sentences:  During the last days of the war, about 2,000 ARVN soldiers were defending the island.During the early hours of May 1, 1975, all the political prisoners at Prison VII staged an uprising and they quickly overpowered what was left of the South Vietnamese prison authorities.They set up a Provisional Committee to govern the island, and organised three platoon-sized units using captured weapons to march on the remnants of the ARVN.