All South Vietnam Army logistical units in III Corps were based in Saigon, except for a sub-depot in Tay Ninh, a provincial capital near the border of Cambodia. MACV Advisory Team 9 provided guidance to the Third Area Logistics Command and its assigned units. This command provided all logistical services and supplies to ARVN forces in III Corps, an area from the Mekong Delta to the Central Highlands, and from the South China Sea in the east to Cambodia in the west. Since this area included the national capitol, Saigon, it had a paramount role to fulfill. Central to this story is the Quartermaster Group and its petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL) mission.
The ARVN forces had performed well in repulsing the 1972 Tet Offensive. With minimum support from U.S. combat units and air and naval power, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army regulars were in a general retreat and escaped into the safety of Cambodia. Between III
