During the 80 years of development and combat, the great feats-of-arms of the VPA have held historical significance for the country and received high appreciation of countries in the world. One of the sources of the military's invincible strength is Ho Chi Minh's thought of “Troops go first, guns follow,” placing the political work in a higher position than the military affairs, valuing personnel much better than weapons.
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The Vietnam People’s Army has constantly developed and achieved many glorious feats-of-arm. |
In 1941, at the 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (tenure I), the Party decided to rise up and seize power with armed insurrection. At that time, some officials were in two minds that where they would get weapons to stage an uprising. President Ho Chi Minh stressed, “Don't be afraid of weapon shortage, just be afraid of lack of personnel. The urgent task was to build the armed forces, train people, and expand revolutionary bases.” In the Directive on the establishment of the Vietnam Dissemination and Liberation Armed Team - the forerunner of the Vietnam People's Army, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized that the name of the Vietnam Dissemination and Liberation Armed Team mean that political work was more important than military affairs.
Later, the President analyzed, “Military without politics is like a tree without roots, useless and even harmful.” On the basis of dialectical thinking, the President underlined the important role of modern weapons and military technical equipment in the building of a strong military, as the history proved that only by combining the strength of combat and the power of weapons can the victory be achieved. Without weapons and equipment, the combat strength would decline and disappear. With the thought “troops go first, guns follow,” President Ho Chi Minh directed the military to train and educate soldiers to raise their revolutionary ideals and the spirit of sacrificing for the Fatherland. The President required troops to strictly observe military discipline, hold a firm political stance and combat strength, master weapons and combat skills.
The great victories in the two resistance wars against the French colonialists and the U.S. imperialists is a testament of the great power of Ho Chi Minh's thought of “troops go first, guns follow.” The victory of the resistance war against the French colonialists, culminating in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, was a victory of patriotism, the indomitable and resilient fighting spirit of the Vietnamese people, which was accumulated through thousands of years of history. Since then, the phrase “Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh - Dien Bien Phu” has become a symbol of brave fighting spirit for national independence and freedom.
With the strategic vision, General Vo Nguyen Giap stated that after the Dien Bien Phu Victory, Vietnam would confront an enemy many times more powerful, the U.S. imperialists.
Under the sound leadership and wisdom of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, with the wise people's war guideline and the brave fighting spirit of the armed forces, whose core is the VPA, our troops effectively used all types of weapons and equipment to defeat the U.S. enemy. It can be seen that in this war, the U.S. deployed the most modern weapons to Vietnam. However, the U.S. came a cropper, especially in Operation “Linebacker II”, or the Christmas bombing, against Vietnam in December 1972, which was called as “Dien Bien Phu in the air” campaign. During the campaign, dozens of B-52 bombers were gunned down. The failure of the “localized war” forced the U.S. to sign the Paris Peace Accords, which put an end to the war and restored peace in Vietnam in 1973.
It can be affirmed that the U.S. failure in Vietnam was the failure the weapon doctrine of the most powerful military in the capitalist world against the military thought of President Ho Chi Minh, which relied on the strong will of the people who dare to fight and dare to sacrifice for national independence and freedom, and the power of the people’s warfare and the whole-people national defense posture.
More than ever before, it is necessary to keep a weather eye open, pro-actively identify and fight against new tricks and plots of hostile forces by a synchronous system of solutions in politics, economy, culture, and military.
Senior Colonel Le The Mau, former officer of Institute for Defense Strategy
Translated by Quynh Oanh