In his revolutionary career, at the age of 53, with over 30 years of revolutionary activities, General Nguyen Chi Thanh devoted his entire life to the Party and the nation. His life and career are a shining example of a steadfast communist; a talented leader; a skillful general; an outstanding son of the nation.

General Nguyen Chi Thanh was born on January 01, 1914, in Niem Pho village, Quang Tho commune, Quang Dien district, Thua Thien province (now Thua Thien Hue province). Understanding the hardships and misery that our people suffered from the oppression and brutal exploitation of the French colonialists and feudal lackeys, enlightened by the Marxist-Leninist ideology, the revolutionary path of the Party, led by comrade Nguyen Ai Quoc, young man Nguyen Vinh soon embarked on the revolutionary road to save the people and the country. In July 1937, he was admitted to the Communist Party of Indochina, and shortly afterward, he was appointed as the secretary of the local party committee. Just less than one year after being admitted to the Party, in March 1938, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Thua Thien Provincial Party Committee at the age of 24. Under the leadership of Thua Thien Party Committee, headed by comrade Nguyen Vinh, party bases were quickly developed and the movement to fight for civil rights and local democracy in 1937 and 1938 was promoted, turning Hue into a revolution hub in Central Vietnam.

From 1938 to 1945, he was captured by the enemy three times and detained in notorious prisons in the Central region. However, the imperial prisons failed to break the spirit of this dedicated Communist soldier. He stood side by side with fellow patriots and revolutionaries, establishing party cells in the prisons, conducting cultural and political education, transmitting revolutionary activity experiences, and fighting against the oppressive and brutal terror of the enemy, which contributed to transforming the prisons into schools. Overcoming the captivity imposed by the imperial forces, He returned to the revolutionary movement, and launched the anti-Japanese movement in the homeland. In August 1945, He was chosen to attend the Party's National Conference in Tan Trao and was elected to the Central Committee's Executive Board, assigned the role of Secretary of the Party Provincial Committee in Central Vietnam. At this conference, Comrade was honoured with a name given by Uncle Ho, and from then on, the name Nguyen Chi Thanh became a part of the history of the Vietnam People's Army, of the Vietnamese revolution. This is also a significant mark in the journey of Comrade to become an outstanding leader of the Party.

After the success of the August Revolution, Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh directed the military and people of Thua Thien to build and protect the revolutionary government. Under comrade's guidance, the army and people of Hue proactively engaged in the resistance, fought bravely, besieged the enemy for 50 days in the city, contributing significantly to the victory of the urban areas in the 16th north parallel, creating favourable conditions for the entire country to enter a long-term resistance.

However, due to the significant disparity in forces when the enemy reinforced, broke the siege, and expanded its occupation area, the resistance of the Thua Thien army and people faced severe challenges: losing land, losing people, the armed forces losing stable position, the people's war front was broken, etc. This was the historical moment where Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh clearly demonstrated his leadership role. Adhering to the strategy of "resistance for national salvation", based on the practical situation of resistance in Thua Thien, with the wisdom and courage of an outstanding leader, He advocated for continuing the resistance, undermining the enemy's pacification policies, bringing officials and party members back to the local areas, mobilising the population, rebuilding the infrastructure; reorganising the armed forces, rectifying the government, and completing the leadership of the Party. Comrade Thanh emphasised, "Losing land is not losing the country; we must defend each person, each village. We cannot afford to lose the people; we must not leave our base even in death. We will surely triumph". Under the guidance of Secretary Nguyen Chi Thanh, the people's war front in the area was restored, blocking the advance of the French colonial forces and rebuilding trust among the people.

In early 1948, the Binh-Tri-Thien Region was established, Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was appointed as the Secretary of the Regional Party Committee while also serving as the Secretary of the Thua Thien Provincial Party Committee. Under His leadership, the resistance in the area overcame severe challenges, gradually consolidated the position, creating a premise and foundation for larger victories, contributing to the overall victory of the country. For these significant contributions, Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was awarded the title of "Guerrilla General" by President Ho Chi Minh.

President Ho Chi Minh and General Nguyen Chi Thanh at the Military Party Congress in 1960

In order to build a strong army, meeting the requirements of transitioning the resistance war against French colonialists into a new phase, in 1950, Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh was reassigned to work in the army, holding the position of Director of the General Political Department. In his new position, He consistently assimilated the viewpoint of building the armed forces of Marxist-Leninist ideology, Ho Chi Minh's thoughts to guide the close combination of the three main aspects: political, military and logistics, continually completing the organisation to enhance the combat capability of the People's Army. Considering political work and ideology as the decisive factors, as the essential foundation for building a strong army, He emphasised that the Vietnam People's Army is a core force of the revolution, a reliable political force, a sharp combat force of the Party, government and people. This also means that the Party must hold leadership over the army, and cannot and will never share that power with other classes. It is a principled matter and a rule to ensure that the army stands firmly on the working-class standpoint, has a correct political orientation, operates militarily effectively, and excellently fulfills the tasks entrusted by the Party, government and people.

To ensure an absolute, direct leadership in all aspects of the Party over the Army, Comrade, together with the General Military Commission, focused on studying and improving the Party's leadership mechanism over the army. He proposed replacing the "Political Commissar makes the final decision" regime (applied since August 1949) with the "Party Committee, Party Committee levels leading in the regular army" regime, officially approved by the 2nd National Party Congress (February 1951). He also devoted to directing and organising party work, political work within the Army; establishing the political system and implementing the political commissar regime, political officers down to the company level; directing the improvement and raising the quality of leadership of the grassroots party officers, emphasising the collective leadership principle; caring about training, fostering, and building a pool of cadre at all levels with sufficient moral, talent and ability to fulfilling the requirements of tasks. Under his leadership and direction, party work, political work made remarkable progress, becoming the "soul, lifeblood" of the army. General Vo Nguyen Giap commented: "In the position of Director of the General Political Department, Comrade Thanh made significant contributions to building the army in terms of politics, ideology, building the party organisation, political organisation work and the cadre; maintaining and strengthening the Party's leadership over the military. Under his direct guidance, Party work - political work within the army has seen new developments in both content and form, contributing to enhancing the combat strength of our armed forces”.

In early 1961, in response to the demand for agricultural development, General Nguyen Chi Thanh was assigned to the position of Head of the Central Rural Affairs Committee. With a hands-on and practical approach, He "clung to the fields", deeply engaging with farmers, grasping the actual situation of the cooperative and agricultural production movements in various localities. Recognising the limitations in land area, He directed a focus on intensive farming to increase productivity, promoted the widespread application of science and technical methods in agriculture. To encourage and inspire people to participate in production labour, he initiated numerous wide-ranging movements throughout the North, such as the "Dai Phong Wind", "Pha xieng ba sao", “Cooperative Renovation”, etc., which emphasised production coupled with distribution, bringing about significant transformations in agriculture and rural areas in the Northern region. By 1964, the Northern region had essentially secured its food supply, making a crucial contribution to building a strong strategic rear. His outstanding contributions on the agricultural production front affirmed that Nguyen Chi Thanh was not only a talented political and military figure but also an excellent economic leader and manager.

In October 1964, in response to the demands of the resistance war against the United States and the revolutionary development in the South, General Nguyen Chi Thanh was appointed by the Political Bureau to the position of Central Office Secretary, Regional Military Commissioner, and Political Commissioner of the armed liberation forces in the Southern region. As the U.S. shifted to a "localised war strategy", deploying troops directly into combat in the South, comrade Thanh and the Central Office worked to devise strategies to fight and defeat the U.S, while there were some concerns and fluctuations among people due to the strength of the world's number one professional army and advice from some large countries that Vietnam should not confront the U.S. General Nguyen Chi Thanh, with dialectical thinking in assessing the difference in forces, identified that the U.S. is in a strategic passivity, with unstable morale among soldiers, and the terrain in the Southern battlefield was not conducive to the deployment of U.S. forces in accordance with conventional warfare. On the contrary, the winning weapon of our army was revolutionary heroism. He called on our compatriots and soldiers to uphold revolutionary heroism, determined to fight and win, to find ways to engage the enemy using our tactics, limiting their firepower and mobility.  Based on the study of the actual battlefield, General Nguyen Chi Thanh believed that our strategy should be centred on the principle: "Keep fighting the U.S. and we will find a way to defeat the U.S.". Implementing this guiding principle, the South forces had achieved notable victories at Nui Thanh, Van Tuong, Pleime-Ia Drang, demonstrating the ability to defeat the U.S. expeditionary force. From the realities of the battlefield, comrade Thanh formulated the guiding principle and strategic ideology of "hugging enemy troops", "seeking and hunting down the U.S. and its puppet army" and forming the "belts of destruction for the U.S. army", which quickly became popular among the army and people in the South and created a distinctive fighting approach for Vietnamese people: "fighting close, fighting directly" against U.S. forces. Under the leadership of General Nguyen Chi Thanh, the South forces defeated two counter-offensives of the U.S. army during the two dry seasons of 1965-1966 and 1966-1967 by the U.S. puppet forces, "creating a solid foundation for the complete victory against the U.S. local war strategy"⁴. General Nguyen Chi Thanh's assessments of the battlefield contributed significantly to the determination of the Political Bureau and President Ho Chi Minh to launch the strategic offensive campaign in Spring 1968, marking a turning point in the resistance war against the U.S. and for national salvation. General Nguyen Chi Thanh "made significant contributions to the development of the military art of our people's war, boosting the fighting morale of our forces and people and contributing to the success of the resistance against the U.S. and national salvation".

On July 6, 1967, General Nguyen Chi Thanh passed away after a sudden heart attack. With over 30 years of revolutionary activities and holding various positions, Comrade Nguyen Chi Thanh made significant contributions to the national liberation struggle, the development of the Party, the building of the Armed Forces, and the construction of the country. He was an outstanding leader of the Vietnamese revolution, both in theoretical thinking and practical guidance; a shining example for present and future generations to learn from and follow.

Sr. Col, Dr. LE THANH BAI, Deputy Director of the Institute of Military History