Word: arvn
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...momentum of the month-old rout slowed considerably. Instead of gobbling up additional provinces, the Communists seemed to be digesting what they had gained during the first four weeks of the offensive; they now seemed to be carefully probing the government's remaining defenses. In the scattered fighting, ARVN troops were no longer dropping their weapons and running almost as soon as the Communists opened fire; in a number of skirmishes, in fact, Saigon's troops performed relatively well, standing their ground and driving back the attackers. At week's end, ARVN forces faced considerable pressure from...
...capital of Long Khanh province. The Communist attack began Wednesday with a 2,000-round barrage of rockets and artillery and mortar fire, followed by a ground assault supported by tanks. According to Western analysts, Xuan Loc's nearly 6,000 defenders-including units of the 18th ARVN Division, which has its headquarters there-held their ground well...
Absence of Leadership Compounding ARVN's endemic problems has been the failure of leadership, not only by division and regional commanders, but especially by President Thieu. Autocratic and arbitrary, he has promoted relatives and cronies to high government and military positions, suppressed opponents and closed his eyes to widespread corruption...
Thieu's obsessive reclusiveness has cost his country dearly in recent weeks. Apparently, after consulting only two close aides, he summarily ordered ARVN to abandon three provinces in the Central Highlands and the northernmost province of Quang Tri. Most Pentagon analysts acknowledge that on paper Thieu's strategy may have been sound: by shrinking his lines of defense, he should have, theoretically, made it easier to protect the most important areas of the country. But the same analysts roundly condemn Thieu's execution of that strategy. A "retrograde" maneuver ? as the experts euphemistically term such a withdrawal ? requires...
Rumor Service. Getting there was becoming ever chancier, as the ARVN collapsed before the Communist onslaught. Some newsmen in Saigon were able to buy their way onto a handful of small planes. Others had to be content with piecing together accounts of the war from eyewitnesses, press briefings (including weekly sessions conducted by the Viet Cong in Saigon under the terms of the Paris accords) and an infinite number of rumors. "Just pick up any hotel phone and ask for rumor service," said one correspondent wryly. Ambassador Graham Martin, never a favorite of the U.S. press corps, has discouraged...