To defend the fledgling revolutionary government, on September 12^th, 1945, Le Truc Regiment (the forerunner of the Regiment 18 under the Division 325, the Army Corps 2) was founded in Dong Hoa commune, Tuyen Hoa district, Quang Binh province. Being one of the first units of our Army, in the resistance war against the French Colonialists, the Regiment kept developing and maturing comprehensively. Starting as a main unit of Quang Binh province, it quickly developed into a mobile main unit of the Binh - Tri - Thien Front, taken part in 6 campaigns and 670 battles, annihilated 5,024 enemy troops, and destroyed many weapons and technical equipment of the enemy. Notably, in the Winter - Spring Campaign in 1953-1954, the Regiment fought the enemy in Route 9, Sepon (Central Laos) and Lao Bao (Vietnam) and successfully fulfilled its missions, thereby greatly contributing to defeating the French and restoring peace on the Indochina peninsula. 

To meet the demanding requirements set by the resistance war against the U.S., for national salvation, in 1964, the Regiment was divided into Regiment 18A and Regiment 18B. The former fought the enemy in the Central Highlands and Binh Dinh province. Meanwhile, after firmly protecting the Military Region 4’s area, on the way to Gia Lai, the Regiment 18B completely destroyed 2 battalions under the U.S. Airborne Division No.1 and developed its operations downward to Phu Yen (in that process, a number of new units were founded under the name of Regiment 18). In the 1975 Spring General Offensive and Uprising, cadres and soldiers of the Regiment took part in liberating the provinces of Thua Thien - Hue, Danang, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan, while cooperating with other forces of the Army Corps 2 in attacking the Independence Palace, taking all members of the Saigon puppet regime’s headquarters alive, forcing them to surrender unconditionally, liberating the South and reunifying the country.

Immediately after the war against the U.S., the Regiment and other units participated in the fight for defending the national border in the Southwest and the North. Moreover, it took part in fighting to save the Cambodian people from genocide. With the remarkable achievements in its process of combat and national construction and protection, the Regiment and its Battalion 8 and 4 individuals were honoured with the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces by the State. The Ministry of National Defence and the Army Corps 2 presented it with many noble rewards.

In recent years, the Regiment has continued performing its central task of training and combat readiness. Fully aware of difficulties and advantages, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have directed offices and units to promote the heroic tradition and proactively overcome hardships to successfully fulfil all assigned tasks. For many consecutive years, the Regiment has been given the title of “Good Training Unit.”

Tactical training for soliders

To gain those achievements, first of all, the Regiment has regularly strengthened all-level party committees and authorities’ leadership and direction over training and combat readiness and considered this as a key measure and a determinant to raising the quality of training and combat readiness. Offices and units, especially their party committees and commands have thoroughly grasped resolutions and directives by the Army Corps 2 and the Division 325 on training and combat readiness, i.e. the Resolution 253-NQ/ĐUQĐ, dated June 13^th, 2013 by the Army Corps 2’s Party Committee and the Resolution 33-NQ/ĐU, dated June 28^th, 2013 by the Division 325’s Party Committee on “improving the training quality in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond.” Grounded on those documents, the Regiment’s Party Committee has issued special resolutions on training and combat readiness, with emphasis placed on clarifying strong and weak points, drawing lessons, and proposing remedial measures for the following periods. The Regiment has directed its offices and units to combine the work of emulation and commendation with political, ideological education to render troops fully aware that training and combat readiness would be a central task and a determinant to the task performance of each office and unit, thereby raising their responsibility for this important work.

In the process, commanders at all levels have enhanced inspection and management of the training work to ensure “focalisation, uniformity, synchronisation, and effectiveness.” At the same time, the results of training and combat readiness have been seen as a yardstick for assessing all-level party committees and commands’ task performance and the quality of cadres and party members on a yearly basis. Consequently, all-level commanders, cadres and party members have promoted their role in dealing with the oversimplification of training and combat readiness and the lowering of targets and requirements for this work.

A lot of proper, effective measures have been taken to achieve a breakthrough in raising the quality of training and combat readiness by the Regiment. Annually, prior to the training season, the Regiment focuses on making human and material preparations for training, tapping all resources to build and upgrade its training grounds, and promoting initiatives and innovations in training models and aids. It has proactively developed training plans and timetables, sufficiently completed and improved the system of guiding documents and lesson plans under the Regulations on the staff and combat training work. As young officers lack skills and experiences in combat training, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have well organised refresher courses for this contingent at each level. Focuses of such courses have been placed on weak points and new contents in order to improve young cadres’ knowledge and method of organising training, formulating training plans and timetables, and managing the strength, duration, and training results. The Regiment has directed battalions and companies to stringently maintain the order for training their cadres and approving lesson plans at each level. Via refresher courses, offices and units have correctly evaluated the knowledge and capacity of their cadres as the basis for tasking them properly and making plans for training them. As a result, all cadres of the Regiment have been capable of taking charge of training at their level while 96% of its battalion-level cadres and 75% of its company and platoon-level cadres have been achieved credit and distinction in the training work.

In order to raise the quality of training, the Regiment has grasped and adhered to the motto of “basics, practicality, and thorough grasp,” with emphasis placed on providing synchronous, intensive training for all troops, while actively renewing and making the training contents and methods relevant to the objects of struggle in the modern warfare. Training courses have been comprehensive. Tactical training has been considered as the centre while technical training has been seen as the foundation. Consideration has been given to organising combat projects and situations-based training. Units have focused on training their troops to master the existing weapons and equipment. Also, projects on natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control as well as search and rescue have been practised. The Regiment has strictly followed the training process, attached importance to practical training so that troops would master combat projects, and raised the quality of military contests and examinations as the basis for selecting excellent soldiers to take part in contests held by higher echelons and improving the training quality in the following periods. Yearly, the Regiment organises live-firing general exercises at company and platoon levels and participates in the Division 325’s formation in exercises. Thanks to such exercises, all-level cadres’ command capacity and units’ combat coordination have been enhanced, which has greatly contributed to raising the Regiment’s synergy and combat strength.

In addition, the Regiment has frequently grasped and effectively implemented resolutions, directives and plans on combat readiness by higher echelons, while strictly maintaining the order for command and office duty, patrol and guard, especially on national holidays and during the country’s great events under the Army Corps Commander’s Directive 668/CL-BTL, dated May 19^th, 2017. Offices and units have opportunely adjusted and supplemented the system of documents and plans for combat readiness, natural disaster and fire prevention and control as well as search and rescue.

The Regiment has also opportunely, sufficiently provided logistics and technical support for its missions, with priority given to training, exercises and combat readiness. As for the logistics work, it has directed its offices and units to maintain sufficient material reserves for combat readiness, closely manage their budget for training, foster agricultural production, improve troops’ life, and ensure the rate of healthy troops for training and combat readiness. As its weapons and technical equipment have been in use for a long time, the Regiment has required its offices and units to thoroughly grasp and stringently execute the Campaign 50 and directives and guiding documents by the Division and the Army Corps, raise the quality of maintenance and repair, closely manage and effectively, sustainably exploit weapons and technical equipment. At the same time, the Regiment’s affiliates have been asked to maintain the order for the technical work to ensure sufficient weapons and equipment for training, exercises and combat readiness.

Commemorating the 75^th founding anniversary (September 12^th, 1945 - September 12^th, 2020), cadres and soldiers of the Regiment 18 will continue further improving the quality of training and combat readiness, devoting efforts to building an “exemplary, typical,” comprehensively strong unit, and successfully fulfilling all assigned tasks to deserve the tradition of “unity, resilience, activeness, proactiveness, determination to win” and the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces.

Lt. Col. NGUYEN MANH HA, Commander of the Regiment