On 30 April 1975 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces entered Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, and the South Vietnamese government surrendered unconditionally. The day ended the Vietnam War and the separate South Vietnamese state, and was preceded by a frantic helicopter evacuation of the remaining Americans and thousands of Vietnamese. Vietnam's government calls it the day of the liberation of the South and national reunification; many Vietnamese who fled abroad remember it as "Black April".
The collapse of the South
American ground combat units had left Vietnam after the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, but fighting between North and South soon resumed, while American aid to Saigon was sharply reduced. North Vietnam expected to need until 1976 to win. Instead, an offensive launched in the Central Highlands on 10 March 1975 triggered a rout. Huế fell on 25 March and Đà Nẵng on 28 March, amid chaotic retreats and huge columns of refugees. Hanoi's leadership renamed the drive on the capital the Hồ Chí Minh Campaign, after Ho Chi Minh, hoping to finish it before his birthday in May.
Xuân Lộc and Thiệu's fall
At Xuân Lộc, the last major defensive position before Saigon, the South Vietnamese 18th Division held out for eleven days of hard fighting before withdrawing on 20 April. The next day President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned in a televised address, bitterly accusing the United States of abandoning his country. His successor, Trần Văn Hương, lasted a week. On 28 April General Dương Văn Minh took over in the hope of negotiating a ceasefire, but Hanoi had no interest in talks. North Vietnamese forces, organised in five corps, now encircled the city.
Operation Frequent Wind
As the front drew nearer, Americans and many South Vietnamese linked to the government or to the United States sought to leave, fearing reprisals. Flights out were full by early April; the "Operation Babylift" airlift of orphans suffered a crash that killed 155 people. When rocket and artillery fire made the runways at Tan Son Nhut air base unusable on 29 April, the American ambassador, Graham Martin, agreed to an all-helicopter evacuation. The radio signal for Americans to move to collection points was the song "White Christmas". American helicopters ferried people from the airport compound and the embassy to ships offshore, through the afternoon and night. Around 7,000 people were lifted out, the largest helicopter evacuation in history. Martin left the embassy before dawn on 30 April on Ford's direct orders, and the last Marines followed at 07:53, leaving hundreds of hopeful evacuees behind in the compound. North Vietnamese gunners had been told not to fire on the airlift.
The final day
Early on 30 April North Vietnamese units pushed into the city, meeting resistance at Tan Son Nhut and the Newport Bridge. At 10:24 Minh broadcast an order for his forces to stop fighting. Around noon tanks of the 203rd Tank Brigade broke through the gates of the Independence Palace, where Minh and his cabinet were waiting, and the Viet Cong flag was raised over the building. That afternoon Minh read a formal surrender over Radio Saigon.
Aftermath
General Trần Văn Trà was placed in charge of the city, and South Vietnam was administered by the Provisional Revolutionary Government until reunification. On 2 July 1976 the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed with its capital in Hanoi, and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, although many still call it Saigon. The new authorities pressed people to move to the countryside, and estimates suggest that 200,000 to 300,000 people from the South were held in re-education camps, many of them enduring forced labour, torture, hunger and disease. Operation New Life carried more than 110,000 Vietnamese refugees out of the country, and many others continued to escape by boat. Assessments of the evacuation remain divided: it was praised for its efficiency but criticised as too slow and for leaving behind many Vietnamese who had worked with the Americans.
On our maps
Our 1960 map shows Vietnam divided after the end of French Indochina, and our 1985 map shows the reunified country.
From the atlas
Fall of Saigon in time and on the map
Fall of Saigon took place in 1975. The nearest maps from before and after are 1960 and 1985; compare them side by side.
Living through it, among others on this site: Anwar Sadat (1918–1981), Augusto Pinochet (1915–2006), Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997), Desmond Tutu (1931–2021), Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Ferdinand Marcos (1917–1989), Fidel Castro (1926–2016), Francisco Franco (1892–1975) and Golda Meir (1898–1978).
Other events of the same years: Satsuma Rebellion (1877–2005), Nahda (1900–2000), Cold War (1945–1991), Decolonisation of Africa (1950–1975), Vietnam War (1955–1975), Dirty War (1955–1989), Space Race (1957–1975), The Troubles (1960–1998), Second-wave feminism (1960–1980) and Guatemalan Civil War (1965–1996).
Next to it in time on this site: before, Angolan Civil War (1975–2002) and Cambodian genocide (1975–1979); after, Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) and Operation Condor (1975–1989).
Fall of Saigon comes up in the guided tour Vietnam: From Dien Bien Phu to the Fall of Saigon.
Quick answers
- When did Fall of Saigon happen?
- In 1975.
- Where did Fall of Saigon take place?
- Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam.
- How did the map change?
- Compare the atlas’s maps of 1960 and 1985 side by side.