PANO - On the occasion of 70 years of the Vietnam People’s Army (December 22,1944 – December 22, 2014) and 25 years of the Whole People’s Defence Festival (December 22, 1980 – December 22, 2014), the People’s Army Newspaper Online Edition introduces outstanding battles and/or campaigns that have marked the development of the heroic army.

The first remarkable battle took place in Phai Khat-Na Ngan right after the foundation of the Vietnam Liberation Army, the predecessor of the Vietnam People’s Army. It can be said that the battle has opened the first page of the glorious history of the Vietnam People’s Army. The battle happened as follows:

The Vietnam Liberation Armed Group. A filed photo

On December 22, 1944, the Vietnam Liberation Armed Group (the predecessor of the Vietnam People’s Army) was founded. President Ho Chi Minh instructed: the army should draw up a plan to launch a battle to encourage the rising revolutionary spirit of the nation, who was under the slavery but highly determined to break the chains; and to overcome the lack of weapons by capturing enemy weapons.

Under the leadership of Vo Nguyen Giap, the newly-born army spent much time discussing and evaluating the situation. The major questions were: where and how only a small number of under-trained and under-armed soldiers should attack the enemy in the very first battle in order to gain a resounding political and military victory while it could minimize human and weapon losses. Finally, the army decided to launch an attack at the enemy station of Phai Khat-Na Ngan to capture enemy’s weapons and ammunitions.

Our force included two sections under the direct command of Vo Nguyen Giap. Apart from the active-duty troops, local militants also took part in the battle but were mainly in charge of guarding roads leading to the village. To prepare for the battle, our force made fake documents and other things to disguise our troops as enemy patrolmen.

On the afternoon of December 24, our troops in disguise of an enemy contingent marched to Phai Khat. Receiving information that the enemy commander of the station named Somono had gone to meet his boss in the district capital of Nguyen Binh, our disguised troops under the command of Thu Son, acting as a platoon commander, easily entered the station at 5 pm, December 25; they were even welcomed by enemy troops in the station. As our force entered the station, Thu Son, who became the highest after the commander of the enemy station had left, ordered all enemy troops of the station to gather in and divided our force into two sections: one capturing enemy fire powers; the other surrounding the enemy. As soon as all 17 enemy soldiers and an officer gathered in the field, our force forced them to disarm. The enemies were too shocked to react the situation so they immediately surrendered.

The battle happened so quickly and our force gained the great victory. Our force captured 17 enemies, 17 personal weapons, ammunitions and military equipment. Our force also ambushed and shot to death the French commander of the station when he returned from the district command of Nguyen Binh.

The sketch of the battle in Phai Khat

After Phai Khat station, the spirit of our force was higher. During the night of December 25, the command decided that the army marched to Cam Ly commune, 15 km from Khai Phat, where a number of enemy troops garrisoned in Na Ngan station. When our troops arrived at the designated position, the commanders held a meeting to draw lessons from the previous battle, praise the outstanding comrades and briefed on the combat plan for the next attack.

Unlike Phai Khat station, Na Ngan one was located on a complex terrain. Our force decided to disguise themselves as enemy local troops, who took 3 local revolutionaries to the station to get awards. At 7 am, December 26, commander Thu Son led the disguised troops escorting 3 revolutionaries to the station. The enemies in the station had no doubt and they sent 6 soldiers and an officer to the gate to receive the disguised army. When our troops entering the station, they tried to seize key points in the station under the combat plan. Accordingly, two comrades had talks to some enemies to distract them while 4 others took the position in front of the weapon store. The second section was first deployed at the gates of the station and then organized into small groups capturing enemies while the third section fired into the air and called for surrender.

The relic of Phai Khat station

Finally, our force annihilated 5 enemy troops, took alive 17 others, captured 27 riffles and ammunitions. For our part, only one comrade was lightly wounded. After the battle, our force took prisoners to the central ground of the village to promote the image of the newly-founded army and encourage the revolutionary spirit on one hand, and explained local prisoners of ethnic minorities about the revolutionary force’s policy on prisoners and called on them to follow the national revolutionary cause on the other hand. Understanding the good deed of the revolutionary force, some of the prisoners turned to serve in the revolutionary army.

Successfully applying the tactic “disguised force attacking enemy” in the first two battles, the newly-born army created the page of the military arts of the Vietnam People’s Army. With the use of the tactic, our army easily defeated the enemy with only a small number of under-armed troops, suffering almost no casualties. The lessons that could be drawn from the battles include: well assessing the balance of power between our and enemy forces, and the situation in order to choose the right time and the right target for the attack; with a more powerful enemy, necessary to distract its power and take advantage of secret and surprise while attacking the enemy; and well understanding the enemy situation, routine activities, drawing a good combat plan based on intelligence gathering and well preparing our force for the attack.

Written by Tran Quoc Dung

Translated by Thu Nguyen