Word: tau
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...already neutralized Saigon's huge airbase at Bien Hoa, and SA-2 and SA-7 missiles were trained on Tan Son Nhut airport. A single regiment could easily cut off Saigon's sole escape route to the sea by severing Route 15, leading to the port of Vung Tau. "Every time we blink, the map changes," said one military analyst...
...would be able to remove all of the remaining 140,000 on the list by air. At week's end U.S. planners were reported ready to risk sending the first bargeload of evacuees 70 miles down the snaking Saigon River past the muzzles of enemy guns to Vung Tau. For obvious reasons, details of the plan were a closely kept secret. The sight of 5,000 Vietnamese being hauled away in a single barge could set off exactly the kind of panic in Saigon that Ambassador Martin feared. Worse yet, as one evacuation planner fretted, "we might...
...units that fled from Military Regions I and II. Since ARVN officers are not known for their organizational abilities, some of the units may never be reconstituted. Of the original 14,000 men in the once acclaimed Marine Division, which fled Thua Thien province, 8,000 escaped to Vung Tau near Saigon. Only 4,000 are still around, the others have melted away...
...possible strategy for a political victory would be to strangle Saigon by cutting off its Delta food supply and capturing the key cities and ports (such as Xuan Loc, Bien Hoa and Vung Tau) surrounding it. That might easily create enough discontent inside the capital to force Thieu's ouster or resignation. A new government might be ready to negotiate with the Communists and give them some sort of governing role. French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing has indicated that his country is prepared to use its "good offices" to help in the evolution of a political solution...
Fearful that the flood of refugees would only complicate the defense of Saigon and probably bring countless infiltrators in its wake, the government tried to seal off the capital. The road leading from Vung Tau was blockaded, and plans were afoot to resettle refugees in the Mekong Delta. But little was being done to provide food and shelter for the throngs at Vung Tau or even regroup the disbanded soldiers when they arrived...