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The Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive Invasion

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On March 30th of 1972 North Vietnam launched the Easter Offensive invasion, which was a conventional invasion of the south. At a time when only 95,000 American troops remained on South Vietnam soil (only 6,000 combat troops), the North saw this as a great time to launch this attack, combined with the fact Nixon had been reasoned with on the subject of not putting more American troops into Vietnam. They also felt a time crunch with recent negotiations between the United States and North Vietnam's major allies. The timing of the invasion was to coincide with the beginning of the American presidential campaign, hoping to strike a decisive blow that would cripple Nixon similar to what had been done to Johnson. This would offer the North Vietnamese the upper hand they were struggling to regain, they wanted to negotiate a settlement as an end result. They would take aim at ARVN forces, to make certain Vietnamization appeared to be a joke and put to an end. This would also allow the NLF offensive control of the countryside, pacification disruption, while strengthening its position prior to the final peace negotiations. …show more content…

The spearhead was led by Soviet tanks and 120,000 Vietnamese troops across three fronts (demilitarized zone, Central Highlands, and across the Cambodian border northwest of Saigon). Despite predicting a small series of attacks, Americans poorly misjudged the intensity of the attacks as well as timing. Almost entirely caught off guard, North Vietnamese routed thin lines of defending forces, quickly advancing towards Quang Tri northbound, Kontum in the Highlands, and An Loc sixty miles from Saigon. Thieu was forced to send most of his reserves in defense of threatened towns, freeing NLF invaders to take the offensive in Mekong Delta and heavily populated regions around

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