In this dramatic photograph – taken on 30 April 1975, 50 years ago this spring – a North Vietnamese tank is pictured at the climactic moment, as it smashes through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon.
The fall of the city and the surrender of the South Vietnamese government marked the end of the long conflict in Vietnam. The Southern capital of Saigon had survived relatively unscathed during nearly 20 years of war that had ravaged much of the rest of the country and caused the deaths of as many as two million civilians.
American troops had withdrawn two years earlier, under the terms of the Paris Peace Accords of January 1973. However, in December 1974, the North Vietnamese launched a final offensive on the South, with the objective of capturing Saigon by force if necessary. On 30 April 1975, the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) entered the city – but, fearing further bloodshed, the South Vietnamese president General Duong Van Minh ordered a surrender, allowing a column of seven tanks to roll unchallenged through the streets.
