On 27 January 1973, the Paris Peace Accords, officially termed as the “Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet Nam” were signed. This was a peace agreement to establish peace in Vietnam and to end the Vietnam War, which was scheduled to take effect at 08:00 the following day. Signatories to the agreement included the governments of the Democratic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), the United States of America, and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRG), which represented the South Vietnamese revolutionary liberation movement.
Already in 1969, United States ground forces had begun to withdraw from Vietnam after suffering from deteriorating morale during the withdrawal. Those that remained behind during the beginning of 1972 had very little involvement with the various combat operations. Actually, the last American infantry battalions had been withdrawn in August 1972, while most air and naval forces, as well as advisers, were gone from South Vietnam by the time the Paris Peace Accords were signed. However, some of the air and naval forces not based in South Vietnam were still playing a large role in the war which continued just before the signing of the Accords. Therefore, the Paris Peace Accords removed the remaining US forces from Mainland Southeast Asia. This implied that direct United States military intervention came to an end, and fighting between the three remaining powers
