5th Division (South Vietnam)

5th Division
5th Division SSI
Country	South Vietnam
Branch	Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Role	Infantry
Part of	III Corps
Garrison/HQ	Biên Hòa
Engagements	Vietnam War 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt 1963 South Vietnamese coup Operation Birmingham Battle of An Lộc
Commanders
Notable commanders	Nguyễn Văn Thiệu

The Fifth Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)—the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the III Corps that oversaw the region of the country surrounding the capital, Saigon.

The Fifth Division was based in Biên Hòa, a town on the northern outskirts of Saigon, and due to the division's close proximity to the capital Saigon was a key factor in the success or failure of the various coup attempts in the nation's history. As a result, the loyalty of the commanding officer of the division was crucial in maintaining power.

In the 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt, the loyalist Colonel Nguyễn Văn Thiệu used the Fifth Division to storm into Saigon to save President Ngô Đình Diệm.

However, in the successful coup attempt of 1963, Thiệu rebelled and his division along with the rest of the III Corps of Tôn Thất Đính, attacked Saigon. Thiệu himself led the successful siege on Gia Long Palace. As a result, the leading generals made Thiệu a general.

The principal sub-units of the division were the 7th, 8th and 9th Infantry Regiments and the 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment. The 9th Infantry Regiment (Devine Elephant) was based at Quan Loi near An Lộc. The 1st ACR was based at the division's forward base camp at Lai Khe.

On July 11, 1967, a month following the beginnings of CORDS pacification project near Tan Hung, Bình Long Province, the first major program of civilian pacification and effective counterinsurgency, the HQ and HQ Company and two other companies would earn a Presidential Unit Citation from Lyndon Johnson. As CORDS would in-effect undermine the continual insurgency war, the 141st NVA Regiment had launched a full-scale attack against the division HQ in hopes of quashing the experiment. The successful defence of the HQ and base had not only secured the continual pacification of the hamlet, but would demonstrate the effectiveness of the CORDS project which would by 1970 secure 93% of all villages and effectively end the Viet Cong insurgency.^[1]

Once regarded as the worse division in the entire ARVN Army, the unit's valiant defense at the Battle of An Lộc against armored and heavy artillery intense forces nearly four times its size earned this unit further commendation.

References

• Tucker, Spencer C. (2000). Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 526&ndash, 533. ISBN 1-57607-040-9.