Half a century ago, with a brave fighting spirit, intelligence, and creativity, the military and people of the north defeated the American imperialists’ strategic air raid over Ha Noi, Hai Phong, and some adjacent localities to score the Victory of “Ha Noi – Dien Bien Phu in the air”. This was a turning point that brought our resistant war against U.S. aggressors for national salvation to a complete victory.

Our strategic offensive in 1972 put the U.S.’s Vietnamisation strategy at risk of complete failure. To avoid such a situation, after having unilaterally declared indefinite delay for the Paris Conference on ending the war and restoring peace in Viet Nam, in December 1972, American imperialists launched a strategic air raid against the northern part of Viet Nam with the aim to ruin our economic, military potential; force us to sign the Paris Peace Accords in their favour; impede support of the strategic northern rear for the great southern front; cripple our fighting spirit and undermine our position and power in the theatre. This is the largest and most brutal air raid in the history of the U.S. Air Force with the involvement of hundreds of B-52s, thousands of sorties of tactical fighters, many aircraft carriers, and warships.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Huy Vinh delivered the opening speech at the national conference on the "Ha Noi - Dien Bien Phu in the air Victory in 1972"

Under leadership of the Party Central Committee, Central Military Commission, and Ministry of National Defence, our military and people, with the Air Defence – Air Force as the core, proactively and creatively brought into play comprehensive power of the robust people’s air defence posture to smash U.S. Air Force’s strategic air raid, shoot down 81 aircraft, including 34 B-52s, and score the resounding Victory of Ha Noi – Dien Bien Phu in the Air”. As a result of this victory, the Paris Peace Accords was signed, which created new position and power for us to liberate the south completely and reunite the country. Given the copious historical reality and immense significance of the victory of Ha Noi – Dien Bien Phu in the air, a look back at 50 years will serve to further affirm and clarify many issues.

First, “Ha Noi – Dien Bien Phu in the Air” is the victory of Vietnamese spirit and wisdom in Ho Chi Minh era. In the confrontation with unimaginable power of U.S.’s strategic Air Force in late 1972, given the Vietnamese spirit and wisdom, we dealt the heaviest blow in the history to the enemy, shocking the American imperialists and Sai Gon regime. That brilliant feat of arms first and foremost is attributed to sharp, strategic thinking and vision of our Party and President Ho Chi Minh regarding prediction and preparation for defeating American imperialists’ plots and military adventurism.

In late 1967, Uncle Ho soon realised that sooner or later the American imperialists would use the B-52s to attack Ha Noi. The Party Central Committee and Central Military Commission also made correct predictions and timely issued a directive to increase combat readiness. The directive notes that “we must take all precautions to cope with the enemy’s new acts of adventurism. They may resume their bombings from north of the 20 degrees north latitude in a larger, fiercer scope and scale. They may boldly use the B-52s to destroy key targets in Ha Noi, Hai Phong, and so forth”. On the basis of such strategic predictions, we took initiative in establishing forces and posture with a view to leveraging strength and effectiveness of the people’s air defence operations. Surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft units were quickly established and developed to formulate a multi-layered air defence network with concentration on key targets and high mobility. The radar and air force units grew exponentially and were ready to defeat the enemy’s air raids. In May 1966, the 238th Missile Regiment was ordered to maneuver for ambushing and searching for methods to engage the B-52s in the theatre of Vinh Linh. This is a sound decision at the strategic level, which illustrates the high determination, proactiveness, and activeness to fight the enemy. On the basis of that invaluable experience, “method to engage the B-52” was improved and greatly contributed to victory of the Campaign.

Deeply grasping direction of the Party Central Committee, the General Staff proactively ordered forces to make every preparation for defeating the enemy’s air raids; timely encouraged people and military of Ha Noi capital as well as compatriots and military nationwide to bring into play their intelligence, bravery, and determination to fight and triumph over American aggressors. In this resounding victory, the human factor and ability to master weapons and technical equipment are extremely important. The life-and-death battle with the B-52s once again proved the extraordinary creativity, wisdom, and spirit of Vietnamese people in Ho Chi Minh era in the face of the enemy’s advanced weapons. With the thirst for study, bravery, intelligence, and creativity, Vietnamese people made good use of all available weapons to inflict a catastrophic defeat on the adversary. The victory is an affirmation of the strength of Vietnamese willpower, spirit, and wisdom against the enemy’s modern, advanced weapons.

Second, this is the final decisive blow that forced American imperialists to sign the Paris Peace Accords. Our strategic offensive in 1972 had an enormous influence on U.S. presidential election in November 1972. To calm public opinion, the Nixon administration adjusted its policy on Viet Nam War through resuming and promoting talks at the Paris conference. Nevertheless, right after winning the election, President Nixon quickly changed his attitude and demanded to amend many articles in U.S. favour. The Nixon administration repeatedly blamed us for deadlock over negotiation. In fact, the Nixon administration sought to delay talks with the aim of searching for military victory to end the war with “American-style peace.” Therefore, regardless of opposition of the Party, State, and people of Viet Nam as well as public opinion at home and abroad, the strategic air raid over the north of Viet Nam was still launched. Obviously, the bombing of the north had been planned before signing the Paris Peace Accords. However, their final military attempt to change the situation ended up in a catastrophic failure. Within 12 days, the military and people in the north shot down 81 warplanes, including 34 B-52s, and captured many pilots, dissipating the pride of U.S. Air Force. President Richard Nixon was forced to stop the bombing from north of the 20 degrees north latitude and asked the Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam to resume talks. Together with remarkable victory on the southern front, the Victory of “Ha Noi – Dien Bien Phu in the Air” foiled American imperialists’ final military attempt to gain the upper hand at the negotiating table, proving their powerlessness in the battle of wits and strength with Vietnamese people. This can be considered as the last decisive blow that force American imperialists to sign the Paris Peace Accords, bring their troops home, accede to end the war, restore peace, and undertake to respect independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity of Viet Nam.

Third, victory of the “Ha Noi – Dien Bien Phu in the Air” is the culmination of modern Vietnamese air defence art. On inheriting the traditional military art, for the first time in history, we successfully conducted a large-scale air defence campaign to defeat the strategic air raids mounted by American imperialists. That decisive victory affirms the vital position of modern, Vietnamese people’s air defence art with the following characteristics.

First of all, it is the ability to analyse and correctly assess situations, firmly grasping the enemy’s plots and rules of engagement in order to seize the initiative. This is one of the fundamental issues of the operational art of war. In fact, during the process of drawing up guidelines for the war of resistance and directing the war, our Party used to perceive the nature of imperialism correctly and warfare to make correct, timely predictions and work out responses. On the basis of correct, timely judgements of the strategic, operational levels, the military and people in the north made every preparation quickly in order to be ready to foil American imperialists’ plots, seizing initiative right from the onset.

Correct identification of the key operational area is one of the unique features of military art in the Air Defence Campaign in late 1972. Having understood the enemy’s plots, we determined that Ha Noi would be the enemy’s main target and direction of attack; the key targets would be the B-52s. Accordingly, the air defence forces were properly disposed extensively and with focus in accordance with capabilities of each arm and force. The fighting method employed was to engage the enemy actively and resolutely from afar, at any ranges, and from many directions; focus on shooting down the B-52s and capture pilots. It is the most appropriate, sensible method to swiftly put an end to the Campaign. Besides, the art of coordination between units of the Air Defence – Air Force with the three-element air defence force is a prominent feature of the Campaign. This harmonious, effective coordination created integrated power, contributing to the defeat of the enemy’s strategic air raids.

Victory of “Ha Noi – Dien Bien Phu in the Air” inflicted the heaviest defeat on the U.S. Air Force in the history and became the most glorious symbol of the power of revolutionary heroism and Vietnamese wisdom and creativity in the Ho Chi Minh era. Half a century has passed, but lessons learnt from that illustrious victory remain valid both theoretically and practically and need further applying and leveraging in today’s cause of national building and defence.

Major General, Doctor NGUYEN HOANG NHIEN, Director General, Institute of Military History, Ministry of National Defence