General Vo Nguyen Giap is not only respected by the Vietnamese people but also admired by heads of state, scholars and international friends as an immortal symbol of Vietnamese will and intelligence. 
During the great historical milestones of the Vietnamese revolution, from the August Revolution in 1945 to the decisive military campaigns in the resistance war against French colonialism and American imperialism, General Vo Nguyen Giap, under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, led the Vietnam People's Army to resounding victories, leaving a mark in the flow of national history.
As a legendary general and military genius of the era, the General is not only respected by the Vietnamese people but also admired by heads of state, scholars and international friends as an immortal symbol of Vietnamese will and intelligence.
Military genius Vo Nguyen Giap
General Vo Nguyen Giap was born and raised in a Confucian family with a rich tradition of patriotism, in An Xa village, Loc Thuy commune, Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province.
It was the homeland rich in revolutionary and heroic traditions that shaped the personality of the eldest brother of the Vietnam People's Army later on.
As a patriotic intellectual, early enlightened with the noble revolutionary ideal, directly educated and guided by the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, along with continuous self-study and self-cultivation to rise to the level of his duties, General Vo Nguyen Giap became a General of the People, a great cultural figure of the nation with complete talent and virtue, both literary and martial.
But above all, the General's most outstanding and outstanding contributions and contributions to Vietnam's revolutionary cause were in the military field.
During his revolutionary career, General Vo Nguyen Giap was assigned many important responsibilities by the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, from founding the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army (the predecessor of the Vietnam People's Army) to Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnam People's Army.
In those positions, the General made outstanding contributions to building, developing and commanding the Vietnam People's Army, together with the people, achieving great victories in the struggle for national independence and reunification.
Developing military forces to suit each period
As Commander-in-Chief and Secretary of the Central Military Commission, General Vo Nguyen Giap paid special attention to researching, building and developing military forces to adapt to the situation of each period of war.
From 34 initial members, the General gradually built the Vietnam People's Army into an army of more than 1 million people in 1975, with good combat units and combat support units with professional expertise, even though the country was still very poor and backward at that time.
The main force had regiments, divisions, corps, and army groups that became "iron fists," heroic units with very high combat capabilities and efficiency: Special elite commandos, who had dealt the enemy terrifying thunderbolts; Militia and guerrillas, local troops developed and grew rapidly, capable of shooting down planes, sinking warships, and wearing down and destroying the enemy's regular units; Military intelligence and strategic intelligence were extremely clever and talented...
Regarding combat service units, such as military medical soldiers, artists, reporters who went to the front lines and battlefields to support the fight; "nurses" with stoves named after the hero Hoang Cam, bringing food and water to the trenches; youth volunteers, frontline laborers, infantry soldiers... carrying heavy loads and marching hundreds and thousands of kilometers on foot to the front, overcoming countless rivers, streams, mountains, forests, hunger, cold, illness, bullets and bombs, but still feeling joyful and full of confidence in victory.
General Vo Nguyen Giap was also the one who proposed and directly directed and organized the early opening of the Truong Son Trail - the legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail. At the same time, he also developed an additional sea supply route.
These strategic routes helped transport a huge amount of troops, food, ammunition... to support the South, contributing significantly to the liberation of the South and national reunification.
Leading expert on people's war strategy
General and Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap carried out the people's war strategy with outstanding creativity, flexibility and efficiency.
His strategic thinking focused on building armed forces on a solid political foundation and noble revolutionary ethics.
General Vo Nguyen Giap always attached great importance to building the army under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam. He emphasized that Party organizations in the army must be truly strong and clean, and that Party members must be pioneers and role models.
The army needs to have a strong political stance, a resilient fighting spirit, proficiency in military techniques and tactics, and the ability to operate effectively. Not stopping at the military aspect, the General emphasized the need to build an internal army with a spirit of democracy, discipline, and solidarity like brothers in one family.
He always emphasized the love and attachment between the army and the people like fish and water. The spirit of “sacrificing oneself for the people” permeated every soldier, contributing to the strength of solidarity and absolute confidence in the victory of the revolution.
With a profound strategic vision, the General closely and skillfully combined armed struggle with political, diplomatic, ideological, and cultural struggles; national defense with economics and security... achieving comprehensive results in both the fields of resistance and nation building.
At the front line, with the motto of "two legs, three prongs" (two legs: military-political; three prongs of attack: armed struggle-political struggle of the masses-enemy's military and political work), our army and people continuously attacked the enemy in all three strategic areas: forests, mountains, plains, and urban areas; destroying the enemy from the front line to the enemy's headquarters and important bases.
In the rear, revolutionary bases and rear bases were always firmly consolidated, serving as reliable support and effective support for the front line to defeat the enemy.
Under the direct leadership of the Politburo and President Ho Chi Minh, General Vo Nguyen Giap led the people's war to the peak of military art.
The policy of long-term, all-people, and comprehensive resistance has defeated the "quick war, quick victory" strategy of the strongest imperialist forces of the 20th century.
The success of General Vo Nguyen Giap was not only limited to military victories but also contributed to shaping the art of people's war in world military history. He is a symbol of the indomitable spirit, intelligence and will to win of the Vietnamese people.
The art of war at its finest
With flexible and creative strategic thinking, General Vo Nguyen Giap was always careful in analyzing and comparing the balance of power between us and the enemy. He had a firm grasp of the battlefield situation, both in the short and long term.
Based on the philosophy of “Remaining constant, responding to all changes,” he exploited the enemy’s weaknesses and minimized their strengths, creating strategic advantages to gradually exhaust the enemy’s strength in both force and spirit, thereby seizing the opportunity to win a decisive victory.
His strategy was based on a harmonious combination of defense, holding out, and offense. In the early stages, he advocated avoiding major losses by defending and wearing down the enemy's forces. When the situation became balanced or superior, the General quickly switched to a strong counterattack, causing heavy losses to the enemy.
Regarding campaigns and tactics, General Vo Nguyen Giap applied the methods of "using small to defeat big," "using few to fight many" and "avoiding strong points, attacking weak points."
When the enemy concentrated their forces to launch large-scale operations, our army dispersed its forces, avoiding direct confrontation, causing the enemy to waste resources.
At the same time, main units launched surprise attacks on weak or vulnerable positions, causing great losses and weakening the enemy's strength.
With that military art, Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap forced the French army from an active offensive position to a defensive one and then suffered a complete defeat at Dien Bien Phu.
The US empire had to change its military strategy many times: "Special War," "Local War," "Vietnamization of the War" and in the end still had to admit defeat to the Vietnam People's Army.
In an article, French historian George Budarren once wrote: it must have taken great courage for Vo Nguyen Giap to convince the Chinese advisors to abandon the idea of "Fighting fast, winning fast with the sharp-headed, long-tailed tactic, blooming in the enemy's heart."
And everyone accepted his way of fighting - the Vietnamese way of fighting "Encircle, attack, fight firmly, advance firmly" in the style of peeling, splitting, crushing seeds. General Giap captured the giant porcupine Dien Bien Phu alive, not letting it escape...
The 1993 US Department of Defense Military Encyclopedia wrote: “General Giap's strategic, tactical and logistical talents were skillfully combined with politics and diplomacy... The overwhelming economic strength, technological superiority, overwhelming military power and enormous firepower of Western nations had to submit to the strategic talents of a general who was once a history teacher.”
Thus, from a history teacher, never trained in any military school, Vo Nguyen Giap became a famous general, "a commander of commanders, a political commissar of political commissars" - as defined by Senior Lieutenant General Tran Van Tra.
With a genius military vision, the General inherited the world's military quintessence, highly promoted the people's art of war of the nation's tradition of fighting against foreign invaders, promoted the military ideology and close guidance of President Ho Chi Minh to achieve glorious victories, making the heroic Vietnamese nation famous.
American military historian Cecil B. Currey in his work “Victory at all costs,” commented: “... Vo Nguyen Giap, the genius General of Vietnam. He not only became a legend but perhaps also became one of the greatest military geniuses of all time. In history, few people have had military achievements comparable to his...”
A shining symbol of human spirit
Not only a military genius, General Vo Nguyen Giap is also likened to "a giant tree with a humanistic shade" because of his profound thoughts and humanity in battles.
Before each campaign, he always considered carefully, looking for ways to achieve the greatest victory while minimizing human losses. Many times, he shed tears before the sacrifices and losses of his compatriots and soldiers.
Senior Lieutenant General Tran Van Tra once commented: "General Vo Nguyen Giap is a Commander-in-Chief who feels pain with every wound of every soldier, and regrets every drop of blood of every warrior!"
General Vo Nguyen Giap was also a general who loved his troops very much. He always cared about the lives and health of his officers, soldiers and laborers. His letters of encouragement, visits and instructions on logistics were a great source of strength, adding to the spirit of the army in difficult times.
With the enemy, the General also showed a humane spirit, imbued with the idea of "using great justice to defeat cruelty, using benevolence to replace violence."
During the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, after the Him Lam battle with heavy casualties of the French army, he directed the writing of a letter requesting the enemy to accept the dead, showing humanity in the middle of the war.
After the victory, he and the Command set up many field medical stations to treat prisoners of war and wounded soldiers. Therefore, it is no coincidence that many people who once stood on the other side of the battle line, from French generals to European and African soldiers... all have special respect and admiration for General, Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap.
Throughout his military career, the General was always modest and tolerant. He often emphasized that all victories were due to President Ho Chi Minh, the Party Central Committee, the Politburo and the Vietnamese people.
When asked about the general he respected the most, the General replied: No matter how great the achievements of a general are, they are just a drop in the ocean. Only the Vietnamese people defeated the Americans... The general I respect the most is the People's General.
General Vo Nguyen Giap is a living testament to the crystallization of Vietnamese intelligence, bravery and humane spirit. He was not only a talented general with glorious achievements but also a great example of morality, compassion and patriotism.
The victories he contributed to not only have historical significance, but also affirm the power of the people's hearts and the desire for peace and justice.
His name is associated with the pride of a heroic nation, like an immortal legend in the hearts of the Vietnamese people and international friends.
His legacy will forever be a torch to light the way, adding faith and aspiration to generations of Vietnamese on the journey of building and defending the Fatherland./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/dai-tuong-vo-nguyen-giap-huyen-thoai-quan-su-cua-dan-toc-viet-nam-post1002534.vnp
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