offensive in 1972 was capturing Quảng Trị (First Battle of Quảng Trị), although they lost much of the territory gained during the South Vietnamese counter-offensive from June through September 1972 (Second Battle of Quảng Trị).
With South Vietnamese forces unable to hold the province during the final North Vietnamese offensive of the war, the entire province fell to North Vietnamese forces in March 1975. After Quảng Trị fell, the North Vietnamese Provisional Revolutionary Government lay claim to the province. Collective farms were set up and strict rules were enforced on villagers, many of whom eventually fled. According to Gary D. Murfin, who led a survey on Vietnamese refugees after 1975, the province was an area of particularly dense Catholic concentration, most of which was staunchly anti-communist. Murfin estimated that 41% fled the area in fear of Viet Cong reprisals, 37% feared fighting, shelling, and bombing, and others fled because they were a family related to a Nationalist soldier, or were at one point landowners. Today, the province is largely agricultural and rural. The provincial capital of Quảng Trị is Đông Hà
