Background
During the Vietnam War, the district of Phuoc Long played an important role in the defensive posture of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Phuoc Long is about 120 km north of Saigon; it shared a border with the South Vietnamese districts of Bình Long in the west, Quảng Đức in the east, and Long Khánh District in the south. Phuoc Long also shares an international border with Cambodia. The district of Phuoc Long and the military zones of Bố Đức, Đôn Luân, Đức Phong, the administrative centre of Phuoc Binh, and Bà Rá mountain lies at the centre of South Vietnam’s defensive line in III Corps, which served to defend Saigon and the populous southern provinces.
Route 14, which ran through the district of Phuoc Long and other key military zones, was an important North Vietnamese transportation route which linked the Ho Chi Minh Trail with other Communist-occupied territories in South Vietnam. For that reason, regular units of the South Vietnamese army in Phuoc Long were often placed in a strong position, from which they could disrupt North Vietnamese supply lines. Due to the vulnerability of their supply lines in Phuoc Long and the surrounding areas, North Vietnamese troops at the Viet Cong capital of Loc Ninh and in the Central Highlands, often find themselves isolated from their comrades in the southern provinces of South Vietnam.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Phuoc Long
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