1975 in the Vietnam War
| 1975 in the Vietnam War | |||
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← 1974
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 A VNAF UH-1H Huey loaded with Vietnamese evacuees on the deck of the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Midway during Operation Frequent Wind, 29 April 1975. |
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| Belligerents | |||
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Anti-Communist forces:  South Vietnam United States Khmer Republic Kingdom of Laos
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Communist forces:  North Vietnam Viet Cong Khmer Rouge Pathet Lao
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| Strength | |||
| US: | |||
| Casualties and losses | |||
| US: 161 killed | |||
Anti-Communist forces:
Communist forces:
1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War, sometimes called the Second Indochina War or the American War. The North Vietnamese army (PAVN) launched the Spring Offensive in March, the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) was quickly defeated. The communist North Vietnamese captured Saigon on April 30, accepting the surrender of South Vietnam. In the final days of the war, the United States, which had supported South Vietnam for many years, carried out an emergency evacuation of its civilian and military personnel and more than 130,000 Vietnamese.
At the beginning of the Spring Offensive the balance of forces in Vietnam was approximately as follows; North Vietnam: 305,000 soldiers, 600 armored vehicles, and 490 heavy artillery pieces in South Vietnam and South Vietnam: 1.0 million soldiers, 1,200 to 1,400 tanks, and more than 1,000 pieces of heavy artillery.
The capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, was captured by the Khmer Rouge on April 17. On December 2 the Pathet Lao took over the government of Laos, thus completing the communist conquest of the three Indochinese countries.
In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge attacked and drove back the government forces near Phnom Penh, the capital city. The Khmer Rouge now controlled 80 percent of the country and soon began attacking Phnom Penh, crowded with refugees, with rockets.
Phuoc Binh, the capital of Phuoc Long province, 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Saigon, was captured by the North Vietnamese army, thus becoming the only provincial capital controlled by the North Vietnamese. All but 850 of 5,400 South Vietnamese soldiers defending the province were killed or captured. The lack of a military response by the US to the loss of a province persuaded North Vietnam that it could take more aggressive actions.
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Wikipedia