Word: mekong
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...South Viet Nam's control shrank steadily through the week as Communist forces drew the ring around Saigon even tighter. Along the coast, North Vietnamese forces overwhelmed the towns of Phan Rang and Phan Thiet, bringing to 19 the number of provincial capitals they have captured. In the Mekong Delta they stepped up their sporadic attacks in an effort to cut Saigon off from its primary source of rice and vegetables. At Xuan Loc, a provincial capital only 40 miles east of Saigon, a valiant defense by outnumbered and outgunned government forces finally appeared to be crumbling at week...
...approaching Battle of Saigon, the odds against the ARVN are growing. The three divisions defending the Mekong Delta are comparatively well trained and disciplined. As for the rest, says a veteran military observer in Saigon, "ARVN has probably the worst morale of any army since the collapse of the French in World War II. In three weeks they have been put through general retreats, separated from their own units and officers, walked and fought their way down half the country, survived mass panic and mutinies, and now they are being asked to fight again to save their capital city from...
...collapsing before the rebels' relentless pounding, the government military command ordered its troops to surrender their weapons to the insurgents. As announcements blared from loudspeakers mounted on army trucks, white flags and banners sprouted everywhere-from downtown buildings and shops, from the masts of government gunboats in the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers, from armored personnel carriers of the government's 2nd Infantry Division...
...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 an enemy bent on taking the provincial capital of Xuan Loc east of Saigon and threatening to cut links to the Mekong Delta southwest of the city. On the political front, there was no significant development. A lone, enraged pilot tried to kill Thieu, but there was no evidence that the President was ready to step down-or that the legion of his political opponents could agree on a successor. Meanwhile, for countless...
...noose that for months has dangled around Phnom-Penh's neck drew painfully tighter. To the southeast, 30 miles down the Mekong, the government lost its last two strongholds. After a siege of three months, the insurgents overpowered stubborn resistance, often in bloody, hand-to-hand combat, to capture the twin towns of Banam and Neak Luong. The victory freed some 4,000 Khmer Rouge troops who were reported to be making their way up the Mekong in sampans for the looming assault on the capital. To the east, the attackers overran several government positions to come within mortar...