During a war for Fatherland protection (if it occurred), it is crucially important for us to fight against the enemy’s strategic partitioning; this fight could be conducted at the very onset of the war or during the war in order to thwart the enemy’s strategic operational method, seize and maintain the initiative on the battlefield. To that end, it is necessary to synchronously adopt various measures for posture establishment, force development, commanding work, combat operation, and so on; among those ones, logistics support against the enemy’s strategic partitioning should be thoroughly studied.

Gen. Phan Van Giang, Minister of National Defence inspects the model of field oil pipeline system (photo: nhandan.vn)

From the defence and security perspective, in the future, if the enemy recklessly invade our country, they will employ a combination of combat methods and artifices, with strategic partitioning serving as a popular method aimed at destroying the connectivity of our strategic combat posture, isolating our regions and areas (theatres of war), and creating a favourable condition to take control of campaign-level and strategic targets. This operational method will be put at the forefront of the enemy’s invasion and frequently conducted in our strategic areas with complex terrain facilitating the enemy’s partitioning, blockade, and domination. Meanwhile, Vietnam is a long country stretching from the North to the South with a narrow width, located on the bank of the East Sea, thus being easily strategically divided into different parts between the East and the West, particularly its Central Region. With their superiority in weapons and manoeuvrability, the enemy will conduct joint military operations, while combining firepower with ground attacks, amphibious and airborne landing, cyber and information warfare as well as support from domestic reactionary forces.

Combating the enemy’s strategic partitioning represents a task of utmost importance to validating the enemy’s strategic combat method, seizing and holding the initiative on the battlefield, maintaining the postures of people’s war and strategic defence in every theatre of war, in each strategic direction, and across the country. Our operations against the enemy’s strategic partitioning during a war for Fatherland protection will be carried out in the new condition and based on the all-people national defence and the posture of people’s war at a high level, with military regions’ defensive posture and local defensive zones constructed in advance in peacetime acting as the foundation. Logistically, logistics potential and posture at all levels are strengthened in parallel with the socio-economic development of our localities and country. Logistics infrastructures within our defensive zones are constructed in an increasingly complete and synchronous manner; campaign-level and strategic logistics bases in our regions and areas (theatres of war) are planned, built, and prepared in advance to form strong, synchronous logistics zones capable of providing independent logistics support for our strategic directions.

However, due to the enemy’s superiority and the characteristics of operations against the enemy’s strategic partitioning, logistics support will be very arduous and highly synthesised. Constant, urgent logistics support for combat in a large area, with a lot of scales, components, categories, rapid and complex situational developments, and a massive amount of materials, weapons, and equipment will be great challenges and difficulties to our logistics sections at all levels. In this article, we would like put forward several issues on logistics preparation against the enemy’s strategic partitioning during a war for Fatherland protection.

1. Boosting socio-economic development in line with strengthening defence and security, particularly ensuring on-the-spot logistics within provincial-level defensive zones. This is a matter of foundation for logistics during a people’s war for Fatherland protection, enabling our armed forces and people to remain their position to protect their areas, making preparation for our main mobile units’ operations under strategic combat resolutions and plans. Thus, grounded on the socio-economic development in peacetime, in addition to building campaign-level and strategic logistics units in our regions and areas (theatres of war), it is necessary to actively, proactively build an extensive people’s logistics force and “elite, compact, strong” local military logistics force capable of playing a core role in making all-level defensive zone logistics strong, especially in strategic areas, in border areas between military regions and theatres of war, and in areas vulnerable to the enemy’s strategic partitioning. To that end, while fostering socio-economic development, sectors and localities should develop their material potential, construct logistics facilities, and build an extensive people’s logistics force in their areas under the 10^th Politburo’s Resolution 28-NQ/TW, Directive 07-CT/TW by the 11^th Party Central Committee’s Secretariat, the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation, and the Government’s Decree 21/2019/NĐ-CP on defensive zones. Emphasis should be placed on building strong provincial-level defensive zone logistics in terms of force, potential, and posture, ensuring a close connection with campaign-level and strategic logistics to set up solid on-the-spot logistics support in each region.

In the process, it is essential to proactively create material reserves in a “comprehensive, focalised, in-depth” manner, improve our capability in on-the-spot logistics, develop and complete feasible plans on mobilising forces, materials, and means for defence situations and for the first year and phase of the war. Importance should be attached to constructing infrastructures, particularly roads, ports, dual-purpose works, rear bases, defensive zone logistics bases, and secret logistics facilities ready for defensive operations and the fight against the enemy’s strategic partitioning.

2. Planning and building an inter-connected, solid, mobile logistics posture against the enemy’s strategic partitioning, forming complete logistics zones capable of providing independent logistics support for each area and theatre of war. Logistics support against the enemy’s strategic partitioning will be a joint effort made by our logistics forces at strategic level and within military regions, provincial-level defensive zones, and units taking part in combat. Grounded on the resolution against the enemy’s strategic partitioning, the strategic logistics force will work with military regions’ logistics units to proactively develop a master plan on using personnel and disposing logistics bases, infirmaries, hospitals, depots, production premises directly serving military operations, with priority given to key areas and theatres appropriate for our defensive, counter-attack, and offensive campaigns against the enemy’s strategic partitioning. The organisation of logistics components must be relevant to the strategic combat resolution, bring into full play the forte of each force, and create a close connection among all-level logistics units and between on-the-spot and mobile logistics to ensure mutual support in combat situations.

Operations in general, the fight against the enemy’s strategic partitioning in particular, no matter where they take place, must be based on military regions’ defensive combat and local defensive zones. Thus, the planning of the operational logistics posture against the enemy’s strategic partitioning must be based on the logistics posture of military regions’ defensive combat and provincial-level defensive zones to deploy campaign-level and strategic logistics forces and establish complete logistics zones capable of providing independent logistics support. Currently, according to our country’s strategic zoning and battlefield disposition, the strategic logistics force, military regions, provinces, and municipalities should actively build logistics postures for defensive combat and against the enemy’s strategic partitioning. They should focus on completing a master plan for their logistics posture and mobilising resources to gradually construct logistics and rear bases within defensive zones as well as to build roads, depots, ports, caves, and tunnels for concealing means of war. In the process, it is important to make use of the existing favourable positions, take measures to protect and keep secret about those positions, and integrate defensive works into national defence and civil defence to raise the effectiveness of investment. When a war occurs, the strategic logistics force (on the battlefield) and military regions’ logistics units should supplement and adjust manpower. In case there must be a change in disposition, it is necessary to take advantage of backup areas and logistics bases of military regions and army corps as well as logistics facilities within provincial-level defensive zones to quickly deploy personnel and ensure logistics support for combat.

3. Maintaining uniform command and close coordination in logistics preparation against the enemy’s strategic partitioning. This solution plays a decisive role in the outcome of logistics support against the enemy’s strategic partitioning as it is a mammoth task performed by various sectors and forces. Therefore, right in peacetime, it is possible to proactively research into the delegation of responsibilities to logistics forces at strategic level and within military regions, defensive zones, and relevant ministries, sectors, and localities. Simultaneously, mechanisms for coordinating, inspecting, and assessing logistics preparation for this strategic task should be developed and completed. To do so, it is necessary to be fully aware that logistics preparation against the enemy’s strategic partitioning is part of the work of logistics preparation for the people’s war for Fatherland protection, particularly for strategic operations in theatres of war and military regions’ defence. It is important to actively, proactively promote the synergy of organisations and forces, with strategic logistics playing the core role, military region logistics acting as the centre, and local defensive zone logistics serving as the foundation in the process. Moreover, great value should be attached to carrying out researches to draw lessons on logistics support in our previous national liberation wars and in recent local wars and armed conflicts worldwide, with a view to perfecting theories about logistics support against strategic partitioning in accordance with the modernisation of our Army and Military Logistics Branch as well as the development of the art of people’s war for Fatherland protection in the new condition.

Logistics support against the enemy’s strategic partitioning includes many different steps and phases; it is an arduous, complex task and still in the process of development. Therefore, there should be more researches to perfect theories and direct preparatory work in reality to satisfy the requirements of Fatherland protection.

Sr. Col. CAO VAN KE, PhD