Eastertide Offensive
The
Easter Offensive (also known as the
Nguyen Hue Offensive) was a military campaign in the
Vietnam War. It lasted from March to October
1972. It was
North Vietnam's first attempt to invade
South Vietnam since the third phase of the General Offensive had been stalled at the
Battle of Dai Do in May
1968.
When
North Vietnam launched the offsensive in 1972 it had every reason to be confident of victory. US forces were gradually been pulled out, mass demonstration against American involvement in the
Vietnam War and the South Vietnamese failure during
Operation Lam Son 719 added to the North Vietnamese confidence. However, it was during this offensive that the North Vietnamese failed as the
ARVN put up heavy resistance and inflicted much damage on their opponents, the result was a military disaster for
North Vietnam.
The offensive began on
30 March 1972, when 200,000
North Vietnamese Army troops under the command of General
Vo Nguyen Giap, entered the
demilitarized zone of
South Vietnam and attacked the city of
Quang Tri from the North and West. This was followed by attacks on
Kontum on
12 April and
An Loc on
19 April. The offensive was designed to split South Vietnam into two halves. The attack on Quang Tri was met with heavy aerial bombardment by the
United States Navy.
B-52 bombers were used to extend the air strikes to all the North Vietnamese forces in the demilitarised zone on
4 April, and areas of North Vietnam on
10 April, in a bombing campaign unprecedented during the Vietnam War.
Hanoi was bombed on
15 April.
Quang Tri fell to the North Vietnamese on
1 May. The U.S. and South Vietnam withdrew from the peace talks in
Paris three days later, though talks resumed on
13 July. The North Vietnamese soon pressed the attack on Hue where they were rebuffed with the help of American air support on
5 May. The U.S. military reinforced its bombers and continued to provide aerial support to South Vietnamese troops, and began
Operation Linebacker I. At the same time it continued to withdraw troops, culminating in the departure of the last U.S. combat troops from Vietnam on
23 August. On
8 May, South Vietnamese planes dropped napalm on the village of
Trang Bang, an incident recorded in the famous photo of
Kim Phuc. With Operation Linebacker I underway, the Eastertide Offensive was disrupted by supply shortages. The North Vietnamese Army withdrew from the offensive on Kontum on
30 May, and An Loc, which had been besieged unsuccessfully by the communists, on
11 July.
The South Vietnamese launched an offensive to re-take Quang Tri on
28 June, finally recapturing the city on
16 September. One tenth of North Vietnam's air force was destroyed during the bombing of Vietnam airfields at the end of September. The peace talks in Paris reached fruition on
8 October as both sides agreed to major concessions. However, U.S.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's proposals were initially rejected by the South Vietnamese government. The U.S. military ended Operation Linebacker I on
22 October amid talks of an end to the Vietnam War, although North Vietnamese troops remained in South Vietnam's demilitarised zone.
Estimated troop casualties during the Easter Offensive were 100,000 for North Vietnam and 40,000 for South Vietnam. Following the failure of the offensive, General Giap was replaced by his deputy, General
Van Tien Dung.
Peace talks failed again in December, leading to
Operation Linebacker II, a devastating bombing campaign. The
Paris Peace Accords in January
1973 confirmed that North Vietnamese troops would remain in South Vietnam. The U.S. ended its involvement in the
Vietnam War in April
1973. The North Vietnamese Army launched a third attempt to invade South Vietnam in the spring of
1975, and was successful.
Vietnam Warhttp://www.vietnam-war.info/battles/eastertide_offensive.php
