Tri Thien - Hue Campaign, an important attack in the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of 1975
The victory of the Tri Thien - Hue Campaign was one of the greatest victories of our army and people in Tri Thien - Hue, with important strategic and political significance, contributing worthily to the victory on the entire Southern battlefield in the 1975 Spring General Offensive and Uprising.
In the 1975 strategic combat determination, the Politburo, the Central Military Commission and the General Command determined that Tri Thien and Zone 5 were important strategic directions: "The Tri Thien - Hue battlefield is a battlefield with more advantages than other battlefields because it is close to the Central, has conditions for timely preparation and replenishment of facilities. If we attack strongly, control the Tri Thien - Hue battlefield, break the defense system in Military Zone 1, pin down the enemy's strategic mobile forces, it will create a new change in the comparison of forces and strategic position to the South, liberating the Southern provinces".
After assessing the situation, the Central Military Commission assigned specific tasks to the Tri Thien - Hue battlefield in 1975: "Basically defeat the enemy's pacification, create a new situation of decisive significance in Tri Thien - Hue to prepare for victory in 1976, completely liberate Tri Thien - Hue". The Central Military Commission also emphasized: "Tri Thien - Hue must conduct comprehensive campaigns of both military and political forces, with the main force of the Ministry and the local military region, closely coordinating the three types of troops, three attack prongs..." Based on the order of the Central Military Commission, the Tri Thien Military Region carried out additional planning and prepared the battlefield in the area of Road 12 and in important directions, with specific tasks: Grasp the opportunity, mobilize the determination and greatest efforts of the entire Party Committee, the entire army, and the entire people of Tri Thien - Hue to promote the highest victory and offensive position.
Implementing the superior's mission, in early 1975, in coordination with the Central Highlands and Zone 5, the Tri-Thien Military Region and the 2nd Army Corps launched an attack campaign on the enemy in Quang Tri and Thua Thien with the aim of: Destroying an important part of the enemy's forces, basically destroying their pacification plan in Tri-Thien, actively creating opportunities and being ready to seize the opportunity to advance and gain great victory.
To unify leadership and promote the combined strength of local forces on the Tri Thien - Hue battlefield, with the authorization of the Politburo, the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission decided to establish the Front Party Committee with comrade Le Tu Dong - Secretary of the Regional Party Committee as Secretary of the Tri Thien - Hue Front Party Committee. The forces participating in the Campaign included the 2nd Corps with 2 infantry divisions 324, 325 (each division lacked 1 regiment), Air Defense Division 673, Artillery Brigade 164, Tank Brigade 203, Engineer Brigade 219; Tri Thien Military Region had 3 infantry regiments (4, 6, 271), 1 artillery regiment, 1 anti-aircraft artillery regiment, 1 engineer regiment, 1 commando battalion, 1 traffic infantry battalion and 1 motorized transport battalion, along with provincial local army battalions, companies, district local platoons, militia, and commune guerrillas[5]. Our determination is to destroy the strong bases of the puppet army in Quang Tri, Thua Thien and Hue City.
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Enemy forces in the Campaign area included the 1st Infantry Division, the 174th Marine Brigade, 2 security regiments (913 and 914), 2 ranger regiments (14 and 15), 3 armored regiments (7, 17 and 20), 7 anti-aircraft artillery battalions and civil defense forces, with a total of 56,000 soldiers.
After more than 20 days and nights of continuous fighting (from March 5 to 26, 1975), the offensive and uprising in Tri Thien - Hue area won victory. The forces of the 2nd Corps and Tri Thien Military Region destroyed and disintegrated all enemy troops in Tri Thien - Hue. We recovered all material facilities and means of war including 140 armored tanks, 800 trucks, and 10,000 tons of ammunition.
The victory of the Tri Thien - Hue Campaign was one of the greatest victories of our army and people in Tri Thien - Hue, with important strategic and political significance, contributing worthily to the victory on the entire Southern battlefield in the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of 1975. In just a short time, the army and people of Tri Thien - Hue and the 2nd Army Corps smashed an important military system, completely destroyed and disintegrated a part of the huge military apparatus consisting of many formidable units, including a part of the strategic reserve force, along with modern weapons and equipment of the enemy. The puppet regime system, their long-standing and brutal repressive apparatus built over 20 years was wiped out, tens of thousands of puppet regime personnel at all levels were disintegrated...
The victory of the Campaign completely liberated Tri Thien - Hue and collapsed an important part of the enemy's entire strategic defense system in the North. It opened the door to the dense blockade of the Saigon army and government, creating favorable conditions for our forces to advance to the South to liberate Da Nang city and other enemy military base cities.
Completely destroying the Tri Thien - Hue defense group was a preemptive strike against the enemy's new strategic defensive plan in the coastal plains of Central Vietnam. It dealt a heavy blow to the spirit and fighting strength of the Saigon army, pushing the enemy into a state of great moral and organizational collapse. It directly threatened their defense group in Quang Nam - Da Nang, causing the enemy's battle formation to shrink and become more chaotic.
The liberation of Hue demonstrated that the offensive and uprising power of our army and people was not only capable of wiping out the enemy's strong defensive groups in the mountainous battlefields but also capable of liberating the plains and cities. The victory of Tri Thien - Hue practically contributed greatly to the General Offensive and Uprising that completely liberated the South in the historic Spring of 1975.