Chapter 317
Chapter 317
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Side Story 8: The Tragedy of War
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Although Korea's domestic situation was chaotic, it was actually in far better shape compared to the international affairs unfolding around it.
Even with protests erupting and all hell breaking loose, wasn't it still better than war?
"War? What war?"
Vietnam.
North Vietnam, which had been quietly reorganizing its forces, saw that the U.S. presidential election was right around the corner and started crunching the numbers.
"The Americans won't be able to talk tough about war during election season."
Once North Vietnam concluded that war favored them, they decided to tear up the Paris Peace Accords.
"Paris Peace Accords? Do we really have to keep those?"
"No, peace accords are just promises."
"Yeah, promises with no real binding power—crush them with force and be done with it."
North Vietnam launched a massive war against South Vietnam before the ink on the Paris Peace Accords had even dried.
It had been exactly two years since the U.S. military withdrew.
"This is an invasion! Washington has to stop it!"
South Vietnam screamed at the top of its lungs, and the U.S. did respond in kind.
"Let's allocate funding to support the Vietnam War."
"What? Vietnam War funding? Where's the money for that right now?"
Tied up in an economic war with Korea and barely keeping up, there was no money to spare for Vietnam.
That was the Republican stance.
In truth, the Democrats were no different—they tacitly agreed through their silence.
"So, support will be difficult under these circumstances."
With that, the U.S. once again defaulted on the trust of its allies.
"Wow. Is that the class of the so-called First World leaders?"
Deprived of U.S. support, South Vietnam was helplessly pushed back by the North Vietnamese offensive.
"This feels like we're just fighting scarecrows."
The South Vietnamese army tried to resist, but corruption within the military and chronic underfunding meant they couldn't properly utilize even the forces they had.
"Isn't it common sense to give shells along with the cannons? Where are the shells?"
"We don't have the money for that."
The massive equipment left behind by the Americans was little more than scrap metal to the South Vietnamese army, which lacked the budget to operate it.
Fuel, shells, spare parts—all were in critically short supply.
"After firing off a hundred rounds, now we're counting each one—it's so damn frustrating."
Units that managed any resupply at all were the lucky ones.
Many had their supply lines cut by Viet Cong uprisings and couldn't even get basic rations.
"What about the air force?"
With its air force ranked around fifth in the world at the time (?), the South Vietnamese surely had something to contribute.
The South Vietnamese army pinned its hopes on the air force, but those hopes were brutally betrayed.
"Take this, people's bayonets! Nguyen Van Thieu!"
Some of the pilots dispatched by the South Vietnamese air force bombed the Presidential Palace in Saigon and defected to North Vietnam—an utterly absurd incident.
"Unbelievable. Did the air force just bomb the head of state's residence?"
The South Vietnamese military was left in stunned disbelief.
"How are we supposed to fight in a mess like this?"
In the midst of this chaos, President Nguyen Van Thieu issued an order to rally the military forces.
"Orders to all units: As of now, abandon your positions and withdraw to more defensible locations."
President Nguyen Van Thieu's directive dealt a fatal blow to the South Vietnamese army units that had been holding on.
"What? We're allowed to retreat?"
South Vietnamese soldiers swiftly abandoned their posts and fled.
In the process, all the supplies and equipment they left behind fell straight into North Vietnamese hands.
"These guys—are they actually our supply unit in disguise?"
"Cannons, tanks, planes, helicopters—they've got everything."
The North Vietnamese army, now heavily armed with captured South Vietnamese gear, pressed southward relentlessly.
"Don't give the enemy time to regroup. Striking faster than they expect is the key to victory."
North Vietnam's supreme commander, Vo Nguyen Giap, urged swift advances.
He personally went to the front lines, marching and carrying loads alongside the troops to encourage them onward.
This stood in stark contrast to South Vietnamese commanders who directed from comfortable offices and fled by plane or helicopter when things turned sour.
It was no wonder the gap between the two armies was so vast.
During the retreat, the South Vietnamese army repeatedly disgraced itself and suffered defeat after defeat.
"Where's the commander, sir?"
"He took a helicopter to Saigon on 'official business.'"
The crushing defeat at the Battle of Da Nang shattered the main force of the South Vietnamese army.
South Vietnam's fate was effectively sealed.
That said, South Vietnam didn't collapse without putting up any fight.
"Not yet! We're not dead yet!"
The 18th Division of the South Vietnamese army, led by Major General Le Minh Dao, held off a North Vietnamese force several times its size for two weeks, blocking their advance on Saigon and demonstrating remarkable tenacity.
"If we lose here, we'll have no choice but to drown in the sea. Fight to the last for free Vietnam."
Even the North Vietnamese army was awed by the 18th Division's superhuman combat prowess.
"Were there guys in South Vietnam who could fight like this?"
While the 18th Division resisted tenaciously, the U.S. embassy staff, foreigners, bureaucrats, and politicians in Saigon hurried to evacuate.
"This country's done for."
Even South Vietnam's dictator, Nguyen Van Thieu, was no exception.
For all his bold rhetoric, no one was quicker to look out for himself when it mattered.
"Load it up, fast."
He packed military planes with gold bars and artwork before swiftly escaping Saigon.
"Can a country hope for anything when its president is hopeless?"
South Vietnam's air force chief of staff, Nguyen Cao Ky, ordered the entire air force to flee overseas.
"Better to hand our precious aircraft to other countries than let the communists have them."
Following Nguyen Cao Ky's orders, countless South Vietnamese aircraft flew to nearby Thailand, Malaysia, and elsewhere.
"This is like free candy."
The recipient nations grinned ear to ear at the gift of expensive U.S.-made planes.
The South Vietnamese navy didn't sit around waiting for doom either.
"We're evacuating too."
Its major ships also attempted to flee to nearby Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
Seeing the exodus from both military and government alike, the U.S. prepared for South Vietnam's fall.
'Well, we saw this coming.'
The U.S. immediately activated evacuation protocols.
Civilian aircraft, military planes, ships, helicopters.
The U.S. mobilized every available means to aid the escape of refugees—primarily families of officials and soldiers who had cooperated with them.
During the withdrawal, the U.S. requested humanitarian assistance from the Korean government.
"Our relations have soured a bit, but I don't think we'd turn our backs on a humanitarian crisis, right?"
"You're right."
The Korean government readily accepted the request.
But with conditions.
"We'll help with rescues, but not with housing them afterward."
"We wouldn't ask that much."
Once the agreement was reached, Korea moved swiftly.
Just 12 hours after the decision, the Korean navy stationed in the South China Sea deployed to Vietnamese waters, and landing ships and transports lifted anchor from the Korean mainland.
"Hurry up. If you're late, no ride."
South Vietnamese swarmed the ports in black masses to board rescue ships from the First and Third Worlds.
Even amid the chaos, the Korean navy saved many lives.
"Keep loading them."
"No more landing spots for helicopters on the landing ship."
"Then dump the choppers into the sea."
The Korean navy rescued Vietnamese civilians around the clock.
During this, North Vietnamese torpedo boats circled the Korean ships, issuing threats.
"Have they lost their minds?"
The Korean navy easily drove them off with five-inch guns from its destroyers.
Over the 20-day operation, Korea successfully rescued 195,000 civilians.
These evacuees were transported to nearby U.S. territory Guam or British Hong Kong.
The rescue op went off without a hitch, but they couldn't reverse the rapidly tilting tide of war.
On April 1, 1975, North Vietnamese vanguard units broke through the 18th Division's stubborn defense and entered Saigon.
Three days later, the North Vietnamese flag rose over the Presidential Palace.
With that iconic image, South Vietnam's resistance officially ended.
Yet Saigon still had civilians and diplomats who needed to evacuate.
At the U.S. request, Korea joined withdrawal negotiations with Vietnam.
After prolonged haggling, Pyongyang secured an agreement: North Vietnam would grant an extra two weeks for withdrawals in exchange for $30 million in aid from the U.S.
Under this deal, the U.S. hurried to evacuate civilians and its own personnel under relatively stable conditions.
Airport walls and helipads designated for evacuation were black with clinging crowds.
"Please, at least take my baby!"
The Korean deputy chief of mission in South Vietnam felt a storm of emotions watching a mother thrust her infant toward the wall, wailing.
"Deputy Chief, you need to board the helicopter now."
"Let's go."
The deputy tore his eyes away from the screaming crowds and boarded.
Helipads, guarded by troops, saw less chaos.
Airports, blocked only by barbed wire, were pure pandemonium.
"Get out of the way! Want to get crushed by the plane?"
U.S. forces fired warning shots—and even live rounds—to stop people rushing the aircraft.
Dozens died in the process.
"Alright, we're on somehow."
In the mayhem, plenty hid in wheel wells and such.
Most of those fell to their deaths on takeoff or froze in midair.
Those who couldn't dream of planes took to rafts on the sea.
They fell victim to storms, pirates, and shipwrecks.
North Vietnamese authorities didn't aggressively stop the escapes.
"If the reactionaries want to die on their own, why stop them?"
The chaos dragged on for months even after the war ended.
No one knows how many died in that time.
The great powers' citizens learned of the tragedy in brief news snippets, offered sympathy, and sent donations.
"How could something so horrific happen?"
But public interest didn't last.
The Saigon tragedy couldn't hold people's attention forever.
Attention, too, is a finite resource.
"Well, they'll manage somehow."
The weight of the tragedy inevitably fell on those left behind in the harsh reality.