| Battle of Lộc Ninh | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Vietnam War | |||||||
 Movements of Communist forces in Bình Long in 1972. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 South Vietnam United States |
 Viet Cong North Vietnam | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Nguyen Cong Vinh Richard R. Schott Mark A. Smith |
Hoàng Văn Thái Trần Văn Trà | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
Regular Force: About 2,000 Local militia: ~2.000 Air support and advisors to direct strikes | About 13,800 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
Nearly 2,000 South Vietnamese soldiers killed or wounded 1,876 captured (only about 50 soldiers actually reached An Lộc) 7 American advisers captured (later released) 18 M-41 tanks and 31 M113 APCs destroyed, 17 M-41 tanks and 32 trucks captured 8 Self-propelled guns destroyed 8 helicopters destroyed. |
~1,000 North Vietnamese soldiers killed or wounded 2 T-54 and 1 PT-76 tanks destroyed | ||||||
The Battle of Lộc Ninh was a major battle fought during the Easter Offensive during the Vietnam War, which took place in Bình Long Province, South Vietnam between 4 and 7 April 1972. Towards the end of 1971, North Vietnamese leaders decided to launch a major offensive against South Vietnam, with the objective of destroying Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) units and capturing as much territory as possible, in order to strengthen their bargaining position in the Paris Peace Accords. On 30 March 1972, two People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) divisions smashed through the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone, marking the commencement of the Easter Offensive. They quickly overwhelmed South Vietnamese units in the I Corps Tactical Zone. With the rapid collapse of South Vietnamese forces in the northern provinces of South Vietnam, PAVN and Viet Cong (VC) forces began preparing for their next offensive, targeting Bình Long Province in the rubber plantation region north of Saigon. On 4 April, the VC 5th Division opened their attack on Lộc Ninh, defended by the ARVN 9th Infantry Regiment. After three days of fighting, the vastly outnumbered ARVN forces, though well supported by American air power, were forced to abandon their positions in Lộc Ninh.