Building main army corps - Strategic vision of General Vo Nguyen Giap

Consulting and directing the building of main army corps in the final stage of the resistance war against America to save the country was one of such decisions.

On the occasion of the 110th anniversary of General Vo Nguyen Giap's birthday (August 25, 1911 - August 25, 2021), Vietnam News Agency respectfully introduces the article: "Building the main army corps (1973 - 1975) - The strategic vision of General Vo Nguyen Giap" by Colonel, Associate Professor, Doctor Ho Khang, former Deputy Director of the Vietnam Military History Institute.

Focus on directing the building of main army corps

Comrade Vo Nguyen Giap read Military Order No. I - Decision to establish the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army (December 22, 1944)

On January 27, 1973, the Paris Agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam was signed, forcing the US to withdraw all expeditionary troops and troops from some allied countries, respecting the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Vietnam, opening a new turning point for our people's resistance war against the US to save the country. However, with its stubborn and belligerent nature, the US continued to provide economic and military aid, directed the Saigon government and army to sabotage the Paris Agreement, and continuously launched "pacification and encroachment" operations throughout the South in order to destroy the revolutionary forces and expand the occupied areas.

Faced with the enemy's plots and actions, in July 1973, the Party Central Committee held its 21st Conference and affirmed: "The path of the Southern revolution is the path of revolutionary violence. Regardless of the situation, we must firmly grasp the opportunity, maintain the strategic offensive line and provide flexible direction to move the Southern revolution forward" (excerpt from the Conference Resolution).

Implementing the Party's guidelines, from the second half of 1973 to the end of 1974, our army and people on the southern battlefield resolutely stepped up counter-attack and offensive activities, fought back against the enemy's encroachments, protected the people, consolidated and expanded the liberated areas. The Saigon government and army suffered many losses, gradually falling into a passive and increasingly difficult situation. Meanwhile, the US Congress cut aid to the Saigon regime to 700 million USD (fiscal year 1974 - 1975), much lower than the request (1,600 million USD). However, because the puppet army was still large (600,000 regular troops and more than 1 million civil defense), with many types of modern weapons and means of war, the US government still advocated continuing to prolong the war of aggression.

With sharp military thinking and strategic vision, right after the Paris Agreement was signed, General Vo Nguyen Giap advised and proposed to the Politburo to establish main army corps, for the following basic reasons:

Firstly, to properly respond to the objective development laws of building armed forces and the practical requirements of revolutionary war and liberation war. The problem now is that we must have enough strength to destroy large-scale enemy forces. Using only independent divisions or coordinating many divisions as before is no longer appropriate, but we need to have tightly organized main army corps as the "decisive punch".

Second, after the withdrawal of the American and allied troops, the balance of power was tilted in our favor. The revolutionary forces in the South had very basic strengths and were developing steadily. The main force in the South alone had reached more than 310,000, including 10 divisions, 24 regiments and 100 battalions. The main force divisions were all fully staffed and equipped; meanwhile, the North continued to increase its support.

Third, our cadres' level of command and organization of large-scale joint operations has been significantly accumulated, especially valuable experience has been drawn from the practical experience of the most recent major campaigns such as Route 9 - Southern Laos (1971), Northeastern Cambodia (1970), and the strategic offensive (1972).

After receiving unanimous approval from the Politburo, in June 1973, General Vo Nguyen Giap instructed the General Staff: "Urgently establish army corps, the "main punches" ready for use at the decisive moment, study combat methods in the direction of destroying enemy sub-regions, district capitals, battle groups, and brigades to rescue and destroy enemy divisions". Realizing the possibility of large-scale combat in the near future, the Central Military Commission decided to choose to send a delegation of military officers to attend a supplementary course on combined arms combat at the Voroshilov Academy (Moscow, Soviet Union).

After a period of preparation, the main army corps of our Army were established one after another: Army Corps 1, named Quyet Thang Army Corps (October 24, 1973), was stationed in the North. Army Corps 2, named Huong Giang Army Corps in Tri - Thien (May 17, 1974). Army Corps 4, named Cuu Long Army Corps in the Southeast (July 20, 1974). Army Corps 3, named Tay Nguyen Army Corps in the Central Highlands (March 26, 1975). The birth of the army corps both in the rear and right on the Southern battlefield marked the maturity and growth of our Army after nearly 30 years of building and fighting, creating the premise for carrying out strategic decisive battles, advancing to completely liberate the South.

Leveraging the power of the "iron fist" to win decisive victory

General Vo Nguyen Giap visited the Air Defense - Air Force Command, December 30, 1972, the core force together with the army and people of the Capital defeated the US strategic air raid on Hanoi.

After its establishment, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, directly the Central Military Commission and the General Command, the main army corps played a great role in the revolution.

From December 13, 1974 to January 6, 1975, our armed forces, with the 4th Corps as the core, launched an attack campaign on the Saigon army's defense system in Phuoc Long province and the Highway 14 area. As a result, we eliminated more than 3,000 enemies from combat, liberated the entire Phuoc Long province with 50,000 people, expanded our strategic transportation bridgehead, and created a springboard to attack Saigon. The Saigon army sent troops to rescue but failed; while the US government responded weakly and then accepted "forgetting it".

The victory of Route 14 - Phuoc Long was a "strategic reconnaissance strike", an important basis for the expanded Politburo Conference (December 18, 1974 - January 8, 1975) to determine the strategy of liberating the South within two years (1975 - 1976). Building on the victory, the 4th Corps continued to attack and liberate Xuan Loc town, destroying the enemy's key defensive base protecting Saigon from the east, creating favorable conditions for the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. From July 1974 to March 1975, on the battlefield of Zone 5, the 2nd Corps closely coordinated with the local people and army to continuously launch campaigns and operations to liberate Quang Nam, Thua Thien - Hue, Da Nang, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Binh Tuy... forming the Eastern Wing rapidly advancing towards Saigon.

Based on the extremely rapid changes on the battlefield, on March 31, 1975, the Politburo met and made a historic decision: Grasp the strategic opportunity, determined to carry out a general offensive and uprising, and successfully end the liberation war in April 1975; at the same time, set out the guiding motto: "lightning speed, boldness, surprise, sure victory". On April 7, 1975, this guiding motto was issued by General Vo Nguyen Giap to all directions of the battlefield. On April 14, 1975, in response to the wishes of the people and soldiers nationwide, the Politburo met and agreed that the campaign to liberate Saigon would be named the Ho Chi Minh Campaign - a strategic decisive battle campaign. The participating forces were mobilized to the peak, used in the most concentrated manner, including 4 army corps (1, 2, 3, 4) and Group 232 (equivalent to one army corps).

On April 26, 1975, the Ho Chi Minh Campaign officially began. All our troops broke through the outer defense lines one by one, and at the same time formed deep thrusts to capture important targets in the inner city of Saigon. At noon on April 30, 1975, the Liberation Army entered the Independence Palace, captured the entire Saigon government cabinet, and forced President Duong Van Minh to declare unconditional surrender. The Ho Chi Minh Campaign was a complete victory, ending the 21-year resistance war against the US to save the country (1954 - 1975), and at the same time gloriously ending the 30-year struggle for national liberation and defense of the Fatherland (1945 - 1975). As a result, we destroyed and disintegrated about 250,000 enemies, including 7 infantry divisions, 5 parachute brigades, armored cavalry, artillery, 4 air force divisions... liberating Saigon - Gia Dinh and the Southern provinces.

Thus, in the 1975 Spring General Offensive and Uprising, the main army corps with strong offensive power and high mobility played a pivotal role in destroying and disintegrating the strongest and most modern American mercenary army of more than one million soldiers, smashing the entire puppet regime, completely liberating the South, and unifying the country. That victory contributed to affirming the outstanding military talent of General Vo Nguyen Giap.

After the victory of the resistance war against the US to save the country, the main army corps continued to play the core role of the Vietnam People's Army, firmly defending the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam; fulfilling the noble international duty in the friendly country of Cambodia. Today, promoting the heroic tradition, the army corps still strive to compete to build strong and comprehensive units, worthy of the trust and love of the Party and the people, practically contributing to building the revolutionary, disciplined, elite, and gradually modern Vietnam People's Army.

According to VNA