Shall we move this to a newsgroup where it is on-topic?

Doug Miller wrote:
In article .com, wrote:

The tide of the war shifted because American GROUND forces were
withdrawn Vietnam and despite the fact that South Vietnam was
capable of defending itself. South Vietnam failed to defend itself
because of the incompetence and corruption of its government.

Not correct, as explained below.

North Vietnam didn't have any signficant air support for their
troops in South Vietnam, and they were outnumbered in South
Vietnam. So why couldn't South Vietnam hold its own without
American air support.

Because without American air support, it was not possible to interdict the
supply lines that the North needed to support their invasion. If American air
support had been available, the invasion could not have succeeded.


Were the NVA better supplied tban the ARVN troops? Didn't South
Vietnam have an airforce of their own?

So why couln't the South Vietnamese fight better _on their own
soil_ than the NVA?


This is also reflected by the fact that it took two more
years of fighting before the North Vietnamese were
able to take Saigon to end the war.

Prior to that point, they had been losing.
After that, they began winning. And
that makes your point how?

How were they losing prior to the cease fire? They
had held onto the 'Parrot's Beak' even WITH American
ground forces in country and with the North being bombed.
If South Vietnam had a competant, effective, and honest
government the communists would never have won.

The only reason they agreed to the cease-fire in the
first place is that they
were getting their asses kicked.


The main reason they agreed to the Cease Fire that it
was the most expedient way to get the rest of the US
Forces out of Vietnam. I'm quite sur they never had
any intent of honoring it anylonger than they needed
to accomplish that.

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FF