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On April 30th 1975 Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell to North Vietnamese forces. The Fall of Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War. After President Richard Nixon introduced Vietnamisation, the US forces in South Vietnam had been reduced. Leaving the South Vietnam military to protect their country from North Vietnam. In 1968 Saigon had already had direct military actions. As part of the Tet Offensive North Vietnamese had appeared in Saigon and entered the US Embassy for a short time. When the North Vietnamese appeared in the South's capital had been a shock. In 1975 the South Vietnamese Army was unable to withstand the advances of North Vietnamese. It was certain that Saigon had fallen to the communist forces. Troops of the PAVN had made its way 75 miles from Saigon. Saigon escaped many actions and damages because of how far south it was. When the US troops left South Vietnam the North could not be stop from moving inward into the South. Southern Vietnamese Army started to disintegrate when the North got closer to Saigon. Commander in chief General Thieu had fled to Taiwan. His replacement was General Duong Van Minh who had to find a non violent solution to end the war. However this task could not be completed because the North had no reason to want to negotiate. On April 28th the North Vietnamese were three miles from the center of Saigon. The center of the city was put under 24-hour curfew. Because the North Vietnamese were so close to the airport landing strips the American forces could no land two C-130 Hercules. The only other option was to have a helicopter evacuation. The trees that were in the embassy were cut down so that the helicopters could land. The helicopter evacuations were successful. The gates of the Presidential Palace were smashed by the North Vietnamese tanks to receive the surrender of General Minh. On April 30th South Vietnam was completely under control of North Vietnam. They created a united Vietnam. The city Saigon was re-named Ho Chi Minh City.