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Easter Offensive
Part of the Vietnam Conflict
PAVN artillery goes into action on the Kontum front
Date 30 March - 22 October 1972 Location Northern Republic of Vietnam Result Limited South Vietnamese victory.
Combatants
Republic of Vietnam United States	Democratic Republic of Vietnam National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam
Commanders
Ngo Quang Truong	Vo Nguyen Giap Tran Van Tra
Strength
800,000+	200,000+
Casualties
60,000 killed and wounded

The Easter Offensive (also known as the Nguyen Hue Offensive) was a military campaign conducted from 30 March to 22 October 1972, during in the Vietnam Conflict. It was the first attempt by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North Vietnam) to invade the Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam) since the third phase of the General Offensive had been stalled at the Battle of Dai Do in May 1968.

Contents 1 Preliminaries 2 Offensive 2.1 Northern collapse 2.2 An Loc and Kontum 2.3 Linebacker I 3 Counteroffensive 4 Repercussions 5 Conclusion 6 References 6.1 Notes 6.2 Sources 6.3 See also 6.4 External link

When the DRV Vietnam launched the offensive in 1972 it had every reason to be confident of success. U.S. forces had been gradually withdrawing from South Vietnam for the previous three years, growing anti-war sentiment had spread among the population and government of the U.S., and the failure of South Vietnamese forces during Operation Lam Son 719 in 1971 had all added to the DRV's confidence. However, it was during this offensive that the North Vietnamese failed as the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) put up stiff resistance and inflicted much material damage to their opponents. The result was a military disaster for North Vietnamese forces.

Main articles: Battle of An Loc and Operation Linebacker I

The offensive began on 30 March, when 200,000 PAVN troops under the command of General Vo Nguyen Giap, crossed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and attacked the three northernmost provinces of South Vietnam. Rolling over the border outposts, PAVN then attacked the city of Quang Tri from the north and west.

This wave of attacks was followed by offensives against Kontum Province on 12 April and the city of An Loc, in Binh Long Province on 19 April.

The second wave of the offensive was designed to split the RVN in two by driving through the Central Highlands to the sea. The attack on Quang Tri was met by heavy aerial bombardment by aircraft of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force]]. B-52 Stratofortress bombers were used to extend the air strikes against PAVN forces in the DMZ on 4 April, and into areas of the northern DRV on 10 April in a bombing campaign unprecedented during the Vietnam Conflict. Targets near the DRV capital of Hanoi was bombed on 15 April.

Quang Tri fell to PAVN on 1 May. In response, the U.S. and RVN negotiators withdrew from the Paris Peace Talks three days later, although talks would resume on 13 July. PAVN soon pressed the attack southward from Quang Tri southward toward the old imperial capital of Hue, where they were rebuffed with the assistance of American air support on 5 May. The U.S. military reinforced its in-theater air forces by shuttling squadrons in from as far away as Japan and the continental U.S. This aerial armada continued to provide tactical support to South Vietnamese forces, and simultaneously began Operation Linebacker I

Simultaneously, the U.S. continued to withdraw its troops from South Vietnam, culminating in the departure of the last U.S. combat units on 23 August. With Linebacker I underway, the PAVN offensive was slowed by supply shortages. PAVN withdrew from the offensive on Kontum on 30 May, and An Loc, which had been besieged unsuccessfully by the communists, was relieved on 11 July.

ARVN launched an offensive to re-take Quang Tri on 28 June, finally recapturing the city on 16 September. One-tenth of the DRV's air force was destroyed during the bombing campaign by the end of September. The peace talks in Paris reached fruition on 8 October when both sides agreed to major concessions. However, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's proposals were initially rejected by the South Vietnamese government. The U.S. military ended Operation Linebacker I on 22 October amid talks of an end to the Vietnam Conflict, although PAVN troops remained in South Vietnam.

Estimated troop casualties during the offensive were more then 100,000 for the DRV and 60,000 for the RVN. Following the failure of the offensive, General Giap was replaced by his deputy, General Van Tien Dung.

Due to the intransigence of South Vietnam's President Nguyen Van Thieu (who demanded reassurence that the U.S. would not abandon his nation after any agreement) and by new demands by Hanoi, the peace talks stalled in December. This led President Richard M. Nixon, to launch Operation Linebacker II, a bombing campaign aimed at Hanoi and the port of Haiphong. The Paris Peace Accords, signed in January 1973, confirmed that PAVN troops would remain in South Vietnam in the areas that they then occupied. The U.S. ended its involvement in South Vietnam in April 1973. PAVN launched its third offensive (the Ho Chi Minh Campaign) in 1975, and was successful.

Vietnam War

Ap Bac – Binh Gia –Pleiku – Song Be – Dong Xoai – Gang Toi – Ia Drang – Hastings – A Shau – Duc  Co –Long Tan – Attleboro – Cedar Falls – Tra Binh Dong – Junction City – Hill 881 – Ong Thanh – Dak To – 1st Tet – Khe Sanh – 1st Saigon – Hue – Lang Vei – Lima Site 85 – Kham Duc – Dewey Canyon  – 2nd Tet – Hamburger Hill – Binh Ba – Cambodia – Snuol – FSB Ripcord – Lam Son 719 – Ban Dong –FSB Mary Ann – Easter '72 – 1st Quang Tri –Loc Ninh – An Loc – Kontum – 2nd Quang Tri  –Phuoc Long – Ho Chi Minh – Buon Me Thuot – Xuan Loc – Truong Sa –2nd Saigon – Rolling Thunder – Barrell Roll – Pony Express – Steel Tiger – Tiger Hound – Tailwind – Commando Hunt – Linebacker I – Linebacker II – Chenla I – Chenla II – SS Mayagüez

• Andrade, Dale. Trial By Fire: The 1972 Easter Offensive, America's Last Vietnam Battle. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1995.
• Fulgham, David, Terrence Maitland, et al. South Vietnam on Trial: Mid-1970-1972. Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1984.
• Turley, Colonel G.H. The Easter Offensive. Novato CA: Presidio Press, 1985.
• Ngo, Lieutenant General Quang Truong, The Easter offensive of 1972. Washington DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1980.

• Vietnam War
• An Loc
• Battle of An Loc
• Battle of Kontum
• Battle of Loc Ninh

• http://www.vietnam-war.info/battles/eastertide_offensive.php