Trang Bom Victory: The key to successfully opening the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign

On April 23, Scientific Conference on Trang Bom Victory (April 27, 1975) in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign – meaning and lessons learned by the Institute of Military History (LSQS, General Staff of the People’s Army of Vietnam) Vietnamese people) chaired and coordinated with Dong Nai province, Military Region 7, Army Corps 4, Division 341 to organize the event, which was a great success.

Nearly 70 papers sent to the conference and nearly 10 opinions directly spoken at the conference affirmed that the Trang Bom battle on April 27, 1975 had meaning, an important role, and was “key”. in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, completely liberating the South and reunifying the country on April 30, 1975.

* The opening “key” battle

Professor, Doctor, People’s Commissar, Major General Nguyen Van Tai, was a direct witness who participated in the Trang Bom battle 49 years ago. According to Major General Nguyen Van Tai, at the same time as the opening of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, many battles took place. However, considering the scale, military artistic value, importance, results and strategic significance of the battle, the Trang Bom battle was one of the key division-level battles of the campaign.

Major General Nguyen Van Tai further analyzed, considering both the opening and completion time, the Trang Bom battle on April 27, 1975 was quickly won, while other battles on all 5 The offensive direction of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign has not ended. Specifically, in the Southeast direction, there was a battle to capture the Nuoc Trong – Long Thanh base cluster, ending successfully at 10:00 a.m. on April 29. In the Northwest direction, there was the Dong Du battle, destroying and disintegrating the 25th Puppet Division. Ending at 2:00 p.m. on April 29, we “fully controlled the Dong Du base”.

“As a researcher of military history, through this scientific conference, on behalf of the veterans of Division 341 – historical witnesses who directly participated in the battle, I would like to officially request the Ministry of National Defense to recognized the Trang Bom battle on April 27, 1975 as the “key” battle that opened the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign” – said Major General Nguyen Van Tai.

Scientific conference on Trang Bom Victory (April 27, 1975) in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign – meaning and lessons learned with the participation of comrades: Senior General Phung Si Tan, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Army Vietnamese people’s team; Major General, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Nhien, Director of the Institute of Military Law; Major General Dang Van Hung, Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff of Military Region 7; Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Ho Thanh Son; Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Chairman of Thai Bao Provincial People’s Council; Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Son Hung along with leaders of Army Corps 4, Division 341 and many veterans directly participated in the Trang Bom battle.

According to Associate Professor-Dr. Ha Minh Hong, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City National University), after the “steel door” Xuan Loc – Long Khanh was opened, the removal of ” “The key” Trang Bom was carried out by the 341st Division of the 4th Army in an advantageous position, with the troops moving to liberate Saigon. Trang Bom – a vital link in the enemy’s front defense line. Losing Trang Bom, the enemy’s defense line was broken in the East, creating favorable conditions for main force units to mobilize combat forces. , opened the way to advance to Saigon, implementing the determination of the Politburo, Central Military Commission – Ministry of Defense, and the aspiration to completely liberate the South and unify the country in 1975.

The successful battle of Trang Bom broke an important link, creating favorable conditions for the 4th Army Corps and the “mobile troops penetrating deeply in each direction” of the mobile campaign to enter the enemy’s 5 key targets during the war. Saigon inner city.

* Concretize policies into practice

Major General Nguyen Hoang Nhien in his summary article raised 5 important issues that the scientific conference on the Trang Bom battle obtained. Accordingly, this victory has allowed us to affirm and concretize the policies and directions of superiors into practice; That is a testament to the ideology of “speed, daring, surprise, sure victory” and promoting the strength of the main troops.

Major General Nguyen Hoang Nhien said that, with the speed of “one day equals 20 years”, on the basis of firmly grasping the situation, the Ho Chi Minh Campaign Command decided not to organize a “team” formation (team). combat forms used in strategic and campaign level battles) during combat operations; Not divided into steps or waves like normal campaigns, but assigned specific combat areas and attack targets to each corps in each strategic direction.

To enter the inner city of Saigon, the directions participating in the campaign had to organize large, fierce battles with enemy troops in the outer ring. To complete the tasks assigned by the 4th Army Command, Division 341 has focused on directing agencies and units to actively do well in preparation work, focusing on doing well political-ideological work, promote the will to attack and determine to win the opening match. The division was also reinforced with a tank battalion (13 units), a mixed anti-aircraft battalion, a 105mm artillery company…

“The ideology of “speed, daring, surprise, sure victory” and the promotion of the strength of the soldiers is reflected in the opening fire of the battle and the quick victory (4:05 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on April 27). -1975) our army took control of the entire Trang Bom Key Zone. In fact, just after a series of artillery “firestorms” poured into the designated targets, all directions simultaneously attacked the enemy in the Trang Bom Key Zone. Although we tried our best to resist, due to the overwhelming strength and heroic fighting spirit of our troops, the enemy’s defensive positions were destroyed one by one” – Major General Nguyen Hoang Nhien emphasized.

This was also the earliest victorious battle in the opening battles on the attack directions of the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, so it encouraged morale and urged the troops to accelerate “lightning speed”, to take the victories of the first battle in the directions of advancing towards the city named after Uncle Ho.

The victory from the Trang Bom battle also demonstrated the art of “choosing direction and using force” reasonably and effectively. From the reality of the battlefield, Division 341 has proposed the correct combat plan, clearly identifying the main attack directions (North), secondary attack directions (Northeast), important attack directions (Northeast), secondary attack directions (Northeast), and important attack directions ( South East). At the same time, arranging appropriate forces in directions dominated by infantry regiments and battalions, along with the participation of artillery and tanks to ensure good promotion of offensive power – is considered a method The most optimal solution for choosing direction, combined with using force to achieve high combat efficiency.

Nguyet Ha