Word: arvn
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While airpower alone could not make ARVN (the South Vietnamese army) a winner against the Communists on the ground, it could be crucial in staving off defeat. Last week that proposition was tested again as U.S. and Vietnamese aircraft fought to save an outgunned ARVN force from what would be Giap's first important victory of the campaign: the capture of An Loc (pop. 40,000), the capital of Binh Long province, which is 60 miles north of Saigon via the French-built Highway...
...Saigon government, it was imperative that ARVN prove itself able to defend a city that in normal times and good weather, is only a two-hour drive from the capital. The Communists have so far been frustrated in their attempts to capture the old imperial capital of Hue or the city of Quang Tri farther north, and it is believed that An Loc was to have been the seat of a provisional Viet Cong government. It should not have been a difficult target. In Binh Long province, the chief ARVN force was the 10,000-man 5th Division, a weak...
...north, Giap's 35,000 troops were stalemated by ARVN defenders around Hué and Quang Tri. North of the latter last week, a clever South Vietnamese marine commander simply evacuated his base after learning of an impending Communist night armor attack; when the North Vietnamese drove into the base, the marines opened fire from the perimeter, knocking out at least five tanks and killing scores of enemy troops. Another Communist armored force roared east on Highway 9 in the darkness, but missed the turn to its objective, Dong Ha. When the sun rose, the parked, puzzled Communists found...
...case. In fact, both American and South Vietnamese commanders on the scene tend to agree that some major fighting still lies ahead. So far, the North Vietnamese have committed no more than half of their 100,000 troops in the South to battle, and they have yet to challenge ARVN where it is weakest, in the Central Highlands. For their part, the South Vietnamese have virtually no reserves to call on should the Communist drive spread to another front...
Furthermore, a call for artillery support from a beleaguered ARVN field commander must pass through a tortuous chain of command extending from the district commander through the civilian province chief to the divisional commander and finally to the appropriate artillery battalion. Beyond this, ARVN's divisions are of sharply uneven quality, and its best units are apt to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Last week the crack 1st was resting in Hue while the bungling 3rd bore the brunt of the early fighting...