Editing Army of the Republic of Vietnam (section)

==History==

===Vietnamese National Army (VNA) 1949–55===
{{Main|Vietnamese National Army}}

[[Image:TDND5.png|thumb|100px|The [[Vietnamese National Army|TDND 5]] airborne unit fought several battles including [[battle of Dien Bien Phu|Dien Bien Phu]].]]

On 8 March 1949, after signing the [[Élysée Accords]], the [[State of Vietnam]] was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by the Vietnamese Emperor [[Bảo Đại]], and the [[Vietnamese National Army]] (VNA) was soon created on 8 December 1950.<ref name="vietnam.ttu.edu">[http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/vietnamcenter/events/2006_Conference/presentations/sherman/RVNAF.pdf ''A Brief Overview of the Vietnam National Army and the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces''(1952-1975)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327061040/http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/vietnamcenter/events/2006_Conference/presentations/sherman/RVNAF.pdf |date=2009-03-27 }}, Stephen Sherman and Bill Laurie</ref> The VNA fought in joint operations with the [[French Union]]'s [[French Far East Expeditionary Corps]] against the communist [[Viet Minh]] forces led by [[Ho Chi Minh]]. The VNA fought in a wide range of campaigns including the [[Battle of Nà Sản]] (1952), Operation Atlas (1953) and the [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]] (1954).<ref>[http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?dossierID=488&photo=1&collectionid=4 Vietnamese National Army gallery (May 1951 – June 1954)] French Defense Ministry archives ECPAD {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326145935/http://www.ecpad.fr/ecpa/PagesDyn/result.asp?dossierID=488&photo=1&collectionid=4 |date=March 26, 2009 }}</ref>

Benefiting from French assistance, the VNA quickly became a modern army modeled after the Expeditionary Corps. It included infantry, artillery, signals, armored cavalry, airborne, airforce, navy and a national military academy. By 1953, troopers as well as officers were all Vietnamese, the latter having been trained in ''Ecoles des Cadres'' such as [[Da Lat]], including Chief of Staff General [[Nguyễn Văn Hinh]] who was a French Union airforce veteran.

After the 1954 [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva agreements]], [[French Indochina]] ceased to exist and by 1956 all French Union troops had withdrawn from [[Vietnam]], [[Laos]], and [[Cambodia]]. In 1955, by the order of Prime Minister [[Ngô Đình Diệm|Diệm]], the VNA crushed the armed forces of the [[Bình Xuyên]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Pierre Darcourt|title=Bay Vien, le maitre de Cholon|language=fr|trans-title=Bay Vien, Cholon's Master|publisher=Hachette|year=1977|isbn=978-2-01-003449-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Alfred W. McCoy|title=The Politics of Heroin|publisher=Lawrence Hill Books|year=2003|isbn=978-1-55652-483-7}}</ref>

===Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 1955–75===
{{See also|Battle for Saigon|1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt |1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing |Buddhist crisis|Huế Vesak shootings| Xá Lợi Pagoda raids |1963 South Vietnamese coup|Arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm|January 1964 South Vietnamese coup}}

[[Image:M113.jpg|thumb|Early unmodified ARVN M113 during the Vietnam War]]
[[File:Waterboarding a captured North Vietnamese soldier near Da Nang.jpeg|thumb|Two United States soldiers and one [[South Vietnam]]ese soldier [[Waterboarding|waterboard]] a captured North Vietnamese prisoner of war near [[Da Nang]], 1968.]]

On 26 October 1955, the military was reorganized by the President Ngô Đình Diệm who declared the republic in the State of Vietnam. The air force was established as a separate service known as the [[Republic of Vietnam Air Force]] (RVNAF). Early on, the focus of the army was the [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] fighters of the [[Viet Cong]] (VC), formed to oppose the Diệm administration. The United States, under President [[John F. Kennedy]] sent advisors and a great deal of financial support to aid the ARVN in combating the insurgents. A major campaign, developed by [[Ngô Đình Nhu]] and later resurrected under another name was the "[[Strategic Hamlet Program]]" which was regarded as unsuccessful by Western media because it was "inhumane" to move villagers from the countryside to fortified villages. ARVN leaders and Diệm were criticized by the foreign press when the troops were used to crush armed anti-government religious groups like the [[Cao Đài]] and [[Hòa Hảo]] as well as to raid [[Buddhist]] temples, which according to Diệm, were harboring VC guerrillas. The most notorious of these attacks occurred on the night of August 21, 1963, during the [[Xá Lợi Pagoda raids]] conducted by the [[ARVN Special Forces]], which caused a death toll estimated to range into the hundreds.

In 1963, Diệm was killed in a [[1963 South Vietnamese coup|coup d'état carried out by ARVN officers]] and encouraged by American officials such as [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.|Henry Lodge]]. In the confusion that followed, General [[Dương Văn Minh]] took control, but he was only the first in a succession of ARVN generals to assume the presidency of South Vietnam. During these years, the United States began taking more control of the war against the VC and the role of the ARVN became less and less significant. They were also plagued by continuing problems of severe corruption amongst the officer corps. Although the United States was highly critical of the ARVN, it continued to be entirely U.S.-armed and funded.

Although the American news media has often portrayed the Vietnam War as a primarily American and North Vietnamese conflict, the ARVN carried the brunt of the fight before and after large-scale American involvement, and participated in many major operations with American troops. ARVN troops pioneered the use of the [[M113 armored personnel carrier]] as an infantry fighting vehicle by fighting mounted rather than as a "battle taxi" as originally designed, and the [[armored cavalry]] (ACAV) modifications were adopted based on ARVN experience. One notable ARVN unit equipped with M113s, the [[3d Armored Cavalry Squadron (South Vietnam)|3d Armored Cavalry Squadron]], used the new tactic so proficiently and with such extraordinary heroism against hostile forces that they earned the [[Presidential Unit Citation (United States)#Vietnam War 2|United States Presidential Unit Citation]].<ref name="landscaper.net">{{cite web|url=http://www.landscaper.net/namstory.htm |title=Photo: U.S. advisor confers with ARVN 3rd Cav commander in front of a South Vietnamese M113 |access-date=2010-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614071616/http://www.landscaper.net/namstory.htm |archive-date=14 June 2010 }}</ref><ref name="apd.army.mil">{{cite web|url=http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/go7124.pdf |title=3d Armored Cavalry Squadron (ARVN) earned Presidential Unit Citation (United States) for extraordinary heroism |access-date=2010-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716142800/http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/go7124.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-16 }}</ref> The ARVN suffered 254,256 recorded deaths between 1960 and 1974, with the highest number of recorded deaths being in 1972, with 39,587 combat deaths,<ref>Clarke, Jeffrey J. (1988), ''United States Army in Vietnam: Advice and Support: The Final Years, 1965–1973'', Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, p. 275</ref> while approximately 58,000 U.S. troops died during the war.<ref name="Casualties - US vs NVA/VC" />

United States experience with the ARVN generated a catalog of complaints about its performance, with various officials saying 'it did not pull its weight,'<ref>Memorandum from George Carver of the Vietnamese Affairs Staff, CIA, to DCI Helms, July 7, 1966, FRUS Vietnam 1964–68, Vol. 4, p. 486, cited in Robert K. Brigham, ARVN: Life and Death in the South Vietnamese Army, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 2006, p. x</ref> 'content to let the Americans do the fighting and dying,'<ref>Letter from John Sylvester Jr, Province Senior Advisor, Binh Long Province, to Charles Whitehouse, Deputy for CORDS II FFV/III CTZ, Sept. 19, 1969, The Francis N. Dawson Papers: US Policy Toward Indochina 1940–53, Reports for Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, US Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Penn, cited in Brigham, 2006, p. x</ref> and 'weak in dedication, direction, and discipline.'<ref>Memo from Secretary of Defense McNamara to President Johnson, March 26, 1964, Foreign Relations of the United States Vietnam 1964–68, Vol. 4, Washington DC, Govt. Printing Office, 1994, p. 732, cited in Brigham p. x.</ref>  The President remained prone to issue instructions directly to field units, cutting across the entire chain of command. Major shortcomings identified by U.S. officers included a general lack of motivation, indicated, for example, by officers having an inclination for rear area jobs rather than combat command, and a continuing desertion problem.

===Final campaigns===
Starting in 1969, President [[Richard Nixon]] started the process of "[[Vietnamization]]", pulling out American forces and rendering the ARVN capable of fighting an effective war against the [[People's Army of Vietnam]] (PAVN) and VC. Slowly, the ARVN began to expand from its [[counter-insurgency]] role to become the primary ground defense against the PAVN/VC. From 1969 to 1971, there were about 22,000 ARVN combat deaths per year. Starting in 1968, South Vietnam began calling up every available man for service in the ARVN, reaching a strength of one million soldiers by 1972. In 1970, they performed well in the [[Cambodian Incursion]] and were executing three times as many operations as they had during the American-led war period. However, the ARVN equipment continued to be of lower standards than their American and other allies, even as the U.S. tried to upgrade ARVN technology. The officer corps was still the biggest problem. Leaders were too often inept, being poorly trained, corrupt and lacking morale.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Still, [[Sir Robert Thompson]], a British military officer widely regarded as the worlds foremost expert in counterinsurgency warfare during the Vietnam War, thought that by 1972, the ARVN had developed into one of the best fighting forces in the world, comparing them favorably with the [[Israeli Defence Forces]].<ref>Make For the Hills: The Autobiography of the World's Leading Counter Insurgency Expert. Leo Cooper (1989): page 114.</ref> Forced to carry the burden left by the Americans, the ARVN started to perform well, though with continued American air support.

In 1972, the PAVN launched the [[Easter Offensive]], an all-out attack against South Vietnam across the [[Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone]] and from its sanctuaries in Laos and Cambodia. The assault combined infantry wave assaults, artillery and the first massive use of armored forces by the PAVN. Although the T-54 tanks proved vulnerable to LAW rockets, the ARVN took heavy losses. The PAVN forces took [[Quảng Trị Province]] and some areas along the Laos and Cambodian borders. U.S. general [[Creighton Abrams]] fumed at ARVN complaints that they lacked arms and equipment. He said: ''“The ARVN haven’t lost their tanks because the enemy tanks knocked them out. The ARVN lost their tanks because goddamn it, they abandoned them. And, shit, if they had the Josef Stalin 3 [tank], it wouldn’t have been any better.”'' He likewise harangued President Thieu and Saigon’s chief of staff [[Cao Van Vien]]: ''“Equipment is not what you need. You need men that will fight... You’ve got all the equipment you need... You lost most of your artillery because it was abandoned.”''<ref>[https://archive.org/details/vietnam-an-epic-tragedy-1945-1975-max-hastings/page/n525/mode/2up Vietnam; An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975. Max Hastings, 2018. P 524-525]</ref>

[[Image:M41 of South Vietnamese Army.jpg|thumb|[[M41 Walker Bulldog]] was used by the ARVN]]

President Nixon dispatched bombers in [[Operation Linebacker]] to provide air support for the ARVN when it seemed that South Vietnam was about to be lost. In desperation, President [[Nguyễn Văn Thiệu]] fired the incompetent General [[Hoàng Xuân Lãm]] and replaced him with General [[Ngô Quang Trưởng]]. He gave the order that all deserters would be executed and pulled enough forces together in order to prevent the PAVN from taking [[Huế]]. Finally, with considerable US air and naval support, as well as hard fighting by the ARVN soldiers, the Easter Offensive was halted. ARVN forces counter-attacked and succeeded in driving some of the PAVN out of South Vietnam, though they did retain control of northern Quảng Trị Province near the DMZ.

At the end of 1972, [[Operation Linebacker II]] helped achieve a negotiated end to the war between the U.S. and the Hanoi government. By March 1973, in accordance with the [[Paris Peace Accords]] the United States had completely pulled its troops out of Vietnam. The ARVN was left to fight alone, but with all the weapons and technologies that their allies left behind. With massive technological support they had roughly four times as many heavy weapons as their enemies. The U.S. left the ARVN with over one thousand aircraft, making the RVNAF the fourth largest air force in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vnaf.net/|title=VNAF, '51–'75<!-- Bot generated title -->|website=vnaf.net|access-date=15 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215174506/http://www.vnaf.net/|archive-date=15 December 2018}}</ref> These figures are deceptive, however, as the U.S. began to curtail military aid. The same situation happened to the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]], since their allies, the Soviet Union, and China has also cut down military support, forcing them to use obsolete [[T-34]] tanks and [[SU-100]] tank destroyers in battle.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Work in Progress: "The Vietnam-Soviet Union-China Triangle Relations during the Vietnam War (1964–1973) from Vietnamese Sources" with Pham Quang Minh {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/work-progress-the-vietnam-soviet-union-china-triangle-relations-during-the-vietnam-war-1964 |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228144120/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/work-progress-the-vietnam-soviet-union-china-triangle-relations-during-the-vietnam-war-1964|archive-date=December 28, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Green |first=Michael |title=Armoured Warfare in the Vietnam War: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives. |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-4738-4030-0 |location=[Place of publication not identified] |pages=112–116 |oclc=895772676}}</ref>

In the summer of 1974, Nixon resigned under the pressure of the [[Watergate scandal]] and was succeeded by [[Gerald Ford]]. With the war growing incredibly unpopular at home, combined with a severe economic recession and mounting budget deficits, Congress cut funding to South Vietnam for the upcoming fiscal year from 1&nbsp;billion to 700&nbsp;million dollars. Historians have attributed the fall of Saigon in 1975 to the cessation of American aid along with the growing disenchantment of the South Vietnamese people and the rampant corruption and incompetence of South Vietnam political leaders and ARVN general staff.

Without the necessary funds and facing a collapse in South Vietnamese troop and civilian morale, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the ARVN to achieve a victory against the PAVN. Moreover, the withdrawal of U.S. aid encouraged North Vietnam to begin a new military offensive against South Vietnam. This resolve was strengthened when the new American administration did not think itself bound to this promise Nixon made to Thieu of a "severe retaliation" if Hanoi broke the 1973 Paris Peace Accords.

The [[Hue–Da Nang Campaign|fall of Huế]] to PAVN forces on 26 March 1975 began an organized rout of the ARVN that culminated in the complete disintegration of the South Vietnamese government. Withdrawing ARVN forces found the roads choked with refugees making troop movement almost impossible. North Vietnamese forces took advantage of the growing instability, and with the abandoned equipment of the routing ARVN, they mounted heavy attacks on all fronts. With collapse all but inevitable, many ARVN generals abandoned their troops to fend for themselves and ARVN soldiers deserted ''en masse''. The 18th Division [[Battle of Xuân Lộc|held out at Xuân Lộc]] from 9 to 21 April before being forced to withdraw. President Thiệu resigned his office on 21 April and left the country.<ref name=safer1991>"Flashbacks", Morley Safer, Random House / St Martins Press, 1991, p 322</ref> At Bien Hoa, ARVN soldiers made a strong resistance against PAVN forces, however, ARVN defenses at Cu Chi and Hoc Mon start to collapse under the overwhelming PAVN attacks. In the Mekong Delta and Phu Quoc Island, many of ARVN soldiers were aggressive and intact to prevent VC taking over any provincial capitals. Less than a month after Huế, Saigon fell and South Vietnam ceased to exist as a political entity. The sudden and complete destruction of the ARVN shocked the world. Even their opponents were surprised at how quickly South Vietnam collapsed.

Five ARVN generals died by suicide during late April to avoid capture by the PAVN/VC and potential reeducation camps. General [[Le Nguyen Vy]] died via suicide in Lai Khe shortly after hearing Duong Van Minh surrender from the radio. Both ARVN generals in Can Tho, [[Le Van Hung]] and [[Nguyen Khoa Nam]], took his own life after deciding not to prolong resistance against outnumbered PAVN/VC soldiers in Mekong Region. Brigadier General Tran Van Hai took his own life by poison at [[Dong Tam Base Camp]]. General Pham Van Phu died by suicide at a hospital in Saigon.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

The U.S. had provided the ARVN with 793,994 [[M1 carbines]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bavarianm1carbines.com/carbinesnara.html|title=Foreign Military Assistance|website=www.bavarianm1carbines.com|access-date=15 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317121239/http://www.bavarianm1carbines.com/carbinesnara.html|archive-date= March 17, 2023}}</ref> 220,300 [[M1 Garand]]s and 520 M1C/M1D rifles,<ref name="rifles147">{{cite book|last=Walter|first=John|title=Rifles of the World|publisher=Krause Publications|year=2006|location=Iola, WI|page=147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eq2Dnj4sDZIC&pg=PA147|edition=3rd|isbn=978-0-89689-241-5}}</ref> 640,000 [[M16 rifle|M-16 rifle]]s, 34,000 [[M79 grenade launcher]]s, 40,000 radios, 20,000 quarter-ton trucks, 214 [[M41 Walker Bulldog]] light tanks, 77 [[M577]] Command tracks (command version of the [[M113]] APC), 930 M113 (APC/ACAVs), 120 [[Cadillac Gage V-100 Commando|V-100s]] (wheeled armored cars), and 190 [[M48 Patton|M48]] tanks. [[Operations Enhance and Enhance Plus]] an American effort in November 1972 managed to transfer 59 more M48A3 Patton tanks, 100 additional M-113A1 ACAVs (Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicles), and over 500 extra aircraft to South Vietnam.<ref>Starry/Dunstan</ref> Despite such impressive figures, the Vietnamese were not as well equipped as the American infantrymen they replaced. The 1972 offensive had been driven back only with a massive American bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

The [[Case–Church Amendment]] had effectively nullified the Paris Peace Accords, and as a result the United States had cut aid to South Vietnam drastically in 1974, just months before the final enemy offensive, allowing North Vietnam to invade South Vietnam without fear of U.S. military action. As a result, only a little fuel and ammunition were being sent to South Vietnam. South Vietnamese air and ground vehicles were immobilized by lack of spare parts. Troops went into battle without batteries for their radios, and their medics lacked basic supplies. South Vietnamese rifles and artillery pieces were rationed to three rounds of ammunition per day in the last months of the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vnafmamn.com/fighting/heroic_allies.html|title=Heroic Allies|website=vnafmamn.com|access-date=1 September 2017|archive-date=8 August 2018|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808134552/http://vnafmamn.com/fighting/heroic_allies.html}}</ref> The ARVN forces were quickly thrown into chaos and defeated by the PAVN, no longer having to worry about U.S. bombing.

The victorious Communists sent over 250,000 ARVN soldiers to prison camps. Prisoners were incarcerated for periods ranging from weeks to 18 years.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kaiser |first1=Robert |title=SURVIVING COMMUNIST 'REEDUCATION CAMP' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/05/15/surviving-communist-reeducation-camp/5f6164e7-6370-4d19-95e3-5f10bc66fab0/ |access-date=January 26, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=May 15, 1994}}</ref> The communists called these prison camps "[[Re-education camp (Vietnam)|reeducation camps]]". The Americans and South Vietnamese had laid large minefields during the war, and former ARVN soldiers were made to clear them. Thousands died from sickness and starvation and were buried in unmarked graves. The South Vietnamese [[Bình An Cemetery|national military cemetery]] was vandalized and abandoned, and a mass grave of ARVN soldiers was made nearby. The charity "The Returning Casualty" in the early 2000s attempted to excavate and identify remains from some camp graves and restore the cemetery.<ref>[http://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/2012/03/01/excavations-of-burial-sites-at-vietnamese-re-education-camps-by-the-returning-casualty/ Excavations of Burial Sites at Vietnamese Re-Education Camps by The Returning Casualty], Julie Martin, MSc in Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology candidate, Cranfield University UK, from southeastasianarchaeology.com ([https://web.archive.org/web/20181130130845/https://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/2012/03/01/excavations-of-burial-sites-at-vietnamese-re-education-camps-by-the-returning-casualty/ Archive])</ref> Reporter Morley Safer who returned in 1989 and saw the poverty of a former soldier described the ARVN as "that wretched army that was damned by the victors, abandoned by its allies, and royally and continuously screwed by its commanders".<ref name=safer1991/>

<gallery widths="200px">
File:Vietnam1 001.jpg|ARVN Operations, 1965
File:Vietnam3 001.jpg|ARVN troops with suspected VC member, 1965
File:Vietnam2 001.jpg|A [[Douglas A-1 Skyraider]], A1E, drops [[napalm]] on a target spotted by an [[O-1 Bird Dog]].
File:WAFC-ARVN National Armed Forces Day parade 06-19-71.jpg|WAFC (Women's Armed Forces Corps) division in the National Armed Forces Day parade, Saigon, 19 June 1971
</gallery>