During 21 years of the anti-US war for national salvation from 1954 to 1975, the Vietnamese people had to experience innumerable fierce challenges including significant losses and sacrifices so as to seize independence and freedom. In over two decades, the US aggressors used various ruthless methods and measures to force the Vietnamese people to knuckle down. The US administration then expected that their huge economic and political potential and strength would lead to an easy and rapid victory in Vietnam.

However, their subjective intention did not come true. Vietnamese armed forces and people, under the leadership of the Communist Party and President Ho Chi Minh, launched a legendary struggle, defeating nearly the nearly 1.5 million enemy troops and  smashed the US aggression scheme. In the anti-US war, Vietnam’s military art was promoted to a new height thanks to the lessons and experience drawn from the struggle against the French colonialists. Our forces used small and flexible units to fight against the enemy rich in quantity and weapons and made full use of all opportunities to push the enemy into passive situation.

An important evidence of Vietnam’s excellent military art was the successful implementation of the people's war in the, land, air, river and sea battles.

By expanding people’s patriotic spirit and creativity, the strategy of people’s war became more and more perfect and strengthened in the mountainous, rural, delta and urban regions. Revolutionary bases including political and armed units were set up in both liberated and invaded areas to serve as strong rears for the liberation of the south.

In addition, the Truong Son strategic transport line was continuously lengthened to the south, linking the northern rear with the battlefields in the south, to southern Lao, northeastern Cambodia, southern Central Highlands and to the eastern side of the south. This created a joint front and could be served as destinations for key divisions and forced the US to arrange unwanted deployments.

In fact, our armed forces located in western Tri Thien, Truong Son-Central Highlands and eastern part of the south regularly threatened the whole southern battlefield. The people’s war initiative allowed the Vietnamese forces to attack the enemy in both military and political aspects.

The US and puppet troops had to spread to face with our sudden attacks, therefore, their strength in number, firepower and mobility was limited by our encirclement. During the war, the US and puppet troops had always been landed in the see-saw situation of between occupation and mobility, dispersion and centralisation, defence and assault and between “search and destroy” and “pacification.”

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s forces promoted the use of military and political activities and the combination of guerilla and regular warfare.

The guerilla warfare in the anti-US war reached the ever high level, becoming the local people’s war which wore down significantly the enemy’s vital force and war facilities and kept them in the strategic areas. This forced them to disperse widely and created favourable opportunities for our regular divisions to step up operation.

Vietnam’s military art focused on the fighting method of key corps and large battles which could change the situation in favour of our forces. After defeating the US special war strategy through the campaigns in Ba Gia, Binh Gia and Dong Xoai during the Spring-Autumn 1965 period, our main forces launched important operations against Play Me, Khe Sanh, Road 9 in southern Laos, Quang Tri and Northern Central Highlands. The three-prong strategic blows by dividing the enemy’s forces and launching sudden attacks had helped put a victorious end to the anti-US war for national salvation.

In order to destroy the enemy’s forces and defeat their invasion attempt, we selected the strategy of attacking from different directions and through both small and large scale campaigns. During the 1960 concerted uprising, our forces demolished the enemy’s local administration in many rural areas, thus turning the revolution in the south from preservation of our forces to the assaulting position. In the Spring of 1968, we lured the enemy deep into the Road 9-Khe Sanh battle and suddenly launched attacks on a chain of urban areas in the south, smashing the enemy’s ambition to control the situation. In the Spring of 1972, we used the main corps to destroy the enemy’s outer defence line in Tri Thien, Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) and eastern region of the south. In the Spring of 1975, we stretched the enemy and pinned them down in the two fronts in Tri Thien and eastern south. Strong attacks were carried out in Tay Nguyen, eliminating Army Corp 2 and Military Zone 2 of the Saigon puppet troops and dividing their strategic front and launching the 1975 offensive campaign. At the same time, some forces were sent to liberate the islands controlled by the puppet troops, restoring part of the country’s sacred territories.

The military art in the anti-US struggle was not only the art of selecting the attack direction, but also the art of choosing targets and ways of launching assaults.

In the people’s war, localities created their own effective attacking methods which targeted at the enemy’s weak and important targets such as bases, rear locations, infrastructure and command posts located in the urban areas of the south. Such assault method was based on the enemy’s subjective attitude and our intelligence, courage and creativity.

In the north, an air barrage was set up with low, middle and high firing levels against the enemy’s air raids. The combination of different forces was successfully made to defeat the enemy’s attempt to escalate the war.

The scale of campaigns and weapons during the struggle against the US aggressors were lifted to a new height which can be called as the military art.

It is the military art which used the strength of the whole people, combined military operation with political and diplomatic activities, launched different scales of attacks, made full use of forces and opportunities, thus creating strength to defeat the enemy’s strategic war. This helped defeat any of the enemy’s attempts to expand the war and contributed to successfully liberating the south, defending the north and reunifying the country.

This is a vivid evidence of Vietnam’s abilities and mind in the new period.

By Colonel and Dr HO KHANG

(Vietnam Institute of Military History)