On the morning of April 30 in Hanoi, the Politburo sent an instructive message to the front, “Continue to advance to Saigon as planned, advance with the most powerful might and forces to liberate and take over the whole city, disarm the enemy, dissolve the enemy’s administration and smash any resistance of the enemy.”

Following the repeated and consistent victories of the liberation forces, the Politburo met on March 31, issuing a conclusion, “From now, our armed forces and people’s final strategic battle start to complete the national democratic revolution in the south and achieve peace and  national reunification.”

Liberation forces seized Tan Son Nhat airport.	Liberation tank entered the Independence Palace (now Reunification Palace).

The command of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign was set up with General Van Tien Dung as the commander, Pham Hung as political commissar and Tran Van Tra, Le Duc Anh, Le Trong Tan and Dinh Duc Thien as deputy commanders.

Five arms moved powerfully and destroyed every resistance of the enemy. On the early morning of April 30, the liberation forces got close to Saigon and then created the most resounding victory in the country’s history. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the south’s liberation, Nhan Dan newspaper introduces a brief of the heroic atmosphere in Saigon on the morning of April 30. The following information is extracted from the book “The Ho Chi Minh Campaign liberates the south and reunifies the country” published by the People’s Army Publisher.

On the morning of April 30 at the Independence Palace, Duong Van Minh was chairing a meeting with ministers of the Saigon puppet administration to prepare the ceremony to introduce the “new government” at 10am on the next morning. After being informed that all units guarding around city had been wiped out or broken and the liberation forces were entering the city from different directions, he had to read a statement on the Saigon radio, asking for “cease-fire...to negotiate on the hand over of administration.”

However, all the puppet administration’s calculations came so late as the liberation forces had crushed the last resistance and were marching to the centre of the city.

Also on that morning, the Politburo in Hanoi sent another instruction, saying “Continue to advance to Saigon as planned, advance with the most powerful might and forces to liberate and take over the whole city, disarm the enemy, dissolve the enemy administration and smash any resistance of the enemy.”

After receiving the instruction, the Command of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign’s order is as follows:

1. All military regions, corps, and units continue to march rapidly to the defined areas and targets in the city and the surrounding localities.

2. Call on the enemy troops to surrender, hand in weapons, and capture all enemy senior officers.

3. Immediately wipe out any troops if they put up any resistance.

After the Saigon radio had broadcast the puppet president’s statement which asked for a cease-fire, our officers and men realised that the victorious moment was coming. This encouraged them to advance quickly to the Independence Palace and captured all key figures of the Saigon puppet administration.

Tank and armoured vehicles units of the Army Corps 2 of the liberation forces were the first to appear at the gate of the Independence Palace. Tank 843 led by company chief Bui Quang Than and a three-person team including Thai Ba Minh, Nguyen Van Ky and Lu Van Thai and followed by tank 390 with Vu Dang Toan, Le Dinh Phuong, Nguyen Van Tap and Ngo Si Nguyen on board. Tank 843 ran into the side gate and got stuck there. Immediately, tank 390 emerged and banged into the main gate. Lieutenant Bui Quang Than jumped down from tank 843, ran up to the roof of the presidential palace and planted the liberation flag there.

It was 11.30 am of April 30.

The symbol of victory.	The Saigon puppet administration surrendered unconditionally to the liberation forces.

Deputy chief of Regiment 66, Pham Xuan The and a number of officers and men from Corps 2 and Saigon special force entered the palace, capturing President Duong Van Minh and key figures of the Saigon puppet regime.

Pham Xuan The and some others took Duong Van Minh to the Saigon radio. A draft of surrender statement was prepared and then read for Duong Van Minh to write it down.

Then, Duong Van Minh read the statement, “I, General Duong Van Minh – President of the Saigon administration –  call on all units to unconditionally surrender to the liberation forces of the south. I declare to dissolve completely the Saigon administration from the local to the central levels, hand the administration over to the Southern Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam.”

Political commissar Bui Van Tung from the Tank Brigade 203, on behalf of the units which seized the Presidential Palace, loudly declared “...to accept the unconditional surrender of the Saigon administration president... Saigon-Gia Dinh City is now completely liberated.”

The voice of the liberation army was resounded to all corners of the country and to the five continents, announcing the ever happy tidings that the cause of liberating the south had been achieved and the struggle against the US aggressors for national salvation ended in a complete success.

Meanwhile, the Corps 3, 1, 4 and 232 took control of other targets including Tan Son Nhat airport, the joint general staff, the defence ministry, city special area and general department of police of the collapsed Saigon administration.

People of Saigon-Gia Dinh also rushed to seize economic and cultural locations and roads and led the liberation forces to take control of the enemy’s posts, search the hidden thugs. They also joined the restoration of order in the city.

In order to create security and order in the city and other liberated areas, the command of the Corp 2 issued a notice, saying “The liberation forces have controlled the whole Saigon-Gia Dinh city from 11.30 am of April 30, 1975. The Saigon puppet administration has unconditionally surrendered.”

Six regulations were announced, asking people to follow security requirements and urging them to return to the normal life. The Saigon radio broadcast the notice every 15 minutes.

The Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the final decisive battle, ended in great victory.

Saigon city, later named after our beloved President Ho Chi Minh, was completely liberated.

The puppet troops left uniforms and weapons  to flee.	Saigon people took the streets to welcome the liberation forces.

Saigon people took the streets and roads to welcome the liberation forces. National flags and flags of the Southern Provisional Revolutionary Government were flying high everywhere. Local people surrounded the liberation forces, showing their great happiness. The whole Saigon and Vietnam were living in an immensely happy moment. That was the glorious point of time which the whole nation of Vietnam had been waiting for 21 years and over 30 years since the south started its revolutionary resistance.

In a such historic and glorious moment, all Vietnamese people thought about Uncle Ho. They told themselves, “Uncle Ho, we have fulfilled your wish because the US aggressors have quitted and the puppet administration has been toppled. The country has been reunified. The north and the south has been one.”

During the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the liberation forces destroyed and disintegrated 250,000 troops of the enemy. We seized 500 pieces of artillery guns, over 400 tanks and armoured cars, over 800 planes, over 600 war ships, over 270,000 assorted guns, over 3,000 vehicles and warehouses. 

Meanwhile, over 6,000 fighters of the liberation forces laid down their lives and were injured, including 33 damaged tanks.

The historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the peak of the general offensive and uprising in Spring 1975, was the greatest victory, the most complete victory, ending 30 years of Vietnam’s prolonged and hard struggle against the foreign aggressors and ushering in a new era, the era of independence, freedom, unification and socialist building in the whole country.