Before 1945 The first historical record of Vietnamese military history dates back to the era of
Hồng Bàng, the first recorded state in ancient Vietnam to have assembled military force. Since then, military plays a crucial role in developing Vietnamese history due to its turbulent history of wars against China,
Champa, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. The
Southern expansion of Vietnam resulted in the destruction of Champa as an independent nation to a level that it did not exist anymore; total destruction of
Luang Prabang; the decline of Cambodia which resulted in Vietnam's annexation of the
Mekong Delta and wars against Siam. In most of its history, the Royal Vietnamese Armed Forces was often regarded to be one of the most professional, battle-hardened and heavily trained armies in
Southeast Asia as well as Asia in a large extent.
Establishment on the date of the PAVN's establishment in 1944. Chief of General Staff
Hoàng Văn Thái wearing a
pith helmet and holding the flag. The PAVN was first conceived in September 1944 at the first Revolutionary Party Military Conference as the
Information, Communication and Education Unit of the Liberation Army (alternatively translated as the
Vietnam Information, Communication and Education Liberation Army, ) to educate, recruit and mobilise the Vietnamese to create a main force to drive the
French colonial and
Japanese occupiers from Vietnam. Under the guidelines of
Hồ Chí Minh,
Võ Nguyên Giáp was given the task of establishing the brigades and the Propaganda Unit of the Liberation Army came into existence on 22 December 1944. The first formation was made up of thirty-one men and three women, armed with two revolvers, seventeen rifles, one light machine gun, and fourteen breech-loading flintlocks. It fought the PAVN's first ever engagement at the
Battles of Khai Phat and Na Ngan against French soldiers in late 1944. The
United States'
OSS agents, led by
Archimedes Patti – who was sometimes referred as the first instructor of the PAVN due to his role - had provided ammunitions as well as logistic intelligence and equipment. They also helped train these soldiers, who formed the backbone of the Vietnamese military to successfully fight the Japanese and other opponents. For instance, the PAVN's July 19, 1945 attack at Tam Dao internment camp in
Tonkin saw 500 soldiers kill fifty Japanese soldiers and officials, freeing French civilian captives and escorting them to the Chinese border. The PAVN also fought the
Japanese 21st Division in Thai Nguyen that year, and regularly raided rice storehouses to alleviate an
ongoing famine. There was another separate communist army called the
National Salvation Army (
Cứu quốc quân) which was founded and commanded by
Chu Văn Tấn on 23 February 1941. The Propaganda Liberation Army merged with the National Salvation Army into the
Vietnam Liberation Army (
Việt Nam Giải phóng Quân) on 15 May 1945. The
Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in
Hanoi by
Ho Chi Minh and
Vietminh on 2 September 1945. Then in September, the army was renamed the Vietnam
National Defence Force (
Việt Nam Vệ quốc Đoàn). Over the next two years, the first division, the
308th Division, later well known as the Pioneer Division, was formed from the 88th Tu Vu Regiment and the 102nd Capital Regiment. By late 1950 the 308th Division had a full three infantry regiments, when it was supplemented by the 36th Regiment. At that time, the 308th Division was also backed by the 11th Battalion that later became the main force of the
312th Division. In late 1951, after launching three campaigns against three French strongpoints in the
Red River Delta, the PAVN refocused on building up its ground forces further, with five new divisions, each of 10–15,000 men, created: the
304th Glory Division at
Thanh Hóa, the 312th Victory Division in Vinh Phuc, the
316th Bong Lau Division in the northwest border region, the
320th Delta Division in the north Red River Delta, the
325th Binh Tri Thien Division in Binh Tri Thien province. Also in 1951, the first artillery Division, the
351st Division was formed, and later, before
Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, for the first time in history, it was equipped with 24 captured 105mm US howitzers supplied by the Chinese
People's Liberation Army. The first six divisions (308th, 304th, 312th, 316th, 320th, 325th) became known as the original PAVN 'Steel and Iron' divisions. In 1954, four of these divisions (the 308th, 304th, 312th, 316th, supported by the 351st Division's captured US howitzers) defeated the
French Union forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, ending 83 years of French rule in Indochina. The
French Foreign Legion had been deployed to combat the Vietnamese insurgency during the First Indochina War. However, some of the legionnaires, such as
Stefan Kubiak, deserted after witnessing torture of Vietnamese peasants at the hands of French troops and began fighting for the
Việt Minh, volunteering to join the PAVN.
Vietnam War on the move in Laos down the Ho Chi Minh trail. Soon after the
1954 Geneva Accords, the 330th and 338th Divisions were formed by southern Viet Minh members who had moved north in conformity with that agreement, and by 1955, six more divisions were formed: the 328th, 332nd and 350th in the north of the
North Vietnam, the 305th and the
324th near the
DMZ, and the 335 Division of soldiers repatriated from
Laos. In 1957, the theatres of the war with the French were reorganised as the first five military regions, and in the next two years, several divisions were reduced to brigade size to meet the manpower requirements of collective farms. By 1958, it was becoming increasingly clear that the
South Vietnamese government was solidifying its position as an independent republic under
Ngô Đình Diệm, who staunchly opposed the terms of the Geneva Accords, which required a national referendum on unification of north and south Vietnam under a single national government. North Vietnam prepared to settle the issue of unification by force. In May 1959, the first major steps to prepare infiltration routes into
South Vietnam were taken;
Group 559 was established, a logistical unit charged with establishing routes into the south via Laos and
Cambodia, which later became famous as the
Ho Chi Minh trail. At about the same time, Group 579 was created as its maritime counterpart to transport supplies into the South by sea. Most of the early infiltrators were members of the 338th Division, former southerners who had been settled at
Xuan Mai from 1954 onwards. Regular formations were sent to South Vietnam from 1965 onwards; the 325th Division's 101B Regiment and the 66th Regiment of the 304th Division met U.S. forces on a large scale, a first for the PAVN, at the
Battle of Ia Drang in November 1965. The 308th Division's 88A Regiment, the 312th Division's 141A, 141B, 165A, 209A, the 316th Division's 174A, the 325th Division's 95A, 95B, the 320A Division also faced the U.S. forces which included the
1st Cavalry Division, the
101st Airborne Division, the
173rd Airborne Brigade, the
4th Infantry Division, the
1st Infantry Division and the
25th Infantry Division. Many of those formations later became main forces of the
3rd Division (Yellow Star Division) in Binh Dinh (1965), the
5th Division (1966) of 7th Military Zone (Capital Tactical Area of ARVN), the
7th (created by 141st and 209th Regiments originated in the 312th Division in 1966) and
9th Divisions (first Division of National Liberation Front of Vietnam in 1965 in Mekong Delta), the 10th Dakto Division in Dakto –
Central Highlands in 1972. On 20 December 1960, anti-government forces in South Vietnam joined to form a united front called
National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (
Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam) or simply known as the Vietcong in the United States. On 15 December 1961, the NLF established its own military called
Liberation Army of South Vietnam (LASV) to fight against the American supported
Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The LASV was controlled and equipped by the PAVN. General
Trần Văn Trà, one-time commander of the
B2 Front (Saigon) HQ confirms that even though the PAVN and the LASV were confident in their ability to defeat the regular ARVN forces, U.S. intervention in Vietnam forced them to reconsider their operations. The decision was made to continue to pursue "main force" engagements even though "there were others in the South – they were not military people – who wanted to go back to guerrilla war," but the strategic aims were adjusted to meet the new reality. We had to change our plan and make it different from when we fought the Saigon regime, because we now had to fight two adversaries — the United States and South Vietnam. We understood that the U.S. Army was superior to our own logistically, in weapons and in all things. So strategically we did not hope to defeat the U.S. Army completely. Our intentions were to fight a long time and cause heavy casualties to the United States, so the United States would see that the war was unwinnable and would leave. During the Vietnamese Lunar New Year
Tết holiday starting on 30 January 1968, the PAVN/VC launched a general offensive in more than 60 cities and towns throughout south of Vietnam against the US Army and
Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), beginning with operations in the border region to try and draw US forces and ARVN troops out of the major cities. In coordinated attacks, the
U.S Embassy in Saigon, Presidential Palace,
Headquarters of the Joint General Staff and
Republic of Vietnam Navy, TV and Radio Stations,
Tan Son Nhat Air Base in Saigon were attacked by commando forces known as "đặc công". This offensive became known as the "
Tet Offensive". The PAVN sustained heavy losses of its main forces in southern military zones. Some of its regular forces and command structure had to escape to Laos and Cambodia to avoid counterattacks from US forces and ARVN, while local guerrillas forces and political organisations in South Vietnam were exposed and had a hard time remaining within the
Mekong Delta area due to the extensive use of the
Phoenix Program. Although the PAVN lost militarily to the US forces and ARVN in the south, the political impact of the war in the United States was strong. Public demonstrations increased in ferocity and quantity after the Tet Offensive. During 1970, the 5th, 7th and 9th Divisions
fought in Cambodia against U.S., ARVN, and Cambodian
Khmer National Armed Forces. The PAVN gained new allies: the
Khmer Rouge and guerrilla fighters supporting deposed Prime Minister
Sihanouk. In 1975 the PAVN were successful in aiding the Khmer Rouge in toppling
Lon Nol's U.S.-backed regime, despite heavy US bombing. After the withdrawal of most U.S. combat forces from
Indochina because of the
Vietnamization strategy, the PAVN launched the ill-fated
Easter Offensive in 1972. Although successful at the beginning, the South Vietnamese repulsed the main assaults with U.S. air support. Still North Vietnam retained some South Vietnamese territory. Nearly two years after the full U.S. withdrawal from Indochina in accordance with the terms of the 1973
Paris Peace Accords, the PAVN launched a
Spring offensive aimed at overthrowing the South Vietnamese government and uniting Vietnam under communist rule. Without direct support of the U.S., and suffering from stresses caused by dwindling aid, the ARVN was ill-prepared to confront the highly motivated PAVN, and despite the on paper superiority of the ARVN, the PAVN quickly secured victory within two months and
captured Saigon on 30 April 1975, ending the 20 year Vietnam war. After national reunification, the LASV was officially merged into PAVN on 2 July 1976.
Sino-Vietnamese conflicts (1975–1991) Towards the second half of the 20th century the armed forces of Vietnam would participate in organised incursions to protect its citizens and allies against aggressive military factions in the neighbouring Indochinese countries of Laos and Cambodia, and the defensive border wars with China. • The PAVN had forces in Laos to secure the Ho Chi Minh trail and to militarily support the
Pathet Lao. In 1975 the Pathet Lao and PAVN forces succeeded in toppling the
Royal Laotian regime and installing a new, and pro-Hanoi government, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, that rules Laos to this day. • Parts of Sihanouk's neutral Cambodia were occupied by troops as well. A pro US coup led by
Lon Nol in 1970 led to the foundation pro-US
Khmer Republic state. This marked the beginning of the
Cambodian Civil War. The PAVN aided
Khmer Rouge forces in toppling Lon Nol's government in 1975. In 1978, along with the
FUNSK Cambodian Salvation Front, the Vietnamese and Ex-Khmer Rouge forces succeeded in toppling
Pol Pot's
Democratic Kampuchea regime and installing a new government, the
People's Republic of Kampuchea. • During the
Sino-Vietnamese War and the
Sino-Vietnamese conflicts (1979–1991), Vietnamese forces would conduct cross-border raids into Chinese territory to destroy artillery ammunition. This greatly contributed to the outcome of the Sino-Vietnamese War, as the Chinese forces ran out of ammunition already at an early stage and had to call in reinforcements. • While occupying Cambodia, Vietnam launched
several armed incursions into Thailand in pursuit of Cambodian guerrillas that had taken refuge on the Thai side of the border. ==Modern deployment ==