The II Corps () was a corps of the

Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; ) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forc ...

(ARVN), the army of the nation state of

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was one of four corps in the ARVN, and it oversaw the central highlands region, north of the capital

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

. Its corps headquarters was in the mountain town of

Pleiku Pleiku is a city in central Vietnam, located in the Central Highlands region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province. Many years ago, it was inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or De ...

. II Corps became operational in April 1958. One notable ARVN unit of II Corps, the 3d Armored Cavalry Squadron, earned the

Presidential Unit Citation (United States) The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the uniformed services of the United States, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed e ...

. The 21st Tank Regiment was formed at Pleiku in 1972.Simon Dunstan, 'Vietnam Tracks: Armor into Battle 1945–75,' Osprey Publishing Ltd, London, 1982, 59.

1972 Easter Offensive

The objective of the North Vietnamese forces during the third phase of the ''

Nguyen Hue Offensive The Easter Offensive, also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive (') by North Vietnam, or the Red Fiery Summer (') as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, t ...

'' was to seize the cities of Kon Tum and Pleiku, thereby overrunning the Central Highlands. This would then open the possibility of proceeding east to the coastal plains, splitting South Vietnam in two. The highlands offensive was preceded by NLF diversionary operations that opened on 5 April in coastal Bình Định Province, which aimed at closing Highway 1, seizing several ARVN firebases, and diverting South Vietnamese forces from operations further west. The North Vietnamese were under the command of Lieutenant General Hoang Minh Thao, commander of the B-3 Front. The Front included the 320th and 2nd PAVN Divisions in the highlands and the 3rd PAVN Division in the lowlands – approximately 50,000 men.Andrade, p. 241. Arrayed against them in II Corps were the South Vietnamese 22nd and 23rd Divisions, two armored cavalry squadrons, and the 2nd Airborne Brigade, all under the command of Lieutenant General

Ngo Du A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

. It had become evident as early as January that the North Vietnamese were building up for offensive operations in the tri-border region and numerous B-52 strikes had been conducted in the area in hopes of slowing the build-up. ARVN forces had also been deployed forward toward the border in order to slow the PAVN advance and allow the application of airpower to deplete North Vietnamese manpower and logistics. The Bình Định offensive, however, threw General Du into a panic and almost convinced him to fall for the North Vietnamese ploy and divert his forces from the highlands.

Divisions

File:ARVN 22nd Division Insignia.svg, 22nd Infantry Division File:ARVN 23rd Division Insignia.svg, 23rd Infantry Division

References

* {{Authority control Corps level formations of South Vietnam Military units and formations established in the 1960s Military units and formations disestablished in 1975