Affirming the epochal stature of the Dien Bien Phu victory

On March 27, in Hanoi, the Academy of Politics in collaboration with the People's Army Newspaper and the Institute of Party History (Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics) organized a scientific seminar with the theme: "Dien Bien Phu Victory - Historical value and contemporary stature".

The workshop was chaired by Lieutenant General, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Bao, Director of the Academy of Politics; Major General Doan Xuan Bo, Editor-in-Chief of the People's Army Newspaper; Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Danh Tien, Director of the Institute of Party History.

In his opening speech, Director of the Academy of Politics Nguyen Van Bao stated that 70 years ago, on March 13, 1954, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, President Ho Chi Minh and the General Military Commission, the Campaign Command, the revolutionary armed forces opened fire, opening the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

Lieutenant General, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Bao, Director of the Academy of Politics, speaks. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA

After 56 days and nights of arduous fighting, the campaign ended in complete victory. This extremely glorious feat contributed to the decisive end of the resistance war against the French invaders, opening the way for the collapse of old colonialism, marking a new development step of the national liberation revolution in the world, for peace, national independence, democracy and socialism.

According to Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Bao, this workshop is part of a series of propaganda activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory. Thereby, it aims to continue affirming the correctness and inevitable victory of the people's war strategy under the leadership of the Party and beloved President Ho Chi Minh. This is also an opportunity to review the glorious revolutionary tradition of the nation; educate the younger generation to remember the great contributions and sacrifices of the people, cadres and soldiers who spared no blood and youth to create the great victory, bringing independence and freedom to the Fatherland.

Major General Doan Xuan Bo, Editor-in-Chief of the People's Army Newspaper, presented the introduction. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA

Introducing the conference, Editor-in-Chief of the People's Army Newspaper Doan Xuan Bo said that, with the great stature and significance of the Dien Bien Phu victory, there have been hundreds of books, tens of thousands of articles, seminars, and conferences summarizing combat experiences. Many scientific works in Vietnam and abroad have analyzed and explained the significance of the victory, discussing the reasons for the strength that the Vietnamese army and people had to create the Dien Bien Phu victory "famous in five continents, shaking the earth".

However, with the great stature and special significance of the Dien Bien Phu victory, in the current cause of building and defending the Fatherland, there are still issues that need to continue to be studied and summarized deeply and comprehensively on a practical, objective and scientific basis.

At the conference, the presentations, although approaching different issues and aspects, all affirmed the great role and strategic talent of the Party Central Committee, President Ho Chi Minh and the General Military Commission in the Dien Bien Phu campaign. The presentations analyzed in depth and affirmed that the Dien Bien Phu victory was the pinnacle of Vietnamese military art in the resistance war against French colonialism, demonstrated in all three areas: strategic command, campaign art and tactics, with the outstanding feature being proactiveness, creativity, fighting in the way we chose, forcing the enemy to respond passively, limiting their strengths in terms of numbers, strong firepower, and high mobility.

Overview of the workshop. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA

Colonel, PhD Nguyen Van Truong, Head of the Department of History of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Academy of Politics) said that the historic decision to launch the Dien Bien Phu Campaign left the Vietnamese revolution with many valuable lessons, namely: Persistently pursuing the goal of national independence and socialism; maintaining and strengthening the Party's leadership; promptly seizing opportunities, seizing opportunities, directing strategies resolutely, sensitively, and sharply to concentrate the strength of the whole country to gain victory. Those lessons remain intact in value, continuing to be refined and creatively applied by the Party in the next revolutionary stages, as well as in the current cause of building and defending the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

Affirming that the Dien Bien Phu Campaign was the peak development of the art of campaigning in the resistance war against France, Major General, Doctor Tran Minh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Institute of National Defense Strategy, emphasized that the resounding victory of the campaign also clearly demonstrated the unique elements of Vietnamese military art. That is the art of directing and conducting people's war; the art of creating and transforming the battle situation; the art of leading, commanding the campaign, and changing the combat strategy.

Delegates attending the workshop. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA

The Dien Bien Phu victory affirmed the remarkable growth of the Vietnam People's Army. Under the leadership, education and training of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, our Army has grown steadily, the more it fights, the stronger it becomes, the more it matures. During the fighting as well as the preparation for the campaign, with the nature and fine tradition of an army "born from the people, fighting for the people", the officers and soldiers of the Army did not hesitate to sacrifice hardships and found ways to overcome challenges to excellently complete their tasks.

At the same time, the discussions analyzed in depth and drew profound lessons on the resistance path, on promoting the strength of great national unity, combining national strength with the strength of the times, on promoting political and spiritual factors, on military science and art, political and ideological work, combat staff work, logistics, engineering, communications, coordination between agencies, units, and military branches...

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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