 |
|
The tank of the liberation forces crashed through
the main gate of the Independence Palace on April 30,
1975. |
“Time will pass by but
Vietnamese people’s victory in the war of resistance against
the US will forever enter history as one of the most brilliant
exploits, a shining symbol on the triumph of revolutionary
heroism and the human mind. It has gone into the world’s
history as a great feat-of-arms of the 20th century, an event
of international importance and of profound epochal
character,” said General Vo Nguyen Giap.
"That paragraph was extracted
from the Political Report of the Party Central Committee at
the 4th National Party Congress as a “Great Declaration” of
Vietnam in the 20th century.
Vietnam’s history of resistance
against foreign aggression has experienced many tough
challenges as one thousand years under domination from the
North; one thousand years fighting for its independence
against invasions by feudal dynasties from the North;
including the three occasions struggling against the Yuan
Mongols, the most powerful army in the world in the 13th
century; one hundred years under the yoke of old colonialism
and aggression by the French; and 21 years against neo
colonialism and aggression by the US. All of these were long
and fierce ordeals. However the anti-US war of resistance
proved to be the biggest and toughest challenge to the
Vietnamese nation.
Vietnamese people have been
confronted by the most powerful, ruthless, perfidious warlike
and wealthiest imperialists. The war spread through the terms
of office of five US presidents with the biggest imbalance of
forces in Vietnam’s history against foreign aggression in
terms of the mode of production as well as economic and
military potentialities.
US imperialists mobilised in
the war in Vietnam an unprecedented level of a munitions on a
fairly narrow terrain; resorting to the most advanced weapons,
excluding only atomic bombs from its arsenal. At the highest
point of time of the war, the US sent a total of more than
half a million soldiers together with large navy and air
forces, in addition to 75,000 pro-US soldiers and more than
one million troops of South Vietnam. These represent record
figures for a neo-colonialist war of aggression. Washington
resorted to all strategies, tactics in military, politics and
diplomacy as well as the most brutal of warfare tricks such as
embargo, overall terrorism, economic destruction, human
annihilation and environmental destruction with agent Orange,
leaving severe consequences to many generations of the
Vietnamese and even to American war veterans. The White House
and Pentagon sent the best strategists and generals they had
to match wits with Vietnam during the war.
Vietnam became the focal point
of the fierce struggle between revolutionaries and
reactionaries in the world, a place where there was a typical
rivalry between progress and reaction, between justice and
injustice in the struggle of humanity for peace, national
independence, democracy and social progress.
In face of such great
challenges, unlike the early days of the resistance against
the French, Vietnam embarked on the war against the US in new
conditions. The people and army throughout the country had
encountered challenges in fighting and accumulated valuable
experiences in the anti-French war. Liberated North Vietnam,
with a link to fraternal socialist countries, had become ever
more consolidated to act as the great bulwark for the great
front in South Vietnam. The Vietnamese army gradually
transformed into a modern and regular force, training the army
units which had been regrouped to the north so that they could
return to the south one day and eventually built many strong
regular divisions for the reinforcement of the south.
President Ho Chi Minh
recognised the wicked US plots from an early stage. In 1950 he
already pinpointed US involvement and interference in the
Indochinese war. To take advantage of peace, he on 11
occasions sent letters to then US President Truman. On the
Dien Bien Phu battlefield, with the gun smoke yet to be
lifted, officers and men of Vietnamese army received a letter
of commendation from President Ho Chi Minh. He stressed at the
end of the letter, “The victory was as great, yet it is
just the beginning.” When I returned to Viet Bac base from
Dien Bien Phu, I called on the President. He said, “Welcome
back in victory! But we will have to fight against the US!” At
the 6th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (July, 1954)
held prior to the signing of the Geneva Agreement, the Party
Central Committee determined, “The US imperialists are the
major enemy of peace loving people in the world and are
becoming the direct chief enemy of the Indochinese people.”
President Ho and the Party were
right in defining the revolutionary line in the new stage:
Launching simultaneously two revolutionary strategies in the
two parts of the country for a common goal of fighting against
the US for national salvation, the liberation of South
Vietnam, and the protection of the North for eventual national
reunification. They pointed to the strategic links between the
two parts of the country: Building socialism in the North is
to secure more strength for the liberation of the South,
thereby enhancing the revolutionary struggle in the South is
to liberate it and protect the North. The North would play the
most decisive role; the South would make the direct effect on
the completion of the democratic revolution for the whole
country. This also represented the close link between the
rearguard and the great front, mobilising the whole population
in the fight against ruthless enemies. It also showed the
will, “Vietnam is one, the Vietnamese nation is one. Rivers
may run dry, mountains may wear out, but that truth will never
change.”
The Party correctly combined
the nation’s strength with that of the era, combining
nationalist duties with internationalist obligations,
strengthening the combative alliance among the three
Indochinese peoples, promoting solidarity between Vietnam’s
revolution and revolutionary trends in the world, uniting
closely with the Soviet Union, China and other fraternal
socialist countries and on that basis, developing a widespread
front of peace and justice loving people of the world
including the American people was formed in the fight against
US imperialists’ aggression.
President Ho and the Party were
successful in building among the entire people and army the
spirit of “determined to defeat US aggressors”. The undauntedness, staunchness and determination to win over all
aggressive enemies has been an age old tradition of the
nation. During the August Revolution in 1945, that spirit was
reflected in slogans such as “Mobilising inner strength to
liberate ourselves,” “A favourable opportunity has come, even
if we have to burn the whole Truong Son Range, we will do it
so as to seize national independence.” During the war of
resistance against the French, that spirit was: ”We would
rather sacrifice all than lose the country. Never shall we be
enslaved.” During the anti-US war, President Ho Chi Minh
convened an ad hoc Political Conference, demonstrating
determination of the entire population in fighting US
imperialists.
When the US sent massive
amounts of its soldiers to the South and used naval and air
forces to destroy the North, Ho Chi Minh asserted, “The war
may last 5, 10, 20 years or longer. Hanoi, Haiphong and some
cities and enterprises may be destroyed, but the Vietnamese
people will not be intimated! Nothing is more precious than
independence and freedom!” Or “As long as there remain any
foreign aggressors in the country, we will continue the fight
to sweep them away.”
This was considered the “sacred
appeal for fighting” against the US for national salvation,
representing the determination to fight of the entire people
and army.
Naturally, determination alone
was not enough to defeat the US, but first of all, the courage
in fighting against the US would help find a way to win the
US.
Determination to fight and
knowledge of how to fight, along with fortitude and
intelligence, revolutionary heroism and creativity, combined
are the spirit and mind that helped Vietnam tide over all
changes.
Understanding how to fight came
as a result of a process of creativity of the leadership and
people on the basis of grasping revolutionary law,
revolutionary warfare strategy, realistic viewpoints, judging
correctly the enemy’s strength and weaknesses so as to strike
a decisive blow to change the aspect of the war, win victories
step by step in an advance towards the final one.
The concerted uprising was a
great initiative. In the spirit of “Revolutionary Programme
for South Vietnam” written by the Party's First Secretary Le Duan, especially Resolution
15 of the Party Central Committee, the southerners rose up
from a dark period to smash the local administrations of the
Saigon puppet regime, to liberate large rural areas and
enhance operations in urban areas. “The long-haired army” was
a shining symbol of the revolutionary heroism and mind of
South Vietnamese women. With the Concerted Uprising, the
revolution in the South shifted to an offensive position. The
National Liberation Front and South Vietnam Liberation Army
were established, creating powerful changes in terms of the
strength and position of the revolution. As the
neo-colonialist rule through the dictatorial puppet regime
proved no longer effective, Washington hastily resorted to the
tactic of “Special Warfare” in the framework of its “flexible
reaction” it used to oppose revolutionary trends in the world
in the wake of World War II.
It required a completely
creative process to defeat the US tactic of “Special Warfare,”
in South Vietnam from partial uprising transformed into a
revolutionary war. Grasping rules of an armed struggle and
revolutionary war, the South Vietnamese people and army
promoted the people’s war, smashing the enemy’s mopping-up
operations and disintegrating the networks of strategic
hamlets that the puppet administration considered a push for
political struggle in both rural and urban areas. Armed
struggles were stepped up gradually. The Ap Bac victory
signalled the possibility of defeating the new tactics of the
US henchmen. One victory after another was reported in Binh
Gia, Ba Gia and Dong Xoai, wiping out battalions of Saigon
troops, marking the collapse of the US “Special Warfare”
strategy and prompted it to shift over to “Local War.”
The US considered Vietnam a
focus country in the national liberation movement, that needed
to be stopped in order to prevent further uprising of other
nations in the world and the spread of communism throughout
Southeast Asia. The US launched the “local war” by sending
expeditionary US troops to directly fight in the southern
battlefront, conducting its war of destruction against the
North in an attempt to “strangle” the revolution in the south
and “bomb North Vietnam back into the Stone Age,” thus posing
an unprecedented challenge to the Vietnamese people from both
parts of the country.
President Ho Chi Minh and the
Party evaluated the new strategic situation in a calm and
clear-sighted manner and created a high unanimity within the
Party, army and people who were determined to defeat US
aggressors.
It was during this difficult
and grave situation, Vietnam’s will and determination to fight
worked well. Never had such an anti-US spirit risen as high as
at this time. The whole country seethed got boiling with the
fight against the US and the entire people advanced to the
battlefront. In the South, such movements as “Valiant soldiers
to wipe out US GIs,” “Let’s search for US GIs to fight, let’s
search for puppet soldiers to kill,” “Let’s hold enemy’s belt
to fight” and so on had surged on, while in the North, there
were such movements as “Each working for two,” “Three
readinesses,” “Three responsibilities,” “Let’s aim straight at
the enemy to fire,” “Let’s cut up Truong Son Mountain Range to
go to save the country.” The Truong Son Road, the Ho Chi Minh
trail on land and in the sea as strategic transportation line,
became a “legendary road” that further promoted the strength
of the rear to help the great front.
The battles of Nui Thanh, Van
Tuong, Ya Drang, Playme, Dat Cuoc, Dau Bang were the first
battles of important significance which exposed specific
weaknesses in the US troops. North Vietnam shot down
sophisticated US aircraft and captured US pilots. Initial
victories in both parts of the country were not only
encouraging but also proved that Vietnamese army and people
could defeat US infantry and air forces. The struggle of women
from Cu Chi, Trang Bang to prevent US armoured vehicles from
destroying rice fields and US soldiers from burning locals’
houses demonstrated the ability of the political face to face
struggle between the Vietnamese people and US troops.
The US calculated that they
needed several hundreds of thousands of soldiers and launched
strategic offensives during three dry seasons, in an attempt
to defeat Vietnam before they return to the country and impose
neo-colonialism on South Vietnam. With this in mind, they had
deployed “search and destroy” operations in the hope of
breaking the spine of the regular Viet Cong army, capturing or
annihilating the Central Command or Command of the South
Vietnam Liberation Army, staging some large-scale bombing
raids against North Vietnam, and sealing off the Ho Chi Minh
Trail, so Vietnam would be completely defeated.
But after the two
counter-offensives in the dry seasons of 1965-1966 and
1966-1967 with major operations such as Cedar Falls,
Attleboro, and Junction City, the US was unable to destroy the
regular forces of the Liberation Army or capture the "brain" of
the war resistance in the South. On the contrary, the US
suffered unprecedented losses. Towards the third dry season,
hardly had the US set out to do anything than the Khe Sanh
battle and the 1968 Tet uprisings was served as thunderbolt
blows to them, shaking their will of aggression. General
Westmoreland was dismissed, Secretary of Defence McNamara
resigned, President Johnson had to declare an unilateral cease
of bombing in North Vietnam beyond the 20th latitude, and had
to accept to sit at the negotiating table with Vietnam at the
Paris Conference as well as not to run for the second
presidency.
The surprising, simultaneous,
powerful, vulnerable and effective blow of the Tet 1968
offensive was a unique creation unseen before, marking a basic
turning point that changed the aspect of the war and opened up
the process of war de-escalation by the US. We had
determination as well as knowledge to fight and to win over
the US troops when they were overwhelming in number, power
with its highest efforts for war. The “local war” strategy
proved bankrupt and the US had to shift to the
“desamericanisation” and “Vietnamisation” of the war.
The de-escalation process by
the US was a protracted and fierce measurement of strength.
The US de-escalated the war but remained stubborn in
prolonging and spreading the war throughout Indochina. Our
people stood side by side with the peoples of Laos and
Cambodia to foil the schemes and tricks of the US.
On January 1st, 1969, in his
poem for New Year greetings, Uncle Ho wrote: “Fight until the
US quit and the puppet regime is toppled.” No one would
imagine that it was his last new year greetings. The talented
strategist, the teacher of the Vietnamese revolution designed
this two-step approach for final victory: “North and South
reunited, can it be a happier Spring.” Our people and army
totally fulfilled Uncle Ho’s instructions. Together with the
Lao people and army, we defeated operation Lam Son 719 on the
Road No. 9 – Southern Laos battle ground, then the strategic
offensive was launched in 1972 throughout the South and the
Dien Bien Phu battle in the air in the North. We won victories
of decisive significance. The US had to sign the Paris Peace
Agreement, undertaking to respect independence, sovereignty
and territorial integrity of Vietnam, bring home all US troops
whilst our regular army remained on hand with reinforcements,
creating a change to the balance of force in our favour for
the first time in 18 years of anti-US resistance. Facing such
situation, in July 1971, the Party Central Committee convened
the 21st conference and issued the Resolution on the great
victory of the anti-US resistance for national salvation and
tasks of the Southern revolution in the new stage.
The strategic battle in spring
1975 marked new brilliant developments of the art of people’s
war in modern time, especially the art of managing the war in
the final stage, the art of organising and directing the
implementation of key battles, and bringing the resistance to
total victory.
The Thuong Duc and Phuoc Long
battles served as strategic probing battles that revealed the
weakness of the puppet army and the limitation of the US’s
ability to re-involve itself.
Having completed the strategic
preparation of position and strength in both the North and the
South, the general offensive and uprising in spring 1975 were
marked by a strategic death blow at Buon Ma Thuot and the
liberation of the central highlands was an excellent choice in
making a breakthrough, creating diversion, deceiving and
rearranging the enemy by schemes, fighting well, winning great
victories and swiftly changing the war aspect.
 |
|
On April 14, 1975, the Politburo decided to name the
liberation of the south as "Ho Chi Minh Campaign." |
Sensitive in grasping
opportunity, taking initiative in creation of opportunity and
promoting opportunity, the Politburo and the Military
Commission of the Party Central Committee constantly enhanced
strategic decision, kept abreast with the extremely speedy
changes on the battlefield, created surprising factors and
changed the plan to liberate the South from two to three years
at the beginning to only one year in the end.
The campaign to liberate Hue
and Danang was a further development of the offensive and
uprisings in a timely, bold, creative and effective manner,
destroying and disintegrating the entire puppet army in the
coastal provinces without letting them concentrate in Saigon,
liberating central Vietnam and the Spratley islands, thereby
creating new position and strength. The Supreme Command took
hold of the new opportunity, making the final decision to
liberate the South before the wet season in 1975.
In the spirit of “Speedy and
more speedy. Bold and bolder. Making use of every hour, every
minute to make a thrust to the front for the liberation of
South. Be determined to fight and win total victory,” the
historic Ho Chi Minh campaign was waged with the determination
to fight and to win total victory, keeping Saigon City almost
intact in its liberation.
Within 55 days (an uncanny
coincidence compared with the 55 days of the Dien Bien Phu
battle) with overwhelming power both militarily and
politically and with three strategic blows together with the
offensive and uprisings in the Mekong River Delta, more than
one million pro-US troops were destroyed and scattered, the
puppet government was toppled, the neo-colonialist regime
built up by the US with great pain through five presidencies
was smashed.
The victory of the anti-US
resistance was due to large sacrifices and efforts of the
entire nation in a fierce and long measurement of wit and
strength with the enemy, especially by the Southern
compatriots, the iron bulwark of the homeland, of the
leadership, direction, management and command at macro level
in combination with specific combat action and struggle of
each officer and man in every battlefield, at each unit, not
of any single battlefield or unit, of which the Politburo, the
Military Commission of the Party Central Committee, the
General Headquarters and its representatives in the front, the
Central Committee for South Vietnam and the High Commands of
battlefields, the High Commands of campaigns and the High
Command of Ho Chi Minh Trail played an especially important
role. In spring 1975, the Supreme High Command clearly showed
its talent for planning and strategy, good knowledge of the
enemy and of itself in directing the war on a nationwide scale
in a swift, flexible, prudent and stalwart manner to win total
victory in an extremely complicate world situation during the
mid 1970s. All operations took place under a single plan of
the General Headquarters with co-ordination in planning and
operating circumstances and with one creative premise for
another so as to shape the final strategic decisive blow.
The day of total victory on 30
April 1975 went down in history as the end of a matchless
strategy. Through the long march of 30 years with three
resplendent milestones of the victory of August 1945 General
Insurrection, the victory of the Dien Bien Phu battle and the
total victory in spring 1975, our nation gloriously completed
the cause of national salvation. The yoke of colonialism, old
and new, that had lasted for more than one hundred years in
our country was abolished forever. Our homeland was totally
independent and unified. The whole country embarked upon the
path of socialism.
On a world scale, this is for
the first time in the history of struggle of small countries,
a nation that used to be a semi-feudal colony, undeveloped
economically, rose up to liberate itself and successively
defeated major imperialist powers, mainly with its own
strength, setting a heroic, undaunted, wise and talented
example for the national liberation movement in the world.
The phrase “Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh” has entered the languages
of nations as a synonym with human conscience and dignity with
the truth “nothing is more precious than independence and
freedom.”
The victory of the Vietnamese
people was of huge international magnitude, which also served
as the common victory for peace and justice loving humanity
the world over.
The victory of the Vietnamese
people was also of a deep epochal character. It confirms the
truth that “a state, no matter how strong it is, uses force to
impose its will on others will be finally defeated.” The Dien
Bien Phu victory and the victory in spring 1975 were the
destinations that history has reserved for wars of aggression
in the modern period.
* *
*
A big question posed by many
people is why the Vietnamese people, without even a piece of
iron in hand, was able to rise up to break the chain of
slavery and defeat “two major powers” in unequal wars, seizing
back the homeland and advancing toward social and human
emancipation?
No answer could be found to the
question if a deep insight is not made into the depth of a
thousand- year-old history, the national culture and
traditions, the military legacy left by our ancestors and the
revolutionary line under the Party’s leadership.
Indeed, in an event rarely seen
in world history, the ancient Viet tribes living in this land
constructed philosophy for life, formed and developed a
national culture the nucleus of which was patriotism, an
undaunted fighting spirit to master nature and society, close
unity, mutual affection and love, and bravery and
intelligence. Thanks to the immeasurable strength of this
culture, our nation was not assimilated under Northern
domination in more than one thousand years and finally rose up
to regain national independence. When the first ancestor of
restoration, national hero Ngo Quyen, defeated the Nanhan on
the Bach Dang River, the era of one thousand years of
independence and sovereignty was opened up with exception of
only 20 years of domination by the Ming. Throughout these one
thousand years, our nation, under the dynasties of patriotic
kings, defeated all invaders many times over, from Sung to
Yuan, Ming and Quing. Especially, in the 13th century, our
nation defeated the Yuan Mongols, the strongest aggressive
army of that time who conquered many nations from Asia to
Europe, even China; they were defeated in their aggression on
three occasions by Dai Viet (Great Viet). “Over mountains and
rivers of the South reigns the Emperor of the South.” So
whenever the enemy approached our country then “king and
subject are unanimous, brothers are harmonious, the whole
nation is united” to hold fast to the homeland and defend the
state.” From the Proclamation to Officers and Soldiers to Canh
Ty Testament and Proclamation of Victory over the Ngo (Ming),
the military theory of Vietnam took shape and developed “to
win over brutality with the great cause, to replace
ruthlessness with humanity,” “a hundred families are
combatants,” “to fight the long battle with the small army,”
“to fight large numbers with small numbers,” and “to win over
the large with the small.” This theory has made use of
dialectical method to turn weak into strong, combine strength
with position, time, and strategy to finally achieve the deep
aspiration to win back and safeguard national sovereignty with
the ideas ahead of time: “to gather all directions together,”
“to extinguish the war for ever,” and “to bring about eternal
universal peace.”
Now, a new question is raised:
why had such a heroic nation like Vietnam led an animal life
for almost 100 years under the domination of Western
colonialism and imperialism?
After all, the main cause is
the crisis of line at the time when the balance of power
between us and the enemy basically changed: our country was in
feudal mode of production with backward agricultural economy
and rudimentarily equipped army whilst the enemy was in
capitalist mode of production with modern industry and the
army of modern equipment. In face of the new realities of the
struggle, Vietnamese patriots of that time were not able to
find out any expedient for national salvation. Patriots like
Nguyen Trung Truc and Hoang Hoa Tham, and patriotic movements
from Can Vuong (Save the King) to Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc (An
Association for Free Mass Education) and Duy Tan (Renovation)
ended in deadlock without a way out. That is why despite an
abundant heroic spirit, that all insurrections and uprisings
from the north to the south were mercilessly suppressed.
Patriotic leaders sacrificed their lives for the good cause,
but none of them achieved the success.
Not until 1911, did young
Nguyen Tat Thanh determine to set out for national salvation.
Equipped with traditional patriotism and the undaunted
fighting spirit of the Vietnamese nation with quintessence of
the Oriental culture, he traveled round the world with the
great will to liberate “the pariahs.” In 1920, Nguyen Ai Quoc
– the great patriot – came to Leninism and the third
International when he discovered the path for national
salvation: the path of proletarian revolution, and became the
first Vietnamese communist. From Leninism, Nguyen Ai Quoc
grasped the revolutionary world outlook and a revolutionary
perspective on life, and received and developed
Marxist-Leninist methodology and methods of historical and
dialectical materialism. He founded the Vietnamese Communist
Party, working out a “brief political programme” and “brief
tactics” to lead the Vietnamese revolution.
With the new revolutionary aim,
the patriotic struggle brought about not only independence and
unification to the homeland but also freedom, happiness to the
working class and people as well as the entire nation. From
this time on, nation is closely linked with class, national is
closely interlinked with international and national
independence is closely linked with socialism.
As the political aim of the
revolution underwent qualitative change in comparison with the
past, the political aim of the war for national liberation in
the Ho Chi Minh Era also underwent new qualitative
developments in comparison with the past historical periods.
National salvation was closely connected with the salvation of
the people. National liberation was closely connected with the
emancipation of the working people to bring freedom and
happiness to the entire people. The people carried out the
struggle in the interests of the nation, the homeland and
themselves. That is why the general uprisings in August 1945
and the two wars of resistance against the French and
Americans were uprisings and revolutionary wars of just cause,
actually for the people and by the people.
The main spirit of Vietnamese
military theory in the Ho Chi Minh Era is based on the full
play of the determination to fight and to win, the spirit
“nothing is more precious than independence and freedom,
waging the war by all people, and fighting the enemy by the
whole people and nation. In his directive to set up the
Vietnam Propaganda and Liberation Army, Uncle Ho wrote: “Our
resistance is that of all people, therefore all people are mobilised and equipped.” In his call for nationwide resistance
to the French colonialists, he said: “men and women, old and
young, regardless of religions creed, political affiliation
and nationality, all Vietnamese must stand up to fight the
French colonialists and save the Fatherland.” In the
resistance to the US, he confirmed: “Our resistance is by all
people and is in turn a people’s war. Thirty one million
compatriots in the two regions, irrespective of sex and age,
must be 31 million heroic combatants to fight the US for
national salvation.” He upheld the policy of great national
unity: “Unity, unity, great unity; success, success, great
success.”
In parallel with the spirit
“all people fight the enemy,” Vietnamese revolutionary theory
in the Ho Chi Minh Era inherits and develops to a new height
the traditional fighting art of the nation to win the large
with the small, to defeat the strong with the weak,
successfully settling a seemingly paradoxical issue in the
condition of the new era i.e. “a small country was able to
defeat two major imperialisms, the French and the American.”
Uncle Ho said:
“Yes, it’s now grasshopper versus elephant
But tomorrow the elephant will collapse.”
The problem of the “locust vs. elephant” in the fight
against the aggressors with industrial power and of high
scientific and technical developments, modern equipment,
strong economic and military power such as America, required
our nation to create a lot of intelligent fighting ways, using
our determination to fight and to win as well as our creative
mind to triumph over every one of their strategies, tactic and
modern equipment.
Vietnamese military theory
always holds firm to revolutionary aims, Marxism-Leninism and
Ho Chi Minh Thought, stems from the realities, analyses the
real situation, finds out the law and acts in accordance with
the law to defeat every brutal enemy. That theory always keeps
pace with all swift developments and balance of force between
us and the enemy in the battlefield, finds out and creates the
most favourable opportunity and strength for us, digs deep the
weakness of the enemy, and concentrates forces to destroy the
enemy. In circumstances of change, the strategic policy and
tactics are changed accordingly in an active, creative,
mobile, flexible, secret and sudden way to win great
victories, usually in most difficult conditions.
In the anti-US resistance,
Vietnamese military theory culminated in bringing about a lot
of great victories. However, at times owing to our loose
grasp of the Party’s military line and Ho Chi Minh’s military
thought, lack of realities and act against law, subjectivism
and voluntarism, we were deprived of victories and suffered
losses.
 |
|
All Saigon classes cheered to
welcome the liberation forces
on April 30, 1975. |
There was time when the
relationship between guerrilla and regular warfare was a topic
of long debates among military cadres in the front. A number
of them misconceived this matter, attaching importance only to
speeding up political struggle and guerilla warfare, taking
care of building political forces, local armed forces and
militia whilst making light of building a regular army. A
number of foreign strategists while conducting research on
Vietnam tend to liken the people’s war to guerilla one. Such
perception is wrong. Our Party never stuck to only one
military strategy nor constrained the war to the level of
guerilla warfare. Our Party’s revolutionary war strategy was
an aggregate one, combining guerilla with regular warfare,
battles of small and medium scales with big ones in all
conceivable combinations, allowing every kind of weapons in
hand to be utilised. Whilst speeding up the political
struggle, or developing guerilla warfare, our Party attached
much importance to building regular troops into strong units
from battalion to regiment, division to army corps as “iron
punches,” capable of inflicting heavy decisive blows to the
enemy on the battlefield.
Again, owing to a loose grasp
of the law of uprising and war, there was policy to combine
general offensive with general uprisings in war-time while
more than half a million US troops, more than one million
puppet troops as well as those from the US satellite countries
remained on the battlefield. The surprise of the Tet general
offensive and uprising launching simultaneous attacks on
cities and most of major logistic depots of the enemy, led to
winning resounding victories, the defeat of the “local war”
strategy and forced the US to de-escalate the war. The
operations, instead of having been shifted to the countryside
then, were waged right in cities so as to create the
conditions for a general uprising, but such event did not take
place eventually and the revolution had to suffer losses.
Another example of the heavy
price that was paid in blood because of acting contrary to law
follows. Revolution means offensive. The strategic idea of a
revolutionary war has always been an offensive concept. As
regards forms of tactics, there are offensive and defensive
operations on strategic, campaign and battle levels. Owing a
misconception, for a long period of time, a number of cadres
held that there could only be an offensive in revolutionary
war, denying defense and even seeing it as a taboo. That
explained why in a number of battles, our troops suffered
casualties.
The US and a number of powers
have increasingly developed modern military weapons and
equipment in recent years. The arms race keeps going on. In
parallel with a new strategy with “human rights” being placed
above “sovereignty,” some war-mongering circles have granted
themselves the right to invade states of independence and
sovereignty regardless of the international law. The Gulf War
was followed by the aggressive war in Kosovo and the Iraq war,
and there still exists threat of new wars of aggression. A
new question is raised: in the condition of aggressive war
with high-tech weapons, is the Vietnamese military theory
still of any value?
We never underestimate the
enemy and always attach importance to speeding up research on
military science and technique, developing Vietnamese military
theory to new heights, especially when a number of powers are
waging a “revolution in the military field.” We can confirm
that Vietnamese military theory in the Ho Chi Minh Era helps
us maintain independence, sovereignty and territorial
integrity for our country, defeating any wars, regardless of
their modernity or where they come from.
The Vietnamese culture, the
correct revolutionary line of the Party and the unique,
creative and steady development of Vietnamese military theory
serve as a source of strength for Vietnam in the Ho Chi Minh
Era.
After gaining total
independence and reunification, our country has embarked on
the socialist path and the entire people in the north and the
south have thorough grasp of the two strategic tasks: national
construction and defence of the homeland.
In the cause of economic
development which has become the central task, after a period
of subjective errors and mistakes, prototyped imitation and
voluntarism, our Party soon came back with Ho Chi Minh’s
thoughts, stemmed from the realities, and rediscovered the
law, working out the correct and creative renovation line.
This line has strongly inspired our entire people in winning
extremely great victories in the economic, cultural and
external fronts. Our Party has come to a historic conclusion:
Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts constitute the
ideological foundation and compass for actions. Our country
has emerged from crisis and is travelling on the path of
industrialisation and modernisation with a multi-sector
economy and market mechanism under the management of the State
along a socialist orientation.
However, no matter how big the
victory of the renovation line is, we must be brave to
overcome the “communist self-conceitedness” to look straight
at the truth. It must be said that to this day our country
remains among the poorest countries in the world, the economic
structure is mainly agricultural, labour productivity is
hundreds of times too low, and the level of technology
is
backward in comparison with the developed countries.
Therefore, in fulfilling the aim of building socialism, the
main contradiction in our society between the high demand for
the development of productive forces as well as the unceasing
improvement of material and cultural life of the people with
the existing poor and backward condition is being surmounted
step by step; not to mention corruption, the decline in
morality and appearance of social evils brought about by the
other side of market mechanism.
Meanwhile, the face of the
world has swiftly changed. A number of developed countries
are now entering a new socio-economic era, the era of a
knowledge-based economy of intellectual civilisation. There,
the service and intellect have become leading productive
forces. On such a basis, a new world order with the
prevailing trend of globalisation has taken shape, drawing the
entire planet into a big whirlwind governed by a small number
of powers and supernational groups. Contrary to the aspiration
for peace of progressive humanity, the war mongering and
hegemonic circles and their intelligence services are waging
local war, terror, ethnic and religious conflict, “peaceful
evolution,” revolt, subversion, separation, and an arms race
of high-tech weapons never seen before. The security
environment of the world is undergoing unprecedented changes.
Apparently, in entering the
21st century and the third millennium, our Party is faced with
unprecedented new opportunities as well as challenges. Like in
the past, in big turning points of the struggle for national
liberation when our Party, stemming from the realities, worked
out a policy in conformity with the developing law of
revolutionary war, it has, nowadays, worked out new policies
as breakthrough to bring the country forward.
Such policies see economic
construction as the central task with priority being given to
developing productive forces as it was confirmed by Marx and
Engel that the universal development of modern productive
forces serves as premise of all premises for socialism and
communism: relations of production must conform with the
developmental character and level of productive forces.
Such policies see education and
training, and science and technology as the top priority
because science and intellect have become the leading
productive forces with advanced technology serving as the
content and driving force of the cause of modernisation.
Such policies also bring into
full play the internal strength of the country, mainly the
Vietnamese people and culture which serve as a base for
integrating into the region and the world, making use of
sources of foreign capital, technology and managerial
knowledge for the cause of national development.
Such
policies advocate the continued building and rectification of
the Party, seeing it as a pivotal task to make our Party pure,
strong, democratic, disciplined and united, enhancing
revolutionary morality, combating individualism, factionalism,
eliminating corruption and social evils; summing up the
realities and developing advanced theories so as to be worthy
of the conscience, honour and intellect of the working class
and nation on the basis of which, to reform the state of the
people, for the people and by the people, strengthen and
expand the National United Front.
That is also to unceasingly increase our
vigilance, safeguard our independence, sovereignty,
territorial integrity and territorial waters and ecological
environment; attach importance to the building aggregate
strength of all-people defence and people’s security; take
initiative in global economic integration; win the utmost
sympathy and support of the movements of peace, national
independence, democracy and progress in the world.
Our entire people unite, as
one, to surmount objectivism, conservatism, and dogmatism to
realise at all efforts the line worked out by the Party,
moving towards the 10th Congress with new progress and
victory.
On the 30th anniversary of the
victory on 30 April, we still remember our esteemed Uncle Ho,
the talented and beloved leader of the Party and our nation
and the dear father of the people’s armed forces of Vietnam;
of General Secretaries Truong Chinh and Le Duan, other leaders
of the Party and State, generals, leaders and commanders of
fronts and battlefields, who made large contributions to the
great victory of the nation but are no more today.
We are extremely touched to
recall many cadres, combatants and fellow-countrymen who
bravely laid down their lives for the glorious revolutionary
causes that our homeland and people have today.
I would
like to take this occasion to convey my heartfelt compliments
and deep gratitude to the Vietnamese mother-heroes, families
of revolutionary martyrs and families of great service as well
as all compatriots throughout the country.
I would like to extend my heartfelt compliments and
deepest sentiments to all cadres and combatants of the armed
forces, invalids of war, victims of orange agent, war
veterans, former youth volunteers, labourers and liaison men
and women.
I would like to express our
sincere thanks to our neighbouring nations as well as all our
international friends for their great favour and kind
assistance to our nation in the war and the process of
reconstructing the nation.
I
strongly believe that under the invincible banner of the Party
and great Uncle Ho, with the great ambition, being firm in all
conditions, and bringing into full play Vietnam’s ability and
mind in the new era, our people, in great and greater unity,
will remain true our dreams, advance forward with renovation,
industrialisation and modernisation, win new victories,
achieve speedy and steady developments, take our country, a
heroic but still poor and backward one, out of current lagging
position to soon become a heroic, rich, strong and civilised
country, keep pace and walk abreast with average, and then
advanced countries in the world as we, a colony in the past,
became one of the vanguards in the national liberation
movement.
By General VO NGUYEN GIAP
(*) Speech
delivered at the scientific seminar: “Victory in spring 1975 –
The great ability and intelligence of Vietnam” held at the
Thong Nhat (Reunication) Palace in Ho Chi Minh City on April
14-15. |
