File:BR, Vietnam, 1972, Easter Counter-Offensive, file 004.jpg

Necessity: " ... Turley asked for strikes on areas that earlier sensor "reading" indicated were assembly areas or likely enemy avenues of approach. The U.S. Air Force flew 64 B-52 strikes called by Turley on these targets. ...The situation was critical" ... Nearly 20,000 civilian refugees had already fled south ... estimated 28,000 more to come. It would be inviting disaster to allow them ... through the Dong Ha area defensive positions ... Brigadier General Thomas W. Bowen, Jr., deputy commander of FRAC, had notified Ai Tu that "all restrictions are off on air". Arc Light operations continued north of the Cua Viet River irrespective of civilian presence, "accepted and endorsed as a military necessity ..." by the American and South Vietnamese authorities. " [32]

Bloody well: "... these Marines had stopped a reinforced NVA division at the river's edge ... the NVA had foreseen little opposition. For the 3d VNMC Battalion, the cost had been high. Of 700 Marines who had been ordered to Dong Ha on 30 March, only 200 walked back to Ai Tu eight days later." " ... the M48 proving more than a match for the Communist built T-54s. ... NVA tanks' fire control system seemed not to be as effective ... The Marines, mounted on tanks and APCs, quicly retook Pedro. ... enemy employed poor tactics: their artillery, tanks and infantry were used in a uncoordinated manner. ... Vietnamese Marines were terrified when first confronted by the enemy armor ... once they realized that their LAWs could knock out a T-54, ... some of the Vietnamese Marines crouched in their holes and let the tanks run over them and then hit the tank in the rear with a LAW. ... The M72 LAW had been thoroughly tested against armor ... The NVN offensive, however, provided its first battle field test against enemy armor. Its success ... " [33]