Society

Carrying forward tradition, continuing achievements in the new era

Lieutenant General Ha Tho Binh - Commander of Military Region 4 • October 11, 2025 1:13

On October 15, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh signed a decree establishing War Zone 4 (the predecessor of Military Zone 4) including the provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, now Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri provinces and Hue city. Since then, October 15 every year is the traditional day of the armed forces of Military Zone 4.

Lieutenant General HA THO BINH -Commander of Military Region 4

On October 15, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh signed a decree establishing War Zone 4 (the predecessor of Military Zone 4) including the provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, now Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri provinces and Hue city. Since then, October 15 every year is the traditional day of the armed forces of Military Zone 4.

Born on the land of "spiritual land, talented people", the beloved homeland of President Ho Chi Minh, after 80 years of construction, fighting and growing up, under the leadership of the Party, Uncle Ho, the direct leadership and direction of the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defense, the armed forces of the Military Region always uphold the noble qualities of "Uncle Ho's soldiers" and the tradition of the resilient homeland of Thanh - Nghe - Tinh, the loyal and brave Binh - Tri - Thien, standing side by side with the Party committees, authorities, local people, friendly units and the friendly country of Laos, creating heroic miracles, going down in the history of the nation with brilliant feats of arms.

The particularly important geographical location and historical circumstances always require the army and people of Military Region 4 to carry out extremely heavy tasks with a fierce fighting spirit and determination to win. Through the two resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism, the area of ​​Military Region 4 was both the front line against the enemy and the solid rear of the whole country; the army and people of Military Region 4 always worked for the whole country, with the whole country, produced well, fought well.

During the nine-year long resistance war against the French colonialists, the people and armed forces of Military Region 4 bravely fought to destroy the enemy, expanded the liberated area of ​​Tri Thien, firmly protected the Thanh - Nghe - Tinh rear, and provided human and material resources to the battlefields. Many liberation army units of Region 4 went to the South and made outstanding achievements in the South Central Coast and the Central Highlands; 134,600 young men joined the army, more than 2 million laborers worked on the front lines, and provided 870,000 tons of food for the fronts. Region 4 was known as "The second most solid base in the country after Viet Bac".

During the resistance war against the US to save the country, Military Region 4 was the place where revolutionary and counter-revolutionary forces, socialist regime and neo-colonialism directly confronted each other. The army and people of Military Region 4 simultaneously carried out 4 tasks on 3 battlefields: Protecting and building the socialist rear, providing human and material support to the battlefields; defeating the enemy's air and naval sabotage war, ensuring transportation from the rear to the front line; fighting to destroy the enemy, liberating the homeland on the Tri Thien - Hue battlefield; fulfilling the noble international duty to the friendly countries of Laos and Cambodia. Hundreds of thousands of children of Military Region 4 enlisted to fight in the domestic and international battlefields. Hundreds of thousands of frontline laborers, youth volunteers, and tens of millions of working days of the people were mobilized to serve the combat, ensuring transportation to support the battlefields. Military Region 4 was the gathering place and the departure point for the main units of the Ministry to go to the South to fight the enemy. The people of Military Region 4 were ready to endure hardships and contribute their human and material resources to the revolution.

Due to its geographical and military location, Military Region 4 is the country's vital traffic artery and has become the most fiercely attacked target in the US's war of destruction by air and naval forces in the North. The army and people of Military Region 4 fought back tens of thousands of large and small battles, shooting down 2,183 aircraft of all types (including 34 B52s and 5 F111s), equal to more than half of the total number of US aircraft shot down by our army and people in the North; sinking 258 US warships, contributing to the solid protection of the socialist North, ensuring the smooth supply corridor for the battlefields in the South and the Indochinese countries.

On the fierce Tri-Thien-Hue battlefield, the armed forces and people steadfastly held their ground, continuously attacked and rose up; from preserving their forces, they proactively launched many major campaigns, contributing to changing the situation on the Southern battlefield, shaking the US political arena and winning the hearts of international friends. Especially the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of Mau Than in 1968, the Route 9 Campaign - Southern Laos, the Tri-Thien-Hue Campaign in 1972 and the Hue-Da Nang Campaign in the Spring of 1975, contributed to liberating the South and unifying the Fatherland.

On the battlefields of Laos and Cambodia, the armed forces of Military Region 4 always stood shoulder to shoulder with the army and people of neighboring countries to fight against the common enemy, contributing to the success of the revolutions of the three countries.

Having gone through two glorious wars of resistance of the nation, Military Region 4 is a land of blood and fire with glorious victories, becoming a shining symbol of intelligence, courage and indomitable will to fight against foreign invaders. The army and people of Military Region 4 always work for the whole country, with the whole country, both excellently completing domestic tasks and fulfilling international obligations to the Lao and Cambodian revolutions, contributing with the whole country to complete the cause of national liberation, bringing our country into a new era - the era of national independence associated with socialism.

The country is peaceful and unified, officers and soldiers of the armed forces of Military Region 4 participate in overcoming the consequences of war; bravely fight, sacrifice, together with the entire people and army to defeat the war of aggression at the southwestern border, fulfill their international obligations to the people of Cambodia and Laos and firmly protect the northern border of the Fatherland. In the process of national renewal, the armed forces of the Military Region continue to promote the good qualities and traditions of "Uncle Ho's soldiers", acting as the core in building a national defense, firmly protecting the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam; taking the lead in preventing and combating natural disasters, catastrophes, epidemics, searching and rescuing. At the same time, actively participate in building and developing the economy and society of the provinces and cities in the area; proactively fight to defeat the "peaceful evolution" strategy of hostile forces; Promote defense diplomacy with Laos, contributing to protecting the Fatherland early and from afar, maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for national construction and development.

It can be affirmed that, throughout the 80-year journey of building, fighting, winning and growing up full of hardships and sacrifices, the armed forces of Military Region 4 have written a heroic tradition, brilliant achievements, engraved in the history of the nation brilliant milestones, honored to be awarded by the Party and State: 2 Gold Star Orders, 3 Ho Chi Minh Orders, 1 First Class Independence Order, 1 Second Class Independence Order. 1,047 collectives and 393 individuals were awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces. Tens of thousands of officers, soldiers and many units in the Military Region were awarded Medals, Badges and noble awards by the Party, State of Vietnam and State of Laos.

Promoting the glorious tradition of the past 80 years and valuable lessons learned throughout the process of building, fighting and growing up, and performing tasks in the new period, the armed forces of the Military Region always maintain and strengthen the absolute and direct leadership in all aspects of the Party, the centralized and unified management of the State over the Army and the cause of consolidating national defense and protecting the Fatherland; thoroughly grasp and effectively implement the policy of all-people national defense and people's war; arouse and promote the people's mastery, the will of self-reliance and self-strengthening, the fine cultural traditions of the land and people of Military Region 4, the strength of the great national unity bloc to successfully carry out the cause of building and protecting the Fatherland. Continue to grasp and raise awareness among cadres and soldiers about the task of protecting the Fatherland in the new situation, building the country in parallel with protecting the Fatherland, developing the economy - society associated with strengthening national defense and security. Strengthening propaganda, education, raising awareness and responsibility of cadres, soldiers and people with the task of strengthening national defense, security, and protecting the Fatherland, especially maintaining the ideological position and political mettle, creating consensus, unanimity and determination, and unanimously implementing the Party and State's policy on the revolution of streamlining the apparatus of the political system "Straight - Lean - Strong - Effective - Effective - Efficient"; at the same time, always clearly recognizing that adjusting the organization and building a revolutionary, disciplined, elite, and modern Army is a major, important, correct, and urgent policy; is a key task of the Army in the 2021 - 2030 period. Strengthening solidarity, closely connecting with local Party committees, authorities, and people; promoting combined strength, continuing to build and consolidate the all-people national defense, the all-people national defense posture associated with the people's security posture, and building a solid defense zone; Closely and effectively combine the economy, culture, society, foreign affairs with national defense and security, and between national defense and security with the economy, culture, society and foreign affairs in accordance with the guiding viewpoint: "Socio-economic development is the center; Party building is the key; cultural development is the spiritual foundation; ensuring national defense and security is essential and regular"; prevent, repel and defeat the "peaceful evolution" and violent overthrow plots of hostile forces, maintain political security, order and social safety, create a favorable environment for localities to develop the economy and society.

Strengthen propaganda, education, inheritance and promotion of the heroic and indomitable tradition of the homeland and people, focus on building a strong, revolutionary, disciplined, elite and modern armed force of the Military Region with comprehensive quality and high combat power, organize a "sleek, compact and strong" force, ready to defeat all enemies in all forms of war, respond promptly and effectively to non-traditional security challenges; actively participate in foreign defense activities and be ready to perform noble international tasks. Firmly protect the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the Fatherland; protect the Party, State, People and socialist regime; maintain a peaceful and stable environment for socio-economic development in the locality and the country in the direction of socialism. Thoroughly grasp, seriously and effectively implement the directives and resolutions of the Party, especially the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress; Resolution of the 12th Congress of the Party Committee of the Army and the Party Committee of the Military Region, building clean and strong Party organizations in terms of politics, ideology, organization, ethics and cadres, constantly improving leadership capacity and combat strength. Continue to effectively implement Resolution 4 of the Central Committee (12th tenure) on Party building and rectification in conjunction with Directive 05 of the Politburo, Directive 87 of the Central Military Commission on "Promoting the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, ethics and lifestyle"; carry out the Campaign "Promoting tradition, dedicating talent, worthy of being Uncle Ho's soldiers" with many creative, practical and effective forms and methods, increasingly going into depth and quality. Focus on building a contingent of cadres and party members, first of all, Party committees at all levels with sufficient capacity and qualifications, especially the capacity to organize and implement the Resolution, thereby improving the leadership capacity and fighting strength of the Military Region Party Committee, meeting the leadership requirements of the Military Region's armed forces in the new situation. Focus on doing well the mass mobilization work, strengthening the solidarity relationship between the army and the people, contributing to building a strong local political base, building an increasingly solid "People's heart position" and the great national unity bloc, and doing well the work of defense diplomacy. Closely linking the task of consolidating national defense and security with socio-economic development, effectively implementing national programs and goals; economic and defense projects in the area; Effectively implement the Project "Improving the quality and effectiveness of mass mobilization work of the armed forces of Military Region 4... in the Military Region for the period 2023 - 2030 and the following years"; contribute to improving and enhancing the lives of soldiers and helping people in remote, isolated and border areas to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and stabilize their lives. Always perform well“combat missions in peacetime",Participate in preventing, combating, and overcoming the consequences of natural disasters, epidemics, environmental disasters, etc. Consider this an important task of the Military Region's armed forces.

With the motto "Helping friends is helping ourselves", continue to effectively carry out defense diplomacy tasks with Laos, effectively carry out economic projects combined with defense to create a long-term foothold in strategic areas, contribute to helping the neighboring country develop its economy and society, maintain political stability, strengthen defense, security, foreign affairs, firmly protect independence, territorial sovereignty, and national border security; build a peaceful, friendly, cooperative and developing Vietnam-Laos border; contribute to fostering the special solidarity and friendship between the two Parties, States, Armies and Peoples of the two countries.

The 80-year tradition of building, fighting, growing and developing the armed forces of Military Region 4 not only demonstrates the quintessence and spirit of our nation and Army, but also has the characteristics and identity of the land and the character of the people here; it is the crystallization of the will, determination, especially the patriotism and bravery of the army and people on the land of "spiritual land and talented people". That has become the pride of generations of officers and soldiers of the armed forces of the Military Region. Those traditional values ​​are the driving force for the armed forces of Military Region 4 to continue to promote more strongly in the new period, contributing to building and firmly protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, together with the whole Party, the whole people and the whole army, bringing the country into "a new era, an era of striving for development, prosperity and prosperity of the nation".