Word: thieu
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Suddenly, unexpectedly, the endless war in South Viet Nam took a dramatic new turn last week. Abandoning a 20-year government policy of fighting for every inch of South Vietnamese territory, President Nguyen Van Thieu surrendered fully one-fourth of his country -seven provinces with an estimated population of more than 1.7 million people-to the attacking Communists. Dusty district roads and coastal highways were choked with countless thousands of frightened civilians clutching their possessions and fleeing their homes in the largest exodus since Viet Nam was divided in 1954. Meanwhile, reinforced North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces mobilized what...
...Thieu's decision to give up the apparently indefensible provinces caught almost everyone, including U.S. intelligence officials, by surprise. So too did the quickness and effectiveness of Communist military moves. Two weeks ago, Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger was still insisting that there would be no major Communist offensive until 1976, when it would neatly coincide with the U.S. presidential elections. Perhaps because Ambassador Graham Martin was on home leave in North Carolina recovering from dental surgery-and probably also to show independence of Washington out of pique for not getting more military aid-Thieu did not consult with...
...Thieu's decision to give up the provinces was a gritty gamble that he could improve his country's defensive posture by what he clearly hoped would be a last retreat. Yet to many Americans who fought in Viet Nam, the surrender brought anguished remembrances (see box page...
...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. One 1,200-truck convoy of defeated troops and fleeing civilians crawling southeast from...
...Thieu's decision to retreat stemmed from his revised estimates of the North Vietnamese buildup in the country. The Pentagon believes that there are now 16 North Vietnamese divisions in South Viet Nam. Apparently the President also decided that ARVN'S strategic position in the northern and Highlands provinces had eroded beyond repair after the successful Communist attack on Ban Me Thuot two weeks ago. For three days the South Vietnamese forces tried hard to repel a cleverly executed Communist tank and infantry assault on the city, which sits astride Route 14, the main inland north-south road...