An Loc

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An Loc (Vietnamese: An Lộc) is a small town in southern Vietnam, located approximately 90 km north of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) with a population of 15,000. The town became famous during the Vietnam War, as the location of a major battle in 1972.

In North Vietnam's Easter Offensive of 1972, the Communist Politburo/General Vo Nguyen Giap planned simultaneous attacks to capture as much territory as possible and to defeat the US-supported South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). By then, the number of United States ground forces in South Vietnam had fallen to 65,000 from an all-time high of 543,000 in 1969; and the North Vietnamese correctly anticipated that the US was unwilling to commit ground troops again. An aerial armada consisting of United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 Stratofortresses, F-4 Phantom IIs, A-37 Dragonflies and US Navy planes from four aircraft carrier wings and some Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) fighters, however, were at hand to provide strong and at times crucial air-support.

One of the main attacks of the offensive took place north of Saigon, where three divisions of North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) troops from base areas inside Cambodia launched a full-scale invasion starting on April 2, 1972. Quickly overrunning South Vietnamese defensive outposts, the North Vietnamese rolled down Highway 13 towards Saigon.

The ARVN took a stand at An Loc, lead by CG Nguyen Van Minh, which was shortly surrounded by PAVN troops. The North Vietnamese forces, for the first time supported by heavy tanks, began their assault on April 13, 1972. A three-days all-out attack failed, after which the battle turned into a prolonged siege with shifting attacks and counter-attacks. All the while, the town was turned into rubble. Although the North Vietnamese on several occasions breached the defenses, they never managed to deal the defenders a knock-out blow; and An Loc remained in the hands of the South Vietnamese. By July, the fighting had subsided and An Loc was relieved on July 11.

Although the ARVN performed well in some regards in An Loc, USAF air-support and air-borne supplies and reinforcements were key in preventing the fall of the town to the North Vietnamese. As such, the battle failed to convince US policymakers that the South Vietnamese could continue the war on their own. In his memoirs, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger notes that the South Vietnamese Army never managed to reopen the road into An Loc. The battle for An Loc (Easter Offensive) interrupted the Paris Peace Talks. Operation Linebacker I brought the communists back to the negotiations.

Three historical figures are linked to An Loc. Air Force pilot First Lieutenant Michael Blassie died near An Loc when his A-37B went down on May 11, 1972. He had been buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns from 1984 to 1988 as the Unknown Service Member from the Vietnam War, before positive identification was obtained. Colonel William Nolde, the last recorded American combat casualty of the conflict, fell here on January 27, 1973. The ARVN did have a hero in Brigadier General Le Van Hung (1933-1975), whose remark "If I'm still alive, An Loc still stands" rallied the troops. His forces firmly held the city of An Loc under fierce enemy attacks that lasted 2 months. At the end of the war, General Hung was by then deputy commander of the IV Corps (known as Military Region 4) at Can Tho. He and the commander, General Nguyen Khoa Nam, rather than fleeing the country or surrendering to the communists, committed suicide on April 30, 1975 after hearing the order to lay down their arms by General Duong Van Minh, who had been President of the Republic of Vietnam for just three days. For some South Vietnamese, this month is now known as "Cruel April"; and the Communist North Vietnamese finally achieved what they sought in their 1972 Easter Offensive.

An Loc is mentioned in the epilogue of American Graffiti. It is said that Terry aka Toad (Charles Martin Smith) went missing near An Loc in December, 1965.