South Vietnam Collapses: Ban Me Thuot Lost
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces completed their capture of Ban Me Thuot on March 11, 1975, routing the South Vietnamese 23rd Division and seizing the strategic crossroads that controlled access to the Central Highlands. The attack had been planned as a limited probe to test South Vietnamese defenses, but its unexpected success convinced North Vietnamese commanders to accelerate their timetable for reunification. South Vietnamese President Thieu ordered a withdrawal from the highlands that turned into a catastrophic retreat, as soldiers and civilians jammed Route 7B in a chaotic exodus that North Vietnamese forces attacked from the air and ground. The fall of Ban Me Thuot proved to be the tipping point of the entire war: from that moment, the South Vietnamese military disintegrated faster than anyone on either side had predicted. The complete collapse took less than fifty days.
March 11, 1975
51 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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