Victory of the resistance war against America to save the country

The victory of the resistance war against the US to save the country, culminating in the Great Victory of Spring 1975, was a great victory in the history of thousands of years of struggle to build and defend the country of our people, "forever recorded in the history of our nation as one of the most brilliant pages, a shining symbol of the complete victory of revolutionary heroism and human intelligence, and entered world history as a great feat of the 20th century, an event of great international importance and profound epochal significance" (1). That great victory opened a new era in the history of the nation - the era of independence, unification, and the whole country moving towards socialism.

The victory of the resistance war against the US to save the country was the result of many factors; that is: the ingenious and wise leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh with the correct war policy and revolutionary methods; the heroic, resilient, resourceful and creative fighting spirit of our army and people during 21 years of long-term, arduous and sacrificial resistance; the strength of the great national unity bloc, the great support of the Northern rear and the will to rise up of the great Southern front; the solidarity in fighting and the close bond between the three countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, together with the great and valuable assistance of the Soviet Union, China and other socialist brother countries, the sympathy, support and encouragement of progressive and peace- loving people in the world.

President Luong Cuong visits Air Defense Brigade 241 (Army Corps 12) on December 18, 2024. Photo: VIET TRUNG

Contributing to that great victory were the outstanding feats of the People's Armed Forces and the sacrifices of millions of heroic martyrs. The 4th National Congress of the Party (December 1976) noted: "The Congress commended the heroic cadres and soldiers of the People's Armed Forces, who over the decades fought extremely bravely, from bamboo sticks and flintlock guns they grew into powerful armies, defeated the cruel enemies, achieved glorious feats from the Dien Bien Phu battle to the Ho Chi Minh Campaign , glorifying the glorious tradition of our Army, together with the entire people writing the miraculous heroic epic of the Vietnamese revolutionary war!" ⁽²⁾ . In order to successfully carry out the strategic tasks in the resistance war against the US to save the country, our Party and State paid special attention to and cared for building the People's Armed Forces to develop and grow strong, acting as the core with the entire people to fight and defeat the invading enemy, firmly protecting the fruits of the revolution. The war has been over for half a century, but the lessons learned in building the People's Armed Forces in the resistance war against the US to save the country are still valuable in both theory and practice, notably:

Firstly, maintain and strengthen the absolute and direct leadership in all aspects of the Party and the centralized and unified management and administration of the State over the people's armed forces.

This is not only a profound lesson in the resistance war against the US to save the country, but also an immutable principle in building the people's armed forces of our Party and State. Right in the early stages of the resistance war, the 12th expanded Party Central Committee Conference (March 1957) issued a Resolution on the issue of building the army and strengthening national defense. The Resolution determined the motto of "actively building a strong people's army, gradually moving towards regularization and modernization" ⁽³⁾ and determined that building the army and strengthening national defense is the task of the entire Party, the entire army and the entire people. To successfully carry out the task of building the army and strengthening national defense, the Resolution clearly stated: "The decisive factor is to strengthen the leadership of the Party and the Government" ⁽⁴⁾ . Implementing the Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee Conference, under the absolute and direct leadership in all aspects of the Party, the centralized and unified management and administration of the State, the protection, nurturing and assistance of the people, our Army has continuously developed and grown stronger, with all components, army, navy, air defense-air force and main army corps; together with other forces and the entire people, creating a combined strength to successively defeat the war strategies of the US-puppet.

Along with leading the building of the People's Army, our Party and State pay special attention to and care for the building, consolidation and development of the People's Public Security Force and the Militia and Self-Defense Force. The Party Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat have issued many important resolutions and directives to lead and direct the building of the People's Public Security Force into a dictatorial force absolutely loyal to the Party and the State, closely connected with the masses, a strong, armed, well-organized, professionally proficient and scientifically and technically qualified fighting force; placing the People's Public Security Force under the "direct, comprehensive and unified in all aspects" ⁽⁵⁾ leadership of the Party. Regarding the Militia and Self-Defense Force, during the resistance war against the US to save the country, our Party advocated "taking consolidation as the main focus, while developing step by step firmly everywhere, focusing on key areas", "newly built enterprises, factories, and farms must have self-defense organizations, with cadres in charge of close direction" ⁽⁶⁾ ; accordingly, the Militia and Self-Defense Force was built and developed firmly and widely, both ensuring labor production and ensuring security and combat tasks when necessary.

It is forecasted that in the coming time, the world situation will continue to have many fluctuations, rapid developments, complexities and unpredictability. Domestically, the cause of innovation, construction and protection of the Fatherland has achieved great achievements of historical significance; the country's foundation, potential, position and international prestige have been raised, which is an important premise for the country to rise up in the new era of development. However, besides the advantages, the country still has to face many difficulties and challenges, new complex problems have emerged, especially the limitations, weaknesses and contradictions in society that have not been completely resolved; hostile forces have increased sabotage, denied the leadership role of the Party, and "depoliticized" the armed forces. That situation requires maintaining and strengthening the absolute, direct leadership in all aspects of the Party, the centralized, unified management and administration of the State over the people's armed forces and the cause of national defense, security and protection of the Fatherland to become more urgent and decisive in the process of development, growth, fighting and victory of the people's armed forces.

The new context requires us to continue to promote the building and rectification of the Party and the political system with drastic, synchronous, continuous, non-stop, and comprehensive policies and solutions in terms of politics, ideology, ethics, organization, and personnel. Along with improving the effectiveness and efficiency of leadership in the fields of economy, culture, society, and foreign affairs, the Party and State continue to lead and direct the building and consolidation of the all-people national defense, the all-people national defense posture, the people's security, and the people's security posture, associated with building and consolidating a solid "people's hearts posture"; building a revolutionary, disciplined, elite, and modern people's armed forces; politically strong, with high overall quality and combat strength, serving as the core in the cause of national defense, security, and protection of the Fatherland in the new situation. Continue to study theory, summarize practice, perfect the Party's leadership mechanism, and the State's management and administration of the People's Armed Forces, in conjunction with enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of Party and political work, contributing to maintaining and strengthening the Party's absolute and direct leadership in all aspects, the State's centralized and unified management and administration of the People's Armed Forces, meeting new requirements and tasks; not to be passive or surprised in any situation.

President Luong Cuong visited and extended New Year greetings to the Military Region 9 Command on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2025. Photo: QUANG DUC

Second, special attention should be paid to building the political and spiritual factors of the people's armed forces.

Thoroughly grasping V.I.Lenin's thesis: "In every war, victory ultimately depends on the spirit of the masses shedding blood on the battlefield" ⁽⁷⁾ and President Ho Chi Minh's viewpoint: "No army, no weapon can defeat the spirit of sacrifice of an entire nation" ⁽⁸⁾ , our Party and State always attach importance to the work of building and promoting the political and spiritual factors of the people's armed forces and the entire people, especially in the resistance war against the US to save the country, when our army and people had to fight against a brutal enemy with the most powerful economic and military potential in the world. Our Party clearly stated: “In terms of ideology, we must further understand the viewpoint of long-term hardship and self-reliance to ensure victory; we must foster a strong will, a heroic fighting spirit, overcome all difficulties and hardships, and be determined to kill the enemy to save the country, moving towards completely liberating the South and unifying the Fatherland; we must heighten vigilance, skillfully preserve and conceal our forces, and fight against adventurism and impatience; we must educate the consciousness of not being arrogant in victory and not being discouraged in defeat” ⁽⁹⁾ .

To build a strong people's armed forces to meet the requirements of the long, arduous and fierce resistance war, our Party advocated that we must first strengthen political education, ideological leadership, conduct political rectification in the entire army, consolidate the position of the working class and peasants, raise the level of socialist awareness, the spirit of patriotism closely combined with the spirit of true internationalism, raise the spirit of revolutionary vigilance and foster fighting spirit; overcome the ideology of declining fighting will, heroism, arrogance, unorganized freedom and lack of discipline. Thanks to the building of a solid political and spiritual factor, the people's armed forces were not afraid of hardships and sacrifices, did not submit to the brutal enemy, fought bravely, intelligently and creatively, achieved glorious feats of arms, together with the entire people won great victories in the resistance war against the US to save the country; made the country and the Vietnamese people famous in the Ho Chi Minh era.

The strength of the People's Armed Forces is created by many factors; in which, the political and spiritual factors are the most fundamental. Thoroughly implementing President Ho Chi Minh's viewpoint of "People first, guns later", in the current situation, continuing to identify building a politically strong People's Armed Forces is the top priority task, a matter of principle, and the basis for improving the overall quality and fighting strength of the People's Armed Forces. Thoroughly implementing this principle, first of all, it is necessary to strengthen propaganda, education, dissemination, and raising awareness among cadres and soldiers of the People's Armed Forces about the Party's military, defense, and security policies and guidelines. On the basis of thoroughly understanding the viewpoint that "ensuring national defense and security is essential and constant", the People's Armed Forces need to heighten the spirit of revolutionary vigilance, constantly grasp the situation, advise and directly handle promptly and effectively situations related to national defense, security, and foreign affairs, avoid being passive and surprised, prevent risks of war, conflict, loss of security and order, and perform well the task of protecting the Fatherland early and from afar; protect the country when it is not yet in danger.

Faced with the emergence of new forms of war, types of operations, strategic spaces, and methods of waging war, the Central Military Commission - Ministry of National Defense, the Central Public Security Party Committee - Ministry of Public Security, and Party committees, commanders, and authorities at all levels need to pay special attention to leading, directing, educating, and training cadres and soldiers of the People's Armed Forces in all aspects; constantly improving political mettle, patriotism, and revolutionary heroism, being ready to endure hardships and sacrifices, daring to fight, knowing how to fight, and determined to defeat all invaders, firmly defending the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in all situations.

Third, build a people's armed force with sufficient quantity, synchronous organization, structure, and composition, balanced and reasonable, with high overall quality and combat strength.

To meet the requirements of the resistance war against the US to save the country, our Party and State continued to build and develop the people's armed forces, including three types of troops: the main force, local forces and self-defense militia. The Resolution of the Politburo (meeting from December 6 to 10, 1962) on the situation, directions and immediate tasks of the revolution in the South set out the motto for building and developing the armed forces in the South, in which it was determined: "To widely develop guerrillas and militia, to improve the quality of the main force and local forces" ⁽¹⁰⁾ ; at the same time, it clearly determined the direction and specific quantity of each type of army that needed to be focused on building in the South.

During this resistance war, our Party and State built and developed the main force including the military branches and services. In particular, the main force corps were built as the core force on the Southern battlefield. The Air Defense - Air Force and the Navy were built and developed increasingly stronger, together with the people and other forces to defeat the destructive war by air and naval forces of the US imperialists in the North. Along with that, the organization and development of fronts, large main force blocks in the areas, and strategic transport troops on the Truong Son road made the main force truly the main force to implement the strategy of mastering and attacking and destroying the enemy throughout the country, fighting with the entire people to completely liberate the South and unify the country.

Under the leadership and direction of the Party and the State, local troops were built and developed rapidly throughout the country, with qualitative development during the resistance war against the US to save the country. In the North, local troops were built to meet the task of protecting the socialist North with many infantry, air defense, engineering, and artillery units established... On the southern battlefield, all districts, towns, provinces, and cities organized local troops to develop armed and political struggles, developing three spearheads (military, political, and military operations) in all three strategic areas (mountains, rural plains, and urban areas).

Militia and self-defense forces are widely developed according to the principle of party organization leadership, suitable to the conditions of each locality, construction site, farm, factory, enterprise, with medium and small scale, suitable to different types of war, different situations.

The building of the People's Armed Forces in the resistance war against the US to save the country ensured the balance between the various types of troops and forces, in accordance with the development of the revolutionary armed struggle, with the strategic position of each type of troop, in accordance with the people's war policy in each period, on each battlefield and throughout the country. Each type of troop and each force was trained and practiced comprehensively, constantly improving the overall quality and combat strength, meeting the requirements of combat missions; closely coordinating with other forces, creating the overall strength of the people's war posture, together with the entire people creating the Great Victory of Spring 1975.

Today, in response to the requirements of the new situation, the People's Armed Forces need to continue to research, adjust, arrange, reorganize, ensure quality, have appropriate quantity, composition, organization, and structure. Accordingly, the People's Armed Forces need to thoroughly grasp and strictly and effectively implement the Party and State's policy on streamlining the political system's apparatus and operating effectively and efficiently; on building the People's Army and the People's Public Security, especially Resolution No. 05-NQ/TW dated January 17, 2022 of the Politburo on the organization of the Vietnam People's Army for the period 2021-2030 and the following years, Resolution No. 12-NQ/TW dated March 16, 2022 of the Politburo on promoting the building of a truly clean, strong, disciplined, elite, and modern People's Public Security force to meet the requirements and tasks in the new situation. Continue to adjust the organization of the People's Army towards being lean, compact, and strong, combined with rearranging forces and improving the quality of human resources, ensuring the comprehensiveness, synchronization, and rationality between components and forces, in accordance with the national defense policy, people's war, and the ability to ensure weapons and equipment; adjust the organization of the People's Public Security apparatus towards being elite, comprehensively provincial, strong communes, and close to the base; build a strong reserve force, a strong and widespread militia and self-defense force in all regions, areas, and at sea. Focus on innovation, improving the quality of military training, technical and tactical qualifications, political education, and comprehensive training combined with ensuring good logistics and techniques for the People's Armed Forces; promote international integration and foreign affairs in defense and security, contributing to improving the overall quality and combat strength of the Armed Forces, meeting the requirements and tasks of national defense, security, and protecting the Fatherland in the new situation.

President Luong Cuong visited and encouraged officers and soldiers on duty at the high point of Air Defense Brigade 241 (Army Corps 12) on December 18, 2024. Photo: VIET TRUNG

Fourth, ensure good weapons and technical equipment for the people's armed forces; actively research and flexibly and skillfully apply Vietnamese military art to meet the types of warfare and the practical development of the combatants.

During the resistance war against the US to save the country, along with the viewpoint of "People first, guns later", our Party and State always identified weapons and equipment as the basic factor creating the fighting strength of the armed forces. On that basis, our Party and State have many measures to lead and direct the work of improving and ensuring weapons, equipment and technical means for the armed forces in the direction of: "combining primitive weapons, conventional weapons and relatively modern weapons, moving towards increasing modernity" ⁽¹¹⁾ . The main measures to improve and ensure weapons and equipment for the people's armed forces during this period are: Purchasing, receiving aid, producing domestically, collecting from the enemy; at the same time, skillfully and creatively using existing weapons and equipment with high efficiency. Thanks to that, the People's Armed Forces, especially the People's Army, have a relatively synchronous and modern system of weapons and equipment, ensuring that the overall quality and combat strength are raised, enough to defeat the invading enemy with superior advantages in weapons and equipment.

Along with ensuring weapons and equipment for the People's Armed Forces, our Party and State paid special attention to leading and directing the research, development and creative, flexible and skillful application of military art in the new conditions of the resistance war against the US to save the country. The development law of this resistance war in the South was to combine armed struggle and political struggle, to combine revolutionary war and armed uprising, military offensive and popular uprising, to destroy the enemy and gain mastery. In which, armed struggle played a decisive and dominant role in the final stage of the resistance war with large-scale military campaigns. The People's Armed Forces units have flexibly, flexibly and constantly creatively applied the art of combat in each battle and campaign, especially the art of organizing and using forces, the art of maneuvering forces, the art of creating battle positions, the art of feints, the art of choosing directions, spearheads, targets of attack and ways of fighting... creating an overwhelming advantage in strength to win step by step, moving towards final victory.

Nowadays, with the strong development of science, technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, ensuring new-generation, modern weapons and military and security equipment for the armed forces has become a trend in many countries around the world. Modernizing the armed forces, especially the People's Army and the People's Public Security, is a correct policy of our Party and State, in line with the conditions and socio-economic development situation of the country and the development trend of military and security science and technology in the world. To realize that policy, along with building human resources as the central and decisive factor, it is necessary to pay attention to ensuring good weapons and technical equipment for the people's armed forces, and the long-term sustainable solution is to develop the defense industry and security industry. Continue to thoroughly grasp and effectively implement policies and guidelines on the development of defense industry and security industry with the motto of being proactive, self-reliant, self-reliant, dual-purpose, modern, closely linked and becoming the spearhead of national industry, meeting the requirements of modernization, ensuring good weapons and equipment for the armed forces in all situations. At the same time, promote theoretical research, summarize practices, and refer to world experiences to develop military art, the art of protecting national security and social security in the new situation.

President Luong Cuong visits and wishes Naval Region 5 a Happy New Year 2025. Photo: TRUNG HIEU

Fifth, build and develop a close relationship between the armed forces and the people, together with the entire people, to successfully carry out the Party's people's war policy.

The Vietnam People's Armed Forces, organized, led, educated and trained by the Communist Party of Vietnam and Uncle Ho, have a working class nature, a deep sense of humanity and national character, fighting for the Party's goals and ideals, for the happiness of the people. Relying firmly on the people, being absolutely loyal to and serving the people, and being united and closely attached to the people are both fundamental principles in enhancing the revolutionary nature, humanity and national character of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces, and are also valuable traditional features of the Vietnam People's Army, People's Public Security and Militia. President Ho Chi Minh taught: "The key point is that any main force, local force, or guerrilla must stick closely to the people. If they leave the people, they will certainly fail. Sticking to the people means winning the hearts, trust, affection and love of the people. That way, no matter how difficult the task is, it can be done and victory is certain" ⁽¹²⁾ .

During the resistance war against the US to save the country, the nurturing, protection, shelter and assistance of the people, and the provision of human and material resources by the people with the spirit of “not a pound of rice is missing, not a soldier is missing” helped the People’s Armed Forces to rapidly develop and grow strong. The Resolution of the Politburo (December 1962) determined: “The development process of the patriotic war of the people in the South is the development process of a guerrilla war, all-people, comprehensive and long-term, against a strong, brutal and vicious enemy” ⁽¹³⁾ . Therefore, building and sustainably developing the close relationship between the armed forces and the people, fighting and winning together with the people is not only a matter of principle but also a key strategy to successfully implement the Party’s people’s war policy.

Under the leadership of the Party, in the years 1959-1960, the armed forces effectively supported the people of the South to rise up, carry out the Dong Khoi Movement, and take control of many large rural areas. During the years when the US imperialists implemented the "special war" strategy (1961-1965), the army and people of the South promoted the "two-legged, three-pronged" struggle policy, combining political struggle with armed struggle; at the same time, mobilized the people in strategic hamlets to fight, combined with military attacks and military propaganda, to disrupt the US-puppet's plan to establish strategic hamlets. When the US imperialists switched to implementing the "local war" strategy (1965-1968), our army and people continued to carry out the people's resistance war, proactively attacking the enemy in all three strategic regions, and at the same time defeating the US imperialists' destructive wars in the North. The victories of the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of Mau Than 1968 and the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of 1975, completely liberating the South and unifying the country, are the most vivid symbols of the strength of the entire people's resistance with the People's Armed Forces as the core under the wise leadership of the Party.

In the current period, the People's Army, the People's Police, and the militia and self-defense force need to constantly promote their glorious traditions, especially building a relationship of solidarity and close ties with the people, upholding the sense of responsibility to serve and protect the people. Promoting the nature, tradition and achievements, the People's Armed Forces need to continue to better carry out mass mobilization work with practical actions to contribute to improving the material and spiritual life and peaceful life of the people; taking the lead in preventing, combating and overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and epidemics, searching and rescuing, and being ready to be present in key and dangerous places to protect the lives and property of the people. Actively propagate and mobilize people to participate in building the armed forces and the all-people national defense and people's security associated with building a strong "people's heart position", promoting the great role of the people in implementing the all-people national defense and people's security policy, creating a great combined strength to successfully carry out the cause of building and protecting the Fatherland.

The victory of the resistance war against the US, saving the country is the great achievement of our nation in the 20th century. Affirming the ingenious and wise leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh in planning the resistance line, building the People's Armed Forces, meeting the high requirements of the resistance war against the invaders. The People's Armed Forces has fulfilled the noble mission, and the entire people completed the cause of completely liberating the South and the reunification of the country. The lessons learned from the resistance war against the US and the country, including lessons on building the People's Armed Forces, are particularly important, need to continue to be researched, applied and promoted more, contributing to the successful implementation of the cause of building and defending the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the new era.

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(1) The Communist Party of Vietnam, the entire Party document, episode 37, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2004, pp.471

(2) The Communist Party of Vietnam, the entire Party document, ibid, episode 37, pp.474

(3) The Communist Party of Vietnam, the entire Party document, the ibid, episode 18, p.287

(4) The Communist Party of Vietnam, the entire party document, the ibid, episode 18, pp.300

(5) The Communist Party of Vietnam, Comprehensive Party documents, ibid, episode 22, pp.257

(6) The Communist Party of Vietnam, the entire Party document, ibid, episode 22, p.243

(7) Viluin Toan, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2005, Episode 41, pp.147

(8) Ho Chi Minh Toan, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, Episode 4, p.89

(9) The Communist Party of Vietnam, the entire Party document, the ibid, episode 23, pp.147

(10) The Communist Party of Vietnam, the entire Party document, ibid, episode 23, pp.831

.

(12) Ho Chi Minh Toan, ibid, episode 7, p.448

(13) The Communist Party of Vietnam, the entire Party document, the ibid, episode 23, pp.818

Luong Cuong, Member of the Politburo, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

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