Half a century has elapsed, but every April, tens of millions of Vietnamese citizens are filled with pride and elation at the historic Victory of 30 April 1975, which completely liberated the South and unified the country.
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| Illustrative photo (by Pham Ha) |
Following landslide victories in Central Highlands Campaign and Hue - Da Nang Liberation Campaign, under the Politburo’s directive, at 5:00 PM on 26 April 1975, our forces simultaneously launched attacks on Saigon, commencing the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign. Carrying the entire nation’s strength, under the spirit of “determined to fight, determined to win”, 5 wings of our Army courageously passed through the enemy’s defensive lines, forming pincers towards the centre of Saigon, occupying the enemy’s headquarters. At 10:45 AM on 30 April, our tanks broke through the iron gate of the Independence Palace, leading the infantry way straight into the Palace, capturing the entire cabinet of the Saigon puppet regime alive, forcing puppet President Duong Van Minh to announce an unconditional surrender.
By 11:30 AM on the same day, the flag of the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam flew on the roof of the Independence Palace - the Saigon puppet regime’s final stronghold, signalling the complete victory of the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, gloriously ending the country’s 21-year-long enormously proud resistance war against the US for national salvation with numerous hardships and sacrifice. That history-making victory is likened to those of Bach Dang, Chi Lang, and Dong Da of the 20th century, marking a turning point in the national history, bringing our country to a new era of independence and freedom towards socialism. That epoch-making victory dealt a fatal blow to neo-colonialism and their will to invade, promptly inspiring and encouraging nations and peace-loving forces in the world to rise up against oppression and hegemony for the sake of freedom and happiness.
Victory of the resistance war against the US for national salvation in general, the 1975 Spring General Offensive and Uprising in particular is the result of various elements; the most inclusive and decisive of which is the sound and clear-sighted leadership of our Party headed by great President Ho Chi Minh. Creatively applying Marxism - Leninism in the realities of the Vietnamese revolution, inheriting and bringing into full play the national tradition of fighting foreign invaders for national protection, our Party formulated sound revolutionary lines, gathering and promoting the entire nation’s immense strength, combining the strength of the people with that of the times, persistently, consistently realising its strategic resolve to “fight to drive the US away” and then “fight to topple the puppet regime”, achieving partial victories, advancing towards a complete victory, liberating the South, unifying the country. That was also the victory of patriotism, unity, and tenacity of our Military and people, with their absolute faith in the Party and their unflinching determination: “we would rather sacrifice everything than lose our country and be enslaved”, “Even if we have to burn the whole Truong Son Mountain range, we must resolutely gain independence”, and “nothing is more precious than independence and freedom”. That was the common victory of the world revolution and noble international unity, first and foremost the special combat alliance between the three Indochinese countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, together with valuable, altruistic, wholehearted support from fraternal socialist countries around the world.
In that great victory, countless cadres, party members, compatriots, and soldiers of our country bravely sacrificed their lives for the cause of national liberation and unification. At this historic moment, we respectfully express our heartfelt gratitude to heroic martyrs, Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, heroes of the people’s armed forces, war invalids, sick soldiers, persons with meritorious services to the revolution, and especially we pay profound tribute to beloved President Ho Chi Minh - the genius leader of our Party, people, and nation. He led our country to independence, freedom, and national unification towards socialism; he turned our people from slaves into citizens of an independent and free Vietnam. We are also much obliged to international comrades, brothers, and friends for their support and assistance over the course of our protracted resistance war.
50 years have elapsed, but the epic of the Great 1975 Spring Victory, with the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign as its pinnacle, forever resounds through the nation and every single Vietnamese citizen. Under the Party’s glorious flag, that epic continues to resonate on the front of production, in the fight against hunger, poverty, and backwardness, in the protection of sacred national sovereignty over borders, seas, and islands, as well as in the cause of national renovation, industrialisation, modernisation, and international integration so that our country has never had such fortune, potential, position, and international prestige as it does today. Under the Party’s leadership, our country has been making unprecedented strides, creating a solid foundation for entering the era of the nation’s rise, an era of development, an era of prosperity, an era of successfully building a socialist Vietnam with wealthy people, strong nation, democracy, equality, civilisation, and a prosperous and happy life for every citizen.
Amid intertwining opportunities, advantages, difficulties, and challenges, more than ever before, we deeply cherish and remember the historical values and significance of the Great 1975 Spring Victory, remaining steadfast in the goal of national independence and socialism, maintaining our absolute faith in the Party’s leadership, taking socio-economic development as the centre, seeing Party building as the key, regarding cultural development as the spiritual foundation of society, ensuring defence - security consolidation and promoting foreign affairs as a crucial, routine task. We will make every effort to “transform threats into opportunities”, “change the status, and reverse the situation”, while upholding the motto of “discipline, responsibility, proactivity, acceleration, innovation, sustainable effectiveness” and “only discuss action, not retreat”, particularly in the revolution to streamline the apparatus of the political system, in alignment with the restructuring and raised quality of the contingent of cadres and public servants according to Resolution 18-NQ/TW, and in realisation of breakthroughs in scientific and technological development, innovation, creativity, and national digital transformation according to Resolution 57-NQ/TW.
Ours is a heroic Army of the heroic Vietnamese nation. Bringing into play the Great 1975 Spring Victory, the entire Military will strive to successfully implement the Party’s lines and the State’s laws and policies, especially on military - defence work and Fatherland protection. It will proactively research and correctly forecast situational developments to give sound advice to the Party and State on dealing with situations in an opportune and effective manner. It will maintain and promote its core role in making all-people national defence, posture of all-people national defence associated with people’s security posture, “posture of people’s hearts and minds”, and defensive zones increasingly strong, well perform its functions as an “army ready for combat, for work, and for production”, firmly protect the Fatherland early and from afar, contribute to raising the nation’s position and prestige, and forever deserve to be a reliable, absolutely loyal political and combat force of the Party, State, and people.
Half of a century has passed; despite many changes in the world, the heroic vibes of the Great 1975 Spring Victory, with the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign as its pinnacle, remains eternally existent with the Vietnamese nation, acting as the wellspring that ignites the aspirations of tens of millions of Vietnamese citizens for collectively and successfully fulfilling the cause of national renovation and the construction and firm protection of our Socialist Vietnamese Fatherland, ushering our country into a new era of development, prosperity, and affluence.
Glory to our Fatherland!
NATIONAL DEFENCE JOURNAL