired by our heavy weapons platoon.

Patrolling, 5-14 days out circling firebases trying to make contact, and hoping we wouldn't. Your ruck and gear, ammunition, spare radio batteries, C-Rations, meant every man was carrying 60-80 lbs. Note the ruck on his back, PFC Bezemer's load is pretty evident.

We'd cover 15-20 miles a day, sometimes more. Then set up a defensive position & dig in, & run ambushes and short patrols during the overnight. If you got 2 hours sleep on any night you were lucky.  

There are no words

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I CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHY THIS EVENT IS SO LITTLE KNOWN, AND WHY A MOVIE WAS NEVER MADE ABOUT IT!

Cancer got COL Ripley in '09

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ARVN held off the NVA attacks on An Loc, and these got the majority of the news reporting in the day. Up north, the NVA did cross the Cua Viet River and captured Quang Tri city. The ARVN recovered it, after months of hard fighting. The same script was played out for Firebase Bastogne. In the highlands, Kontum held but just barely, as did Pleiku, & Ban Me Thuot. During these battles, the 1st hard test of the new TOW anti-tank missle was conducted...under extreme combat conditions. 

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