Over the past 80 years of construction, combat, and maturity (25 March 1945 - 25 March 2025), under leadership and direction from Military Region 1’s Party Committee and Command, particularly the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, and the Provincial People’s Committee, Bac Giang provincial armed forces have always heightened self-reliance, maintaining a close-knit bond with the people, successfully fulfilling all assigned tasks, fostering their tradition of “unity, proactivity, ingenuity, determination to win”.

In the resistance war against French colonialists, cadres and soldiers of the provincial armed forces courageously took part in over 1,700 engagements, annihilating, capturing alive, and injuring 15,569 enemy troops, confiscating and destroying 1,619 guns of various types, encouraging over 10,000 puppet troops to abandon their ranks, cracking down on many enemy campaigns for herding and conscripting local population by force, demolishing a large number of enemy depots and means of war, greatly contributing to the glorious victory of the nation’s protracted resistance war. In the resistance war against US imperialists for national salvation, while actively taking part in building a strong rear base in the North and giving reinforcements to the South, the provincial armed forces collaborated with others to protect their area, shoot down 162 enemy aircraft, and capture many enemy pilots alive, thereby making a worthy contribution to liberating the South and unifying the country in 1975. In the fight for protecting the Northern border, the provincial armed forces stood shoulder to shoulder with troops and people of Cao Bang and Lang Son provinces to safeguard the Fatherland’s frontier. With their brilliant achievements, the provincial armed forces have been honoured with the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces and many other noble rewards by the Party and State.

General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army inspects the Provincial Military Command’s combat readiness work

Bringing into play their revolutionary tradition, in recent years, the provincial armed forces have continued to gain outstanding achievements in various fields, playing a core role in local military - defence work, making all-people national defence and postures of all-people national defence and people’s security increasingly strong, working with other forces to ensure political security and social order and safety, creating a favourable condition for the province’s comprehensive development, maintaining Bac Giang’s position as one of Vietnam’s fastest-growing provinces.

All-level military agencies have proactively given advice to all-level party committees and authorities on exercising close, effective leadership and direction over local military - defence work. They have actively monitored situational developments to give advice on issuing resolutions, directives, and plans for military - defence tasks in each period. Due attention has been paid to raising awareness and a sense of responsibility among party committees and key leaders of sectors and localities towards military - defence work, combining socio-economic development with national defence consolidation, and making all-people national defence and defensive zones increasingly strong. At the same time, consideration has been given to supplementing and perfecting mechanisms for leadership, direction, and operation of party committees and authorities as well as regulations and mechanisms for coordination in the performance of defence - security tasks between forces, departments, sectors, and localities. As a result, a solid legal corridor has been created to facilitate the implementation process from grass-roots to provincial levels, raise the efficiency and effectiveness of state management, and promote synergy for carrying out military - defence work.

Furthermore, the Provincial Military Party Committee has advised the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, and the Provincial People’s Committee to effectively execute the Law on Defence and Security Education. In addition to flexibly organising courses at all levels, the province has actively expanded target groups for defence and security education, particularly religious dignitaries, village heads, persons with great prestige, landlords, managers and leaders of industrial zones and clusters, and party members within private businesses. A lot of measures have been researched and proposed to build a core political force staffed by cadres, party members, and former soldiers to grasp the situation and conduct propagation work within industrial parks and clusters. All-level military agencies have maintained coordination with relevant forces to carry out both direct and indirect propagation to enable the people to grasp the Party and State’s lines and policies. Consequently, on a yearly basis, the province has fulfilled all targets of defence and security education. In 2024 alone, the province held 16 courses for more than 300 individuals from the expanded target groups, directing 54 out of 54 schools to fulfil their defence and security education programs and organise field trips for students to military units, public security units, and historical sites across the province, producing over 25,000 pieces of news, articles, and reports to equip all people with knowledge of defence and security. Thanks to the outcome of defence and security education, cadres, party members, students, and people from the province have been fully aware of hostile forces’ plots and artifices, while the people’s faith in the Party, State, and local party committees and authorities has been cemented.

Selection and conscription of citizens into the Military have been seen as a central part of local military - defence work, acting as a deciding factor in the quality of military human resources, greatly contributing to developing defence and security potentialities. On an annual basis, the Provincial Military Command (PMC), in its capacity as the Standing Agency of the Provincial Military Service Council, has actively directed all-level councils to give advice to localities on closely taking steps of military call-up, especially first-time registration and management of citizens at conscription age, while encouraging the involvement of the whole political system and people in military call-up work, ensuring that this work would be carried out in a close, fair, democratic manner right at grass-roots level to earn good opinion from the public. It is worth noting that in response to “the fear of military service” among a section of young citizens at conscription age working in businesses, the PMC has proactively collaborated with business owners and trade unions to well conduct the work of education and propagation and create a favourable condition for soldiers after fulfilment of their military service to continue to work within those businesses. Besides, all-level military agencies have actively given advice to authorities on adopting preferential treatment policies for citizens joining the Military. At the same time, coordination has been maintained to carry out significant activities, such as campfire entitled “feeding the traditional flame” and art exchange program called “proud to keep moving forward”, commend and reward citizens volunteering to join the Military, and solemnly organise troop handover and reception ceremonies as a festive day with its positive spillover effects on people from all walks of life. Consequently, for many consecutive years, the province has always fulfilled all targets of military call-up with good quality, being highly appreciated by the receiving units and Military Region 1’s Command.

Troops practise shooting targets in the air during a defensive zone exercise of Bac Giang province

For the building of increasingly strong defensive zones, while developing political - spiritual potentialities, the PMC has advised the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, the Provincial People’s Committee, and the Provincial Steering Board for Defensive Zone Building to closely review, appraise, and supervise the planning and division of economic zones, industrial zones, and urban areas in line with defence and security planning in each period, ensuring that each economic development step would be a step forward in enhancing defensive zones’ military potential and posture. Under the Provincial Master Plan for 2021 - 2030, with a vision towards 2050, the PMC has maintained coordination to design and effectively execute the Project on “building defence works within Bac Giang provincial defensive zone in the period of 2021 - 2030”, adjusting the plan on land use for national defence purpose between 2021 and 2030, with a vision towards 2050 as the basis for building increasingly firm postures of all-people national defence and people’s security across the province. Adhering to the Military Regions’ plans and guidance, the PMC has given advice on renewing and improving all-level defensive zone, natural disaster response, and search and rescue exercises. Notably, in the provincial defensive zone exercise of 2023, the PMC applied information technology and digital technology to operating mechanisms for the building of Logistics - Technical Base within the Provincial Rear Base in wartime, acting as a role model for the Military Region in the operation of rear bases within provincial, district-level defensive zones via its models, such as “wartime rice paddy fields” and “combat villages and communes”. Thanks to those exercises, all-level party committees, authorities, and commands have seen improvements in their commanding and operating capacity; defensive combat projects and plans have been supplemented to strengthen defence and security postures in accordance with new task requirements.

Bringing into play its achievements gained in the past 80 years of construction, combat, and maturity, in the upcoming time, the PMC will continue to adopt synchronised measures to make the provincial armed forces really strong and capable of playing a core role in local military - defence work. To that end, it will give advice to the province on building strong armed forces in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel, raising the armed forces’ synergy and combat power to readily respond to all defence and security situations. Due attention will be paid to building “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong military agencies at all levels in line with the building of a pure, strong Provincial Military Party Organisation. Consideration will be given to building a “powerful” reserve force with proper structure, good political quality, and great military and specialised capacity. The militia and self-defence force will be made “strong, extensive”, and capable of playing a core role in building strong all-people national defence and effectively taking part in the movements, namely “building new-style rural areas” and “joining hands for the poor - no one will be left behind”, as well as in natural disaster and epidemic response and search and rescue. Well implementing those above-mentioned measures will contribute to making the provincial armed forces increasingly adept, regular, and capable of excellently accomplishing all assigned tasks, worthy of an army ready for combat, for work, and for production, achieving more brilliant feats in the cause of Fatherland construction and protection.

Sr. Col. PHAM VAN TAO

Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Board

Commander of the PMC