Years later Trương would recall just how " close [ South Vietnamese ] was to annihilating or capturing the core of the Southern resistance – elite units of our frontline fighters along with the civilian and much of the military leadership " . After many days of hard marches the PRG reached the northern bases , and relative safety , in the Kratie region . Casualties was light and the march even saw the birth of a baby to Dương Quỳnh Hoa , the deputy minister of health in the Provisional Revolutionary Government ( PRG ) . The column needed many days to recover and Trương himself would require weeks to recover from the long march .