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Auatralian Advisors sent to vietnam.
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At Ap Bac, ARVN units equipped with U.S. helicopters and armored personnel carriers suffer their first major pitched battle defeat by Viet Cong forces.
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McNamara reports to the President that the situation in Vietnam is far worse than was recognized in NSAM 273 (26 Nov 1963). Approximately 40% of South Vietnamese territory is now under de facto Viet Cong control. ARVN and paramilitary desertion rates are increasing while the Viet Cong are recruiting energetically and effectively.
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U.S. and Australia's Air Force launches Rolling Thunder, the sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The air strikes are designed to convince the North Vietnamese to cease their support of the insurgency in the South
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South Korea decides to send a further 20,000 troops to South Vietnam, in addition to the 21,000 already there.
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Australia deploys 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment to join the First Australian Tactical Force for Operations in III Corps.
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Marines start to withdraw from Khe Sanh.
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Marine Division 3 get fully withdrawed from Vietnam.
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At the end of April 1970 US and South Vietnamese troops were ordered to cross the border into Cambodia. While the invasion succeeded in capturing large quantities of North Vietnamese arms, destroying bunkers and sanctuaries, and killing enemy soldiers, it ultimately proved disastrous.
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The withdrawal of troops and all air units continued throughout 1971 – the last battalion left Nui Dat on 7 November, while a handful of advisers belonging to the Team remained in Vietnam the following year.
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In December 1972 the last Australian troops to came home, with their unit having seen continuous service in South Vietnam for ten and a half years. Australia's participation in the war was formally declared at an end when the Governor-General issued a proclamation on 11 January 1973.
