In Quảng Trị Province by early April South Vietnamese forces succeeded in halting the PAVN advance at Đông Hà.

[1][2][3] South Vietnamese soldiers and civilians began fleeing Quảng Trị on foot and on any available vehicles forming columns up to 3 miles (4.8 km) long.

The overstretched Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 3rd Division had failed to organise flank security for the convoy allowing the PAVN to attack, inflicting a physical and psychological blow on the South Vietnamese civilians and military.

[2] On 8 September 1972 in a press conference in Saigon, a defector from the PAVN 324th Division former private Le Xuan Thuy stated that his unit had been ordered to fire on anyone, civilian or military, moving south from Quảng Trị in late April and early May as they were all enemies.

[9] Estimates vary of the total number of soldiers and civilians killed, South Vietnamese journalists Dương Phục and Vũ Thanh Thủy estimated 5,000 killed, while Red Cross officials placed the death toll at 2,000, including ARVN soldiers and civilians evacuees from Quảng Trị hospitals.