Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Tran Vi Truong, 1981

Interviewer: Can you tell me the story of the final attack on your battalion in 1975 ? Tran Vi Truong: Ah... I was a young officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. And the last battle I participated in was the battle in Chan Thanh. Chan Thanh was a town south of An Loc . At that time An Loc had already been captured. All the friendly battalions retreated to Chan Thanh. It was here that I participated in that battle for three weeks and three days. Ah... It can be said that it was a ground battle between two regular forces. Ah... the Communist side shelled our position every day, from about two thousand to three thousand shells. Tran Vi Truong: And usually beginning about 5 a.m. until about 9:30 they used the infantry, artillery and tanks to attack us by the human wave tactic. They attacked in three to four waves. After that they rested and had lunch. And then they began shelling us until 3:00 pm when they began to attack us again, three or four waves. Then they pulled back and rested. Then they would repeat the same procedure again the following day. That is to say, this was a ground battle and they used to the maximum their fire power. Ah... we were able to capture some of their transport soldiers. The majority was between sixteen and seventeen years of age. Tran Vi Truong: They were very young and did not have any experience and did not know anything besides combat activities. As for us, from high officers to ordinary soldiers, our morale was very high because we had heavy artillery support from Lai Khe as well as air support from Tan Son Nhut and Bien Hoa . We maintained our position for more than three weeks, nearly four weeks. Than all... ah... ammunition as well as large weapons were almost all destroyed. So the High Command ordered us to pull back to Lai Khe. So six battalions were evacuated by helicopters. Tran Vi Truong: The rest had to use the land route down to Lai Khe along Highway 13. And from Lai Khe there was an infantry unit which fought its way north to get in touch with us and to escort us back. That was the... general situation of that battle. As for morale, according to my opinion the morale of the high officers as well as the soldiers was very high. Tran Vi Truong: Ah... we did not know what was happening in the capitol city of Saigon , the political negotiations, the bargains made by the two sides, by the Americans and the Russians on the question of an exchange of the southern part of Vietnam for some other interest in some other countries in the... in the world. But if we had good commanders and had enough weapons and ammunition, then as a military we could never have been defeated.