Our Party, army, people, and oversea Vietnamese, as well as international friends have just paid tribute to General Vo Nguyen Giap - the excellent learner of President Ho Chi Minh, the Elder Brother of Vietnam People’s Army and the General Commander of the People’s Armed Forces.
Given his great contributions in many aspects to the nation and the age, General Vo Nguyen Giap was honored by the mankind and the nation, worthy to be inscribed “A feat of arms that reverberates upon the National History – A moral dignity that wins people’s heart” on his 85th birthday celebration and indeed the pride of our entire Party, army and people.
Born and raised in the land of Quang Binh, participating in revolutionary activities from 1925 at his very young age, General Vo Nguyen Giap’s life and career were closely tied to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation; lifetime dedication and striving for independence and freedom of the Fatherland, for the happiness of the people, thus contributing to national liberation movement, the struggle for peace, democracy and social progress of the people worldwide in the latter part of the 20th century.
As a loyal soldier of the Communist Party, with his extraordinary quality and military aptitude, General Vo Nguyen Giap was entrusted with many critical responsibilities by our Party and State, especially the task of founding the Vietnam Propaganda Unit of the Liberation Army (the precursor of Vietnam People’s Army) assigned by President Ho Chi Minh. Under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, the direction and leadership of the Elder Brother – General Commander Vo Nguyen Giap - our army with 34 officers and soldiers, armed with rudimental weapons since its early days, has incessantly been growing and become a truly revolutionary military “of the people, by the people and for the people”, along with the entire people to win glorious victories in the cause of national liberation, making our army “invincible”, a heroic army of a heroic nation.
The victory of the resistance wars against the French colonialists and the American imperialists was the great victory of our army and people, under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh. That victory underlined the General Commander Vo Nguyen Giap’s outstanding talent. As one of the key leaders of the Party with a keen vision, General Vo Nguyen Giap significantly contributed to the development of our Party’s sound and creative resistance guidelines and art of war. That was the unique art of war of Vietnamese people, which was taken shape by combining two elements of traditional and modern military arts; exercising the guideline that the entire population fights the enemy, taking the combined forces of three arms as a core; closely incorporating two modes of combat; employing combat of the main force with that of the local armed forces.
General Vo Nguyen Giap’s personal qualities, sagacity and art of war were clearly reflected through his sharp, assertive, bold, and accurate direction of strategic combat, especially at decisive moments in the history to terminate the war in the most lucrative way. This could be demonstrated by two typical facts, one was the decision to shift from the combat method of “speedy fighting, rapid winning” to that of “steady fighting, steady advancing” in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign and the other was the strategic guiding thought of “speedy, speedier, daring, more daring, etc.” in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign (telegram signed by the General on 7 April 1975).
Given his rich and vivid practice of directing the revolution and wars, General Vo Nguyen Giap left a number of valuable, scientific works, memoirs, articles, speeches, significantly contributing to our Party’s summation of wars, development of revolutionary military theory, building of revolutionary army, armed struggles, revolutionary war, and people’s war, etc. Thus, Vietnam’s Military Doctrine would be gradually taken shape and perfected.
General Vo Nguyen Giap is not only a well-rounded militarist but a model politician, diplomat, educator, journalist, etc. a great dignity of talent and virtue, a shining example of a communist’s revolutionary morality, which is most reflected through the spirit of “common interest above all others”, “his patriotism and philanthropy”, nobleness, and tolerance towards defeated enemies.
Given his qualities, talent and virtues, General Vo Nguyen Giap deserves to be an excellent and close learner of President Ho Chi Minh, winning the absolute trust and love of the Party, compatriots and soldiers nationwide, worthy of international admiration and appreciation, including those who used to be the General’s rivals in the “historical confrontations” between our nation with the French colonialists and the American imperialists. That also explains why there have been many books in different languages worldwide writing about the General so far and when the General passed away, once again so many articles on the General were posted on the front page of the domestic and overseas newspapers. That also explains why over the last days on Hoang Dieu Street (Hanoi), so many people quietly queued to take turn tributing at the General’s house in their deepest commemoration of him!
General Vo Nguyen Giap’s decease is a great loss to our Party, State, army, and people. Adieu the General, a model, faithful and loyal Communist, a brilliant militarist and a distinguished politician, our entire Party, army and people are determined to turn grief into revolutionary actions, striving for successfully implementing the Resolution of the 11th National Party Congress, continuing to promote reform, fulfilling the goal of “prosperous people, a strong nation, a democratic, equitable and civilized society”, steadily advancing towards socialism and firmly defending the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam.