General Giap in the eyes of foreign historians

(Baonghean) - "In the near future, there will be no Western country where we will find an outstanding general like Vo Nguyen Giap." That is what Korean history professor Ly Cun Yop said when talking about General Vo Nguyen Giap.

In mid-November 1996, we received a letter from Professor Dang Bich Ha, wife of General Vo Nguyen Giap, through the hands of a foreign guest. Reading the letter, we learned that he was Professor of History Ly Cun Yop, a Korean. According to Professor Dang Bich Ha, Professor Ly Cun Yop had spent a lot of time researching the life of President Ho Chi Minh. He had longed to have the opportunity to visit President Ho Chi Minh's homeland. Now his wish has been fulfilled. In an intimate conversation, Professor Ly Cun Yop said: "I came to Kim Lien with a Vietnamese heart."

He gave us the book: “The beauty in Ho Chi Minh is Ly Su Sin, the 16th century Korean national hero”. In the book, he devoted a part to talking about the life and career of General Vo Nguyen Giap: “General Vo Nguyen Giap studied and participated in the student and farmer movement against the French at his school and graduated from this school. After that, he studied at the Indochina University in Hanoi and received a bachelor's degree in literature. Before studying for his doctorate, due to family circumstances, he worked as a professor of History at Thang Long Graduate School until 1938 when he received a doctorate in political science.

His happy private life lasted only 2 years, until 1941 when World War II broke out. His wife participated in the guerrilla war for national independence and liberation, was arrested by the French colonialists and died in prison in 1943. His sister-in-law was also executed by beheading. Readers should also know about the contributions of Professor Dang Bich Ha, his wife who has been by his side for the past 50 years, loving and encouraging her husband, General Giap, a man who defeated the French army at Dien Bien Phu, liberated Saigon and unified the country.

As a senior of the Hue National School, Ho Chi Minh studied a lot and had a very broad knowledge. He organized the anti-tax and anti-French movements, and after 4 years at school, he dropped out of school to go to Saigon, then to Europe and many places in the world, following the path of an ideological theorist. Compared to Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap both fought against the French and studied to get a degree, so he was completely a man of practical action. It can be said that it was the wonderful combination of these two people in the long history of Vietnam's independence movement that brought Vietnam to unification.

Bernard Fall spoke of Vo Nguyen Giap as “the sentimental history professor of the 1930s, the self-taught guerrilla commander of the early 1940s, and the brilliant strategist of the 1950s”, as follows: “In the foreseeable future, the West will not be able to produce a general who can match Vo Nguyen Giap”.

McNamara, the US Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War, visited Hanoi on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Saigon and cried and told General Giap, former Minister of Defense of Vietnam during the Vietnam War: "We were wrong, terribly wrong". Hearing that, General Giap replied: "Using the excuse that we launched torpedoes at two US warships on August 2 and 4, 1964, the US bombed Hanoi and Hai Phong. But there is no way we launched torpedoes like that". With that answer, General Giap proved himself worthy of being a historian.

We learn a lot from Ho Chi Minh's thoughts when he calculated that Dien Bien Phu could be captured but the cost of human lives would be 100%. For that reason, he did not agree with the Chinese advisor's plan of a quick victory and agreed with the way of fighting of General Giap, who favored guerrilla tactics and eventually won the Dien Bien Phu battle. This cautious strategy was applied by General Giap in the Quang Tri victory in May 1972, which was decisive for the Vietnam War at that time.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the defeat in Vietnam, former Secretary of Defense McNamara admitted in his memoirs that “We overestimated the communist threat and underestimated the nationalist spirit of Ho Chi Minh.” That confession is convincing.

Professor Ly Cùn Yop highly appreciated President Ho Chi Minh's trust in General Vo Nguyen Giap, his excellent student and talented colleague who made great victories in the cause of national liberation and reunification.

Nguyen Minh Chau(Former Director of Kim Lien Relic Site)