Qualla: Battle of Phuước Long https://qualla.com/battle-of-phuoc-long en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:36 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/h/5/battle-of-phuoc-long-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Phuước Long https://qualla.com/battle-of-phuoc-long Battle of Phuước Long: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-phuoc-long/ Photo credit Cao Văn Viên, Public domain. On the morning of January 6, 1975, the last South Vietnamese defenders at Phuước Long—survivors of the 81st Airborne Ranger Battalion, their ranks shredded by days of artillery—were overrun. The district fell silent. In Washington, no one moved to intervene. In Hanoi, the silence was the answer they had been waiting for. The battle that had raged across this forested district near the Cambodian border for twenty-six days was relatively small by Vietnam War standards, yet its consequences were seismic. Phuước Long became the proof that the United States had truly left the war behind, and the rehearsal for the offensive that would end South Vietnam forever.

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Image: Cao Văn Viên | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/h/5/battle-of-phuoc-long-wp/w6h5-battle-of-phu-c-long-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Phuước Long: The Test No One Could Afford to Fail https://qualla.com/battle-of-phuoc-long/ Photo credit Cao Văn Viên, Public domain. Phuước Long sat roughly 120 kilometers north of Saigon, a district of jungle-covered hills anchored by Bà Rá Mountain and threaded by Route 14, a critical artery linking the Ho Chi Minh Trail to North Vietnamese forces further south. For the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, Phuướ...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/h/5/battle-of-phuoc-long-wp/w6h5-battle-of-phu-c-long-the-test-no-one-could-afford-to-fail.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Phuước Long: Twenty-Six Days on Bà Rá Mountain https://qualla.com/battle-of-phuoc-long/ Photo credit Cao Văn Viên, Public domain. The offensive unfolded in stages, tightening like a noose. The 271st Regiment struck first at Bù Đốp on December 14, overwhelming the ARVN 362nd Security Battalion in two hours. Then came a pause as forces repositioned. On New Year's Eve, the Republic of Vietnam Air Force flew mo...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/h/5/battle-of-phuoc-long-wp/w6h5-battle-of-phu-c-long-twenty-six-days-on-b-r-mountain.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Phuước Long: The Silence from Washington https://qualla.com/battle-of-phuoc-long/ Photo credit Cao Văn Viên, Public domain. What made Phuước Long different from dozens of other battles in a war that had consumed millions of lives was what happened afterward—or rather, what did not. The United States Congress had repeatedly voted against additional aid for South Vietnam, and President Gerald Ford's req...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/h/5/battle-of-phuoc-long-wp/w6h5-battle-of-phu-c-long-the-silence-from-washington.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Phuước Long: The Cost of a Rehearsal https://qualla.com/battle-of-phuoc-long/ Photo credit Cao Văn Viên, Public domain. The numbers from Phuước Long carry the weight of the human reality behind them. More than 1,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed in action; 2,444 were captured. The 250-man 81st Airborne Ranger Battalion lost over 150 soldiers in its doomed last-ditch deployment. Roughly 850...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/h/5/battle-of-phuoc-long-wp/w6h5-battle-of-phu-c-long-the-cost-of-a-rehearsal.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Phuước Long: A Landscape of Memory https://qualla.com/battle-of-phuoc-long/ Photo credit Cao Văn Viên, Public domain. Today, Bình Phuước Province—the administrative region that absorbed the old Phuước Long district—is a place of rubber plantations and cashew orchards spreading across the red-earth hills that once shook with artillery. Bà Rá Mountain, the high ground whose capture sealed the defe...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/6/h/5/battle-of-phuoc-long-wp/w6h5-battle-of-phu-c-long-a-landscape-of-memory.mp3 0:06 6 full