THE LONGEST FIGHT
Close to enemy sanctuaries north of the Demilitarized Zone and in neighboring Laos, Quang Tri province was a constant battleground. North Vietnam’s Communist Party Politburo members called it the “blazing front.” Today the old citadel fortress in Quang Tri city, the capital of South Vietnam’s northernmost province, is a memorial park dedicated to the North Vietnamese Army’s 1975 victory over the so-called “Saigon regime and its imperialist allies.”
The town and citadel were restored in the early 1980s when Communist Party Secretary Le Duan designated Quang Tri a “valiant revolutionary city.” It is a popular attraction for school children, aging NVA veterans and foreign tourists. Tour guides extol the heroism of the citadel’s communist defenders during the 1972 Spring-Summer Offensive and decry the tonnage of American bombs dropped, calling it “wanton desecration.” They don’t tell tourists that the NVA overran the citadel on May 1, 1972, and South Vietnam’s marines successfully recaptured it five months later. The attack to oust the NVA from Quang Tri city was the longest single battle of the Vietnam War—lasting 81 days, June 28-Sept. 16, 1972.
THE OPENING SALVO of North Vietnam’s offensive occurred on March 30, the Thursday before Easter. Commonly called the Easter Offensive, it was the largest offensive of the war. The communists attacked with conventional large army units aiming for a decisive victory, eschewing the guerrilla and small-unit fighters previously used to draw out the conflict and wear down the Americans until they tired of the war and left. The protracted conflict strategy was discarded in favor of a “go-for-broke” gamble to decisively defeat the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and topple President Nguyen Van Thieu’s government.
NVA forces stormed across the DMZ and out of Laos along Highway 9, heading for the former imperial capital of Hue, the cultural hub of South Vietnam—the first of three assaults in different regions of the country. At dawn on April 3, the NVA attacked firebases in the Central Highlands, a precursor to striking Kontum city with the ultimate goal of severing the country at its midsection. Farther south four days later, in the area around Saigon, the NVA overran Loc Ninh, a well-defended outpost on the Cambodian border, and encircled An Loc, only 60 miles from the capital.
The northern NVA juggernaut, 30,000-40,000 troops from three battle-toughened divisions (the 304th, 308th and 325C), accompanied by 200 tanks
