page_title: 1972 in the Vietnam War
section_title: April
hierarchical_section_title: 1972 in the Vietnam War / April
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the destroyed aft gun turret aboard the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Higbee (DD-806) at Da Nang, Vietnam, in April 1972. On 19 April 1972, Higbee became the first U.S. warship to be bombed during the Vietnam War, when two North Vietnamese Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17s from the 923rd Fighter Regiment attacked, one of which, piloted by Le Xuan Di, dropped a 250 kilogram bomb onto Higbee's rear 127 mm gun mount, destroying it. The 127 mm gun crew had been outside their turret, due to a misfire within the mount, when the air attack occurred, which resulted in the wounding of four U.S. sailors.
context_page_description: 1972 in the Vietnam War saw foreign involvement in South Vietnam slowly declining. Two allies, New Zealand and Thailand, which had each contributed military contingents, left South Vietnam this year. The United States continued to participate in combat, primarily with air power to assist the South Vietnamese army, while negotiators in Paris tried to hammer out a peace agreement and withdrawal strategy for the United States.
context_section_description: 1-27 April
  Operation Fa Ngum was an RLA operation to capture the villages of Ban Ngik and Laongam as bases for incursions onto the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The RLA captured Laongam, but were repulsed by the PAVN in their attacks on Ban Ngik. 
  2 April
  ARVN forces numbering about 1,500 soldiers at Camp Carroll, a former United States Marine Corps base a few miles south of the DMZ, surrendered to the PAVN. Camp Carroll was important to South Vietnam because of its M107 175 mm artillery with a range of up to 20 miles (32 km). The capture of Camp Carroll gave the PAVN control of western Quảng Trị Province.
  With the city of Đông Hà near the DMZ threatened, Nixon authorized U.S. naval vessels offshore to strike at the PAVN with warplanes and naval gunfire.
  Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton was the sole survivor of an EB-66 shot down near Đông Hà. His rescue was the longest and most costly search and rescue mission during the war resulting in the loss of five aircraft, 11 U.S. killed and two captured.
  4 April
  Nixon authorized increased bombing of PAVN troops in South Vietnam and B-52 strikes against North Vietnam. He said, "These bastards have never been bombed like they're going to be bombed this time."
  The PAVN attacked South Vietnamese positions in northern Binh Dinh province from their stronghold in the An Lao Valley. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces had contested the An Lao valley with the PAVN 3rd Division since Operation Masher in January 1966. PAVN/VC forces overran many ARVN positions.
  4–7 April
  The second prong of the Easter Offensive was the movement across the border from Cambodia of the VC 5th Division and an attack on 4,000 ARVN defenders at the Battle of Loc Ninh. Lộc Ninh was a small district town in Bình Long Province, approximately 75 miles (121 km) north of Saigon. Nearly all of the ARVN defenders were killed or surrendered.
  7 April
  Proceeding southward from the Lộc Ninh, PAVN/VC soldiers succeeded in surrounding the city of An Lộc, the capital of Bình Long Province and the objective of the southern prong of the Easter Offensive. The defenders of An Lộc would henceforth be supplied and reinforced by air.
  9 April
  In Washington, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warned Soviet Ambassador Anatoli Dobrynin that the U.S. might take "drastic measures to end the [Vietnam] war once and for all."
  10 April
  For the first time since November 1968, U.S. B-52s bombed North Vietnam in Operation Freedom Train. Their priority targets were SAM sites. The U.S. called the SAM sites "the most sophisticated air defenses in the history of air warfare.
  12 April
  A PAVN rocket attack on Da Nang Air Base killed 14 Vietnamese civilians.
  13 April
  The United States Senate voted 68–16 to approve the War Powers Act, which would limit the power of the President to commit American forces to hostilities without Congressional approval. The legislation then moved on to the House.
  13 April – July 20
  After several days of artillery strikes, the PAVN attacked An Lộc with tanks and infantry. They were halted at the city outskirts by ARVN defenders and heavy air attacks by the United States. The Battle of An Lộc became a siege that lasted for 66 days and culminated in a victory for South Vietnam. North Vietnam devoted 35,000 soldiers to the battle and siege. The victory at An Lộc halted the PAVN advance towards Saigon.
  15–17 April
  The U.S. carried out heavy B-52 and fighter bomber strikes against Hanoi and Haiphong in Operation Freedom Porch. Nixon said, "we really left them our calling card this weekend."
  15–20 April
  Anti-war demonstrators protested the bombing of North Vietnam throughout the United States. Hundreds of protesters were arrested.
  19 April
   
  Several Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) MiG-17F fighter-bombers attacked United States Navy warships in the Battle of Đồng Hới. This was the first air attack on U.S. warships of the Vietnam War. A gun mount on the USS Higbee was destroyed. The U.S. navy sunk several motor torpedo boats and shot down several VPAF planes and also engaged shore batteries in North Vietnam.
  20 April
  President Nixon announce
caption: Gun mount of USS Higbee destroyed in the Battle of Đồng Hới
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