Refugees flee burning buildings near Tan Son Nhut. Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces started shelling more than 120 provincial capitals, towns and allied military installations across South Vietnam  and battled government and U.S. troops inside the capital Saigon, May 5th. The follow-up punch to the Communist Tet offensive of January 31st would last several days and displace thousands of refugees inside the city and across South Vietnam. The refugees from other parts of the city, mostly women and children, would pour into the center of Saigon and by May 9th Vietnamese authorities estimated that some 46,000 refugees had come into central Saigon.