The Life Story of a Lieutenant General
These days, the entire Party, army, and people are looking forward to the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army (December 22, 1944 - December 22, 2011) and the National Defense Day. Readers today are impressed by the memoir "Belief and the Meaning of Life" (People's Army Publishing House, 1995) by Lieutenant General Nguyen De, from Vo Liet, Thanh Chuong - Nghe An, nicknamed Ba Trung (1928-1998). The life and career of this general is an immortal epic, a prime example of the struggle to rise from a life of slavery, defeating tyrannical forces to win freedom and independence...
(Baonghean)These days, the entire Party, army, and people are looking forward to the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army (December 22, 1944 - December 22, 2011) and the National Defense Day. Readers today are impressed by the memoir "Belief and the Meaning of Life" (People's Army Publishing House, 1995) by Lieutenant General Nguyen De, from Vo Liet, Thanh Chuong - Nghe An, nicknamed Ba Trung (1928-1998). The life and career of this general is an immortal epic, a prime example of the struggle to rise from a life of slavery, defeating tyrannical forces to win freedom and independence...
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Nguyen De was born into a poor family in Vo Liet commune, Thanh Chuong district (Nghe An province). Before he was four years old, he was orphaned. Three years later, his mother remarried and followed her stepfather to make a living in Southern Vietnam. At just seven years old, Nguyen De became a servant for a wealthy family in the village. Initially, he was tasked with looking after the master's two-year-old youngest son, and later, he was assigned to herd five cows. The hardships and humiliations of his time as a servant are indescribable. He constantly lived in poverty, hungry and ragged. In the bitterly cold winter, with only a thin coat, the master would make him sleep in the cowshed to guard against thieves. Many nights he went hungry because the cows hadn't eaten enough. One day, after returning from tending the cows, exhausted and dizzy from hunger, Nguyen De saw a pot of pig feed on the stove and grabbed a few handfuls to eat. The mistress saw him and immediately attacked him, knocking him over and scattering the pot of animal feed all over the house. Not only that, she threw the bowl she used to scoop the feed at his face; shards pierced his eyelids, and blood streamed down his face. Several times, due to the cruel beatings, Nguyen De tried to escape to the market to beg, but the mistress immediately sent people to find him and bring him back, forcing him to continue his miserable life. After four years of working for her, when he had experienced all the bitterness and humiliation, his mother returned from the South and paid the mistress 30 Indochinese silver coins to ransom her son. Afterward, she took her son thousands of kilometers to the Binh Ba rubber plantation in Xuan Loc (now Xuan Loc district, Dong Nai province). There, the boy, just over 10 years old, officially became a plantation laborer, living a life of hardship and bitterness under the beatings of the plantation overseers. When Nguyen De was 13 years old, he and his mother had to flee the rubber plantation to Saigon to make a living. In this land, the mother toiled as a water carrier and street vendor, while our "future general" had to drop out of school to sell newspapers and ice cream throughout the city to earn money to help his mother. But life in Saigon wasn't easy, so mother and son drifted to Long Thanh district, Bien Hoa province (now Dong Nai province). In Bien Hoa, the mother had to work as a maid, while the boy, not yet 15, was hired to work at a tailor shop. After some time, thanks to his intelligence, diligence, and willingness to learn, the 16-year-old from Nghe An became a skilled tailor. The kind-hearted owner of the tailor shop helped Nguyen De open his own tailor shop. The shop became increasingly popular, and from then on, the lives of the mother and son became less difficult.
A turning point in my life.
April 1945 marked a turning point in the life of the young man from Nghe An province who had wandered to Southern Vietnam. This turning point paved the way for Nguyen De to become a Lieutenant General in the heroic Vietnam People's Army. At that time, a man named Phu, the leader of the Vanguard Youth in Long Thanh district, approached Nguyen De to encourage him to join the organization and contribute to the movement. Joining the Vanguard Youth, he was assigned the task of distributing propaganda leaflets and later served as a liaison for the Viet Minh Front at the district level. Due to his active participation and participation in political training courses, Nguyen De was appointed leader of the Vanguard Youth in Phuoc Thieng commune (Long Thanh district). On August 13, 1945, he led the Long Thanh district demonstration to Saigon to participate in the General Uprising, seizing power for the people. Following the success of the August Revolution, and facing the threat of renewed enemy invasion, he was assigned by his superiors to recruit young people to form the core of the National Guard, the first armed organization in Long Thanh district. In early 1946, Nguyen De was sent to Ba Ria to request reinforcements. At this time, the enemy was attacking and besieging all roads, making it impossible to return to Long Thanh. He decided to volunteer and fight in Ba Ria - Vung Tau. There, he was assigned the task of leading a suicide squad. During an infiltration into enemy territory, he fell into enemy hands. The enemy used every form of brutal torture to force him to reveal the truth. But with his hardened "steel" resolve, Nguyen De steadfastly refused to confess, even when death was imminent. Unable to extract any information, the French stopped the torture but continued to imprison him. One pitch-black night, he and two fellow prisoners decided to escape. Upon reaching the third fence, the enemy spotted them and raised the alarm. One fellow prisoner was shot dead, but he and the remaining friend continued running towards the edge of the forest and escaped.
In late 1946, Nguyen De was sent to study at the Tran Quoc Tuan Military Academy in Son Tay, while also transporting important documents to the Central Committee. Along the way, he heard President Ho Chi Minh's call for "National Resistance." This was a rallying cry from the nation, further motivating him to fulfill his assigned mission. This patriotic young man, full of revolutionary fervor, traversed the high mountain passes and deep streams of the Central Highlands and the Truong Son mountain range. Wherever he went, he and his comrades helped the people establish revolutionary governments. Simultaneously, through perseverance and skillful persuasion, he organized the establishment of liaison stations connecting a corridor approximately 300 km long, stretching from Ninh Thuan to Khanh Hoa. On one occasion, Nguyen De and his comrades fell into an ambush in the villages of Du Oai and A Tho. His comrades were killed and lost, while Nguyen De himself was struck by a poisoned arrow in the arm. He had to venture alone through the deep forest in torrential rain, facing ferocious wild animals, sleeping in caves at night, and crawling or dragging himself through the wilderness during the day, his stomach empty. At times, he was so exhausted that he fainted. His wounds had rotted, and death was once again imminent, but the young man from Nghe An still clung to his last ounce of strength to find life and continue fighting. Fortunately, he crawled to the stairs of a house belonging to an ethnic minority group, where he received attentive care and overcame his critical condition.
In May 1947, due to changing circumstances, Nguyen De was ordered from Phu Yen to return to the South to take on a new assignment. Once again, traversing the jungle and overcoming numerous dangers and hardships, he and his comrades finally reached their destination to assume the role of Team Leader and Political Commissar of the Special Operations and Armed Propaganda Team of Ba Ria Province. One month after its formation, the team under his command organized its first battle and completely wiped out an enemy patrol squad, marking the beginning of a series of resounding victories. From 1947 to 1954, in various capacities, Nguyen De commanded units in battles against the enemy, winning hundreds of victories, capturing many types of weapons, dismantling hundreds of enemy outposts, killing tens of thousands of enemy soldiers, and contributing to the liberation of a vast area of Ba Ria Province. With the intelligence, resourcefulness, and courage of a commander, he contributed to defeating the French De Lattre tactic (building a system of strong, dense watchtowers to prevent our troops from advancing).
In 1954, after the victory at Dien Bien Phu and the signing of the Geneva Accords, Nguyen De followed the victorious army to the North for regrouping. He was then sent to study at the Army Officer School in Guilin (China). Upon returning to Vietnam, he was assigned as the political commissar of Battalion 3, Regiment 78, Division 330. In 1956, Nguyen De was again sent to the Army Officer School for two years. Upon his return, he was assigned the role of Battalion Commander and Political Commissar of Battalion 307. At this time, in the South, the US-Diem regime had seized power and openly opposed the Geneva Accords, refusing to hold general elections, and relentlessly retaliating against those who had participated in the resistance and suppressing the revolution. Nguyen De and all his fellow soldiers who had regrouped in the North felt their hearts burning with anxiety, constantly living in a state of "North by day, South by night."
In April 1960, after about six years of regrouping, Nguyen De was sent back to the South to fight. Before departing, he and 53 other comrades met with President Ho Chi Minh, General Secretary Le Duan, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, and General Vo Nguyen Giap, who gave them advice and encouragement, and promised them a day of complete victory and reunification of the North and South. On the way to the South, the convoy stopped in the Ben Thuy area. Although he longed to travel back along the Lam River to visit his hometown of Vo Liet, Nguyen De had to put aside his burning desire to return home due to the demands of his mission.
Lieutenant General Nguyen De (center) and the Forward Command of Military Region IX plan the opening of the 1974-1975 Winter-Spring campaign on the Vinh-Tra front.
Photo: Archival material
The "Leader" of the West
After more than four months of arduous marching through the Truong Son Mountains, facing hunger, cold, disease, and enemy pursuit, Nguyen De and his comrades finally returned to the South. His new assignment was to serve as Chief of Staff of Military Region IX, later transferred to reinforce Ca Mau province. From there, he undertook many different important missions, always present in key areas to build and consolidate fighting forces. From Vinh Tra (Vinh Long, Ca Mau), to Can Tho, Rach Gia, and Soc Trang, Nguyen De's footprints were everywhere. In October 1963, while commanding a battle at Dam Doi, Nguyen De was shot in the thigh. By the time he arrived at the field hospital, the wound had become infected with tetanus; the only way to survive was amputation or amputation of his leg. He urgently pleaded with the doctors to find another method to preserve his leg so that he could continue fighting the enemy on the front lines. Finally, the medical team saved him by cutting open the wound and applying saline solution to kill the bacteria. Despite the excruciating pain, Nguyen De gritted his teeth and endured. Ultimately, his willpower and courage helped him overcome the suffering, and shortly afterward, he returned to the battlefield to command battles, striking fear into the hearts of the American and South Vietnamese forces. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, as Battalion Commander of Battalion 306 and Deputy Commander of the Vinh-Tra Front, Nguyen De led the capture of Vinh Long town within six days. On the afternoon of April 30, 1975, after Saigon was liberated, as commander of the Vinh-Tra Liberation Army forces, Nguyen De organized the siege of Vinh Long town and forced the provincial governor to surrender unconditionally.
After the liberation of South Vietnam and the reunification of the country, Nguyen De was entrusted by his superiors with the important responsibility of being a Division Commander, then Commander of Front 797, and later Commander of Military Region IX. He was the one who commanded our forces in fighting to protect the southwestern border of the Fatherland and helped Cambodia overthrow the Pol Pot genocidal regime, assisting Cambodia in its gradual recovery. From 1986 to 1996, Nguyen De served as Commander of Military Region IX.
The love story between General Nguyen De and Le Thi Hong Quy truly exemplifies the love and marital devotion of Vietnamese people during wartime. Their love blossomed when the 26-year-old soldier, severely wounded, was lovingly cared for by the 17-year-old girl from Ba Ria. However, due to the war and the country's division, they didn't have the chance to meet before the young man left for the North, only exchanging heartfelt messages and promises through letters. The man in the North never forgot her, while the woman in the South remained steadfastly loyal, enduring countless harsh trials from the enemy. Their wedding was simple but happy and warm, held on the battlefield of Ca Mau (in 1963), between two major battles and after nearly 10 years of separation.
For his immense contributions to the country, the revolution, and the people, in 1988, this son of Thanh Chuong, Nghe An, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General. Ten years earlier (in 1978), he was awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces. Lieutenant General Nguyen De's life exemplifies the courage, willpower, and resilience of a person from Nghe An in overcoming all circumstances.
Cong Kien