Combined military forces of Vietnam
Vietnam People's Army
|
---|
|
Emblem
|
"Determined to win" military flag
|
Motto
| Quy?t th?ng
("Determined to win")
|
---|
Founded
| 22 December 1944
; 79 years ago
(
1944-12-22
)
|
---|
Current form
| July 7, 1976
; 47 years ago
(
1976-07-07
)
(formal unification of the NVA and the
LASV
)
[1]
|
---|
Service branches
|
|
---|
Headquarters
| Ministry of National Defence
, Number 7 Nguy?n Tri Ph??ng road, đi?n Bien
Ba đinh
,
Ha N?i
|
---|
Website
| Official website
|
---|
|
Secretary of the Central Military Commission
| General Secretary
Nguy?n Phu Tr?ng
|
---|
Commander-in-Chief
| Acting
President
Vo Th? Anh Xuan
|
---|
Minister of National Defence
| General
Phan V?n Giang
|
---|
Chief of the General Staff
| Senior Lieutenant General
Nguy?n Tan C??ng
|
---|
Director of the General Department of Political Affairs
| General
L??ng C??ng
|
---|
|
Military age
| 18?25 years old (18?27 for those who attend colleges or universities)
|
---|
Conscription
| 2 year 7 month
|
---|
Active personnel
| 600,000
[3]
(
ranked 7th
)
|
---|
Reserve personnel
| 5,000,000
[3]
|
---|
|
Budget
| US$
7.8 billion (2023)
[4]
|
---|
Percent of GDP
| ~1.6% (2023;
projected
)
[4]
|
---|
|
Domestic suppliers
|
|
---|
Foreign suppliers
|
|
---|
|
History
| Military history of Vietnam
List of engagements
- World War II
(Anti-Japanese Campaign 1944?1945)
- First Indochina War
(Against France, 1946?1954)
- Second Indochina War (
Vietnam War
) (Against the United States and
South Vietnamese
forces, 1954?1975)
- Cambodian?Vietnamese War
(Against the
Khmer Rouge
, 1977?1989)
- Sino-Vietnamese War
(Against China, 1979)
- Sino-Vietnamese border conflicts
(border clashes with China, 1979?1990)
- Vietnamese border raids in Thailand
(Against the Khmer Rouge insurgents and Thailand, 1979?1989)
- Thai?Laotian Border War
(Against Thailand to defend its ally, Laos, 1987?1988)
- Clashes in Cambodia
(Against the co-premier
Norodom Ranariddh
and the
Khmer Rouge
, 1997)
- Insurgency in Laos
(secret war in Laos against
Hmong
separatists, 1975?2022)
[10]
- War against rebellions 1975?1992
(against
FULRO
and several insurgent groups)
- United Nations peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic
(2015-now)
- United Nations Mission in South Sudan
(2015-now)
|
---|
Ranks
| Military ranks of Vietnam
|
---|
The
People's Army of Vietnam
(
PAVN
), officially the
Vietnam People's Army
(
VPA
;
[11]
Vietnamese
:
Quan đ?i nhan dan Vi?t Nam
,
lit.
'Military of and for the
people
of Vietnam
'
[12]
), also recognized as the
Vietnamese Army
(
Vietnamese
:
Quan đ?i Vi?t Nam
,
lit.
'Military of Vietnam') or the
People's Army
(
Vietnamese
:
Quan đ?i Nhan dan
), is the national
military force
of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
and the armed wing of the ruling
Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)
. The PAVN is a part of the
Vietnam People's Armed Forces
and includes: Ground Force,
Navy
,
Air Force
,
Border Guard
and
Coast Guard
. Vietnam does not have a separate Ground Force or
Army
service. All ground troops, army corps, military districts and
special forces
belong to the
Ministry of National Defence
, directly under the command of the
CPV Central Military Commission
, the
Minister of National Defence
, and the
General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army
. The military flag of the PAVN is the
National flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
defaced with the motto
Quy?t th?ng (Determination to win)
added in yellow at the top left (or by the side of the
flagpole
).
During the
French Indochina War
(1946?1954), the PAVN was often referred to as the
Vi?t Minh
. In the context of the
Vietnam War
(1955?1975), the army was referred to by its opposition forces as the
North Vietnamese Army
(NVA;
Vietnamese
:
Quan đ?i B?c Vi?t
), serving as the military force of the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
. This allowed writers, the U.S. military, and the general public, to distinguish northern communists from the southern communists, called
Viet Cong
(VC), or more formally the National Liberation Front. However, both groups ultimately worked under the same command structure. The Viet Cong had its own military forces called the
Liberation Army of South Vietnam
(LASV). It was practically considered a branch of the PAVN by the North Vietnamese.
[13]
In 1976, following the political reunification of Vietnam, LASV was officially disbanded and merged into the so-called NVA to form the existing incarnation of PAVN, serving as the national military of the unified state of Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
[14]
History
Before 1945
The first historical record of Vietnamese military history dates back to the era of
H?ng Bang
, 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
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
The PAVN was first conceived in September 1944 at the first Revolutionary Party Military Conference as the
Propaganda Unit of the Liberation Army
(alternatively translated as the
Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army
,
Vi?t Nam Tuyen truy?n Gi?i phong Quan
) to educate, recruit and mobilise the Vietnamese to create a main force to drive the
French colonial
and
Japanese occupiers
from Vietnam.
[15]
[16]
Under the guidelines of
H? Chi Minh
,
Vo Nguyen Giap
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.
[17]
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
.
[18]
The name was changed to the Vietnam Liberation Army (
Vi?t Nam Gi?i phong Quan
) on 15 May 1945.
[19]
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
(
Vi?t Nam V? qu?c đoan
).
[20]
[19]
At this point, it had about 1,000 soldiers.
[19]
On 22 May 1946, the army was called the
National Army of Vietnam
(
Quan đ?i Qu?c gia Vi?t Nam
, not to be confused with the opposite
Vietnamese National Army
of the France-associated
State of Vietnam
which had a synonymous English name and exactly the same Vietnamese name). Lastly, in 1950, it officially became the
People's Army of Vietnam
(or
Vietnam People's Army
,
Quan đ?i Nhan dan Vi?t Nam
).
[16]
Vo Nguyen Giap went on to become the first full general of the PAVN on 28 May 1948, and famous for leading the PAVN in victory over French forces at the
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
in 1954 and being in overall command against U.S. backed
South Vietnam
at the
Liberation of Saigon
on 30 April 1975.
French Indochina War
On 7 January 1947, its first regiment, the 102nd 'Capital' Regiment, was created for operations around
Hanoi
.
[21]
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 Hoa
, 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, 312nd, 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.
Vietnam War
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
Ngo đinh Di?m
, 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 Valley
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
(
M?t tr?n Dan t?c Gi?i phong Mi?n Nam Vi?t 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
Tr?n V?n Tra
, 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.
[22]
During the Vietnamese Lunar New Year
T?t 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 "đ?c cong". 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.
[23]
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
but they had 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?1990)
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,
[24]
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
.
[25]
- During the
Sino-Vietnamese War
and the
Sino-Vietnamese conflicts 1979?90
, 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
The PAVN has been actively involved in Vietnam's workforce to develop the
economy of Vietnam
by co-ordinating national defence. It has regularly sent troops to aid with natural disasters such as flooding, landslides etc. The PAVN is also involved in such areas as industry, agriculture,
forestry
,
fishery
and telecommunications. The PAVN has numerous small firms which have become quite profitable in recent years. However, recent decrees have effectively prohibited the commercialisation of the military.
Conscription
is in place for theoretically every male, age 18 to 25 years old, with the exception of the disabled and men who attended universities right after high school.
International presence & operations
The Foreign Relations Department of the Ministry of National Defence organises international operations of the PAVN.
Apart from its occupation of half of the disputed
Spratly Islands
, which have been claimed as Vietnamese territory since the 17th century, Vietnam has not officially had forces stationed internationally since its withdrawal from
Cambodia
and Laos in early 1990.
Allegations of Vietnamese assistance for overseas leftist insurgencies
The effectiveness of the
People's Army of Vietnam Special Operation Forces
during the Vietnam War saw them instruct various other countries and Marxist rebel groups. From the 1970s to 1990s, they covertly provided training at the PAVN Sapper Training School in via Vietnamese sapper advisors assigned to the Cuban Army's Sapper School in Cuba, and, during the 1980s, by a secret Vietnamese sapper training team stationed in Nicaragua. In addition to training Cambodian, Laotian, Soviet, and Cuban military personnel, their publications revealed that among the foreign revolutionary forces that received training in sapper tactics, bomb-making, and the use of weapons and explosives, were members of the Marxist El Salvadoran FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front), the Chilean MIR (Movement of the Revolutionary Left) fighting against the dictatorial regime of
Augusto Pinochet
, as well as the Colombian FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) movement, a Marxist guerilla group.
[26]
Allegations of Vietnamese intervention in Lao security crises
The Center for Public Policy Analysis
and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as well as Laotian and Hmong
human rights
organisations, including the
Lao Human Rights Council
, Inc. and the
United League for Democracy in Laos
, Inc., have provided evidence that since the end of the
Vietnam War
, significant numbers of Vietnamese military and security forces continue to be sent to Laos, on a repeated basis, to quell and suppress Laotian political and religious
dissident
and opposition groups including the peaceful 1999 Lao Students for Democracy protest in Vientiane in 1999 and the
Hmong rebellion
.
[27]
[28]
[29]
[30]
[31]
[32]
[33]
[34]
[35]
[36]
[37]
Rudolph Rummel
has estimated that 100,000 Hmong perished in genocide between 1975 and 1980 in collaboration with PAVN.
[38]
For example, in late November 2009, shortly before the start of the
2009 Southeast Asian Games
in
Vientiane
, the PAVN undertook a major troop surge in key rural and mountainous provinces in Laos where Lao and Hmong civilians and religious believers, including Christians, have sought sanctuary.
[39]
[40]
Modern-era peacekeeping operations
In 2014, Vietnam had requested to join the
United Nations peacekeeping force
, which was later approved.
[41]
The first Vietnamese UN peacekeeping officers were sent to
South Sudan
, marked the first involvement of Vietnam into a
United Nations
' mission abroad.
[41]
Vietnamese peacekeepers were also sent to the
Central African Republic
.
[42]
From 2022, Vietnam has deployed its first
military engineer
unit to the
peacekeeping missions
in
Abyei
.
[43]
2023 Turkish-Syrian earthquake
As an effort to help
Turkey
overcome the consequences of the 2023 earthquake, PAVN has sent 76 servicemen of the
Border Guard
,
Army Medic
, and
Engineering Corps
(alongside personnel from the
Public Security
) to participate in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief including
search-and-rescue
missions.
[44]
This is the first time ever that Vietnam has officially deployed and engaged in such an overseas rescuing campaign.
Organisation
The
Commander-in-Chief
of the Armed Forces is the
President of Vietnam
, though this position is nominal and real power is assumed by the
Central Military Commission
of the ruling
Communist Party of Vietnam
. The secretary of Central Military Commission (usually the
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam
) is the de facto Commander and now is
Nguy?n Phu Tr?ng
.
The
Minister of National Defence
oversees operations of the
Ministry of Defence
, and the PAVN. He also oversees such agencies as the
General Staff
and the General Department of Logistics. However, military policy is ultimately directed by the Central Military Commission of the ruling
Communist Party of Vietnam
.
- Ministry of National Defence
: is the lead organisation, highest command and management of the Vietnam People's Army.
- General Staff
: is leading agency all levels of the Vietnam People's Army, command all of the armed forces, which functions to ensure combat readiness of the armed forces and manage all military activities in peace and war.
- General Political Department
: is the agency in charge of Communist Party affairs ? political work within PAVN, which operates under the direct leadership of the
Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam
and the Central Military Party Committee.
- General Department of Defence Intelligence
: is an intelligence agency of the Vietnamese government and military.
- General Department of Logistics
: is the agency in charge to ensure logistical support to units of the People's Army.
- General Department of Technology
: is the agency in charge to ensure equipped technical means of war for the army and each unit.
- General Department of Defence Industry
(commercially branded as the
Vietnam Defence Industry
): is the agency responsible for the development of the Vietnamese national
defense industry
in support of the missions of the PAVN.
Service branches
The Vietnamese People's Army is subdivided into the following service branches:
- Vietnam People's Ground Force
(L?c quan Nhan dan Vi?t Nam)
- Vietnam People's Air Force
(Khong quan Nhan dan Vi?t Nam)
(H?i quan Nhan dan Vi?t Nam)
(B? đ?i Bien phong Vi?t Nam)
(C?nh sat bi?n Vi?t Nam)
- Cyberspace Operations Command
(B? T? l?nh Tac chi?n khong gian m?ng)
- President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Defence Force
(B? T? l?nh B?o v? L?ng
Ch? t?ch H? Chi Minh)
The People's Army of Vietnam composes of the standing (or regular) forces and the reserve forces. The standing forces include the main forces and the local forces. During peacetime, the standing forces are minimised in number, and kept combat-ready by regular physical and
weapons
training, and stock maintenance.
Vietnam People's Ground Force
Within PAVN the Ground Force have not been established as a separate full Service Command, thus
all of the ground troops, army corps, military districts and the specialised arms
are under the responsibility of the
Ministry of Defence
, under the direct command of the
General Staff
, who serves as its
de facto
commander. The
Vietnam Strategic Rear Forces
is also a part of the Ground Force.
Arms
Infantry
|
Armor - Tank
|
Artillery
|
Special Forces
|
Ammunition
|
Mechanized Infantry
|
Engineering
|
Medical
|
Signals
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Transportation
|
Technical
|
Chemical
|
Ordnance
|
Intelligence
|
Military Court
|
Ensemble
|
Military Athletes
|
Military Musical Bands
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Military regions
The following military regions are under the direct control of the General Staff and the Ministry of Defence:
Main forces
The Main Force of the PAVN and its People's Ground Forces consists of combat ready troops, as well as support units such as educational institutions for logistics, officer training, and technical training. In 1991, Conboy et al. stated that the PAVN Ground Force had four 'Strategic Army Corps' in the early 1990s, numbering 1?4, from north to south.
[45]
1st Corps
, located in the
Red River Delta
region, consisted of the 308th (one of the six original 'Steel and Iron' divisions) and 312th Divisions, and the 309th Infantry Regiment. The other three corps, 2 SAC, 3 SAC, and 4 SAC, were further south, with
4th Corps
, in Southern Vietnam, consisting of two former
LASV
divisions, the 7th and 9th.
From 2014 to 2016, the
IISS
Military Balance attributed the Vietnamese ground forces with an estimated 412,000 personnel.
Formations
, according to the IISS, include 8 military regions, 4 corps headquarters, 1 special forces airborne brigade, 6 armoured brigades and 3 armoured regiments, two mechanised infantry divisions, and 23 active infantry divisions plus another 9 reserve ones.
Combat support formations include 13 artillery brigades and one artillery regiment, 11 air defence brigades, 10 engineers brigades, 1 electronic warfare unit, 3 signals brigades and 2 signals regiment.
Combat service support formations include 9 economic construction divisions, 1 logistical regiment, 1 medical unit and 1 training regiment. Ross wrote in 1984 that economic construction division "are composed of regular troops that are fully trained and armed, and reportedly they are subordinate to their own directorate in the Ministry of Defense. They have specific military missions; however, they are also entrusted with economic tasks such as food production or construction work. They are composed partially of older veterans."
Ross also cited 1980s sources saying that economic construction divisions each had a strength of about 3,500.
In 2017, the listing was amended, with the addition of a single
Short-range ballistic missile
brigade. The ground forces according to the IISS, hold Scud-B/C SRBMs.
[47]
12th Corps
First organised on 21 November 2023, the 12th Corps was created by merging all of the units from the former
1st Corps
and the
2nd Corps
. It is stationed in
Tam đi?p District
,
Ninh Binh
.
[48]
[49]
3rd Corps ? Binh đoan Tay Nguyen
(Corps of the
Central Highlands
)
:
First organised on 26 March 1975 during the
Vietnam War
, 3rd Corps had a major role in the
Ho Chi Minh Campaign
and the
Cambodian?Vietnamese War
. Stationed in
Pleiku
,
Gia Lai
.
4th Corps ? Binh đoan C?u Long
(Corps of the
Mekong
)
:
First organised 20 July 1974 during the
Vietnam War
, 4th Corps had a major role in the
Ho Chi Minh Campaign
and the
Cambodian?Vietnamese War
. Stationed in
D? An
,
Binh D??ng
Local forces
Local forces are an entity of the PAVN that, together with the
militia
and "self-defence forces", act on the local level in protection of people and local authorities. While the local forces are regular VPA forces, the people's militia consists of rural civilians, and the people's self-defence forces consist of civilians who live in urban areas and/or work in large groups, such as at construction sites or farms. The current number stands at 3?4 million reservists and militia personnel combined. They serve as force multipliers to the PAVN and Public Security during wartime and peacetime contingencies.
Vietnam People's Navy
Vietnam People's Air Force
Vietnam Border Guard
Vietnam Coast Guard
Ranks and insignia
Commissioned officer ranks
The rank insignia of
commissioned officers
.
Other ranks
The rank insignia of
non-commissioned officers
and
enlisted personnel
.
Equipment
From the 1960s to 1975 the
Soviet Union
, along with some smaller
Eastern Bloc
countries, was the main supplier of military hardware to North Vietnam. After the latter's victory in the war, it remained the main supplier of equipment to Vietnam. The United States had been the primary supplier of equipment to South Vietnam; much of the equipment left by the U.S. Army and the ARVN came under control of the re-unified Vietnamese government. The PAVN captured large numbers of ARVN weapons on 30 April 1975 after Saigon was captured.
Russia
remains the largest arms-supplier for Vietnam; even after 1986, there were also increasing arms sales from other nations, notably from
India
,
Turkey
,
Israel
,
Japan
,
South Korea
, and
France
. In 2016,
President
Barack Obama
announced the lifting of the lethal weapons embargo on Vietnam, which has increased Vietnamese military equipment choices from other countries such as the
United States
, the
United Kingdom
, and other Western countries, which could enable a faster modernization of the Vietnamese military. Since 2018, the United States has begun to provide warships for Vietnam Coast Guard as part of the military cooperation between two states, the first of these ships arrived in 2021.
[51]
Despite Russia remaining Vietnam's largest weapon supplier, increasing cooperation with Israel has resulted in the development of Vietnamese weaponry with a strong mixture of Russian and Israeli weapons. For examples, the PKMS, GK1, and GK3 guns are three Vietnam-made indigenous guns modeled after the
Galil ACE
of Israel.
[52]
Many new Vietnamese weapons, armor, and equipment are also greatly influenced by Israeli military doctrines, due to Vietnam's long and problematic relations with most of its neighbors.
[52]
Notes
Citations
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.
Bao đa N?ng
(in Vietnamese)
. Retrieved
18 December
2023
.
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"Scope of operation, working measures and international cooperation of the Vietnam Coast Guard"
.
National Defence Journal
. Ministry of Defence (Vietnam).
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a
b
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(3 February 2014).
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.
London
:
Routledge
. pp. 287?289.
ISBN
9781857437225
.
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a
b
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.
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. 30 November 2022
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16 April
2023
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permanent dead link
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2023
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. 2 July 2020.
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2011
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. Retrieved
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2024
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Ours is an army
'from the people, for the people, readily fighting and sacrificing for the independence of the Fatherland and nation, for the happiness of the people'
- ^
Military History Institute of Vietnam,(2002)
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translated by Merle L. Pribbenow. University Press of Kansas. p. 68.
ISBN
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.
VOV2
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2023
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Leulliot, Nowfel.
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.
free.fr
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2016
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a
b
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.
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2023
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Giap: The Victor in Vietnam
, pp. 32
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a
b
c
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.
indochine54.free.fr
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on 22 May 2010
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8 May
2023
.
- ^
"C?ng TTđT B? Qu?c phong Vi?t Nam"
.
mod.gov.vn
.
- ^
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The NVA and Vietcong
, Osprey Publishing, 1991, p.5
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"Interview with PAVN General Tran Van Tra"
. 12 June 2006.
Archived
from the original on 6 January 2014
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7 October
2013
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. Americanforeignrelations.com. Archived from
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on 25 March 2012
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2011
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Asia Books 2000.
- ^
David P. Chandler,
A history of Cambodia
, Westview Press; Allen & Unwin, Boulder, Sydney, 1992
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Pribbenow, Merle.
"Vietnam Trained Commando Forces in Southeast Asia and Latin America"
.
Wilson Center
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Centre for Public Policy Analysis
Archived
6 April 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
, (CPPA),(30 August 2013), Washington, D.C.
- ^
The Hmong Rebellion in Laos: Victims of Totalitarianism or terrorists?
Archived
14 January 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
, by Gary Yia Lee, PhD
- ^
"Vietnamese soldiers attack Hmong in Laos"
. Factfinding.org. Archived from
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on 3 October 2011
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13 November
2011
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. Factfinding.org. Archived from
the original
on 3 October 2011
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13 November
2011
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- ^
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. Factfinding.org. Archived from
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on 3 October 2011
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13 November
2011
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. Rushprnews.com. Archived from
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2011
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.
cppa-dc.org/id41.html
. 20 May 2008.
[
dead link
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. Prlog.org.
Archived
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13 November
2011
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. Pr-inside.com. Archived from
the original
on 21 September 2011
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13 November
2011
.
- ^
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. Unpo.org. 26 January 2010.
Archived
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13 November
2011
.
- ^
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. Nickihawj.blogspot.com. 11 February 2010.
Archived
from the original on 28 November 2011
. Retrieved
13 November
2011
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Archived
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Wayback Machine
Rudolph Rummel
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"Vietnam, Laos Crackdown: SEA Games Avoided By Overseas Lao, Hmong in Protest"
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2011
.
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13 November
2011
.
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a
b
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.
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.
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8 May
2023
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.
VietnamPlus
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2023
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- ^
"Vietnam People's Army sends 76 servicemen to participate in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in Turkey"
.
People's Army Newspaper
Online
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2023
.
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.
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12 October
2016
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"Thanh l?p Quan đoan 12, ti?n len hi?n đ?i"
.
Vietnamese Government
.
Archived
from the original on 22 October 2023
. Retrieved
20 October
2023
.
- ^
"Lanh đ?o Quan ?y Trung ??ng, B? Qu?c phong d? l? cong b? Quy?t đ?nh thanh l?p Quan đoan 12"
. People's Army Newspaper (Vietnam). 2 December 2023
. Retrieved
2 December
2023
.
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a
b
"Quy đ?nh quan hi?u, c?p hi?u, phu hi?u va l? ph?c c?a Quan đ?i nhan dan Vi?t Nam"
.
mod.gov.vn
(in Vietnamese). Ministry of Defence (Vietnam). 26 August 2009. Archived from
the original
on 2 December 2021
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2021
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. 11 August 2021.
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a
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.
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References
- Conboy, Bowra, and McCouaig, 'The NVA and Vietcong', Osprey Publishing, 1991.
- Gabriel, Richard A. "Nonaligned, Third World, and Other Ground Armies: A Combat Assessment," Greenwood Press, 1983.
Nonaligned, Third World, and Other Ground Armies: A Combat Assessment
(further reading)
- Military History Institute of Vietnam,(2002)
Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954?1975,
translated by Merle L. Pribbenow. University Press of Kansas.
ISBN
0-7006-1175-4
.
- Morris, Virginia and Hills, Clive. 'Ho Chi Minh's Blueprint for Revolution: In the Words of Vietnamese Strategists and Operatives', McFarland & Co Inc, 2018.
- Ross, Russell R. (1984).
"Military Force Development in Vietnam: A Report"
(PDF)
. Washington DC: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress.
- Thayer, Carl A. (1997). "Force Modernization: The Case of the Vietnam People's Army".
Contemporary Southeast Asia; Singapore
.
19
(1).
- Tran, Doan Lam (2012).
How the Vietnamese People's Army was Founded
. Hanoi: World Publishers.
ISBN
978-604-7705-13-9
.
External links
Media related to
Vietnam People's Army
at Wikimedia Commons
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