<P> The success of the 1973--74 dry season offensive inspired Trà to return to Hanoi in October 1974 and plead for a larger offensive in the next dry season . This time, Trà could travel on a drivable highway with regular fueling stops, a vast change from the days when the Ho Chi Minh trail was a dangerous mountain trek . Giáp, the North Vietnamese defense minister, was reluctant to approve Trà's plan . A larger offensive might provoke a U.S. reaction and interfere with the big push planned for 1976 . Trà appealed over Giáp's head to first secretary Lê Duẩn, who approved of the operation . </P> <P> Trà's plan called for a limited offensive from Cambodia into Phước Long Province . The strike was designed to solve local logistical problems, gauge the reaction of South Vietnamese forces, and determine whether U.S. would return to the fray . </P> <P> On 13 December 1974, North Vietnamese forces attacked Route 14 in Phước Long Province . Phuoc Binh, the provincial capital, fell on 6 January 1975 . Ford desperately asked Congress for funds to assist and re-supply the South before it was overrun . Congress refused . The fall of Phuoc Binh and the lack of an American response left the South Vietnamese elite demoralized . </P> <P> The speed of this success led the Politburo to reassess its strategy . It was decided that operations in the Central Highlands would be turned over to General Văn Tiến Dũng and that Pleiku should be seized, if possible . Before he left for the South, Dũng was addressed by Lê Duẩn: "Never have we had military and political conditions so perfect or a strategic advantage as great as we have now ." </P>

When was the vietnam conflict declared a war