The event was co-organized by the Ministry of National Defense, the Party Central Committee's Commission for Information and Education, and the city’s Party Committee with the participation of around 500 delegates, including leaders and former leaders of the Party, State, and Ministry of National Defense.
Addressing the opening session, Senior Lieutenant General Le Chiem, Deputy-Defense Minister hailed the important role of the seminar, adding that the event offered an opportunity to draw lessons and military arts values on campaign-level command and combined operations among participating forces.
Mr. Tat Thanh Cang, Permanent Deputy-Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City’s Party Committee, pledged that local people and armed forces, through this seminar, will continue to uphold traditions to build up their patriotism and develop the city.
Meanwhile, General Ngo Xuan Lich, Defense Minister asked the participants to focus on the sound leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, which considerably contributed to the final victory for the national independence and freedom.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Trong Nghia, Deputy-Director of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People’s Army, stressed that delegates should point out corresponding experiences and apply them into reality in the current context.
The main purpose of the seminar was to further hail the sound leadership and instructions of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh as well as the willpower of the whole country in the fight against American invaders for national reunification, while affirming the important contribution of the 1968 Tet General Offensive and Uprising to the final victory for the national independence and freedom.
The General Offensive and Uprising conducted by Vietnamese armed forces and people in the South achieved great results and has become the national eternal epic and marked a heroic period of the South Vietnamese armed forces and people in the national glorious history.
According to a report announced by the South Liberation Armed Forces Command on December 20, 1968, Vietnamese armed forces and people neutralized 630,000 troops of the US Army, Saigon Army and US allies’ armies; one enemy brigade, seven regiments and combat units and 18 armored units were wiped out or suffered big losses; 13,000 vehicles of all kinds, 1,000 vessels and small boats were destroyed; 700 ammunition stores, 100 artillery pieces and 15,000 “fire-bases”, entrenched fortifications and governmental premises were destroyed.
Translated by Van Hieu