The Battle of An Lộc was a major battle of the Vietnam War that lasted for 66 days and culminated in a tactical victory for South Vietnam. The struggle for An Lộc in 1972 was an important battle of the war, as South Vietnamese forces halted the North Vietnamese advance towards Saigon.
Background
An Lộc is the capital of Bình Phước Province located northwest of Military Region III. During North Vietnam's Easter Offensive (known in Vietnam as the Nguyen Hue Offensive) of 1972, An Lộc was at the centre of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) strategy, its location on Route QL-13 near Base Area 708 in Cambodia allowed safeguarding supplies based out of a "neutral" location in order to reduce exposure to U.S. bombing. To protect this critical area, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) had essentially a single division in Bình Phước Province, the 5th Division. During the battle, the 5th Division was outnumbered by a combined force consisting of three PAVN and Viet Cong divisions. This fighting which ensued became the most protracted conflict of the 1972 Easter Offensive.
On the same day that Lộc Ninh, a small town north of An Lộc on the border with Cambodia was assaulted, the PAVN 7th Division launched an attack on route QL-13 in an attempt to cut off An Lộc from Saigon. To control QL-13 was to control the road to Saigon, roughly to the south. This prevented resupply of ARVN forces in An Lộc battle.
Battle
On the evening of 7 April, elements of the PAVN 9th Division overran Quần Lợi Base Camp. Its defenders, the 7th Regiment of the 5th Division, were ordered to destroy their heavy equipment (including a combined 105mm and 155mm artillery battery) and fall back to An Lộc. Once captured, the PAVN used Quần Lợi as a staging base for units coming in from Cambodia to join the siege of An Lộc. Key members of COSVN were based there to oversee the battle.
On 7 April the 21st Division was alerted for movement from IV Corps to III Corps. On 10 April the first elements of this division were already deployed to Lai Khê.
On 8 April, the small town of Lộc Ninh was overrun and about half of the defenders escaped to An Lộc.
The ARVN defenders of An Lộc were made up of several units of the 5th Division, including the Division's 8th Regiment with about 2,100 men; the 7th Regiment which was short one battalion and only had 850 men; the 9th Regiment, most of which was destroyed at Lộc Ninh, had only had 200 men; Task Force 52, 500 men; the 3rd Ranger Group, 1,300 men; as well as Binh Long Provincial Regional Force, Popular Forces and People's Self-Defense Forces (PSDF), about 2,000 men. The defenders were later reinforced by the elite 81st Ranger Group and the 1st Airborne Brigade, brought in by air because QL-13 was blocked by the PAVN. Because the ARVN defense had little artillery, it was heavily reliant on U.S. air support. Other reinforcements consisted of the 21st Division, which was plagued by a very slow move from the Delta area in the south of the country and cleared QL-13 after protracted fighting.
The ARVN defenders did have one card to play throughout the battle: the immense power of U.S. air support. The use of United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 Stratofortress bombers (capable of carrying 108 MK82s (500 pound) bombs on one run) in a close support tactical role, as well as AC-119 Stinger and AC-130E Spectre gunships, fixed wing cargo aircraft of varying sizes, AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) A-37s. These methods worked to blunt the PAVN offensive. At this stage in the war, the PAVN often attacked with PT-76 amphibious and T-54 medium tanks spearheading the advance, usually preceded by a massive artillery barrage. These tactics reflected Soviet doctrine, as the PAVN had been supplied with Soviet and Chinese Communist equipment, including jets, artillery, and surface-to-air missiles since the beginning of the war. The battle eventually stagnated and became a periodic trade of artillery barrages. This was most probably a result of casualties sustained in the frustrated attacks on heavily entrenched enemy positions in control of a withering array of supporting firepower.
On 12 April a relief force of the 32nd Regiment, 21st Division departed Lai Khê to reopen QL-13 to Chơn Thành Camp, 30 km south of An Lộc.