Completely liberated Thua Thien-Hue province, established the Tay Nguyen Army Corps

On March 26, 1975, we completely liberated Thua Thien-Hue province. General Vo Nguyen Giap, Secretary of the Military Commission and Minister of National Defense, signed Decision No. 54/QD-QP to establish the Tay Nguyen Army Corps.

The flag of the Provisional Revolutionary Government flies on the flagpole of Hue city. (Photo: Lam Hong Long/VNA)

On March 26, 1975, in order to continue building mobile main force corps, creating "decisive punches", General Vo Nguyen Giap, Secretary of the Military Commission, Minister of National Defense signed Decision No. 54/QD-QP to establish the Tay Nguyen Corps, with the public code name B.3, under the Ministry of National Defense, with comrade Vu Lang as Commander and comrade Dang Vu Hiep as Political Commissar.

By March 26, 1975, in Thua Thien-Hue, through two waves of attacks and uprisings, we had destroyed and captured the entire enemy force including: the 1st Infantry Division, the 147th Marine Brigade, 2 commando brigades, 1 armored cavalry brigade, 3 armored regiments, 8 artillery battalions, 15 battalions and 21 security companies, 319 militia platoons, 7,000 police, the entire puppet government system and more than 36,000 civil defense forces, and seized all their weapons and means of war.

On the same day, the Central Military Commission sent a telegram praising the troops of the Tri-Thien Military Region and the 2nd Army Corps: “The capture and liberation of Hue city and Thua Thien province was a victory of great strategic and political significance. That feat made the people of the whole country excited and enthusiastic, weakening the enemy to a new and extremely serious step.”

At the forward command post of the 2nd Corps, comrades in the Command and Chief of Staff met to discuss the plan to use the 18th Regiment of the 325th Division to continue developing the attack to the south according to the opportunistic plan and decided to use the 9th Regiment of the 304th Division to advance to the south along Route 14.

On the morning of March 26, 1975, the Corps Command determined to use the 18th Regiment to continue to develop the attack to capture Hai Van Pass, preparing a springboard to participate in the liberation of Da Nang when ordered.

To solve the logistical difficulties, on the same day, the Corps Logistics Department quickly organized forces to recover and manage the enemy's logistics bases in Phu Bai, Hamlet 5, and used them to distribute to the units.

On Route 1 of the 2nd Corps, the battle to open the way to attack Da Nang by Regiment 18, Division 325 took place even when the mission to liberate Thua Thien-Hue had not yet ended. On March 26, 1975, the unit liberated Nuoc Ngot, Thua Luu, and destroyed the Tho Son stronghold.

On Route 14, Regiment 9, Division 304, was assigned a tank battalion, an engineer battalion, an anti-aircraft battalion, and an artillery battalion. From the night of March 26, 1975, they quickly marched to occupy the springboard to attack Da Nang from the northwest.

On the same day, the Tri-Thien Military Region Command and the 2nd Corps Command received a directive from the General Staff stating: “The basic task of Thua Thien-Hue is to continue searching for prisoners of war… After destroying all remaining enemy units, the Tri-Thien Military Region forces must quickly withdraw and prepare to change direction to attack and liberate Da Nang.”

Developing the fight in the Central Highlands direction, on March 26, 1975, Regiment 93 and Hoai Nhon district forces liberated Tam Quan town.

On the same day from Quang Nam, following orders from above, Division 2, artillery regiments 572, 573 anti-aircraft, and 574 armored vehicles moved to Thang Binh and Que Son, ready to advance to Da Nang.

On the Ho Chi Minh trail, on March 26, 1975, the 571st Automobile Division received orders to concentrate 1,000 vehicles along with the automobile transport force of the Transport Department (General Department of Logistics), moving the 1st Corps - the strategic reserve force of the Ministry, from Vinh Linh to Dong Xoai to prepare to participate in the campaign to liberate Saigon.

VNA

Source: https://baohanam.com.vn/chinh-tri/ngay-26-3-1975-giai-phong-hoan-toan-tinh-thua-thien-hue-thanh-lap-binh-doan-tay-nguyen-154738.html