Battle of Ban Me Thuot

Battle of Ban Me Thuot
Part of the Vietnam War

A Vietnam People's Army T-54 tank during operations in the Central Highlands
DateMarch 3–18, 1975
(2 weeks and 1 day)
Location
Ban Mê Thuột, Đắk Lắk Province, South Vietnam
Result North Vietnamese victory
Belligerents
 South Vietnam  North Vietnam
Viet Cong
Commanders and leaders
Phạm Văn Phú
Trần Văn Cẩm [vi]		 Hoàng Minh Thảo
Vũ Lăng
Strength
78,300 soldiers
488 tanks
374 artillery pieces
134 fighter-bombers
250 helicopters
101 reconnaissance aircraft[1]		 65,141 soldiers
57 tanks
679 vehicles
88 heavy artillery pieces
343 anti-aircraft guns
1,561 anti-tank guns or recoilless guns[1]
Casualties and losses
About 3/4 of all soldiers were killed, wounded, missing or captured.
Vast quantities of military hardware were lost.[2]		 800 killed
2,416 wounded[2]

The Battle of Ban Me Thuot was a decisive battle of the Vietnam War which led to the complete destruction of South Vietnam's II Corps Tactical Zone. The battle was part of a larger North Vietnamese military operation known as Campaign 275 to capture the Tay Nguyen region, known in the West as the Vietnamese Central Highlands.

In March 1975 the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 4th Corps staged a large-scale offensive, known as Campaign 275, with the aim of capturing the Central Highlands from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in order to kick-start the first stage of the 1975 spring offensive. Within ten days, the North Vietnamese destroyed most ARVN military formations in II Corps Tactical Zone, exposing the severe weaknesses of the South Vietnamese military. For South Vietnam, the defeat at Ban Me Thuot and the disastrous evacuation from the Central Highlands came about as a result of two major mistakes. Firstly, in the days leading up to the assault on Ban Me Thuot, II Corps commander Major General Phạm Văn Phú repeatedly ignored intelligence which showed the presence of several PAVN divisions around the district.[3] Secondly, President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's strategy to withdraw from the Central Highlands was poorly planned and implemented.[4]

In the end, it was the ordinary South Vietnamese soldiers and their families who paid the ultimate price, as North Vietnamese artillery destroyed much of the South Vietnamese military convoy on Route 7.[5]

  1. ^ a b Duong Hao, pp. 149–151
  2. ^ a b Hoang Minh Thao, 1979, p. 153
  3. ^ Frank Snepp, pp. 43–51
  4. ^ Le Dai Anh Kiet, p. 149
  5. ^ George C. Herring, p. 259