In an attempt to devalue our resistance war against the U.S imperialists for liberating the South and unifying the country, hostile forces try to distort its nature. However, history has proven that they are trying in vain.

As usual, since 1975, on the occasion of the 30^th April Victory annually, when our Party, people and military celebrate this important historical event, some foreign mass media and social networks with their bad will against the current political regime in Vietnam, post their articles and documentaries aiming at denying the value of the 30^th April 1975, the Unification Day as well as the nature of our resistance war against the U.S for national salvation.

Taking use of the publication of the new "History of Vietnam" series in August 2017 in which the Sai Gon Government and Army have no longer been called the “puppet government” and "puppet army" as before, disruptive forces try to distort the nature of the war in Vietnam during the 1954-1975 period. They said that it was a civil war in which the North invaded the South (!). The fact is the intervention of the U.S into Vietnam was soon conducted since early 1950s. By 1954, U.S support covered for 78% the French expense in the Indochina War. The U.S even planned to use tactical nuclear weapons in Dien Bien Phu with an attempt to save the French from an inevitable defeat then. When not succeeding in their indirect intervention, the U.S imperialist ousted and took place of the French in Vietnam. To realise their intention, the representatives of the U.S Government did not sign the Final Declaration of the Geneva Peace Accord on Ending the War and Restoring  Peace in Indochina (July 1954) so that they would not be bound to the terms of the Accord and be free to enter the South of Vietnam with their new colonial policies. However, given the weakness of Sai Gon Government, since 1960s, the U.S officially intervened into Vietnam with their strategies of Special War (1961 – 1965), Localised War (1965 – 1968), and Vietnamization (1969 – 1973). In addition to the above strategies, the U.S also carried out their inhuman carpet bombing onto Hanoi and the North of Vietnam with their B-52 Stratofortress with a view to bringing Hanoi and the North of Vietnam “back to Stone Age”. To implement their strategies, the U.S used over 8 million tons of bomb, nearly 80 million litres of toxic chemicals and the most modern weapon and equipment at that time (excluding nuclear weapon). The U.S also deployed a large number of their troops and allies, including 70% of the US Army, 60% of US Marine Corps, 40% of the US Navy, and 60% of the US Air Force. 22,000 of the U.S factories were also mobilised for the war. The number of U.S troops in Vietnam peaked at over half a million while the US youths involved in the war mounted up to 6.5 million.

The above figures show that it was not a civil war in Vietnam. Many authors and politicians in the U.S also admitted that the U.S invaded Vietnam and Vietnam fought against the US invasion. In the book titled “Vietnam War and US culture” (published in 1991 in U.S), John Carlos Rowe and Rick Berg pointed out that: “In short, the U.S invaded the South of Vietnam and conducted several inhuman crimes in Indochina”. In 2009, John Prados (a senior fellow at the US National Security Archive and G. Washington University) published his book entitled  Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945-1975, admitting that for the U.S, Vietnam war was a mistake and unwinnable. In a press conference right after the collapse of Sai Gon Government, Henry Alfred Kissinger, US former Secretary of State admitted that: “We were wrong when making Vietnam an experiment for our policies. I think deploying the US military forces into Vietnam was the worst choice as it means bringing an external factor into the country”. Facing the advance of the Liberation Army of the South Vietnam along the central coastal roads in April 1975, General Maxwell D. Taylor had to confess that “I can’t explain our failure. This is such a Waterloo to the U.S”. After the 30^th April 1975, he also added that: “We all contributed to the U.S failure in Vietnam. There’s nothing good there”. The late professor Tran Chung Ngoc – a former officer of the South Vietnam Army who lived in the U.S after the 30 April 1975 event pointed out that: “Today, history is clear. Many secrets of the war have been declassified. With our new understanding of the war, it is clear that the war prior to 1954 was against the invasion of the French with U.S logistic and technical supplies while the post-Geneva war was against the U.S invasion with their wrong Domino theory, etc. This is the conclusion of the Western scholars in accordance with historical events, not basing on personal bias”. In writing, this professor laid bare the puppet nature of Sai Gon Government when stressing that: “Everyone knows that Ngo Dinh Diem’s administration was set up by the U.S, not elected by Southern people, etc. Regarding the second administration of the Republic of South Vietnam, President Nguyen Van Thieu said that: as long as the U.S continues their support, we will fight against the communist troops of Vietnam. If the U.S cut off their support, we will leave the Independence Palace in only 3 hours, not a day, a month or a year later. Another figure named Nguyen Van Ngan, special assistant of President Nguyen Van Thieu said: “In the fight against the communists, South Vietnam depends on the U.S completely. We can never give out our conditions to them. U.S troops can come or go whenever they want”. Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky said: “The U.S always stands in the centre of the stage. Therefore, everyone says that this is the war of the America and we are just mercenaries”. General Cao Van Vien, Chief of General Staff of South Vietnam’s Army said: “We are not responsible for the war. Fighting is the U.S responsibility. They stage the war and we just follow them”.

The above evidence show that as the insiders, the high-ranking officials of Sai Gon Government were aware of their role as henchmen for the U.S and that this was the war of the U.S against Vietnam while some extreme anti-communists try to justify for U.S as saying that the U.S did not invade Vietnam and it was a civil war. It is necessary to reaffirm that the 1954-1975 war in Vietnam was a resistance war against the U.S invasion. Therefore, the entire Vietnam nation was the winner and the U.S was the looser as stated by Senior Lieutenant General Tran Van Tra with the former president of Sai Gon government and his cabinet before releasing them on 2^nd May 1975 that: “Between us, there is no winner nor looser. Just Vietnamese people are the winners”.

45 years have elapsed since the end of the war. Realizing the true nature of it will make each of us, no matter which side we belong to, feel proud of the nation’s tradition of fighting the invaders. This is also the shortest way for national reconciliation. It is necessary to quote the confession of professor Tran Chung Ngoc that: “Travelling the world we will find that our victory is so admired by international friends and 30^th April 1975 is not only the unification day but also the moment from which Vietnamese people can walk tall and be proud of their origin whichever side they belonged to or political belief they held”.

NGUYEN NGOC HOI