South Vietnam Collapses: Ban Me Thuot Lost

South Vietnam's army collapsed faster than anyone predicted. When North Vietnamese forces captured Ban Me Thuot on March 11, 1975, the strategic city in the Central Highlands fell in barely 36 hours, exposing the fragility of a military that had been fighting for survival since American combat troops withdrew two years earlier. The attack was the opening move of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, Hanoi's final offensive to reunify Vietnam. General Van Tien Dung commanded three divisions totaling roughly 25,000 troops against Ban Me Thuot's garrison of South Vietnamese regulars and regional forces. North Vietnamese sappers infiltrated the city's perimeter the night before, cutting communications and seizing key intersections before the main assault began at dawn. South Vietnam's 23rd Division, responsible for defending the city, was caught badly out of position. President Nguyen Van Thieu had recently ordered a strategic redeployment from the Highlands, but the withdrawal plan was chaotic and poorly communicated. Reinforcements from Pleiku never arrived. By midday on March 11, North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the city center, and organized resistance ceased. The loss triggered a chain reaction that stunned military observers worldwide. Thieu ordered a general retreat from the Central Highlands, but the withdrawal turned into a rout. Hundreds of thousands of civilians and soldiers clogged Route 7B heading toward the coast, bombed and strafed by North Vietnamese forces in what became known as the "Convoy of Tears." Pleiku and Kontum fell without significant resistance within days. Ban Me Thuot proved that South Vietnam's military could no longer hold without American air support. Saigon fell seven weeks later, on April 30, 1975.