The strength of the Vietnamese Marine Corps

The Vietnamese Marine Corps is tasked with stationing troops to protect islands and reefs, or with conducting amphibious assaults and landings on the mainland.

The Marine Corps is one of the elite forces of the Navy, Vietnam People's Army. The Corps was officially established after 1975, but its predecessor units had been around since the 1960s and achieved many glorious victories. Particularly noteworthy is the April 1975 campaign to liberate the Spratly Islands, carried out by the 126th Naval Special Forces Unit.

Readers are invited to watch this impressive clip about the Vietnamese Marine Corps: (Source: YouTube Sairagon88)

Shortly after their formation, the Vietnamese Marine Brigades participated in the counter-offensive campaign on the southwestern border of Vietnam against Khmer Rouge forces that were harassing the border.

The largest amphibious landing operation in the history of the Vietnamese Navy was carried out from the evening of January 7, 1979. Despite suffering considerable casualties, the marine corps, with their courageous fighting spirit, successfully achieved their objectives, effectively coordinating with army units to completely liberate Phnom Penh and many other provinces and cities of Cambodia.

Vietnamese Marine Corps conducts drills to retake an island.

After a long period of separation, dissolution, and re-establishment, the marine corps now has relatively stable personnel and equipment with two main brigades, the 101st and 147th.

The marine corps' armament, alongside traditional weapons such as AK rifles, RPK/RPD machine guns, and RPG-7 anti-tank guns, is being gradually modernized with newer weapons such as the Israeli TAR/CTAR-21 assault rifle, the Matardor anti-tank grenade launcher, and the Galataz sniper rifle.

Regarding armored vehicle equipment, the Vietnamese Marine Corps currently uses PT-76 and PT-85 tanks along with BTR-60PB armored vehicles. However, in the near future, the Ministry of Defense is studying the possibility of acquiring advanced BMP-3F infantry fighting vehicles or Russian 2S25 Sprut-SD amphibious tanks for the Marine Corps.

According to Baodatviet