but couldn't be evacuated. These men, betrayed by their commanders, either stripped off their uniforms and hid, or made suicidal assault at the enemy, hoping for a quick death. Those units tasked with capturing key structures found themselves at the receiving end of a more disciplined force commanded by officers denied their evacuation. These men would take advantage of the equipment left over by their escaped comrades and set a perimeter around the city. However, despite all efforts, a loose combination of troops either wanting to flee or wanting to kill as many communists as possible before their deaths, mostly leaderless and cut off from supplies, could not hope to stand against a disciplined army with artillery and armored support. At 4:58 a.m on 30 April, U.S. Ambassador Martin boarded a helicopter and departed from the US Embassy, Saigon on one of the last American evacuation flights. At 07:53 the last U.S. Marines were lifted from the roof of the U.S. Embassy. At 10:24 am. President Minh ordered all South Vietnamese forces to cease fighting. Later Minh would be escorted to a radio station, from which he declared the unconditional surrender of his government. Around noon, a PAVN tank, number 390, crashed through the gates of the Independence Palace. A crewman from the 843, which rammed into the side gate and got stuck, jumped out, ran up the steps, carrying the flag of the Provisional Revolutionary Government. A Western reporter on the scene asked the soldier his name and the man replied, "Nguyễn Văn Thiệu." The total number of South Vietnamese evacuated by the U.S. or self-evacuated and ending up in the custody of the United States for processing as refugees to enter the United States totaled 138,869. In the Mekong Delta, where South Vietnamese military forces still appeared intact and aggressive, IV Corps deputy commander Brigadier General Lê Văn Hưng planned to build a "secret section", to use the delta's agricultural wealth to form a resistance. Lê Văn Hưng created a secret campaign "Operation Linking Hands" to send the remaining ARVN soldiers and officers to hidden jungle locations and military bases places in Mekong Delta to form a prolonged counteroffensive against the PAVN/VC hoping for another ceasefire in early summer 1975 and keeping parts of the Mekong Delta as South Vietnam. Weeks before the Fall of Saigon, most of the provincial capitals in IV Corps were stable defended by