Word: thieu
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...agreement did not require the North Vietnamese to withdraw their estimated 145,000 troops from South Viet Nam; it did not even dispute Hanoi's absurd assertion that it had no troops in the South. In fact, the Communists did nothing to alleviate Thieu's fears that cease-fire or no, they were still determined to rule the South. Hanoi moved huge numbers of new troops into the South until overall Communist strength had grown by a startling 40%, to 220,000 combat troops at the start of the present offensive (the Viet Cong comprise only a small part...
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...
...Thieu gave his officers only six hours' notice before the retreat and not even enough time to fuel vehicles. At Hué it was even worse. "It was like a yo-yo," says a U.S. expert. "First, Thieu gave the order to pull back and defend Danang. Then he countermanded it and ordered that Hué be held...
...years since the Paris accords, it was almost certainly a mistake, another self-deception, to assume that President Nguyen Van Thieu could fight the other side to a standstill without U.S. troops or airpower. Even though large numbers of South Vietnamese clearly still wanted to fight the Communists, it might have been far wiser to prod Saigon into a compromise with the Communists...