Word: quang
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...provinces was unutterable tragedy for the true victims of the war, the South Vietnamese people. Helped by retreating ARVN soldiers, upwards of half a million refugees trekked by military convoy, on motorcycle, buffalo cart, bicycle or foot toward areas still held by the government. Some 200,000 people fled Quang Tri and Hué for Danang (see box page 34). Hundreds of thousands from the Central Highlands streamed eastward toward the coast. In Military Region II, just south of fallen Darlac, the resort town of Dalat was rapidly being emptied, even though there seemed to be no imminent danger...
Most of the refugees and even a large majority of the withdrawing troops were not bothered by Communist forces. In Quang Tri province, Communist tanks even lit the way at night for both soldiers and civilians. The evacuation of some areas went so smoothly that there were rumors of a deal between the Communists and the Saigon government. Thieu, it was said, had given up the territory in exchange for the safety of the population-a story emphatically denied by Saigon. In any case, there were some reports of Communist efforts to harass the flow of refugees...
During the evacuation of the Central Highlands, Thieu made another crucial decision in his historic rearrangement of the Vietnamese political map. He flew to Danang for consultations with ARVN'S best field commander, Lieut. General Ngo Quang Truong, and decided to carry out plans that apparently had been drawn up months ago: to pull back the main line of defense from Quang Tri and probably Thua Thien provinces down to the coastal city of Danang. General Truong had already lost the backbone of his defense the week before when Thieu ordered 4,000 men of South Viet...
...near the Hai Van pass, which divides Quang Nam from Thua Thien province, the highway was a string of bobbing headlights, a coiled serpent of dainty dots winding down from the ridge into the plain. The cool night air was heavy with dust and fumes from many engines. A return convoy of empty trucks, Lambrettas and Citroëns going back to Hué for more refugees (and more business) was halted for an hour as the refugees descended through the pass. Drivers stretched out on straw mats on the asphalt, eating bowls of rice in the glare of their...
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...