Reprinting of War Records 1-2-3-4.75: Publishing 21 top secret documents

The original references published in full in the Appendix of the book “War Records 1-2-3-4.75” which has been reprinted with supplements this time have increased the value, persuasiveness, and honesty of the events, incidents, details, and fates of the characters mentioned in the book, helping readers who want to learn more about the final days of collapse of the Republic of Vietnam.

“War Records 1-2-3-4.75” has both literary value and solid historical truth.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2015), the National Political Publishing House - Truth has just republished with additional information the historical documentary novel "War Records 1-2-3-4.75" by journalist and writer Tran Mai Hanh.

First published in April 2014, the book was welcomed by the public, sought after by readers and was the only work of the prose genre that the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Writers Association decided to award the "2014 Literature Award" with an absolute number of votes.

In addition to vividly recreating and depicting the collapse of the Saigon government under President Nguyen Van Thieu in the last four months of the war (including 19 chapters, 552 pages), this reprinted book also has an additional Appendix of more than 100 pages printed with the full text of 21 original reference documents about the war, which 40 years ago were top secret documents of the Saigon government and the United States.

The 21 original references are printed in the appendix and are arranged in chronological order:

1- Telegram from US President Richard Nixon to Nguyen Van Thieu on January 5, 1973.

2- Telegram from US President Richard Nixon to Nguyen Van Thieu on January 17, 1973.

3- Telegram from US President Richard Nixon to Nguyen Van Thieu on January 20, 1973.

4- Telegram from US President Richard Nixon to Nguyen Van Thieu on January 22, 1973.

5- Report of the delegation of the Republic of Vietnam in Washington, Paris and London from January 5 to January 19, 1973, led by Tran Van Do, former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Vietnam (1965-1967) and Bui Diem, former Ambassador of the Republic of Vietnam in Washington (1967-1972).

6- Telegram from US President Gerald R. Ford to Nguyen Van Thieu on August 10, 1974.

7- Note dated February 26, 1975 from US President Gerald R. Ford to Nguyen Van Thieu.

8- Telegram from US President Gerald R. Ford to Nguyen Van Thieu on March 21, 1975.

9- Telegram from US President Gerald R. Ford to Nguyen Van Thieu on March 25, 1975.

10- Conference to discuss policies to deal with the situation on December 10, 1974 chaired by President Nguyen Van Thieu.

11- Draft Letter of the General Staff of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to General Georges Brown, Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff.

12- Submission form to the President of the Republic of Vietnam.

13- "Weekly Intelligence Summary" of the Intelligence Department (General Staff of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam).

14- Presidential comments on intelligence matters.

15- Urgent telegram dated March 24, 1975 of the President of the Republic of Vietnam.

16- Document dated April 6, 1975 of the President of the Republic of Vietnam.

17- Talking points at the emergency agenda meeting of the General Staff of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam

18- Urgent submission dated April 8, 1975 of the General Staff of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.

19- Inspection report on the current defense situation dated April 18, 1975 by Tran Van Don, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

20- Original document assessing the situation up to April 19, 1975, sent by Ambassador Martin to Nguyen Van Thieu.

21- Nguyen Van Thieu spoke before resigning.

Except for Nguyen Van Thieu's statement before his resignation, the remaining 20 original reference documents printed in the Appendix are all typed verbatim from nearly 40 years ago according to the original documents obtained at the office and residence of Nguyen Van Thieu, President of the Republic of Vietnam at the Independence Palace and the office of Cao Van Vien, General, Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam at the headquarters of the General Staff of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam at noon and afternoon of April 30, 1975.

The presentation, abbreviations, and English sentences interspersed in the documents are kept the same as the original documents and a table of abbreviations is provided for ease of use.

These are the most valuable original documents, initially selected by the author from hundreds of original documents about the other side's war that the author is keeping to introduce to readers.

Along with the original references, the “Character List” printed in the appendix will help readers easily look up each of the 249 characters mentioned in the book. All 249 characters are real people, their names are correct, and the jobs they are responsible for are also specifically stated. They are key figures in the Saigon government apparatus and Saigon army generals in all military branches, military regions, army corps, divisions, regiments, battalions and at the Saigon army General Staff.

The letters and telegrams of US Presidents R. Nixon and G. Ford sent to Nguyen Van Thieu and the replies of the President of the Republic of Vietnam; all the documents submitted by the General Staff of the Saigon army, the decisions and decrees; all the telegrams of command of operations by Nguyen Van Thieu and the General Staff of the Saigon army during the collapse; the intelligence summaries, reports and testimonies of dozens of generals of the Saigon army that the author cited in this historical documentary novel are all original documents.

Reliability is not only reflected in the content but also in the time of the document's issuance as well as the time when the top secret telegrams of the combat command were sent. Thanks to that, "Minutes of War 1-2-3-4.75" has both literary value and solid historical truth value. The original reference documents published in full in the Appendix of the book "Minutes of War 1-2-3-4.75" reprinted with supplements this time have increased the value, persuasiveness, honesty of the events, incidents, details and fates of the characters mentioned in the book, helping the needs of readers who want to learn more about the final days of collapse of the Republic of Vietnam (the Saigon government led by Nguyen Van Thieu as President).

Not every war that ends is "decoded" by a historical documentary novel written in the form of a "record" based on original documents and reliable texts from the other side to recreate and faithfully reconstruct the collapse as it happened in the final days of the war.

Thanks to that, the nature of justice and injustice, victory and defeat are so clear and undisputed that it cannot be disputed. Perhaps “War Account 1-2-3-4.75” by author Tran Mai Hanh is one of the rare books that can do that.

According to chinhphu.vn