Aspiration for independence and freedom, the source of victory

At 11:30 a.m. on April 30, 1975, Liberation Army tanks crossed the iron gate, capturing the Saigon puppet Presidential Palace, the last stronghold of the enemy, gloriously ending the nation's 30-year long march against foreign invaders. (Photo: Mai Huong/VNA)

1. It seems that history chose the moment of 5:50 p.m. on April 14, 1975, when the Politburo of the Central Committee of our Party decided to "agree to name the campaign to liberate Saigon the Ho Chi Minh campaign" - a campaign named after beloved Uncle Ho.

Uncle Ho is the embodiment of the Vietnamese people's eternal desire for independence and freedom. At that moment on April 30, 1975, each main army corps, each liberation soldier who quickly and boldly rushed to liberate the South, all carried within them Uncle Ho's command: "Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom". That will multiplied the strength of the entire nation in the final battle to complete the cause of national reunification.

In this battle, the main army corps moved at lightning speed with the sound of tank tracks, the special forces regiments advanced silently, the patriotic masses poured into the streets, as if in the strong beating of their hearts echoed the declaration of Ly Thuong Kiet on the day of decisive battle with the Song invaders (1077): "The mountains and rivers of the Southern country belong to the Southern king/ Clearly determined in the book of heaven/ Why did the bandits come to invade/ You will be utterly defeated".

And they also carry in their hearts Nguyen Trai's "Binh Ngo Dai Cao": "Fight one battle, all enemies are gone / Fight two battles, birds and animals are scattered". The will to liberate the nation, the will to be independent and free for the country from the tradition of our ancestors in the historical moment of April 30th has been passed down through the hearts of the soldiers to become the power to win on the path to liberation.

The aspiration and will for independence and freedom of the Vietnamese people have always flowed through the veins of every citizen, nurtured and passed down from generation to generation throughout thousands of years of history. That iron will and that fine tradition were nurtured, developed and spread by President Ho Chi Minh, condensing into a truth with special appeal: “Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom”.

From the long night of slavery, that aspiration urged the young man Nguyen Tat Thanh to cross the sea and travel across five continents to find a way to save the country. Returning to the country to lead the revolution after 30 years, on a night in July 1945, at Na Nua hut (Tuyen Quang), Uncle Ho, while seriously ill, said to comrade Vo Nguyen Giap a sentence that weighed a thousand pounds, an order like a knife cutting stone: "Now the favorable opportunity has come, no matter how much sacrifice, even if we have to burn the entire Truong Son range, we must resolutely gain independence."

That sacred aspiration was like a call to arms, calling on the people of the whole country to rise up and carry out a world-shaking General Uprising to drive out the French colonialists and Japanese fascists, abolish the thousand-year feudal regime, and establish the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with President Ho Chi Minh's resolute Declaration of Independence: "Vietnam has the right to enjoy freedom and independence and is truly a free and independent country. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to devote all their spirit and strength, their lives and property to maintaining that freedom and independence."

And from September 2, 1945, a new sovereign nation was born. The national name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was born with the unchangeable motto "Independence - Freedom - Happiness"!

In the campaign to liberate Saigon-Gia Dinh, called the Ho Chi Minh campaign today, in every gunshot, in the image of the soldier falling before the day of total victory, there is the will to move mountains and fill seas of our nation embodied in the call for national resistance of President Ho Chi Minh on December 19, 1946: "We would rather sacrifice everything than lose our country, than become slaves".

Surely at this moment, many mothers in the long-haired army, many guerrillas, many patriotic people rising up on the streets to coordinate with the attacking army still carry Uncle Ho's passionate call in 1946. "The people of the South are the people of Vietnam. Rivers may dry up, mountains may wear away, but that truth will never change."

2. The will for independence and freedom of the nation, of Uncle Ho, not only embodied and led to victory in the historic Ho Chi Minh campaign. That will once burned and became a miraculous power of victory during 30 years of the whole country marching to repel foreign invaders. That will once multiplied the invincible strength of the entire people to repel the French colonialists during nine years of protracted resistance, establishing the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954, "resounding throughout the five continents and shaking the earth".

During the following 21 years, the will to gain independence, freedom, liberate the South, and unify the country always urged every action of every patriotic Vietnamese. The will for independence and freedom became a shining truth, righteous and powerful like the most modern weapon of the era through Uncle Ho's call to fight against the US and save the country on July 17, 1966: "The war may last 5 years, 10 years, 20 years or longer. Hanoi, Hai Phong and some cities and enterprises may be destroyed, but the Vietnamese people are determined not to be afraid! Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom. When the day of victory comes, our people will rebuild our country to be more dignified and beautiful!"

That appeal was published in Nhan Dan Newspaper and broadcast on Voice of Vietnam Radio as a rallying cry, a vivid expression of the indomitable spirit of a nation that loves peace, but refuses to kneel or bow its head when the country is lost, the home is destroyed, the right to national self-determination is violated, and the independence and freedom of the Fatherland and the people are challenged by bombs and bullets of tyranny.

There is nothing more precious than independence and freedom. That will and iron determination became the great strength to defeat the aggressive army of the US and its vassals, to defeat the US air force that intended to send B52 bombers to carpet bomb with the belligerent declaration of "bringing the North back to the Stone Age".

In the sound of the Hanoi baby's guitar, which lost its mother, gently resounded in the night when our missiles were launched, lighting up the sky, destroying the B52s that protected Hanoi, there was a burning will for independence and freedom. In the mourning band of the militia girl, who suppressed the pain of her lover's sacrifice on the battlefield, she aimed her gun at the enemy and fired, the bullet flying out of the gun barrel drew the flight path of independence and freedom...

The campaign to liberate and unify the country named after Ho Chi Minh is a campaign that multiplies the strength of the will for independence, freedom, and noble humanism of the entire nation, of which Uncle Ho is the embodiment of that truth.

In the final moments of the war of liberation, the will for independence and freedom of the nation, the truth that "Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom", the truth that "Southern compatriots are Vietnamese people...", that the north and the south cannot be separated by any force, of Uncle Ho had the power to influence the people on the other side to lay down their weapons, contributing to the city of Saigon remaining intact, contributing to the overall victory of the nation being more complete.

No wonder that right at the moment of the complete liberation of the South, the highest leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam declared this to be a common victory of the Vietnamese people!

Yes, that is also the common victory of the aspiration, of the will for independence and freedom of the Vietnamese people! From this victory, unified Vietnam entered a new era of peace, building an independent-free-happy country.

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/khat-vong-doc-lap-tu-do-coi-nguon-chien-thang-209658.html