Hoang Dan: The talented general

(Baonghean) - During his lifetime, Major General Hoang Dan (1928-2003) was considered a talented and virtuous man with strategic vision, participating in and commanding many great victories. Those feats contributed to the victory of the war to protect the Fatherland and brought glory to his hometown Nghe An, where he was born and returned to when he passed away.

On an autumn day filled with golden sunshine, we went to Nghi Thuan (Nghi Loc) - the hometown of Major General Hoang Dan with the desire to learn more about this talented general. The members of the Hoang family showed us the way to the Hoang family temple, Hoang Van He branch, where there is a room dedicated to worship and display pictures and works of General Dan. The temple is located in the middle of hamlet 16, surrounded by a lush green garden, not grand in scale but built spaciously and neatly arranged. On the right side of Major General Hoang Dan's altar are enlarged and solemnly hung documentary photos of his fighting life.

In front is a bookcase that collects his works, which are meaningful as summaries of the wars in Vietnam from the perspective of an insider. All contain historical and military values, helping future generations have more vivid and specific documents about the fierce and glorious years of the country. Some typical works that are being kept in the souvenir bookcase include: "From Ben Hai River to Independence Palace", "Things left over from two wars", "The art of deceiving the enemy in war", "Division 304 - unforgettable memories", "Huong Giang Corps - lightning-fast footprints", "Army Corps 2 (chronicle of events)", "20 years of the National Defense Academy". Reading these documents and through the stories of relatives, we have a specific picture of him - an outstanding son of the homeland, a "general of the battlefield".

Major General Hoang Dan (far left) with General Vo Nguyen Giap and Lieutenant General Le Trong Tan (in 1976). Photo courtesy

Perhaps, Hoang Dan was born to hold a gun to chase away the enemy and command the battles, because his life has been almost synonymous with the steps of the Vietnamese people since the day the Party showed the way. His footsteps have left their mark on fierce battlefields, going through most of the battles to protect the Fatherland. He was born in 1928 in a family with a rich tradition of patriotism and revolution, the 21st generation descendant of King Hoang Ta Thon - a famous general of the Tran Dynasty, who had the merit of destroying many warships of the Yuan - Mongol invaders. His uncle was Hoang Van Tam, who was soon present in the ranks of the Communist Party of Vietnam and was the first Secretary of the District Party Committee of Nghi Loc District and was captured and executed by the enemy during the revolutionary movement of 1930-1931. His paternal uncle Hoang Van My was also captured by the enemy in 1930 and exiled to Kon Tum for nearly 10 years before being released.

Since childhood, Hoang Dan was sent to school by his parents, from the village school, to the district school, and then to the provincial school. With his intelligence, diligence and hard work, Hoang Dan was always highly appreciated by the professors throughout his studies. Raised in a family with a rich tradition, the student from Nghi Thuan soon became enlightened with the spirit of patriotism and revolution, realizing the injustice of the colonial-feudal society at that time. Therefore, when Japan staged a coup against France (March 1945), although only 17 years old, following in his brother's footsteps, Hoang Dan joined the Viet Minh Front and was soon elected as a member of the district's Executive Committee. Then, the young man was trusted by his superiors and sent to Van Trinh commune to take charge of organizing the struggle, leading to a general uprising to seize power. And on the day the general uprising broke out, Hoang Dan himself was the one who led the demonstration group to the district to participate in the struggle.

Hoang Dan entered the military in 1946, when he was sent to study at the Military School of the Military Region in Cam Xuyen (Ha Tinh). After only a short period of training, he was assigned to work in Binh - Tri - Thien and began participating in the resistance war against the French on the banks of the Ben Hai River. From a soldier, Hoang Dan was assigned as a Platoon Leader, then Company Political Commissar, Battalion Commander, and Deputy Regiment Commander. During the resistance war against the French, he participated in and commanded hundreds of fierce battles. Some of the battles that included blocking the enemy on the road from Cam Lo to Dong Ha, blocking the enemy in Gio Linh, ambushing enemy ships on the Dong Ha River, and fighting against sweeps in Nam Vinh Linh (Quang Tri). Then Hoang Dan's footsteps moved to Viet Bac to participate in the Hoa Binh, Thu Dong campaigns, circled to Upper Laos, and then returned to participate in the Dien Bien Phu battle as part of the 304th Division.

The Dien Bien Phu campaign was victorious, the Geneva Agreement was signed, peace was restored in the North, Hoang Dan was transferred to teach at the Military High School (the predecessor of the National Defense Academy). After that, he was sent to study in the Soviet Union and returned to be the Head of the Infantry Department of the Military Academy. In 1965, the resistance war against the US, to save the country, entered a fierce and fierce stage, the US massively poured troops into the Southern battlefield with modern weapons in an attempt to crush the will to fight for unity of our army and people. The situation became critical, Hoang Dan was transferred to the battlefield, holding the position of Deputy Commander, then Commander of Division 304B (the reserve unit of Division 304). At this time, Hoang Dan participated in commanding units of the division in the counter-attack campaign on Route 9 - Southern Laos and fighting the enemy at Quang Tri Citadel. The battles were extremely fierce, both sides fought for every high point, every meter of trench, and in the end we forced the enemy to suffer many losses.

With his talent for combat command, in 1973, Hoang Dan was promoted to the rank of Colonel and appointed as Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the 1st Corps (the Commander at that time was Lieutenant General Le Trong Tan, concurrently Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army). One year later, the 2nd Corps was established, Hoang Dan was transferred to be Deputy Commander. He directly commanded the 304th Division to fight the battle of Thuong Duc (Da Nang), helping our army regain the advantage at this peak. Notably, during the 1975 Spring General Offensive, Colonel Hoang Dan and officers and soldiers of the 2nd Corps participated in the campaign to liberate Hue-Da Nang. He was the representative of the Corps to report the combat plan to General Vo Nguyen Giap and Lieutenant General Le Trong Tan and was given more specific and detailed advice by these two famous generals.

As a result, with the "lightning-fast" marching speed of the 2nd Corps, the enemy was forced to retreat and surrender, and we captured many modern weapons and equipment. With this victory, the 2nd Corps continued to march "lightning-fast", liberating the coastal provinces of the Central region and approaching Saigon, ready to participate in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. In this historic campaign, Hoang Dan's 2nd Corps was in the ranks of the Eastern wing, advancing straight into Saigon. And the 203rd Tank Brigade of the Corps entered the Independence Palace first, capturing the entire cabinet of Duong Van Minh, forcing them to surrender unconditionally. The journey "From Ben Hai River to Independence Palace" was vividly and attractively recreated by Hoang Dan through his memories, bringing readers joy and admiration for the talented general of his hometown Nghe An.

But the Independence Palace was not the end of his military career. After the victory, he returned to work as Deputy Director of the Senior Military Academy. He continued to research, develop training programs, and train officers for the Vietnam People's Army and was promoted to Major General in 1977, at the age of 49 and 31 years in the army. "The Americans had left", "The puppets had fallen", it was thought that the country would be free of enemies, but then the Khmer Rouge and expansionist China launched the Southwestern border war and the Northern border war to test the spirit and will of the Vietnamese people. While doing research and teaching, Major General Hoang Dan was once again sent by the Ministry of National Defense to the Southwestern border and Northern border battlefields to conduct field research and develop combat plans to push the enemy out of the border and territory.

As a veteran of the battlefield, and having studied deeply about strategy and tactics, Major General Hoang Dan's battle plan was applied, contributing to the decisive victory over the invading enemy. In particular, during the Northern border war, Hoang Dan was appointed Commander of the 5th Corps, concurrently Commander of the Lang Son front and Deputy Commander of Military Region 1. He was directly present at the fiercest peaks, where we and the enemy fought for every inch of land to command and encourage the fighting spirit of the soldiers. It was the presence and commanding talent of the commander that contributed to crushing the will to invade of those coming from the other side of the border, forcing them to gradually withdraw from Vietnamese territory. His mission completed, he returned to his research and teaching work, taking the opportunity to record the fierce, heroic years and summarize the fighting experience to pass on to the next generation.

Major General Hoang Dan passed away in 2003 and was buried in his hometown Nghi Thuan. In 2014, he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the People's Armed Forces by the State, in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the wars of national liberation and defense.

Friends, comrades and superiors of Major General Hoang Dan always highly appreciated his talent and personality. Senior Lieutenant General, Professor, People's Teacher Hoang Minh Thao once wrote: “General Dan was a general of the battlefield. Wherever there was the fiercest battle, General Hoang Dan was present. He fought bravely and commanded wisely. He participated in commanding famous battles”. And here are the words of Major General Nguyen Dung Chi: “Now, he is gone. I say he was also a talented general. He died a bit early, leaving behind a mess of work assigned by previous generals: summarizing the campaign, summarizing the strategy to help Mr. Quang and Mr. Thao”.

Cong Kien