“It was the longest war in American history and the most unpopular American war of the twentieth century. It resulted in nearly 60,000 American deaths and an estimated 2 million Vietnamese deaths. Even today, many Americans still ask whether the American effort in Vietnam was a sin, a blunder, a necessary war, or a noble cause, or an idealistic, if failed, effort to protect the South Vietnamese from totalitarian government” (Mintz).

The Vietnam War which took place in the years 1945 to 1975 was a war between the conditionally divided anti-Communist South and the Communist North portions of Vietnam. The North, largely the Viet Cong, was trying to take over the Southern section of Vietnam, and the United States and its connections stepped in with intentions to help South Vietnam eventually become stable on its own. Because this was such a long war, infinite battles took place. The Battle at the Hamlet of Ap Bac, the Siege of Khe Sanh, and the battle at Xuan Loc which led to the fall of Saigon were three major battles that were important to the Vietnam War because they all led to the demise of South Vietnam and their struggle to fight the Northern Vietnamese.

Ap Bac is a village in the Mekong Delta and is fifty miles southwest of Saigon, which is the site that the Battle at the Hamlet of Ap Bac took place. (Viet Cong Are Successful At Ap Bac) On January 2, 1963, the Viet Cong 514th Battalion and local guerrilla forces attacked South Vietnam’s 7th division Army. This Battle is significant to the Vietnam War because this was the first time that the Viet Cong withstood against the greatly larger American force and the South Vietnamese soldiers.

“The victory at Ap Bac raised morale and drove recruitment for the Vietcong” (Battlefield: Timeline 1954 - 1964).

Due to this outcome, this was the first sign of evidence that the Northern Vietnamese were going to completely overpower Southern Vietnam.

There were about 2,500 troops in South Vietnam’s 7th division. These soldiers were supplied with automatic weapons and were supported by bomber planes and helicopters. Surprisingly, this large, well-prepared force of the South Vietnamese was unable to conquer a group as small as 300 guerrillas. These guerrillas escaped the South Vietnamese and caused numerous casualties. After this battle at Ap Bac ceased, there were about 80 deaths and over 100 wounded of the South Vietnamese. This battle represented the strong spirit of the Viet Cong’s fighting. It proved that the South Vietnamese troops could not stray away from the government fighting strategy and that they did not possess the same passion in battle as the Viet Cong, which is why the South Vietnamese lost, even with all the American Technology and having numbers in their favor. (Viet Cong Are Successful At Ap Bac)

On January 21, 1968, the battle at Khe Sanh took place. Khe Sanh was a base that was seized and used by the United States, located fourteen miles below the demilitarization zone and was six miles away from the Laotian border. Just a year previous to the United States ownership of this base, it was an old French outpost. The battle involved the third United States Battalion, the twenty sixth United States Marines, and a North Vietnamese battalion in-between two hills northwest of the base, where fighting broke out. The North Vietnamese then fired on the actual base, igniting 1,500 tons of explosives.

“At 5:30 a.m., a shattering barrage of shells, mortars and rockets slam into the Marine base at Khe Sanh. Eighteen Marines are killed instantly, 40 are wounded. The initial attack continues for two days” (Battlefield: Timeline 1967 - 1968).

By the next day, the village of Khe Sanh was taken over by the North Vietnamese. Being continually bombarded, the Khe Sanh’s defenders could only stay in their trenches and bunkers. The only resupply could come by air, and immense air strikes and artillery were called in.

“During the 66-day siege, U.S. planes, dropping 5,000 bombs daily, exploded the equivalent of five Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs in the area” (Battle for Khe Sanh begins).

Operation Pegasus was ordered in relief of Khe Sanh, on April 8, 1968. This ended the siege of Khe Sanh, which maxed out at seventy seven days long. Up to this point of the Vietnam War, Khe Sanh was the biggest single battle. Just over 1,600 North Vietnamese soldiers were dead. It is believed that thousands more were killed by American bombing. (Battlefield: Timeline 1967 - 1968)

The Khe Sanh battle was extremely controversial and one of the most publicized battles of the war. Both the Northern and Southern sides of Vietnam claimed to have won the battle. For example, North Vietnam was unable to take the base in the end, but they felt that they had stopped a great deal of other United States combat recourses from being used against them elsewhere. The Americans felt victorious because they held their base against the North Vietnamese. Both sides suffered large damages. In just the Khe Sanh region alone, there were 205 Marines killed and over 1,600 wounded. The United States military headquarters in Saigon said that about between 10,000 and 15,000 North Vietnamese men were killed in the battle of Khe Sanh. (Battle For Khe Sanh Begins) Due to the damages, the Battle of Khe Sanh was important to the Vietnam War because it put a damper on the American forces helping South Vietnam, occupying them for the longest time of all the battles of the war so far. It brought many casualties, which led to the demise of the South Vietnamese at the end of the war, showing their struggle to fight the North Vietnamese.

South Vietnam made their final defend at Xuan Loc, which was forty miles northeast of Saigon. Here, the eighteenth division of the South Vietnamese destroyed three of North Vietnamese General Van Tien Dung’s divisions. (Thieu Flees Saigon As Xuan Loc Falls) The South Vietnamese fought until they ran out of support from air tactics and weapons. On April 21, 1975, they had to abandon the battle at Xuan Loc and give this region to the Northern Vietnamese Communists. (South Vietnam Surrenders)

            North Vietnam moved their forces and completely encircled Saigon by April 27, 1975. They were ready for their final attack. (Thieu Flees Saigon As Xuan Loc Falls) South Vietnam was collapsing with the rapid encroachments of North Vietnam just in the past couple of months. The United States was no longer helping South Vietnam because at this time, President Richard Nixon resigned from office and Gerald Ford then took his place. President Ford was not able to convince Congress to continue Nixon’s previous guarantee to rescue Saigon from the Communist North Vietnamese. The North Vietnamese continued to attack on its journey to Saigon, defeating the South Vietnamese at each acquaintance. (South Vietnam Surrenders)

The United States started evacuations to help Vietnamese flee from North Vietnam. Hugh Van Es, who was a Dutch photojournalist, recorded one of the most famous images of the fall of Saigon in 1975. This photo captured the image of a line of people scaling a ladder of a Saigon apartment building in order to board a CIA helicopter on April 29, 1975. (Associated Press) In the airlift preformed by the United States Marines and Air Force helicopters, over 1,000 American civilians and almost 7,000 South Vietnamese refugees are taken out of Saigon in a time frame of eighteen hours. (Battlefield: Timeline 1973 - 1975)

On April 30, 1975, the last of the Vietnam War takes place. The last two United States Marines are killed at 4:05 a.m. in an attack at Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut airport. At sunset, the final Marines guarding the U.S. embassy leave Vietnam. (Battlefield: Timeline 1973 - 1975) North Vietnam broke through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, and the war was at its end. The South Vietnamese officially surrendered. (South Vietnam Surrenders)

            The Vietnam War, with fighting from about 1945 to 1975, was the longest war in history.  Vietnam became divided into North and South, but after about thirty years of battles, Vietnam merged into one again. The communist Northern Vietnamese ruled, however, and the South Vietnam could not hold up against the North. Three major significant battles of the Vietnam War include the Battle at the Hamlet of Ap Bac, which was the beginning victory for the growing Northern Vietnamese; the Siege of Khe Sanh was the longest and most controversial battle; and the battle at Xuan Loc led to the fall of Saigon. Each one led to South Vietnam’s defeat, greatly impacting the struggle of the anti-Communist Southern Vietnamese forces.




 

Works Cited

Associated Press.  “Hugh Van Es Dies At 67; Dutch Photojournalist Took Famous Saigon Evacuation Photo.”  Los Angeles Times  15 May 2009.  30 May 2010. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-hugh-van-es15-2009may15,0,6600791.story.

“Battlefield: Timeline 1954 – 1964.”  Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)  30 May 2010.

http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index.html.

“Battlefield: Timeline 1967 – 1968.”  Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)  30 May 2010.

http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index2.html.

“Battlefield: Timeline 1973 – 1975.”  Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)  30 May 2010.

http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index4.html.

“Battle For Khe Sanh Begins.”  A&E Television Networks  1996-2010.  30 May 2010.  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-for-khe-sanh-begins.

Mintz, Steven.  “Learn About the Vietnam War.”  Digital History  30 May 2010.  30 May 2010.  http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm.

“South Vietnam Surrenders.”  A&E Television Networks  1996-2010.  30 May 2010.  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/4/30?catId=15.

“Thieu Flees Saigon As Xuan Loc Falls.”  A&E Television Networks  1996-2010.  30 May 2010.  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thieu-flees-saigon-as-xuan-loc-falls.

“Viet Cong Are Successful At Ap Bac.”  A&E Television Networks  1996-2010.  30 May 2010.  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/1/2?catId=15.