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Most disastrous from Saigon's point of view was the unexpected weakness of its army's defense. In Tarn Ky and Quang Ngai City, government forces simply evaporated before the Communist advance, often dropping their arms and supplies in the process. In Ban Me Thuot, the provincial capital 160 miles northwest of Saigon, panicky troops fled a Communist offensive three weeks ago, abandoning 1 million gallons of gas, 3,200 tons of ammunition and 10,000 tons of rice. Three days before the city's collapse, 100 trucks arrived with supplies that were soon captured.
A key reason for this painful loss of precious materiel was the very suddenness of Thieu's decision to abandon several provinces. Soldiers had no time to organize orderly retreats. In northern Quang Tri province, one of the army's best regional defense groups suffered a 15% desertion rate just before the Communist attack on the once lovely Hue; most of the deserters were concerned about the fate of their families. The retreat from Hue reached the frightening proportions of a stampede. Soldiers left behind 105-mm. howitzers and threw away rifles.
The swiftness of the retreat was not the only problem. Discipline among retreating troops in some cases collapsed completely as officers left their men leaderless or troops simply refused to obey orders. In the coastal city of Tuy Hoa — the destination of tens of thousands of refugees — unruly rangers roved around aimlessly, shooting into homes and further terrifying the people. By midweek the police had gone, the banks were closed, and it was impossible to buy bread or rice.
Worse still, the disorderly retreat of the troops helped create a psychology of panic that led tens of thousands of civilians to abandon their homes. Indeed, the dissolution of authority seemed as important in touching off the tidal flow of refugees as fear of the Communists or a preference for Saigon.
By the end of last week, estimates of the number of refugees in South Viet Nam ranged up to one million (in a population of 19.5 million). In Danang, the day before the city fell, some 400 Vietnamese air force men firing pistols and grenades forced their way past women and children onto a World Airways 727 chartered to fly refugees from the city. Several people were crushed as the plane took off; others fell to their deaths after trying to cling to the still open stairs and wheel wells. The incident and the unruly mobs at the airport caused the U.S. to suspend its program of evacuating refugees by air. The chaos and hopelessness in Danang moved President Ford to order four U.S. Navy transports to stand off the Vietnamese coast to pick up refugees and take them to safety. "I have directed that U.S. Government resources be made available to meet humanitarian needs," declared the President. He also called upon "all nations and corporations that have ships in the vicinity" to help with the evacuation.