 The World Around Us During The 1960's The Fall of SaigonBrian W. What is the Fall of Saigon? The Fall of Saigon is a major part of the Vietnam War. This part of the war was from about the mid section to the end of the war. This time was from about 1970 to 1975. America was fighting as an ally with South Vietnam, the French, and against North Vietnam. These two enemies fought for a couple reasons. One of these reasons was so they could celebrate Ho Chi Minh’s birthday. Ho Chi Minh was North Vietnam’s leader. The north wanted to celebrate his birthday in Saigon. So to do this they would have to take over Saigon. The North started by sending General Dung (Zung) to South Vietnam. To make sure that no one found out, that they sent General Dung there, they had a double of him traveling around North Vietnam. They did such a good job of keeping this a secret, that neither South Vietnam, or the United States CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) knew that he was in South Vietnam. Even the North Vietnamese citizens didn’t know. When they went to attack the South the North got stopped by Xuan Loc, a small village on the way to Saigon. They battled for twelve days until North Vietnam came out and won the battle. Then they started toward Saigon again. When the North was about to attack, Saigon let out a herd of wild elephants to attack the north. This made them back track and some people died, but then they came back to Saigon. When they went back they were about to attack the south. So the South let out a false weather report; it said it’s one hundred and fifteen degrees outside and rising. This was the signal to evacuate. Many people knew that this was the signal. Many people went to the airport and got on planes, or they went to the docks and got on boats. Some examples were. Nimitz, a place in Asia, sent eight helicopters. Egypt sent six transport planes. On the way two helicopters had mechanical problems, and had to stop. One got stranded in a desert, and the other returned to Nimitz. The other six helicopters arrived at Poshte Badam. All of the planes reached there also. When the people were loaded one of the helicopters couldn’t take off because it had hydraulic problems. One of the C-130 planes crashed into a helicopter, and they both burst into flames. The remaining helicopters were abandoned, and those passengers got on the planes. Other people who couldn’t get on the planes or helicopters, got on boats. They would get on anything from cruise liners to fishing boats, just to get out of there. Some people even jumped and hung on the railings of boats. The North did give the people time to leave. Soon the North had the south completely surrounded. They were going to attack from five sides or with one hundred thousand soldiers. They also had the South’s main artery, which they also got reinforcements from, blocked off. Soon the North attacked Saigon and they took over.
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