50 years of national reunification - April 3, 1975: Liberation of Da Lat

By April 3, 1975, the two southern provinces of the Central Highlands, Tuyen Duc and Lam Dong, were completely liberated and the Central Highlands campaign that began on March 4 officially ended in complete victory.

On April 3, 1975, Da Lat - a city on the Di Linh plateau was liberated. (Photo: VNA archive)

At 3:00 a.m. on April 3, 1975, our forces reached the Phi Nom junction and divided into two groups: Battalion 840 advanced along Highway 21 to D'Ran town, but the enemy there had fled. The unit quickly took over the district and district headquarters and established the Don Duong District Military Management Committee. Battalion 186 followed Highway 20 to Da Lat.

At 8:00 a.m. on April 3, 1975, the unit arrived at the Kim Cuc gas station intersection, the gateway to Da Lat city, and met some of our grassroots cadres.

Immediately afterwards, a squad of the battalion, along with a number of cadres and bases in Da Lat, entered and occupied the provincial administrative building of the puppet government. At 8:20 a.m. on April 3, 1975, the revolutionary flag flew at the headquarters of the puppet government of the province. Da Lat town and Tuyen Duc province were completely liberated.

The battalion quickly deployed to take over and protect political , economic, cultural and technical facilities in the town, organized the work of maintaining order, hunting down enemy remnants, punishing thugs who were looting, and protecting people's lives and property.

Thus, by April 3, 1975, the two southern provinces of the Central Highlands, Tuyen Duc and Lam Dong, were completely liberated. The Central Highlands campaign, which began on March 4, officially ended with complete victory, far exceeding initial expectations.

During 30 days of continuous attacks, we destroyed and disintegrated the 2nd Corps - Military Region 2 of the Saigon army, eliminated from combat over 28,000 enemies, captured and destroyed 154 planes, 1,096 military vehicles, and liberated the vast Central Highlands area.

With the victory of the Central Highlands Campaign, we successfully completed the task of destroying a large part of the enemy's forces, liberating strategically significant areas, shaking the entire enemy defense system in the North, breaking and cutting the enemy's strategic deployment in half, forcing the enemy to huddle together and passively respond on the battlefields, opening up the opportunity for a strategic general offensive.

In another development, faced with the critical situation after the loss of Da Nang, on April 3, 1975, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff FC Weyand (who came to Vietnam in late March 1975) together with the Saigon Army General Staff decided to urgently establish the Xuan Loc defense line to stop the advance of our troops.

On the same day, April 3, at the Command post east of La Nga bridge, the Campaign Command discussed the plan to attack Xuan Loc (a town in Long Khanh province, 60km northeast of Saigon, the key point and gateway to Saigon. The combat command motto was determined to be "Fight firmly, advance firmly."

However, in the face of the enemy's confusion and wavering situation, it was necessary to be "urgent and bold," the Campaign Command decided to use a part of the infantry, concentrating all tanks and artillery to attack directly the Sub-Region Command Headquarters and Division 18. If the enemy disintegrated, they would quickly capture Xuan Loc./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/50-nam-thong-nhat-dat-nuoc-ngay-341975-giai-phong-da-lat-post1024450.vnp