Fall of Saigon

[staffslad]

On 30 April 1975, Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces. I remember watching the news and seeing NVA tanks crashing through the gates of the presidential palace, and helicopters landing on the roof of the US embassy to take off the last American and South Vietnamese evacuees.

[zabadak]

Re: Fall of Saigon

I vaguely recall that. I was 12 so the significance didn't hit me until much later.

[staffslad]

Re: Fall of Saigon

I read later that the tank smashing through the gates was missed by the photographers and cameramen, so they lifted the gates up and the tank smashed them down again, but this time the cameras captured it.

The fall happened rather suddenly. I remember at the time the intense speculation and, indeed, expectation that the US would intervene with airstrikes to halt the Communist invasion, which happened only two years after the Paris peace agreement.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Fall of Saigon

I read later that the tank smashing through the gates was missed by the photographers and cameramen, so they lifted the gates up and the tank smashed them down again, but this time the cameras captured it.

The fall happened rather suddenly. I remember at the time the intense speculation and, indeed, expectation that the US would intervene with airstrikes to halt the Communist invasion, which happened only two years after the Paris peace agreement.

I never heard that staffslad. I recall thinking at the time of the fall of Saigon that how could a massive power such as the US be defeated by nothing more than a well organized Communist insurgency. To be fair they had Russian and Chinese mainly logistical and consultive assistance.

[Richard1978]

Re: Fall of Saigon

Not helped by the Americans not taking things seriously & being reliant on draftees rather than professional soldiers.

I once saw a list of ways the Americans went wrong in Vietnam, which could easily be titled "how not to fight a war".

[staffslad]

Re: Fall of Saigon

By the middle of 1973, most American and allied military personnel had been withdrawn from South Vietnam in accordance with the Paris peace accords. When the Communist North launched its invasion in 1975, all that could have been employed by the US to support South Vietnam was airpower via its bases in Thailand and via USN carriers. It is believed that President Nixon promised South Vietnam's President Thieu that the US would intervene if the NVA launched a major attack. However, by 1975, Nixon had resigned and Gerald Ford was president, and no support was forthcoming in the wake of the invasion. There is a perception that the US was up against a rag-tag bunch of poorly equipped and trained insurgents. However, CIA estimates were that the VietCong was numerically not far off the manpower strength of the US at its zenith. Add to that the large North Vietnamese Army, which supported, supplied and trained the VC. The VC was basically the NVA operating in South Vietnam.

[Victoria O'Keefe]

Over overlooked by self-righteous "I am against war as a matter of morality!"arses in the West is not only the tragic fate of the people of Indo-China since 1975 such as "re-education" camps, secret police, repression and torture, the fact that the war is still killing people - 100 people on average die each year in Lao from unexploded ordinance - but the fact they sided with POS like Ho Chi Minh and Le Duan indicates quite a bit - and none of it good.

[Richard1978]

Over overlooked by self-righteous "I am against war as a matter of morality!"arses in the West is not only the tragic fate of the people of Indo-China since 1975 such as "re-education" camps, secret police, repression and torture, the fact that the war is still killing people - 100 people on average die each year in Lao from unexploded ordinance - but the fact they sided with POS like Ho Chi Minh and Le Duan indicates quite a bit - and none of it good.

And plenty in the East fixed to the "Pro-West = bad" mentality.

[Victoria O'Keefe]

The pacifism/anti-war movement in response to Saddan's invasion of Kuwait and the war to liberate that country was indisputably pure cowardice in the face of fascist aggression.

[Richard1978]

The pacifism/anti-war movement in response to Saddan's invasion of Kuwait and the war to liberate that country was indisputably pure cowardice in the face of fascist aggression.

At least the major powers played a softly softly response rather than rushing in.

It's a bit ironic that both the far Left & Right had a similar response to Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[Victoria O'Keefe]

At least the major powers played a softly softly response rather than rushing in.

It's a bit ironic that both the far Left & Right had a similar response to Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Leaving Saddam in place in 2003 means one of his two sons would be in power now. As bad as the current Iraqi government is, it's at least semi-democratic, even if it can be cowed sometimes by clerics. Qusay or Uday Hussein's rule would make Saddam seem like a kindly grandfather.

[Richard1978]

Leaving Saddam in place in 2003 means one of his two sons would be in power now. As bad as the current Iraqi government is, it's at least semi-democratic, even if it can be cowed sometimes by clerics. Qusay or Uday Hussein's rule would make Saddam seem like a kindly grandfather.

It's possible they would have been kicked out of power in the Arab Spring of 2011.

[Victoria O'Keefe]

As i mentioned, a lot of people are still being killed because of the Indochina Wars every year by unexploded bombs and mines in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

[andrec]

What is also almost forgotten now is the people who fled South Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Thousands fled in small boats for neighbouring countries, and were called the 'Boat People'. It was big news at the time. Added to that was the tragedy of Cambodia under Pol Pot's genocidal Khmer Rouge and the huge number of people who were murdered. During the Vietnam War, VietCong forces used Cambodia as a safe haven from which to launch attacks, rest, move supplies etc. There was extensive bombing of the areas occupied by the VC by USAF/USN aircraft, and in 1970 President Nixon gave the go ahead for limited ground operations into Cambodia to disrupt the VC.

[Victoria O'Keefe]

Yeah - as with Gaza, the anti-war western left didn't care to care who they were siding with