1973 in the Vietnam War for the U.S. Christmas bombing (Operation Linebacker II) and that "we deplore the action." President Nixon wrote a letter to President Nguyen Thieu of South Vietnam asking for Thieu's cooperation in the Paris peace negotiations and stating that "the unity of our two countries...would be gravely jeopardized if you persist in your present course." Thieu had scuttled a draft peace agreement reached in October 1972. Nixon pledged to respond with "full force" if North Vietnam violated the peace agreement. As U.S. National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger prepared to resume peace talks with North Vietnam in Paris, United States President Nixon
1972 in the Vietnam War The United States Joint Chiefs of Staff assessed the performance of South Vietnamese armed forces thus far in the Easter offensive as "encouraging." The city of Quang Tri was captured by the communist forces, the only provincial capital to fall to them during the Easter Offensive. The preceding week saw South Vietnamese casualties, especially near Quang Tri, reach their highest level of the entire Vietnam War. Two combat divisions of South Vietnam collapsed and fled the fighting. President Nixon withdrew his demand for a withdrawal of all North Vietnamese forces from South Vietnam as a precondition for a peace agreement.