Improving the combat strength and fulfiling all assigned task represent the central political mission of the whole Military in general, each unit in particular. This is a matter of utmost importance to the Army Corps 1 – a strategic mobile unit of the Ministry of National Defence (MND). This is also the target which the Corps is striving to achieve via synchronous, proper measures, meeting the requirements of the Homeland protection in the new situation.

To meet the demand for establishing powerful, large-scale units to mount strategic military offensives in order to annihilate a large number of enemy troops and change the battlefield’s complexion in the war against the U.S. for national salvation, on October 24^th 1973, the Army Corps 1 – the first mobile main corps of the Vietnam People’s Army was founded. That marked a milestone in the development of our revolutionary armed forces and expressed the Party’s strategic vision and the development of Vietnam’s military arts in the Ho Chi Minh era. To deserve its position and role, after being established, the Corps quickly organized and supplemented its forces and conducted overall exercises with a view to enhancing its combat strength and maintaining readiness to manoeuvre to fight the enemy on the battlefields. It cooperated with forces and localities in large-scale campaigns and won glorious victories, such as Route 9 – Khe Sanh, Lower Laos, Tri Thien, etc. Especially, in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, it was one of the five flanks attacking and liberating Saigon, contributing to completely liberating the South and reunifying the country. With those outstanding achievements, the Corps and its 65 collectives and 56 individuals were given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces and many other noble awards by the State.

In the national construction and protection period, particularly in over 30 years of the country's reform, the Corps has thoroughly grasped the Party’s guidelines on defence and military tasks, particularly the “Strategy to defend the Homeland in the new situation” and promoted the tradition of a heroic unit to build comprehensively strong offices and units, thereby successfully fulfiling every assigned task. In recent years, the development of the Homeland protection task has imposed new higher requirements on the Corps. Perceiving that, the Corps has been adopting measures synchronously, with a focus on improving its synergy and combat strength in order to well perform its function as a strategic mobile main unit of the MND.

A joint and combined exercise

First, the Corps has concentrated on building politically strong unit and considered this a determinant to ensuring that the Corps always upholds combat ideal and objective, thereby laying a foundation for its improved synergy and combat strength. Accordingly, the Corps has directed its affiliates to step up political, ideological education and render their troops fully aware of the Party’s guidelines, higher echelons’ resolutions and orders on military and defence work and Homeland protection mission as well as the Corps’s task in the new situation. Importance has been attached to providing information for troops and orienting their ideology against the complex development of the situation as well as making cadres and soldiers fully understand partners and opponents and hostile forces’ plots and artifices. At the same time, it has maintained and strictly implemented the Regulations on Grass-Roots Level Democracy, regularly grasped and opportunely dealt with the ideological situations, and built a sense of unity within the unit. In addition, great value has been attached to taking proper measures to conduct the work of Party building and rectification under the Resolution of the 12^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum in line with the implementation of the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05. As a result, all-level party committees and organizations have considerably improved. Every year, over 94.3% of its party organizations is rated pure and strong while over 81.3% of its party members successfully fulfils their task.

In addition to building politico-spiritual factor, the Corps has renewed and improved the quality of training and combat readiness and regarded it as a breakthrough in its improved synergy and combat strength. Grounded on the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW on “Enhancing the training quality in the 2013-2020 period and beyond”, it has paid due attention to renewing the work of training leadership, direction, management and operation as well as content, organization and method of training and exercise in accordance with reality. Adhering to the motto of “basics, practicality, thorough grasp”, it has directed its affiliates to focus on synchronous, specialized training and to make training relevant to particularities of the area and adversaries. Units have been required to concentrate on training troops to exploit and master materiel, particularly modern one, intensifying task-based and situation-based training, new-type combat training in hi-tech warfare, nighttime, movement training, camouflage, diversion, and manoeuvre training for avoidance and retaliation in widespread electronic warfare and harsh weather conditions.

For the sake of the improved training quality, the Corps has set store by the training courses intended for cadres at all levels, particularly those in charge of training. At the same time, due regard has been paid to investing in consolidating and building the system of training grounds and shooting ranges. Besides, the Corps has actively held training and exercises at all levels while directing its affiliates to renew and improve the quality of exercises, particularly aggregate exercises, live-firing field exercises and possibly rivaling exercises to put troops in the environment relevant to combat reality. Over the past years, it has taken part in many exercises held by the MND at operational and strategic levels, such as the exercise on counter-attack and manoeuvre for avoidance and retaliation against the enemy’s firepower, and the combat exercise on the battlefield of the North, while directing its affiliates to conduct hundreds of joint and combined exercises and general tactical ones.

Based on the results of training work, the Corps has focused on raising its units’ combat readiness level and capability, particularly those with full strength or tasked with the A mission. The Corps has attached great importance to maintaining the order for this work as it directly impacts on the performance of the central political task. However, due to the rapid development of science and technology, new types of materiel have been invented, which has led to the birth of new forms of operations and warfare. Thus, in the foreseeable future, in addition to accelerating education to raise troops’ awareness and strictly maintaining the order for combat readiness duty at all levels, the Corps reviews, adjusts, supplements and completes the system of combat plans, determination and projects in accord with the task development and the operational intent of the MND. Notably, it has directed units to build the bank of situations related to the A and A2 missions as the basis for organizing training and exercises in order to train and improve the combat command and coordination capabilities of commanders and troops’ combat readiness level and capability. Besides, consideration has been given to cooperating with the military regions, Hanoi Capital City Command, and localities in organizing forces in charge of making reconnaissance of the terrain and preparing the battlefields in operational and strategic directions and areas, meeting the requirements for operations when situations occur. At the same time, it has directed offices and units to study and develop the plans for manoeuvring forces and materiel under combat projects and determination; to cooperate with localities in reviewing and formulating the plans for manoeuvring forces and materiel under the Ordinance on the Reserve Forces, and promoting the defensive zone’s on-spot strength to support the Corps’ combat movement when situations occur.

Reality has shown that each unit’s combat power and capability greatly depend on logistics and technical work. Perceiving that, the Corps has paid due attention to well performing the logistics and technical work for training and combat readiness tasks. Grounded on the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 382-NQ/ĐUQSTW on leading the technical work in the new situation, over the past years, the Corps has ordered its affiliates to maintain the order for the technical work, particularly to organize training courses for technical staff and improve their professional competence, ensuring that they effectively deal with technical situations during combat movement and master new materiel. At the same time, units at all levels have been required to strictly maintain the order for materiel repair, maintenance and synchronicity as well as inspection of combat readiness vehicles’ technical conditions. Besides, the Campaign “Managing, exploiting, using weapons and technical equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically and Traffic Safety” and the movement on promoting technical initiatives and innovations have been accelerated. As a result, the Corps’ materiel’s technical coefficient has always been maintained to serve its tasks. Besides, due regard has been paid to well conducting the logistics work, regularly ensuring sufficient logistics materials for combat readiness task, effectively exploiting the on-spot logistics resources, and stepping up the implementation of the emulation movement “Military Logistics Branch follows Uncle Ho’s teachings”.

The results gained from 45 years of construction, combat and development act as an important prerequisite for the Army Corps 1 to continue to build comprehensively strong and stable unit with the high aggregate quality and great combat strength, thereby making it ready to undertake and successfully fulfil all assigned tasks, contributing to safeguarding the Homeland of Socialist Vietnam.

Maj. Gen. Doan Thai Duc, Commander of the Army Corps 1