January
25 - Peace negotiations begin in Paris.
February
3 - 5 RAR main body departs Sydney on HMAS Sydney.
16 - 5 RAR arrive at Vung Tau.
23-24 - Communist forces attack 115 base, towns and cities in South Vietnam.
28 - 1 RAR complete their second tour.
April
11 - First RAAF "Bushranger" mission is flown.("Bushranger" - Australian Helicopter Gunship. H model was fitted with 2x7 seven tube rocket pods, 2 X 7.62 mini guns firing 4,800 rounds per minute and 2 side firing M60 machine guns.)
March
20 - HMAS Brisbane departs Sydney on first deployment to Vietnam.
30 - HMAS Brisbane relieves HMAS Perth at Subic Bay.
May
5 - 6 RAR main body departs for Vietnam on HMAS Sydney.
Australian Forces(1 ATF) conduct a series of operations "to deny VC access from the surrounding country side" including the notorious Long Hai Hills.
19 - 6 RAR arrive Vung Tau and 4 RAR main body depart for Australia on HMAS Sydney.
30 - 4 RAR arrive in Brisbane, Australia completing it's first tour of Vietnam.
June
5 - Bombing recommences against North Vietnam, the first since November, 1968.
6 - The Battle of Binh Ba. D Coy 5 RAR with Centurion tanks and APCs fight an 8 hour battle with North Vietnamese troops at the town of Binh Ba. (Binh Ba a town of 3,000 people, situated only 5 klms north of Nui Dat.) They are re-enforced with another Infantry Company and a Bushranger Gunship. More than 100 enemy are killed with Australian losses of 1 killed and 10 wounded.
8 - President Nixon announces the withdrawal of 25,000 combat troops from South Vietnam.The withdrawal is completed by August.
June - July. 5 RAR conducts Op "Esso" in the Dat Do area and suffers high casualties from mines, previously laid by Australian Engineers. Operations are ceased in that area.
August
11-12. 8 RAR ambush 50 VC entering Hoa Long village and kill 19 and capture 10.
September
4 . The death of Ho Chi Minh.
15 - HMAS Vendetta departs Sydney on Vietnam deployment.
16. Further troop withdrawals of 6,000 mostly from Thailand, announced by the US.
28 - HMAS Vendetta relieves HMAS Brisbane at Subic Bay.
October
8 - Laos requests increased aid from the US to meet Communist aggression.
November.
Massive anti-war demonstrations across the USA.
3 - President Nixon's Speech on "Vietnamisation"
18 - 8 RAR depart Australia on HMAS Sydney.
28 - 8 RAR arrive at Vung Tau . 9 RAR departs for Australia.
December
9 - 9 RAR arrive home at Port Adelaide.
15 - President Nixon announces the withdrawal of a further 50,000 troops by April 1970.
18 - US Congress forbids the introduction of ground troops to Laos and Thailand.
21 - Thailand announces the withdrawal of its 12,000 troops for Vietnam. Filipino troops have already departed. South Korea will continue to maintain its 50,000 force.
31 - US military strength now at 474,000
Spiro Agnew, US Vice President
"They have been in a war for years and years and they are quite debilitated and decimated, and I don't think they are capable with any kind of resistance of continuing this fight".February
February
8 - South Vietnemse troops invade Laos with US air support in an attempt to destroy NVA strongholds and infiltration routes. (After taking enormous casualties the SVN troops withdrew.)
15 - 3 RAR main body departs Adelaide, Australia on HMAS Sydney.
25 - The 3 RAR arrives at Vung Tau to relieve 7 RAR who depart on HMAS Sydney.
March
10 - 7 RAR arrive in Sydney, Australia completing their second and final tour of Vietnam.
10 - John Gorton is replaced William McMahon as Australian Prime Minister.
16 - HMAS Brisbane departs Sydney on its second deployment to Vietnam.
30 - Australian Prime Minister McMahon announces gradual withdrawal of 1,000 troops during the next 3 months including RAAF No2 Squadron and 4 Caribou from No 35 Squadron..
April
7 - President Nixon announces a further withdrawal of US troops of 100,000.
30 - Australian Minister for Navy announces CDT3 and RANHFV will be withdrawn from Vietnam.
May
13 - 4 RAR main body depart Townsville.
22 - 4 RAR arrive in Vietnam and "chopper" off HMAS Sydney directly to Nui Dat. They relieve 2 RAR who depart on HMAS Sydney.
31 - RAAF No2 Squadron Canberra Jet Bombers fly their last mission in Vietnam. (Squadron returns to Australia after 13 years on overseas service.(includes Malaya). The Squadron is awarded the US Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.)
June
1 - 2 RAR arrive at Townsville, Australia.
7 - 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment engages enemy in the "Battle of Long Khan".
8 - RANHFV pilots cease flying operations.
13 - "Pentagon Papers" are published in the New York Times. (They are to provide anti-war sentiments.)
26 - Peace Proposal of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam
30 - Third and final anti-war rally. 110,000 demonstrate across Australian cities.
July
29 - C Coy 4 RAR locates a strongly defended bunker system near Suoi Ca. Heavy fighting takes place.
August
12 - Australian Naval Staff Office(HQ AFV) is closed down.
18 - Australian Government announces that the 1st Australian Task Force will be withdrawn by late December , with logistics units shortly after. New Zealand also announce their withdrawal. HMAS Brisbane is not to be replaced. Some training and advisory elements would remain.
September
9 - South Korea announce the withdrawal of their 48,000 troops by June 1972.
18 - 4 RAR commence Op "Ivanhoe"
21 - . D Coy 4 RAR engage a battalion of the the 33rd Regiment at Nui Le. An intense fight sees 5 Australians killed and 30 wounded. (This engagement starts at 0830 hrs(8.30am) and continues until 2100 hrs(9pm))
October
6-7 . 3 RAR depart Vietnam on HMAS "Sydney".
November
6 - HMAS Sydney departs Vung Tau with last of Army Units.
7 - 1 ATF completes its withdrawal with the departure of the last Infantry Battalion, 4 RAR. The base at Nui Dat is handed over to the ARVN and eventually falls into disrepair.
Brigadier Ian Geddes - Commander, Australian Residual Forces in 1972 - Nui Dat,
"It was eerie. I had been there back in 1966 when it was crowded with thousands of young soldiers with a purpose. Now there was no-one. Just the empty husks of corrugated iron buildings, often half stripped by local scavengers ratting for timber and iron. The weeds were coming back everywhere. It was a military ghost town".12 - President Nixon announces a further withdrawal of US troops of 45,000 by December and January 1972.
Dr Henry Kissinger, US National Security Adviser
"Peace is at Hand".
January
13 - President Nixon announce that US troops withdrawals will reduce US commitment to 69,000 .
February
29 - The last of the Australian troops depart Vietnam on HMAS Sydney.
March
12 - 4 RAR completes its second tour and final tour of Vietnam.
30 - North Vietnamese forces invade South Vietnam.
April
5 - US Air Force fighter bombers reinforce units in Thailand.
6 - US Admiral Moorer announces the resumption of aerial and naval bombardment against North Vietnam.
May
1 - Quang Tri City falls to the North Vietnamese.
8 - President Nixon announces the mining of North Vietnam harbors.
August
12 - The last American ground combat troops leave Vietnam. 43,500 airmen and support personnel remain.
December
5 -Australian Labour Government elected under Gough Whitlam. Conscription ends.
18 - AATTV depart Vietnam, leaving a small Australian Embassy Guard. President Nixon orders the resumption of bombing north of the 20th parallel. Peace talks in Paris are suspended.
30 - Bombing of North Vietnam ceases. North Vietnam agree to negotiate a peace settlement.
January
5 - Letter from President Nixon to President Nguyen Van Thieu of Vietnam
Reassuring Vietnam of US support.
11 - Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck proclaims the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam by Australian Forces.
15 - US suspends military operations against North Vietnam.
17 - Paris Peace Accord
23 - President Nixon Radio-TV Broadcast - Paris Peace Agreement
Agreement is formally signed."We have achieved peace with honour.".
24 - Dr Henry Kissinger's Comments at News Conference
28 - Lon Nol proposes a cease fire in Laos.
February
21 - Souvanna Phouma and the communists agree to a cease fire in Laos.
26 - Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announces the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam(now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam).
March
2 - Act of the International Conference on Vietnam, signed in Paris
17 - A Cambodian pilot bombs the Presidential Palace in Cambodia.Lon Nol survives.
29 - The last American troops leave South Vietnam leaving a Defence Attaché Office.
April
1 - The last American Prisoners of War are released
10 -Complaints of Violations of Cease-Fire Given to Participants in the International Conference on Vietnam
June
Last Australian troops leave Vietnam.
29 - US Congress bans the bombing of Cambodia after 15 August.
January
4 - President Thieu claims the war in South Vietnam has resumed.
27 - Siagon reports that 13,778 soldiers, 2,159 civilians, and 45,057 Communist have died since the January 1973 truce.
August 5 - US Congress places a $1,000,000,000 ceiling on military to South Vietnam for the fiscal year ending 30 June 1975.
March 5 - North Vietnamese troops launch attacks in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
April
10-15 - North Vietnamese troops capture Xuan Loc, 38 miles from Siagon.
12 - US Ambassador in Cambodia leaves Phnom Penh.
17 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia, falls to insurgents.
21 - South Vietnamese President Thieu resigns
28 - Duong Van Minh takes over the government of Saigon.
29 - The Sydney Morning Herald
" The Prime Minister has lied to Parliament. He has deceived the Australian people. He has abused their trust in him...his duplicity has been damningly exposed by the publication(unauthorized) of secret cabled instructions sent by Mr Whitlam to our ambassadors in Hanoi and Saigon. their publication brings into the open gravest political scandal since federation".30 April 1975 - The Brisbane Courier Mail
" The charge the Prime Minister(Mr Whitlam) must answer over his cable to Hanoi and Saigon earlier this month is - to put it kindly - that he misled the Australian people and their Parliament.10am April 30 - North Vietnamese troops enter Siagon.
If the Government's policy was in favor of Hanoi and against the Thieu Government in Saigon, then he should have said so...it was not even handed.
The cables were complementary, not similar. Both were directed against the Thieu Government in South Vietnam...this was one-sided. It was a pro-Hanoi and 'dump Thieu' policy. He should have told parliament this".
"I lit a cigarette and smoked." - (this last day of the 10,000 day war) - "seemed so fresh and beautiful, so radiant, so clear and cool; a morning that made babes older than their years and made old men young again"1 May 1975 - The Daily Telegraph
"A long and dreadful chapter of Asian history has ended ... another, unknown chapter is about to begin. And suddenly there is nothing left to say. The tears have been shed. A Million words have described the agony and the horror and the bloodshed. It's over. thank God".
"Now we only pray that the people of Vietnam will be shown the mercy they have, for so long, been denied".
"There were to be almost twice as many casualties in South East Asia(primarily Cambodia) in the first two years after the fall of Siagon in 1975 than there were during the ten years the US was involved".(1996 Information Please Almanac)
Other Sources Relating to this era
Sunraysia Vietnam Veterans - Australia