The army that made glorious history

With the victory of the resistance war against French colonialism and American intervention, the North entered a transitional period to socialism, the South continued the people's national democratic revolution, overthrowing the domination of American imperialism and its lackeys. To meet the requirements of the mission, by the 1960s, our Army had reached a new stage of maturity, many forces and military branches were born, creating the foundation for building a regular, modern Army, creating the miracle of liberating the South and unifying the country.

On February 15, 1961, the Liberation Army of South Vietnam was established on the basis of unifying the People's Armed Forces in the South; this was a part of the Vietnam People's Army directly operating on the battlefield in the South. The Liberation Army coordinated with other forces and the masses to defeat the "Special War", "Local War", and "Vietnamization of the War" strategies of the US imperialists. In particular, with the victory of the Hanoi - Hai Phong Air Defense Campaign at the end of 1972, our army and people, with the core being the Air Defense - Air Force, defeated the large-scale strategic air raid called "Linebacker II", shooting down 81 aircraft, including 34 B-52s and 5 F-111s. This victory contributed decisively to forcing the US imperialists to sign the Paris Agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam (January 27, 1973).

With the help of the US imperialists, the Saigon puppet government blatantly violated the Paris Agreement, vigorously implemented the plan of "flooding the territory", and stepped up the encroachment on our liberated areas. To end the war soon, at the request of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense , from the end of 1973 to the beginning of 1975, the Politburo approved the establishment of army corps: Army Corps 1 (October 1973), Army Corps 2 (May 1974), Army Corps 4 (July 1974), Army Corps 3 (March 1975) and Group 232 (equivalent to an army corps, February 1975). To prepare for the front line, the Truong Son Army mobilized more than 7,000 vehicles, moving three main army corps, with hundreds of thousands of troops and weapons and military equipment over a distance of thousands of kilometers, at lightning speed and with absolute safety, to prepare for the historic Ho Chi Minh campaign.

Implementing the Politburo 's policy, in March 1975, our army launched the Tay Nguyen Campaign, the Tri Thien - Hue Campaign, the Da Nang Campaign and won victories. From those victories, the Politburo decided to liberate Saigon and the entire South. The Saigon Liberation Campaign was named the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. Implementing the guiding ideology: "Lightning speed, boldness, surprise, sure victory", on April 26, 1975, our army formed a siege of Saigon from 5 directions, undertaken by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Corps, Group 232 and Division 8 (Military Region 8). After many fierce battles to capture the outer perimeter and win, on the morning of April 30, 1975, our army launched a general attack on Saigon's inner city.

At 11:30 a.m. on April 30, 1975, the flag of the Liberation Army was planted on the roof of the Independence Palace, marking the complete victory of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. This was the largest-scale combined arms and military campaign, achieving the greatest victory, marking the remarkable growth of our Army in both force organization and level of combined arms and military command; it was the pinnacle of Vietnamese military art./.

Thu Huong

Source: https://danangtv.vn/view.aspx?ID=157313