with Saigon were cut, and on his own initiative, Trưởng ordered a naval withdrawal that was to begin the following morning, 29 March. Thousands of soldiers and civilians rushed for the sea, where hundreds drowned trying to reach the ships that could not dock due to the low tide. Thousands more died under the continuous PAVN artillery barrage. Of the ARVN's four infantry divisions, four Ranger groups, armored brigade, air division and thousands of territorial, support, and staff personnel, only around 16,000 were evacuated as the PAVN swept in on 29 March. Of the almost two million civilians that packed Da Nang at the end of March, a little more than 50,000 were evacuated during the sea lift. Left behind were 70,000 ARVN troops taken prisoner by northern forces. Also abandoned were 33 undamaged RVNAF A-37 jet fighters at Da Nang Air Base and nearly 60 more aircraft at Phu Cat Air Base. During the fall of Da Nang no pitched battles had been fought and few of the ARVN troops stationed in and around the city had even raised their rifles in its defense. In quick succession the few remaining centers of resistance along the coastline "fell like a row of porcelain vases sliding off a shelf": Quảng Ngãi on 24 March; Qui Nhơn and Nha Trang on 1 April; and Cam Ranh Bay on 3 April. Ho Chi Minh Campaign Xuân Lộc By 25 March the North Vietnamese Politburo no longer felt it was necessary to wait until 1976 for the initiation of its final offensive against Saigon. General Dũng was ordered to abandon the long-standing doctrine of meticulous planning and methodical preparation of the battlefield in order that the "puppet regime" could be crushed and the war ended. The only obstacle to that goal was moving his northern forces (the reserve divisions in North Vietnam would have to move ) south in order to participate in the attack on the capital Saigon. In one of the most complex logistical feats of the war, he proceeded to do just that. On 7 April Lê Đức Thọ arrived at Dũng's headquarters near Loc Ninh to oversee the final battles as the Politburo's representative. Dũng and his staff had basically adapted Tra's original plan and prepared a three-pronged attack that would be led by the 4th Corps, which would seize the vital highway intersection at Xuân Lộc, the capital of