Teacher and student - two comrades, two legendary great men

President Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap visited troops during a drill in 1957. Photo: HCM City Military Archives

1. President Ho Chi Minh was a teacher who had a great influence and could be said to be the “greatest” in the life and career of Vo Nguyen Giap (birth name Vo Giap) right from the first time he met him directly. It was a meeting of “two great people”, there was something familiar right from the voice, style and from the first minute, comrade Vo Nguyen Giap felt like “having been close to and known him for a long time”. Since then, Uncle Ho has always been in comrade Vo Nguyen Giap’s heart, living and working next to him, being guided by him and given many important responsibilities of the Party and the country in the fields of military, politics and diplomacy... The General was the one who creatively and excellently applied many instructions and elaborate training of President Ho Chi Minh, to become one of the most excellent and closest students of Uncle Ho; He was “most respected” by Him to “most reveal” his innate talent in military, politics, science, and history. In particular, he had great merit in building the Vietnamese military doctrine - “Brother Van’s way of fighting” - “invincible People’s war” - in the Ho Chi Minh era.

From a very early age, Ho Chi Minh recognized in Vo Nguyen Giap the noble character of a passionate patriot, a politician with high thinking, and a noble humane heart. Perhaps that is why he entrusted him with the very meaningful nickname "Van" - and later on, the person Uncle entrusted with that trust became "Van taking care of the country, Van becomes Vo" and "Vo understands the people's hearts, Vo becomes Van"!

With over 80 years of revolutionary activities, the General was fortunate to work for nearly 30 years alongside Uncle Ho, to be one of the people closest to Uncle Ho, to feel the “quintessence of the nation” shining in Uncle Ho; to deeply absorb his thoughts and become his “most outstanding” student. One of the “marks” that demonstrated Uncle Ho’s genius was that he “did not choose any” well-trained military man but “chose exactly a History teacher”, a “Law student” to “take charge of the Party’s military work”. And it was also the teacher with the innate military talent that he "early recognized" who led our Army from "only 34 soldiers with rudimentary equipment and weapons - the "Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army" Team to become a regular army, increasingly modern with modern and powerful corps, arms and services today - ready to fight and sacrifice to protect the independence and freedom of the beloved and sacred Fatherland of Vietnam!.

General Vo Nguyen Giap directly commanded the Vietnam People's Army - the sons honored by our nation as "Uncle Ho's Soldiers" - born from the People, fighting and sacrificing for the People, ready to "die for the Fatherland"; fought with the Vietnamese people and won glorious victories in two long and arduous resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism.

General Vo Nguyen Giap was the pioneer in researching and developing military theory, making an important contribution to the formation of the People's War ideology and Vietnam's unique military doctrine in the Ho Chi Minh era. One of his outstanding works in the military field is "Arming the revolutionary masses, building the People's Army" (246 pages), considered the second Vietnamese military book in Vietnamese history after "Essentials of Military Strategy" by Hung Dao Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan.

As Secretary of the Central Military Commission, General Commander-in-Chief, he trained the Vietnam People's Army to become a revolutionary army with its own cultural identity, in which each soldier was imbued with the humanistic ideology of the Secretary of the Military Commission. He was truly the "Political Commissar of Political Commissars", a leading organizer of Vietnam in the Ho Chi Minh era. He was evaluated by many researchers, historians, and military experts around the world as a "legendary general", a great "military genius" of the 20th century and "one of the 10 greatest generals of all time".

Perhaps he is one of the rare generals in the world who is respected by the generals who have faced him on the battlefield (de Castries) or considers it an honor to fight with him! (General Henri Navarre - Commander-in-Chief of the French expeditionary army in Indochina).

But above all those “beautiful words”, the “humanity and virtue” of a general like him shined like a “sage”. His nickname given to him by Uncle Ho was “Van”, which was very wise and reflected “high level of thinking”...

"If the most beautiful Vietnam has Uncle Ho's name", then he is the "most beautiful Vietnamese Uncle Ho's soldier" in the hearts of the Vietnamese people, "a people's General", a General of the people's hearts!

We were deeply moved when we saw the image of the white-haired general warmly hugging and kissing the children with red scarves on their shoulders - the generation that will follow their fathers to build and protect the sacred Fatherland; when he kindly lit incense sticks to commemorate the heroic martyrs on the occasions when he returned to his hometown of Quang Binh with "heavy duty and deep affection"; when we heard his warm and inspiring Central accent, being a soldier - Uncle Ho's soldiers - under the command of the "Elder Brother" was truly an honor and a blessing because with his military talent, the Vietnam People's Army "only knows victory"!.

2. Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap were the “souls” of the two great wars of national defense that cleared this S-shaped country of invaders. From here – “A peaceful and unimaginable blue sky/ The land of peaceful children’s sleep…” became a reality for a nation that had been submerged in the yoke of feudalism – colonialism – imperialism, to write a new page in the history of building and defending the country to develop a strong, prosperous and happy country.

In 1945, when Uncle Ho was seriously ill and thought he would not survive, at Na Lua hut (Tuyen Quang), he told his closest student: "Even if we have to burn down the entire Truong Son range, we must resolutely gain independence" - showing our Party's determination to gain independence and freedom. And exactly 30 years later (1975), General Vo Nguyen Giap wrote the "Command" to fight - the heroic "proclamation" of the "Elder Brother": "Faster, faster, bolder, bolder. Seize every moment to rush to completely liberate the South", "Determined to fight and win completely" - showing the determination of the Central Military Commission in the historic Ho Chi Minh campaign that brought about the Great Victory in the Spring of 1975.

Uncle Ho's image always accompanied the Liberation Army Corps to write the historical epic: At 5:30 a.m. on April 30, 1975, the Ho Chi Minh Campaign Command issued the order for a "General Attack" on the inner city, five armies simultaneously marched into Saigon. At 10:45 a.m. on April 30, 1975, the first tank with the number 390 "knocked down - crushed" the main gate and advanced straight into the Independence Palace, occupying the lair of the puppet government. The Liberation Flag proudly flew on the roof of the Independence Palace.

Until the sun had set behind the mahogany tree on Hoang Dieu Street, Hanoi had turned on the lights... Sitting alone in the office of the General Headquarters with the excitement of the news of victory flying back from Saigon, the General's tears kept flowing - "If only Uncle Ho was still here?..." - while the loudspeakers on all the streets of the Capital from 11:30 continuously resounded the song "As if Uncle Ho was here on the day of great victory" - the Triumphal Song of the whole nation in the historic moment! After that, the General got in the car, drove around Hanoi - "a forest of flags and flowers had risen at some point. People filled the streets, filled the streets, happy as if going to a festival. Tonight, the Capital set off fireworks to celebrate the total victory. Tonight, Hanoi, the whole country rejoiced with Saigon, rejoiced with the South... The General recalled: "Uncle Ho's revolutionary ideology and military ideology brought complete victory to the cause of national liberation. The Spring poem "fight to make the Americans leave, fight to make the puppets fall" has outlined the steps to achieve today's victory.

3. In 2025, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the country's complete liberation.

The opportunity for Vietnam to build a strong, wealthy, prosperous and happy country to become a developed country "standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers" when its "potential", "foundation", "position", and "international prestige" have never been as good as today" has come.

We have enough basis, belief and hope to affirm: A nation that wrote the greatest epic in the history of fighting against foreign invaders with the General Offensive and Uprising in the spring of 1975 with the marches of "Lightning Speed", "Boldness", "Determined Battle", "Complete Victory", will continue to write a new epic - "Strengthening" successfully to create new miracles, building a Developed - Civilized - Cultural - Modern Vietnam with high income and happiness in the glorious Ho Chi Minh era!.

MSc. Vo Quoc Hien (Contributor)

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/thay-va-tro-hai-dong-chi-hai-vi-nhan-huyen-thoai-247139.htm