Tien Giang helps you in Pursat

The 10-year journey of the Tien Giang People's Armed Forces to help their friends in Pursat Province (Cambodia) was a journey full of hardships, sacrifices, and material losses, but also extremely glorious. With a noble international spirit, the Tien Giang People's Armed Forces participated in the fight in the Vietnamese volunteer army, helping the Cambodian people overthrow the Pol Pot genocidal regime, completely liberating Cambodia, opening a new era for the friend's country to revive.

COMMUNITY OF SUFFERING ON YOUR LAND

On January 2, 1979, under the mobilization order of the Military Region 9 Command, the Tien Giang People's Armed Forces, including Battalion 514C, Battalion 2009C, Battalion Ap Bac, 1 local district battalion, 2 militia battalions, 1 youth volunteer battalion and the provincial military companies, set off on an international mission (later, the Tien Giang Military Group changed its name to Military Group 9903).

The Provincial Party Committee, People's Committee, and Pursat Provincial Military Command held a rally with the people to send off Military Group 9903 to the country (September 25, 1989). Photo: TN

After 4 months of fighting to help our friends, the Tien Giang People's Armed Forces defeated and surrendered over 508 enemies, burned a tank, captured guns, ammunition and many military equipment, helped our friends build a government in 1 district and 8 villages, mobilized 86 young people to join the Cambodian revolutionary army, and established a 27-member working team in Ro Minh (Takeo) district.

In early May 1979, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Party had a policy that each province in the South would become a sister province of Cambodia to help build the government and stabilize the people's lives. Of these, Pursat was the farthest province, located in the West of Cambodia bordering Thailand.

This place has many high mountains, deep ravines, wild forests, and poisonous water, and is known as the "land of the dead". This is also where more than ten thousand people were forced by the enemy to come from other places, and there is no government organization here.

Comrade Le Van Pham, then a member of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of Tien Giang Provincial Party Committee, encouraged the comrades in the delegation to promote the tradition of the Party Committee, people and armed forces of Tien Giang to accept the twinning relationship with Pursat province.

This is a profound understanding of international obligations and requirements of the Party and the Army, realizing that our Army is loyal to the Party, ready to fight and sacrifice for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland, and ready to sacrifice to help our friends.

The twinned province of Tien Giang sent machinery, farming tools, medicine and more than 200 tons of rice seeds. Military Group 9903 used thousands of working days to help the people, rebuilt nearly 1,000 houses, and participated in plowing and breaking the ground...

By the end of 1979, thanks to the sincere and effective help of the Tien Giang Military Group, the government in Pursat province was formed, the people had initially restored production, and partially eliminated famine.

People's lives are gradually returning to normal. This is the first step. Although there are many difficulties, certain results have been achieved, laying the foundation for the next steps on the path to help you grow.

During 10 years on friendly soil, Military Group 9903 eliminated 13,119 enemies from combat, including 1,655 killed, 388 wounded, 1,243 captured alive, 327 surrendered in battle, 697 persuaded to surrender, 982 captured underground enemies, 7,519 underground enemies confessed, 308 discovered and educated; collected more than 6,300 guns and 61 communication devices.

In every piece of land, river, and field of Cambodia, there are the sacrificed flesh and bones of tens of thousands of Vietnamese children who remained behind, contributing to the revival of their country.

Of which, Military Group 9903 has 257 martyrs, 29 martyrs (due to illness); 448 wounded soldiers; 6,704 sick soldiers... There have been 1,249 medals awarded to groups and individuals of Military Group 9903, including: 38 Friendship Medals, 334 Exploit Medals, 561 Fatherland Protection Medals, 203 Glorious Soldier Medals; 1 Emulation Flag; 4 Rotating Flags; 184 Determined to Win Soldiers; 378 Emulation Soldiers; 625 Certificates of Merit from the Ministry of National Defense; 3,879 Certificates of Merit; 4,792 Certificates of Merit; 1,892 International Service Badges...

The officers and soldiers of the Tien Giang Military Group promoted discipline and strictly implemented the "9 regulations" for the volunteer soldiers in the neighboring country. A very touching image at that time was that the Vietnamese soldiers ate very poorly, with simple food rations consisting of only salt and dried shrimp, while the enemy's farm cows ran in droves, but the soldiers only kept them and gave them to the people without touching them. These actions were more powerful than a thousand words, created trust among the people and decided the success or failure of the mission to help the neighboring country later.

1982, the last year of the initial phase of helping our friends in the Pursat area, was the year we focused all our efforts on helping our friends build up the strength of the government and the armed forces so that they could shoulder all tasks with us, and there were major changes in organization. Immediately after that, the Khmer Rouge became active again, with the support of international reactionary forces, they stepped up the infiltration of people into the interior. The situation in Pursat at that time was a race between us and the enemy. The enemy made efforts on all three aspects of operation: psychological, espionage and guerrilla.

It is even more difficult when Military Group 9903, which specializes in armed work, has to shoulder the responsibility of helping you comprehensively, from Party building, mass organizations, and government to economic, cultural, medical, educational, social, security, and mass revolutionary mobilization while still having to keep their guns on hand to fight the enemy. Military Group 9903, from a starting point of zero, helps you revive and leads you to stand firm, mature, and be strong enough to ensure that you will never fall back into the disaster of genocide.

10 YEARS OF HELPING YOU AT PURSAT

During 10 years of staying to help the government and people of Pursat province, Military Group 9903 overcame many difficulties and hardships, sacrificed blood and bones for the revival and building of a peaceful and prosperous life for the people.

Comrade Phan Thanh Tan (second from right) inspects the combat preparations of Ap Bac Battalion in Krakor district (Pursat province) during the 1986 dry season campaign. Photo: TN

The officers and soldiers have demonstrated the good qualities of "Uncle Ho's soldiers" in the friendly land; fulfilled their glorious duty, helped the people's government of Pursat province with all their heart, all their soul, and selflessly with an extremely pure international gesture, contributing to further fostering the solidarity, friendship, and fine traditions between the two peoples of Vietnam and Cambodia.

Military Group 9903 continued to help you do a good job of mobilizing the people's revolution, building and consolidating a strong and clean political base, promoting the building of your armed forces in terms of quantity and quality, training and fostering a team of friendly cadres capable of undertaking tasks; actively preventing and destroying enemy infiltration, stepping up the pursuit of enemies inland, and destroying new enemy plots.

At the same time, help you boost production, develop the economy and culture, improve people's lives, contribute to making the Cambodian revolution increasingly stable and firm in all aspects; help you build and consolidate an armed working team in each commune, arrange enough local battalions stationed in the districts, have enough delegates for the working teams to conduct mass mobilization deeply, widely and evenly, constantly raise political awareness for the people, in order to promote the people's mastery in building and defending the country, ensure the good performance of the general election and the election of the grassroots government, clearly distinguish friend from foe, unite and stick with Vietnam, and defeat all divisive plots of the enemy.

It is also necessary to clearly see that the role of Military Group 9903 on international missions in Pursat is not simply military, but to help you comprehensively, as a fighting army but also a working army, both fighting the enemy in the forest, the enemy hidden among the people, maintaining security and national defense, and building everything for you; helping you from nothing to something, accompanying you until you can take responsibility for yourself in all areas, at all levels of province, district, commune, hamlet, throughout from the time of receiving the province until completing the mission and withdrawing the troops. By 1983, the province had a Joint Expert Group with all sectors to take over the work, the officers and soldiers of Military Group 9903 still played the main role in helping you, from the district to the commune and hamlet levels.

By the end of 1988, after 10 years of construction and development, with the enthusiastic support of the Party Committee and people of Tien Giang, with the core being Military Group 9903, from 2 party members, the Cambodian People's Revolutionary Party Party Committee of Pursat province had 459 party members with a tight and strong party organization system, most of the 44 villages, each village had a party cell or party member.

The armed forces, which did not exist before, now have 2,283 officers and soldiers in 3 infantry battalions, 1 boat battalion, 1 reconnaissance company, 9 dual-function local companies, 7 traffic protection platoons, a military command system from the province down to the district, commune, and hamlet levels, a large paramilitary force (militia, self-defense force), refined in quality, tightly organized, with high fighting power of 8,188 people. The government from the province (khet) to the district, commune (srok, phum); departments, branches, and organizations operate synchronously, capable of managing the territory and building and launching revolutionary movements among the masses.

People's lives were stable, security and order were basically maintained, although the enemy still had remnants and sabotage plots, they were gradually fading away. From that situation, it allowed Vietnamese volunteer cadres and soldiers to leave their missions, completely handing over the responsibility of building, preserving and developing the revolutionary achievements that cadres, soldiers and people of the two countries had worked hard and shed blood to build for their friend.

On December 28, 1988, the 9th Military Region Command decided to dissolve the Vietnamese Military Expert Group of Pursat Province. On September 22, 1989, the last officers and soldiers of Military Group 9903 left Pursat to return home, ending the glorious 10-year mission of helping their friend escape genocide, contributing to the revival of their people and country.

DRAFT

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Source: http://baoapbac.vn/chinh-tri/202401/10-nam-thuc-hien-nghia-vu-quoc-te-tai-campuchia-tien-giang-giup-ban-o-pursat-1000640/