The twenty-five year century: a South Vietnamese general remembers the Indochina war to the fall of Saigon

THE

TWENTY-FIVE

YEAR CENTURY

A South Vietnamese General

Remembers the Indochina War

to the Fall of Saigon

Lam Quang Thi

University of North Texas Press

Denton, TX

©2001 Lam Quang Thi

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

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Permissions:

University of North Texas Press

P.O. Box 311336

Denton, TX 76203-1336

The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American

National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,

z39.48.1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lâm, Quang Thi, 1932–

The twenty-five year century : a South Vietnamese general

remembers the Indochina war to the fall of Saigon / Lam Quang Thi.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-57441-143-8 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Lâm, Quang Thi, 1932– 2. Indochinese War, 1946–1954—

Personal narratives, Vietnamese. 3. Vietnamese conflict, 1961–

1975—Personal narratives, Vietnamese. 4. Generals—Vietnam

(Republic)—Biography. I. Title: 25 year century. II. Title.

DS556.93.L36 A3 2002

959.704—dc21

2001052828

Design by Angela Schmitt

Cover photo courtesy of Lam Quang Thi

To my grandchildren: Amy, Eric and Brandon,

so they can understand their heritage.

To my wife whose support and encouragement

have made this endeavor possible.

To my comrades-in-arms and allied soldiers

who had fought and died for a just cause.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS................................................. vi

INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1

1. EARLY YEARS ..................................................................... 5

2. MILITARY APPRENTICESHIP ........................................... 28

3. NORTH VIET NAM ............................................................ 39

4. LAOS AND HAUTS PLATEAUX ........................................ 60

5. BETWEEN TWO WARS ..................................................... 77

6. U.S. COMMAND & GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE ........... 107

7. 7TH INFANTRY DIVISION .............................................. 119

8. 9TH INFANTRY DIVISION .............................................. 139

9. THE BATTLE OF MANG THIT ........................................ 181

10. 1968 TET OFFENSIVE .................................................... 194

11. VIETNAMESE NATIONAL MILITARY ACADEMY ........... 216

12. MILITARY REGION ONE ................................................ 263

13. I CORPS FORWARD COMMAND .................................... 291

14. THE FALL OF MILITARY REGION ONE......................... 334

15. THE LAST DAYS ............................................................. 367

EPILOGUE ...................................................................... 399

NOTES ............................................................................ 403

GLOSSARY...................................................................... 409

INDEX ............................................................................. 411

Illustrations

PHOTOS APPEARING AFTER PAGE 193:

École Inter-Armes

Vacation in Dalat

Touring Australian Service Academies

La Vang Cathedral in Quang Tri

Visiting Servicemen’s dependent quarters

With General Luong, Airborne Division

With General Lan, Marine Division

Armed Forces Day in New Orleans

MAPS:

Indochina p. vii

Military Region I p. viii

Military Region II p. ix

Military Region III p. x

Military Region IV p. xi

Siege of Dien Bien Phu p. 73

Operation Atlante p. 74

Detour of rice shipment p. 183

Easter Sunday Battle p. 188

NVN’s 1972 offensive p. 268

Battle of Que Son p. 287

Attack on Cua Viet p. 294

Attack on Ban Me Thuot p. 336

New defense plan p. 343

NVA’s offensive in Truoi p. 346

Battle of Hue p. 352

Map of Indochina

Military Region I

Military Region II

Military Region III

Military Region IV

1

INTRODUCTION

A FEW YEARS AGO, I was invited to deliver a speech about the

former Army of the Republic of Viet Nam at a general convention of

the Vietnamese communities overseas in Dallas, Texas. I began my

address with a quotation from Victor Hugo:“Ce siecle avait deux

ans!”(This century had two years!). For the French poet, a great

admirer of Napoleon, the nineteenth century indeed could only be

remembered by its first two years when two important treaties were

signed: the Treaty of Luneville (1801) with Austria, which restored

France’s rights to its natural frontiers and the Treaty of Amiens

(1802) with Great Britain which reestablished peace in Europe and

confirmed France’s supremacy on the European continent. “As for

me,” I went on, “if I could borrow from the great French poet, I

would say that, for a great number of young men of my generation,

this twentieth century had only twenty-five years. In fact, in a pe￾riod of exactly one-quarter of a century, from 1950 to 1975, which

covered our entire military careers, we participated in the birth of

the Vietnamese National Army in 1950; we grew up and fought with

this army that achieved some of the greatest military feats in con￾temporary history, during the Viet Cong Tet Offensive in 1968 and

during North Vietnam’s multi-division Great Offensive in 1972. Our

careers abruptly ended with its tragic demise in 1975.”

Thus, when my son, Andrew Lam, a journalist and writer, sug￾gested I write my memoirs to describe my life as a soldier in the

former Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) during those tur￾bulent years and also to give my account of both the Indochina and

the Viet Nam Wars, The Twenty-Five Year Century appeared to be

an appropriate title for my book.

I must admit that, at first, I was reluctant to write a book about

myself because I agree with the French proverb that “le moi est

haissable” (the “me” is detestable). This was why, when I wrote my

2 UUU THE TWENTY-FIVE YEAR CENTURY

first book, Autopsy: The Death of South Viet Nam, in 1985 to try to

explain the main causes of the fall of South Viet Nam in 1975, I

made a point of excluding personal details of my life. However, after

taking a hard look at my son’s suggestion, I changed my mind.

First, I recognized that since the fall of South Viet Nam, many

books on Viet Nam had been written by American soldiers, journal￾ists, historians, and public officials. Robert McNamara, secretary of

defense under both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, broke his long

silence and wrote In Retrospect: Tragedy and Lessons of Viet Nam

(1995) to admit his own errors during the war. The book was in￾tended as mea culpa for his mistakes, which cost almost 60,000

American lives. It stirred a lot of controversy; it caused anger among

Vietnamese communities as well as U.S.Viet veterans, but added

nothing new to the already vast library of the Viet Nam War. I find it

interesting that Mr. McNamara put his mistakes in writing. Written

confessions can be, after all, a lucrative way of easing one’s con￾science.

Even the Vietnamese Communists had written quite a few books

(which were eagerly translated into English) to brag about their

military and political achievements after the war. Among them,

North Viet Nam’s Gen. Van Tien Dung’s The Great Spring Victory

(1975) had been widely circulated in the West and closely scruti￾nized by Pentagon officials. Not to be outdone, Truong Nhu Tang, a

former cabinet minister in the Viet Cong’s Provisional Revolution￾ary Government (PRG) wrote Memoir of a Viet Cong (1985) to tell

the story of his life and his frustrations with the heavy-handed tac￾tics of his comrades to the North.

On the other hand, I was sad to notice that only a handful of

books had been written in English by journalists, public officials,

and soldiers from the former Republic of Viet Nam. To my knowl￾edge, only three former ARVN generals had published their mem￾oirs in English, with the help of American ghostwriters, who may or

may not have accurately reflected the authors’ thoughts.

A second reason for me to write my memoir was that most of

the books on Viet Nam were written right after the war when emo￾tions were high and when only limited information and data had

been collected. I thought that, after twenty-five years, emotions have