loyalty to the plot. Both Minh and Đôn were still wary of Khiêm and Đính's loyalty up to the last minute, as both were Catholics who were favourites of the Ngô family, who had been rewarded for their loyalty not competence. The other generals were still worried that Đính might switch sides and go through with the second part of Nhu's fake coup, and that Khiêm's alleged test on Đính was simply done to deflect suspicion on him. The generals were also concerned they would not have enough forces to overcome the loyalists. During the coup, Thảo commanded some tanks, which surrounded Gia Long Palace and helped launch the full-scale attack at 03:30 on 2 November. At daybreak Thảo's forces stormed the palace, but found it empty; Diêm and Nhu had escaped. A captured loyalist revealed the brothers' hiding place and under the orders of Khiêm, Thảo went after them. Khiêm ordered Thảo to ensure the brothers were not physically harmed. Thảo arrived at the house in Cholon where the brothers were hiding and brought in a convoy to arrest them. The brothers were subsequently executed en route to military headquarters despite being promised safe exile, apparently on the orders of General Dương Văn Minh. Diêm's aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Đỗ Thơ had earlier urged Diêm to surrender, saying he was sure that his uncle Đỗ Mậu, along with Đính and Khiêm, would guarantee their safety. Thơ wrote in his diary afterwards that "I consider myself responsible for having led them to their death". 1964 coup against Minh After the 1963 coup, the key figures took the choice jobs in the Military Revolutionary Council, and Khiêm was demoted from being Chief of Staff of the armed forces to the commander of the III Corps that surrounded Saigon. Khiêm controlled the 5th and 7th Divisions of the ARVN, which were based in Biên Hòa and Mỹ Tho, north and south of Saigon respectively. Khiêm was disgruntled and easily recruited into another coup. The coup plot was initiated by Brigadier General Đỗ Mậu, who had been the head of military security under Diem and had a thorough knowledge of the backgrounds of most of the senior officers and their strengths and weaknesses. The MRC feared Mậu and placed him in the relatively powerless post of Minister of Information. Mậu began to seek out other slighted officers, including Khiêm, Generals Khánh and Thi, who had