Word: arvn
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...from Saigon, President Thieu aggressively, if unconvincingly, declared, "We must attack and retake the lands captured by the Communists." General Frederick C. Weyand, U.S. Army Chief of Staff who last week ended a seven-day visit to Viet Nam undertaken at President Ford's request, confidently told newsmen that ARVN "still has the spirit and the capability to defeat the North Vietnamese...
Virtually everything in Viet Nam now hinges on ARVN's ability to stem the Communist advance. Most military analysts feel that the decisive battle will be fought in Military Region III. Though three or four full divisions fell apart during the retreat from the north, South Viet Nam still has three divisions, plus five groups of rangers and three airborne brigades deployed around the capital. Many of these troops are highly regarded by Pentagon analysts and apparently have not been badly demoralized by the military reverses suffered in the north. Moreover, the capital area's supply dumps remain...
...usually concerned about Viet Cong infiltration into refugee caravans, bothered to show up. The National Assemblymen and local elected leaders, worried by stories that the North Vietnamese were killing civil servants in the towns they occupied, were busy saving themselves and their families. The mayor of Danang, an ARVN colonel, one night declared to a friend his passionate intention of remaining with his people; the next day he put his wife and entire family on a plane to Saigon, a luxury that not even the rich can afford without the right connections...
Besides, a lack of materiel is only part of Saigon's military problem. Even in the days when it had virtually unlimited ordnance, transport and firepower, ARVN was never as effective on the battlefield as were the Communist armies. Even today, though it no longer enjoys an overwhelming superiority in firepower, ARVN still outnumbers the Communists by some 3 to 1. Incompetent leadership, corruption, profiteering by officers and low pay for enlisted men often sapped the strength of Saigon's forces. True, because of the American involvement, Saigon has a far better fighting force than it had earlier...
Last week Thieu finally broke his long public silence, but he did so in a characteristically detached way. Just before he was due to make a national television speech of encouragement to his people, he spoke to General Ngo Quang Truong. ARVN commander in the northermost Military Region I. Perhaps realizing the seriousness of the military situation for the first time, Thieu first canceled the speech but then gave it a day later...