VENETIC

The Last Stand

District 1, Saigon

30 April 1975

by W.S. McCallum

The eastern end of District 1, downtown Saigon, on what is to be the last day of the Vietnam War. The NVA has been shelling the last ARVN artillery in the neighbourhood to offer resistance and has silenced it.

There is a period of silence. The streets are empty. Those locals who have not already fled are expecting the worst.

Two lone ARVN Walker Bulldog hold the first crossroads after the bridge leading into Saigon.

Across the bridge come the lead elements of an entire NVA Division. It is not a matter of whether the ARVN tanks will hold out, but more a question of how long they will hold them up.

As they come down off the bridge, the two lead T-54s jostle for space.

The Walker Bulldog on the left opens fire first, and misses the lead T-54.

The lead T-54 returns fire and scores a hit.

The remaining Walker Bulldog opens fire but misses.

The second T-54 fires and scores another hit.

The two ARVN tanks are now both burning and there are no survivors among the crews. Unfortunately for the NVA tanks, these two burning tanks completely block the main road to the South Vietnamese Presidential Palace. The T-54s are going to have to skirt around them and take the next parallel boulevard to the south.

Coming up behind the tanks is a whole company of NVA infantry.

The three T-54s advance cautiously with the infantry taking cover behind them.

One tank turns left and goes down a side street to cover their flank. There may be ARVN infantry around...

Another tank, fearing a trap up ahead, crashes through a wall to enable further fanning out.

There’s no sign of movement at the intersection.

North of the intersection, some NVA make a dash across the street.

ARVN infantry open fire.

They are eliminated.

The NVA platoon commander sends more men across - the ARVN position must be outflanked. They are met with more fire from the cinema.

The NVA platoon commander assaults the cinema and shots are exchanged, with the ARVn beating a hasty retreat.

On the main road, another platoon is massing to take the intersection.

The squad by the cinema keeps moving on past the cinema to take up position along the wall behind the car park.

They offer cover for the next squad coming up on their flank.

Meanwhile, the intersection is taken.

At the corner south of the intersection, further ARVN reveal themselves, opening fire at the NVA tanks and infantry coming towards them.

Heedless, the NVA units advance, firing as they go. Seeing that they are heavily outnumbered and that two T-54s are coming at them, the ARVN withdraw to the building behind the corner building.

The lead T-54 stops, rotates its turret, and begins firing its main gun at them.

To the south of this position, the NVA platoon that passed the cinema is now coming towards them, leapfrogging from one building to the next.

Their advance is stopped by ARVN, who open fire on two NVA squads simultaneously.

The ARVN find themselves caught in crossfire from these units and are soon silenced, one by one. The building is cleared and a prisoner is taken.

The die-hard ARVN commander in a nearby building has a tough decision to make: his flank has crumbed, and the war is all but over.

He attempts to get back to the remaining squads across the road, but is spotted by NVA who are now holding the intersection on the main road.

He makes it across, under heavy fire.

Another ARVN squad covers his retreat.

NVA assault the building, but take heavy losses, losing all but their squad leader.

He takes cover in a nearby bus shelter.

By now, heavy NVA fire is coming from across the road and the ARVN start falling and the squad is wiped out.

While the lead T-54 pounds the last hold-outs with shells from its main gun, further NVA infantry assault via back alleys behind the building.

A major firefight is underway, with the last ARVN soldiers exchanging fire with NVA in an adjacent building whilst also being pounded with tank shells and assaulted from the alleyway.

An ARVN LAW team creeps out into the street to fire at the T-54 but they miss.

The tank rotates its main gun and fires repeatedly at them, but they are a tricky target to hit.

Finally they are hit however.

With the remaining few ARVN infantry in the building left facing three T-54s and a horde of NVA, the ARVN commander decides to surrender his last few men.

The three lead T-54s set off for the South Vietnamese Presidential Palace, advancing ahead of infantry support so they can make their rendez-vous with history.

The tank battle at the start of the game reflected what happened in real life: The two Walker Bulldogs holding the intersection opened fire but missed and were hit by two of the three T-54s. The game would have been much more difficult for the NVA commander if the Walker Bulldog tanks had managed to hit the lead T-54s. As it was, the NVA commander lost the equivalent of a whole platoon from his infantry company.