Glorious history is the driving force to build a prosperous country.

With the determination of "Faster, faster, bolder, bolder, seizing every hour and minute, rushing to the front, liberating the South, determined to fight and win completely", the general offensive and uprising in the spring of 1975, culminating in the historic Ho Chi Minh campaign, achieved complete victory, the North and South were unified, and the country sang the song of triumph.

Liberation Army tanks drove straight into the Independence Palace, noon April 30, 1975. Photo: archive

After completing the preparations in both the North and South, on March 10, 1975, our army captured and liberated Buon Ma Thuot, opening the general offensive and uprising in the spring of 1975, moving forward to liberate the entire strategic highlands, opening a period of leapfrog development in the war to liberate the South. In the face of our great victory in the Central Highlands, in the meeting on March 18, 1975, the Politburo promptly added a strategic determination: to liberate the South in 1975. Then, on March 25, the Politburo added a determination to liberate the South before the rainy season. On March 25, our army and people liberated Hue City; on March 29, we liberated Da Nang, and on April 3, we swept away enemy troops from the coastal provinces of the Central region from Da Nang to Cam Ranh. On April 1, 1975, facing the situation where our army and people were advancing like a storm on the battlefield, the Politburo continued to add a new strategic determination: liberate the South as soon as possible, preferably in April 1975, without delay. On April 16, our army and people broke the enemy's long-distance defense line in Phan Rang and on April 20, Xuan Loc - the "steel door" east of Saigon was crushed.

On April 26, 1975, the historic Ho Chi Minh campaign began. Five important targets were identified by the Campaign Command, including Tan Son Nhat Airport, the Puppet General Staff, the Puppet Government Presidential Palace, the Capital Special Zone and the General Police Department. Regarding the fighting method, the Campaign Command advocated forming a siege and isolating the enemy in the city; using appropriate forces in each direction to divide and destroy the enemy outside. At the same time, using an important part of the force to organize into strong raids, penetrating deep into the center of Saigon, capturing the 5 identified targets. From there, spread out to coordinate with special forces, commandos, city militia and the uprising masses, capturing all military , political and economic targets in the city. A number of special forces, commandos and local armed forces were assigned to capture and control the bridges, join with firepower units to control the enemy's airports and artillery positions. The motto was close coordination, rapid attacks, minimizing casualties of troops and loss of life and property of the people.

After 2 days of the general offensive, the situation on the battlefield was favorable for us. On April 29, our troops from 5 directions simultaneously opened fire in coordination, capturing important targets and opening the way to penetrate deep into the center of Saigon. At 5:30 a.m. on April 30, 1975, all directions simultaneously attacked Saigon, forcing the puppet president Duong Van Minh to declare unconditional surrender. At exactly 11:30 a.m. on April 30, 1975, our army's victory flag flew over the Independence Palace. The Ho Chi Minh Campaign was a complete victory, ending the nearly 21-year long, steadfast, indomitable resistance war against the invading American imperialists.

With the historic victory in the spring of 1975, our people defeated the new colonial war of the American imperialists - one of the largest, longest, fiercest and most brutal wars since World War II. When talking about this defeat, Maxwell Taylor, former US Ambassador to South Vietnam, a famous American strategist, confessed: "We all had our part in the US failure in Vietnam and nothing was good. We did not have any heroes in this war, only fools. I myself was among them."

When talking about the great victory of our army and people, General Van Tien Dung, former member of the Politburo, former Minister of National Defense, affirmed: “The historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign was such a general offensive combined with an uprising, a battle that combined the invincible strength and strategic talent of Vietnam, a beautiful coordination of military and political affairs, a brilliant demonstration of revolutionary violence as our Party conceived. The great victory in the spring of 1975 demonstrated the steadfast will and determination to fight for independence, freedom and socialism, considering the goal of the People's national democratic revolution advancing to socialism as the consistent and unchanging political goal of revolutionary war”.

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Nearly half a century since that unification spring, our country has undergone an extremely important transformation, which is decisive to the prosperity of the nation. That is carrying out the renovation process for nearly 40 years and more than 30 years of implementing the Platform for national construction in the transition period to socialism (1991). During that process, the theory of the renovation policy, socialism and the path forward in our country has been increasingly developed and perfected. At the same time, the renovation, construction and development of the country along the socialist path initiated by the Communist Party of Vietnam from 1986 to present has achieved great victories and achievements of historical significance. Since then, our country has transformed from a poor country into a developing country with an average income. The country is being built more and more properly, the people's lives are being improved more fundamentally and comprehensively, and the country's position in the international arena is increasingly enhanced.

Ham Rong Bridge - a "fire coordinate" in our nation's resistance war against America.

The great achievements of the country's renovation have created the foundation for a strong and prosperous Vietnam - a great and noble goal that our entire nation is pursuing. At the same time, it once again affirms the position and role of Vietnam not only as a "symbol of the spirit of fighting against oppression"; but with the glorious victory against American imperialism, along with the rise of the nation during nearly 40 years of renovation - with its foundation, potential, position, and international prestige affirmed, has made Vietnam "one of the factors and facts that major countries must take into account when planning foreign strategies and policies".

Glorious history is an important driving force for building a prosperous country. Because the country has gone through countless years of arduous and fierce war, more than anyone else, we must cherish and preserve peace. In the cause of building and defending the Fatherland today, there is one crucial thing - an extremely valuable lesson exchanged with countless blood and bones, which is to firmly maintain national independence and autonomy to lay the foundation for our country to steadily move towards socialism. As our ancestors' testament: "In peace, we should strive/ The country will last forever." To do so, our Party has pointed out that it is necessary to have an increasingly comprehensive and profound understanding of the driving force and resources for building socialism with Vietnamese identity, especially promoting the role of culture as an endogenous strength, an important driving force in the process of national development. At the same time, focus on establishing the goals and humanistic values ​​of Vietnamese socialism in the new context; Harmoniously and reasonably handle the relationship between economic growth associated with the implementation of social progress and equity, and environmental protection in each step of development. Along with that, it is important to focus on developing theories on the modern nation-state and protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to meet the increasingly heavy and complicated requirements and tasks in the new development stage. In particular, further develop theories on the role and mission of the Party, especially on building and rectifying the Party and a clean and strong political system, in order to ensure the correct and wise leadership of the Party in the cause of national renewal, building and protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Article and photos: Le Dung

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/lich-su-ve-vang-la-dong-luc-de-xay-dung-dat-nuoc-hung-thinh-212922.htm