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Plan to Establish Provisional Corps Vietnam

January 26, 1968

General Rosson (right) accompanied by Lt. Col. Hugh J. Bartley
General Rosson (right) accompanied by Lt. Col. Hugh J. Bartley
General Rosson (right) accompanied by Lt. Col. Hugh J. Bartley

Partly due to the increasing enemy buildup near the DMZ, including the area around Khe Sanh, MACV commander General Westmoreland believes the North Vietnamese are preparing to launch an all-out invasion of I Corps. In response, he announces plans to establish a new forward command post at Phu Bai. The post is to direct Army operations in northern I Corps. Initially named MACV Forward, it becomes operational on March 10 as Provisional Corps, Vietnam (PCV).  PCV has operational control of Army units in Quang Tri and Thua Thien Provinces. It is officially subordinate to the commander of III Marine Amphibious Force. PCV is re-designated as XXIV Corps on August 15.1

1Terry Foster, “Provisional Corps Vietnam,” http://www.army.mil/article/73555/Provisional_Corps_Vietnam/ (link is external) (accessed 4/16/14); Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Withdrawal, 1968–1973, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 35, 37, 37n23, 47–49, 74–76, 126.