Vietnam War

===Final North Vietnamese offensive===
{{Further|topic=the final North Vietnamese offensive|Ho Chi Minh Campaign}}

With the northern half of the country under their control, the Politburo ordered General Dung to launch the final offensive against Saigon. The operational plan for the [[Ho Chi Minh Campaign]] called for the capture of Saigon before 1 May. Hanoi wished to avoid the coming monsoon and prevent any redeployment of ARVN forces defending the capital. Northern forces, their morale boosted by their recent victories, rolled on, taking [[Nha Trang]], [[Cam Ranh]] and [[Da Lat]].<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|702–704}}

On 7 April, three PAVN divisions attacked [[Battle of Xuân Lộc|Xuân Lộc]], {{Convert|40|mi}} east of Saigon. For two bloody weeks, severe fighting raged as the ARVN defenders made a [[last stand]] to try to block the PAVN advance. On 21 April, however, the exhausted garrison was ordered to withdraw towards Saigon.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|704–707}} An embittered and tearful president Thieu resigned on the same day, declaring that the United States had betrayed South Vietnam. In a scathing attack, he suggested that Kissinger had tricked him into signing the Paris peace agreement two years earlier, promising military aid that failed to materialize. Having transferred power to [[Trần Văn Hương]] on 21 April, he left for [[Taiwan]] on 25 April.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|714}} After having appealed unsuccessfully to Congress for $722 million in emergency aid for South Vietnam, President Ford had given a televised speech on 23 April, declaring an end to the Vietnam War and all U.S. aid.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Finney |first=John W. |date=12 April 1975 |title=Congress Resists U.S. Aid In Evacuating Vietnamese |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/12/archives/congress-resists-us-aid-in-evacuating-vietnamese-congress-resists.html |access-date=4 July 2021 |website=The New York Times|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409033130/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/12/archives/congress-resists-us-aid-in-evacuating-vietnamese-congress-resists.html|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Transcript of speech by President Gerald R. Ford - April 23, 1975 |url=https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3A75293 |access-date=4 July 2021 |publisher=Tulane University|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409183152/https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane:75293|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref>

By the end of April, the ARVN had collapsed on all fronts except in the [[Mekong Delta]]. Thousands of refugees streamed southward, ahead of the main communist onslaught. On 27 April, 100,000 PAVN troops encircled Saigon. The city was defended by about 30,000 ARVN troops. To hasten a collapse and foment panic, the PAVN shelled [[Tan Son Nhut Airport]] and forced its closure. With the air exit closed, large numbers of civilians found that they had no way out.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|716}}