Nguyen Chi Thanh: An outstanding practical leader and organizer

Remembering General Nguyen Chi Thanh, General Le Duc Anh, former Politburo member and former President, affirmed: "General Nguyen Chi Thanh, a person as bright as jade, an outstandingly talented cadre, both literary and martial, always closely following reality to make outstanding strategic contributions to the Party in building socialism, building the armed forces, the revolutionary army and developing the Party's military guidelines and art."

General Nguyen Chi Thanh (second from left) in Viet Bac, 1953. Photo courtesy

Having been born and joined the revolution in Thua Thien-Hue since the second half of the 1930s, I have heard a lot about Nguyen Chi Thanh. It was not until 1953, when I came from the Southeast to Viet Bac to attend a political training and re-education class, that he and I met in person, but not often.

It was not until September 1964, when he was sent by the Politburo and the Central Military Commission to the South with the Central Office for Southern Vietnam to lead the people and the Liberation Army of Southern Vietnam to fight against the American invaders, that I was able to live and work with him regularly until May 1967, when he returned to the North to report the situation in the South to the Central Party Committee and Uncle Ho.

Unexpectedly, the terrible disease took away from our Party, people and army a man “as bright as jade”, an outstandingly talented cadre, both literary and martial, always closely following reality to make outstanding strategic contributions to the Party in building socialism, building the armed forces, revolutionary army and developing the Party's military line and art, directly in the confrontation with the plots, tricks and superiority in forces, weapons and means of war of the invading American imperialists.

During the years of living and working with him, then during my working process and until now, I see more and more that Mr. Sau Di (alias of General Nguyen Chi Thanh at the Central Office of Southern Vietnam) is truly an excellent student of Uncle Ho, a typical cadre studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology and morality.

Many comrades, teammates, and countrymen have spoken and written about you - General Nguyen Chi Thanh (1914-1967). I have also written about you more than once. In this article, I just want to say more about you, an example of a leader, an excellent practical organizer at the strategic level, but still very close and specific.

Firstly, in the face of the failure of the “special war” strategy, the hawks in the US government at that time took a new step of escalation. In order to prevent the puppet regime from collapsing, they fabricated the Gulf of Tonkin incident (August 4, 1964) and slandered our navy for attacking US navy ships outside international waters to deceive the US Congress and people, using the excuse of sending US combat troops and modern weapons and means of war directly to participate in the war in the South, implementing the so-called “local war strategy”.

Sent by the Politburo and the Central Military Commission to directly join the Central Office of the South to lead the people and revolutionary armed forces of the South to fight against the American invaders and their puppet regime (from September 1964 to May 1967), discovering that the American imperialists had changed their tactics from the strategy of "special war" to "local war", from the experience of the Binh Gia, Ba Gia, Dong Xoai campaigns, Nguyen Chi Thanh proposed: It is necessary to build elite, capable and always mobile main force units (ie mobile warfare); it is necessary to carry out large-scale annihilation against American combat troops in key battles to be able to win. From his proposal to the Central Office and the Regional Command, with the consent of the Central Military Commission and the Party Central Committee, the main force units of the Region developed rapidly. In 1964, the whole Region had only 11 regiments and 15 battalions, but by the end of 1965 it had developed into 5 divisions and 11 infantry regiments, many technical regiments and battalions; from special forces and commando teams, special forces and commando regiments and battalions developed.

Second, along with the massive influx of combat troops and modern weapons and means of war into the South, the US imperialists also used the air force and navy to fiercely attack the North, causing a number of our cadres, party members and people to develop a fear of fierceness, hesitation and worry.

In the world, many governments and famous figures expressed concern that the US imperialist invasion of Vietnam would spread into a new world war. They advised us not to confront the US - a superpower that had never been defeated. Many questions were raised: "How to fight and defeat the US?"; "How to defeat the US imperialists without letting the war spread into a war between the two camps of socialism and imperialism?"... Our Party and Uncle Ho, with their profound and dialectical vision and the will of "Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom", were still determined to fight and defeat the US. At the first Congress of Heroes and Emulation Fighters of the Armed Forces for the Liberation of the South (from May 2 to 6, 1965), Mr. Thanh expressed his determination: "If we keep fighting the US, we will find a way to defeat the US."

General Nguyen Chi Thanh on a working trip to the southern battlefield in 1965. Photo courtesy

From combat practice, with the creativity of units and localities across the Region, with scientific thinking and sharp dialectics, Mr. Thanh summarized the combat command motto: "Hold the enemy's belt and fight" and must proactively "Find the Americans and fight, find the puppets and destroy"; fight close, fight fast, move fast; fight continuously to minimize casualties of troops in the face of the enemy's overwhelming advantage in firepower... Practice has proven that these are summaries of both strategic and tactical value, contributing to pushing back the lack of confidence in the face of the overwhelming advantage in quantity, level and power of weapons, equipment and means of war of the US army.

Third, also from the practical process of leading and organizing the people and armed forces of the South together with the Central Office and the Military Commission of the Region to fight and fight against the US-puppet regime, in response to the requirement of ensuring weapons, combat equipment and food, coordinating the combat of the three armed forces in the whole Region, especially the main force, in order to force the enemy to disperse their forces, not allowing them to have enough strength to attack us or to deal with our attacks, Mr. Thanh proposed to the Military Commission of the Region, the Central Office and the Politburo: If we want to fight to make the US withdraw, the puppet regime collapse to liberate the South, there must be a motorized transport route from the North to the South. The practical developments, developments and victories of the resistance war against the invading US imperialists, liberating the South and unifying the country have shown that his discovery and proposal were completely correct.

His image, example, personality and style of "talking and doing", his theory closely linked to practice, then drawing conclusions, forming strategic ideas, he is truly an exemplary revolutionary cadre, a typical Uncle Ho's soldier for us to learn and follow.

General Le Duc Anh

According to chinhphu.vn