Liberating Son Ca Island, the main forces approached Saigon-Gia Dinh from five directions.

On April 25, 1975, we liberated Son Ca Island in the Truong Sa archipelago. The main forces approached Saigon-Gia Dinh from five directions, ready to open fire to launch the Ho Chi Minh Campaign.

Naval Special Forces Group 126 attacked and liberated Son Ca Island, Truong Sa archipelago, April 25, 1975. (Photo: Le Nhat/VNA)

At 0:30 a.m. on April 25, 1975, carrying out the mission of liberating the islands in the Truong Sa archipelago, the landing force (Squad 2, Group C75) commanded by Lieutenant Do Viet Cuong landed on Son Ca island.

After the scouts had a firm grasp of the target, at exactly 2:30 a.m. on April 25, 1975, the attack to liberate Son Ca Island began. Our attack forces opened fire simultaneously. The enemy was completely surprised, fought back weakly, and then fled; by 3:00 a.m., we had complete control of Son Ca Island.

On April 25, 1975, at the 1st Corps Command in Rach Be, the Corps Command organized a meeting to disseminate the fighting determination approved by the Ho Chi Minh Campaign Command and assigned specific tasks to the units.

Major General Nguyen Hoa - Commander of the Corps issued a directive on the sand table to the commanders of infantry units and military branches. Starting from April 25, 1975, Battalion 5, Regiment 27, Division 320 began to mobilize forces to Lai Thieu.

On the same day, in the direction of the 3rd Corps, it was discovered that the 25th Division of the Republic of Vietnam showed signs of withdrawing to Dong Du, Hoc Mon. The Corps Command ordered the 316th Division to send all its forces to stop and hold the enemy. The 149th Regiment cut off Route 1 in the east of Trang Bang, surrounded and prepared to attack the enemy at this base. The 174th Regiment cut off Route 1 in the Phuoc My area, prepared to capture the Phuoc My base.

Also from April 25 (until April 27, 1975), the 3rd Corps artillery heavily bombarded enemy artillery positions in Dong Du, Phuoc My, Dong Chua, Trang Bang, Go Dau Ha, Ben Kho, and Khiem Hanh.

The Southwest Region Party Committee was in a meeting when it received a telegram from the Central Bureau: The order to start the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, attacking Saigon, starting from April 26, 1975. The Southwest Region Party Committee and Military Command ordered units and localities to launch a general offensive and rise up to liberate the homeland. Action time: 0:00 April 30, 1975.

During the 11 days of final preparations for the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the strategic logistics of the Truong Son Command exploited and transported 24,000 tons of weapons, 25,000 tons of food, 1,000 tons of medicine, 1,000 tons of gasoline; organized 5 repair stations, 10 artillery and tank repair stations to serve the campaign.

In particular, in the days leading up to the campaign, the logistics of the Region brought 10,000 people from the rear to organize into 8 mobile battalions and mobilized nearly 4,000 transport vehicles of all kinds, 656 motorboats, canoes, 1,736 bicycles, 63,342 frontline laborers, established 15 field hospitals, 17 treatment teams, with over 10,000 beds to serve the troops.

In preparation for the final strategic battle, the B.2 Military Industry workshops focused all their human resources and equipment on producing two types of weapons in great demand for combat at this time: directional mines and barrier-breaking explosives.

Carrying out the order of the Regional Command, the Regional Military Armament Department directed its affiliated factories to organize a 20-day peak production period from April 5 to 25, 1975, producing 6,809 barrier-breaking explosives and 3,621 MDH10 directional mines.

From April 20 to 25, 1975, under the command of the Campaign Command, the main Army Corps 1, 2, 3, 4 and Group 232 approached Saigon-Gia Dinh from five directions, ready to open fire for the historic strategic battle - the Ho Chi Minh Campaign.

NDO

Source: https://baohanam.com.vn/chinh-tri/ngay-25-4-1975-giai-phong-dao-son-ca-cac-canh-quan-chu-luc-ap-sat-sai-gon-gia-dinh-tren-nam-huong-158349.html