Following President Ho Chi Minh’s “Appeal for National Resistance,” troops and people of War Zone 2, War Zone 3, Hanoi Capital City, and the whole country rose up against French colonialists. Infantry regiments of those War Zones closely cooperated with local armed forces in proactively attacking the enemy in Hai Duong town and Ca Ro garrison (Nam Dinh province) on the evening of December 19th, 1946; afterwards, a series of raids and attacks to destroy traffic system and enemy espionage inflicted heavy losses on the French. Along with combat activities, the “scorched earth” policy was thoroughly implemented. After more than 3 months of combat, although hostilities only took place in some big urban areas and along Route No.5, most of the localities actively participated in national resistance. Over 3,000 French troops were killed, many means of war of the French were destroyed, cities temporarily occupied by them were all empty, and Route No.5 was basically divided. Tens of road and railway bridges were torn down to impede the enemy’s advance. Offices, factories, and production facilities moved their machinery, equipment, and materials to bases. Tens of thousands of urban citizens were safely evacuated to rural areas. Dozens of farms and handicraft facilities for evacuees were established in many districts of Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, and Ninh Binh provinces.

Military Region 3 receiving First-Class Homeland Protection Order at its 75th founding anniversary (October 31st, 1945 - October 31st, 2020)

Those strategic victories in the early stage of national resistance provide us with valuable lessons on the Party’s leadership over a resistance war, on creating and seizing the opportunity to commence a resistance war, and on heightening resolve and bringing into play the national great unity strength. In this regard, the lesson on making all necessary preparations for a prolonged resistance war remains valuable nowadays and has become an important foundation and a great spiritual motivation for Military Region 3’s armed forces together with local party committees, authorities, and people to flexibly, creatively apply in the building of defence potential.

First of all, build politico-spiritual potential as the basis for developing and mobilising other types of defence potential in the Military Region. In the early days of national resistance, our Party and President Ho Chi Minh aroused and brought into play the politico-spiritual factor, especially patriotic tradition, the spirit of “sacrificing for the Homeland,” and the whole nation’s faith in victory of the Party’s revolutionary cause for the sake of independence, freedom, and happiness. Doing so helped create a source of strength for troops and citizens of War Zones to bravely fight the enemy and initially defeat their strategy of “rapid fight, rapid victory.” Being fully aware of the central role of the politico-spiritual potential, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command have focused on educating the armed forces and the people on the Party’s guidelines, the State’s laws and policies, and resolutions and directives by the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence relating to military-defence task. All-level Defence and Security Education Councils have given advice on improving the quality of defence and security education for all groups of people. Doing so has contributed to raising responsibility of party organisations, authorities, cadres, party members, the armed forces, and the people for defence-security consolidation and the Homeland protection, rendering them fully aware of the importance of defence and security to socio-economic development, and making them clearly understand that building defence potential in peacetime is to creatively bring into play the art of “protecting the country from afar.” Besides, the work of propagation and education has also contributed to raising cadres, party members, and citizens’ revolutionary vigilance and awareness of hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy in order to maintain political stability for socio-economic development. The Military Region’s armed forces have promoted their vanguard, core roles in natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control as well as search and rescue, while actively conducting mass mobilisation work, helping the people with hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and new-style countryside construction, consolidating political bases, building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds,” and cementing the people’s faith in the Party’s leadership and the success of national renewal cause as the basis for readily mobilising all resources in military-defence task.

Second, closely combine the development of socio-economic potential with the building of increasingly strong defensive posture. Over the years, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command have cooperated with provincial-level party committees and authorities in aligning socio-economic development with defence-security consolidation to ensure that socio-economic development would help further consolidate defence and security. Local military agencies have advised local party committees and authorities to supplement and perfect regulations and mechanisms for the building and operation of defensive zones, with significance attached to implementing the Action Programme for the Politburo’s Resolution 28-NQ/TW and the Government’s Decrees on defensive zones and formulating master plans for defence disposition associated with socio-economic development.

There is a fact that the Military Region has all mountainous, flat, and coastal areas together with large urban areas, industrial zones, economic facilities, airports, and seaports; many socio-economic development projects have been designed and implemented so far. Therefore, the Military Region has concentrated on directing its offices and units, particularly local military agencies to promote their role in appraising socio-economic development projects, with socio-economic development as the central goal and defence-security consolidation as an important, routine task. Doing so has enabled localities to promote their potential, foster rapid, sustainable development, improve the people’s mental and material life, and develop human and material resources for defence potential.

In addition, the Military Region has directed its competent offices to establish projects on constructing defensive works, such as clusters of key defensive positions, standing militia and self-defence force’ key combat positions, campaign-level key positions, and defensive lines on Northeastern islands and along the coast. It has directed localities to intensify measures of state management of defence and actively mobilise resources to build combat works within defensive zones, with a focus on combat bases, rear bases, and headquarters. It has closely collaborated with local party committees and authorities in effectively executing the project on defence-security consolidation associated with socio-economic development in the strategic, border areas, the project on building offshore islands into economic, science-technology, and defence-security centres, and the project on building 2 economic-defence zones of Binh Lieu - Hai Ha - Mong Cai and North Hai Son, thereby making contributions to boosting socio-economic development, consolidating defence and security in the key areas, and setting up an inter-connected, flexible, in-depth, increasingly solid defensive posture within the Military Region.

Third, enhance the synergy and combat power of the Military Region’s armed forces to meet the task requirements. Prior to national resistance, all War Zones had regimental-level main units, districts had 1 or 2 guerrilla groups, and communes and quarters had guerrilla and self-defence teams. In all-people resistance, those forces played a core role in pinning the enemy down, encircling and destroying French troops in urban areas, preventing enemy troops along routes, causing a lot of difficulties and losses for the French. Applying that lesson to today’s Homeland construction and protection, the Military Region has concentrated on making its three-category armed forces comprehensively strong and capable of performing a core role in building the all-people national defence associated with the people’s security and providing solid support for local party committees, authorities, and citizens. To meet the task requirements set by “the building of a revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), with priority given to modernising a number of services, corps, and forces as a firm prerequisite for building a modern VPA from 2030,” the Military Region’s armed forces have been stepping up the implementation of three breakthroughs according to the Resolution of the 11th Military Party Congress. In this regard, (1) the Military Region has focused on adjusting its organisational structure in a “compact, strong” fashion, with a balance between offices and units. Priority has been given to sufficiently staffing units that would move straight to modernity and units tasked with combat readiness in the border, sea, island areas. Significance has been attached to building a powerful reserve force and mobilising members of this force and means to opportunely staff military units in the event, while due attention has been paid to building a “strong, extensive” militia and self-defence force capable of playing a core role in ensuring political security and social order and safety at grass-roots level and taking part in defending national sovereignty over seas and islands. (2) The Military Region has actively renewed contents, programmes, and methods of combat training relevant to its task requirements, objects of combat, and operating area under the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW. Consideration has been given to organising joint exercises between services, corps, and forces within defensive zones, mobilising national economy’s technical means, training special task forces, and holding exercises on combat at sea, search and rescue, and non-traditional security challenge response. (3) The Military Region has synchronously adopted measures for military standard order building and discipline management in order to keep raising its synergy and combat power, building defence potential, and firmly protecting the Homeland in the new situation.

Lt. Gen. NGUYEN QUANG NGOC, Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the Central Military Commission, Commander of the Military Region