What is the Vietnamese army yesterday and today?
The small South Asian country of Vietnam has experienced many bloody wars in its history. The main threat to it has always been the mighty northern neighbor - China. And the beginning of the XXI century confirms this. A well-trained and equipped army for Vietnam is not a luxury, but a severe necessity. The country is called unique - only it was able to withstand the numerous wars of the 20th century - over the course of a quarter of a century, it defeated France, the USA and China. Today it is the most powerful army in Southeast Asia.
The first detachment of the Vietnamese army was formed on December 22, 1944 under the command of Vo Nguyen Giap. He numbered only 34 fighters and had very modest weapons. In the next few days, he attacked French troops and captured 2 combat posts.
Over the next year, scattered liberation groups joined the detachment. By May 1945 military unit, which by that time had more than a thousand fighters, became known as the Vietnam Liberation Army. By that time, command training schools were already operating.
The First Indochina War brought invaluable experience and almost complete rearmament. In 1947, the first infantry regiment was formed, and in 1949 the regular troops were renamed and received their own current name– Vietnamese People's Army. Then the draft procedure for its formation was introduced.
In the 1950s, successively formed artillery unit, naval forces, border troops, armored unit and air force.
The modern structure of the VNA
The modern Vietnamese army consists of three main groups - the Main Forces, the Local Forces and the People's Defense Forces. The types of troops that are in the structure are the ground forces, border, naval and air forces and air defense. Naval Forces have units - the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard.
The whole country is divided into 9 military districts. Each district includes infantry and artillery divisions, as well as tank brigades and engineering troops. The 2nd military district - northwest of Vietnam, in addition to the named troops, includes an air defense brigade and parts of the defense of industrial facilities. Two military regions are in the northwest, two in the north, one in Central Vietnam and two in the south of the country. The Capital Defense Command stands out separately. It houses an infantry division, an armored battalion and an artillery regiment.
There are 4 separate parts - these are the cases. They are evenly distributed across districts. The corps also includes infantry, artillery, tank units and engineer regiments. The buildings have their own names - "Inevitable Victory", "Fragrant River", "Central Highlands" and "Mekong Delta". In connection with the permanent dispute with China over the Paracel Islands, the first two corps are now stationed in the North and in the region of Hanoi.
Subordination and hierarchy
The Vietnamese do not have the concept of "Supreme Commander". The army is wholly and completely subordinate to the Central Military Commission, which is headed by the General Secretary of the Communist Party. The charter of the VNA states that it is under the "absolute, undivided and all-pervasive leadership of the Party." The deputy head of the Central Military Commission is the highest military rank (the only one in the country) - the Minister of Defense.
The Commission also includes the prime minister, the president, deputy defense ministers, and the head of the Army's Main Political Directorate, which, in fact, is a separate organization. It is headed by the second-ranking military man in the army. In addition, the members of the Commission are the chiefs of general staffs and commanders of military districts.
Military ranks roughly correspond to world armies, but have their own Vietnamese name. The last such rank is colonel. After him, the names of the rank correspond to the generally accepted ones - senior colonel, junior, middle, senior and great general. There is only one great in the country and that is the Minister of Defense. In all parts there is a political commissar, who corresponds in rank to the commander.
The term of service in the VNA is 2 years. Today, girls can serve in the army. Defense spending in Vietnam is 5% of GDP.
Equipment and military imports
The main problem of the Vietnamese army is outdated equipment. AT last years thanks to stable GDP growth, Vietnam began to rearm. Vietnam's No. 1 traditional arms supplier was first Soviet Union and now Russia. By increasing defense spending, Vietnam has risen to the 7th place in the ratings of the largest arms buyers in the world. Of course, many suppliers are ready to compete for such a tasty morsel. So, in May 2016, the United States finally lifted the embargo on arms supplies to the Vietnam People's Army. The ban on the sale of weapons to her was in effect in the United States for almost 50 years.
This step by the American authorities is quite capable of producing a revolution in the global arms market, depending on which direction one of its largest players, Vietnam, turns. At present, Russia is the largest arms supplier to Vietnam (up to 90%). The remaining 10% is shared by other sellers. In recent years, the Vietnamese military has been working on issues of military cooperation with Israel (supply of equipment for sappers) and a number of other countries.
Tank corps are equipped with long-obsolete vehicles from the early 80s, T-54s were modernized with the help of Israel in the early 2000s. BMPs have also not been updated since the end of the war with America.
More attention goes to the air force and navy because of the same dispute over the islands in the South China Sea.
In recent years, the Vietnamese began to replace the MIG-21 and SU-22 they had in service with the SU-27 and SU-30 aircraft. Air defense systems are equipped with S-300 systems.
Over the past decade, Vietnam has ordered several Gepard-3.9 frigates from Russia. Two of them have already been delivered to the customer, the rest are being tested. Currently, the country's Navy is armed with 5 submarines, 11 corvettes, 7 frigates and more than 100 other ships.
We will not list all the weapons of the VNA. It is important that it is modernized and increases its combat capability. The Vietnamese have never been aggressors, but they did not give up spans of their land either. And experience shows that weapons should always be kept “polished”.
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Major E. Belov
Ground Forces (SV) are the main branch of the armed forces Socialist Republic Vietnam (NRT) and the main "firepower" of the Vietnamese People's Army (VNA).
The Vietnamese Armed Forces consist of a regular component - the Vietnamese People's Army (500 thousand people) and troops of the Ministry of Public Security (30 thousand), as well as an irregular component - the people's militia and self-defense forces.
Formation ground forces in Vietnam (until 1954 the official name of the country was the Democratic Republic of Vietnam), initiated by Ho Chi Minh * in 1946, was carried out in the context of the struggle of the Vietnamese people for independence from the colonial rule of France. China was directly involved in their creation, providing assistance to the republic with specialists, weapons and military equipment. The first formation of the ground forces of the future VNA - an infantry division - was deployed in 1949.
Vietnam's ground forces play a key role both in maintaining domestic political stability and in fulfilling the tasks of national defense of the state. According to the 2009 White Paper, the main tasks of this type of aircraft are: protection political system, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country; preventing the outbreak of armed conflicts and wars; maintenance of peace and stability for the purpose of industrialization and development of the Vietnamese economy. In addition, the ground forces are entrusted with the functions of "promoting the sustainable economic growth of the state, combating poverty and eliminating natural and man-made disasters."
The concept of using the ground forces of the VNA was formed taking into account national military traditions, tactics and the foundations of operational art used in the armed forces of the USSR and China, as well as significant combat experience gained during Vietnam War(1957-1975), the border conflict with China (1979) and the war with Cambodia (1979-1989). The officers and soldiers of the Vietnamese army are traditionally distinguished by high moral and psychological qualities and, as a result, by the appropriate fighting spirit.
At present, the number of ground forces of the Vietnam People's Army is about 400 thousand people (60% of the total personnel of the armed forces). After mobilization deployment, it may increase to 600,000. The military-trained reserve exceeds 1.5 million people.
According to their purpose, the ground forces of the VNA are divided into field and local. Operational management of them is entrusted to the chief of the general staff of the Vietnam People's Army, who is actually the commander of this branch of the armed forces.
Field troops (about 350 thousand people)- the most numerous component of the regular army. According to their capabilities, they are capable of independently or in cooperation with formations of other types of the Armed Forces to conduct operations ( fighting) anywhere in the country. Field troops are organizationally united into seven military districts, one command (capital) and four army corps of the reserve of the main command (directly subordinated to the chief of the general staff of the Armed Forces).
The combat composition of the field troops includes: 61 divisions (of which only three are mechanized), 50 separate regiments of military branches ( special purpose, artillery, communications, etc.)? as well as units and support units.
Local troops (about 50 thousand people) are the reserve of the first stage. In a threatened period, they are understaffed to wartime states and, after combat coordination, are able to perform tasks for their intended purpose (as a rule, in areas of permanent deployment). In organizational terms, the military formations of local troops are reduced to separate regiments, battalions and companies. AT Peaceful time In administrative terms, these units and subunits are directly subordinate to the military directorates (departments) of local authorities, and in matters of combat use - to the headquarters of military districts. They also include some enterprises of the military industry, as well as defense-economic formations.
SV are equipped with weapons and military equipment (WME) mainly of Soviet (Russian) and Chinese production. In addition, there is a small amount of captured American weapons and military equipment left over from the Vietnam War.
In service with SV consist of more than 1,300 tanks (T-54, T-55, T-62, PT-76, T-59), about 300 infantry fighting vehicles (mainly BMP-1 and BMP-2), 2,500 armored combat vehicles ( BTR-50, BTR-60, BTR-152, BTR-40, BRDM, BRDM-2, Ml 13), more than 9 thousand mortars of various calibers, 380 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS, BM-21 "Grad", BM -14, BM-13), more than 1,000 MANPADS (Strela-2M, Igla-1).
Artillery units of the ground forces are armed with more than 3 thousand field artillery guns (155-mm cannons, 152-mm self-propelled howitzers (SG) "Acacia", 152-mm howitzers D-20.130-mm guns M-46.122-mm SG "Gvozdika ", 122-mm howitzers D-30, etc.), 3.8 thousand units of anti-tank artillery (calibers 100, 85, 76 and 57 mm), over 3 thousand anti-aircraft artillery guns (ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" , ZSU-23-2, 100-mm KS-19, 85-mm and 57-mm S-60 anti-aircraft guns, etc.).
The main formation of the ground forces of the Vietnam People's Army is infantry division. Organizationally, it includes three regiments, as well as units of divisional subordination (medical, vehicular, communications and engineering battalions, reconnaissance and repair companies). AT infantry regiment there are three infantry battalions and three divisions - artillery, anti-aircraft and mortar.
The number of personnel of the division at full strength, depending on the place of deployment, is from 5 to 12.5 thousand people. It is armed with up to 100 mortars, 40 anti-tank artillery guns, 60 anti-aircraft guns, 13 armored personnel carriers and six MLRS.
The highest combat capabilities in terms of firepower has motorized infantry division ground forces. It includes three motorized infantry and one tank regiment. This formation is armed with more than 30 tanks, about 100 infantry fighting vehicles, 150 armored personnel carriers, six MLRS, 50 field artillery guns, 70 mortars, 20 ATGMs, 36 anti-tank artillery guns, 30 MANPADS, and 30 anti-aircraft guns.
Acquisition ground forces of the Vietnam People's Army is carried out in accordance with the law on universal conscription, as well as on a contract basis. Military service is defined by the country's constitution as an "honorable duty," and citizens of the SRV are obliged to "take part in the construction of national defense." Call for military service
subject to males aged 18 to 25 years. Service life 18 months.
The officers of the ground forces of the VNA are recruited at the expense of persons who have graduated from the military educational establishments Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam. Recruitment there is carried out on a competitive basis from among civilians and military personnel under the age of 23 years. Preferential conditions for admission are provided to citizens who have completed military service on the islands of the Spratly archipelago, as well as representatives of national minorities (Thai, Muong, Khmer, etc.).
The technical equipment, training and high morale of the military personnel of the Vietnam People's Army in general make it possible to carry out the tasks assigned to them in full. However, as Western military experts note, there are a number of serious problems in the country's Armed Forces.
Thus, many types of weapons and military equipment The armed forces of the country, and the ground forces in particular, are significantly outdated and require modernization or renewal (up to 50% of weapons and military equipment are out of order). When carrying out operational and combat training activities, there is an insufficient level of training of command and technical staff, low organization of interaction between control bodies of various branches of the armed forces, as well as poor skills of military personnel in the use of standard weapons.
To topical issues also includes the continuing decline in the quality of the conscripts (poor health, moral and physical unpreparedness for service). The trend towards an increase in the number of persons not covered by military registration continues (exceeds 40%). In addition, the existing capabilities of the military education system in the country, as well as the current state of the educational material and technical base, do not meet modern requirements for the training of highly professional personnel.
The construction of the Vietnamese ground forces is carried out in accordance with the plan for the reform of the armed forces, calculated for the period up to 2020. The main attention is paid to maintaining the combat capabilities of formations and units at a level that allows to ensure the protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
In the course of the reforms, it is planned to complete measures to improve the organizational and staffing structure of this service of the Armed Forces with their subsequent re-equipment with modern equipment. The issue of modernization of armored vehicles is acute. In the field of arms and military equipment purchases, it is planned to purchase, first of all, communications equipment, anti-tank systems, engineering and automotive equipment, as well as ammunition for small arms and artillery weapons.
In formations and units of the ground forces during combat training, the main attention is paid to working out the organization and conduct of defensive operations, combat operations to repel an enemy air attack, as well as improving interaction with formations of other power structures in the performance of tasks to ensure internal political stability.
The ground forces reform plan provides for the following: increasing the effectiveness of ongoing exercises; improving the organization of management of units and subunits; development of tactics and methods of conducting combat operations in the conditions of the use of high-precision weapons by the enemy; improvement of the system of personnel training for participation in activities to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters.
It is also planned to increase the level of mobilization readiness of the reserve components of the ground forces. To this end, unified standards for the number of personnel of cadre formations and units have been developed (in divisions - no more than 100 people, in regiments and brigades - 50).
As a result of the implementation of the program for the development of the ground forces of the VNA, it is planned to create a mobile, compact branch of the armed forces equipped with modern weapons and military equipment that will be able to effectively carry out external and internal functions for the defense of the state.
The emergence of new challenges and threats to the national security of the country determines the desire of the Vietnamese leadership to create a rapid reaction force as part of the ground forces. This component will be formed on the basis of special forces units.
Thus, despite the existing financial and organizational difficulties, the ground forces of the Vietnam People's Army are the most combat-ready among the states of Southeast Asia. The problem of insufficient technical equipment of this type of armed forces is solved by maintaining a large number of personnel, intensive combat training, as well as through ongoing activities aimed at developing a high ideological motivation of military personnel to protect the country and preserve its territorial integrity.
* Leader of the Vietnamese and international communist movement and the national liberation movement, chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam, president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
Foreign military review. 2015, №2, P.47-52
The Vietnamese armed forces are referred to as the People's Army of Vietnam (NAV) and consist of ground forces, navy, air force, border guards and coast guards.
The date of creation of the NAV is considered to be December 22, 1944, when the "armed propaganda group" of the Viet Minh was created under the leadership of Vo Nguyen Giap.
Then there were decades of revolutionary war - first against the French colonialists (1945-1954), then against South Vietnam and the Americans who supported it (1954-1975).
The wars continued after the departure of the Americans and the fall of Saigon until the very beginning of the 90s - against the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, various rebels in Laos and in southern Vietnam.
Finally, from the Chinese invasion of northern Vietnam in early 1979, in an attempt to save the collapsing allied Khmer Rouge regime, the border conflict with the PRC continued until the very normalization in 1991. And now it is the big northern neighbor that is the main probable adversary of Vietnam.
According to the Charter of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the army is under the "absolute, undivided and all-pervading leadership" of the Party (it is simply called Dang in Vietnamese).
The leadership is carried out by the Central Military Commission, headed by the General Secretary of the Party. His deputy is the Minister of Defense of Vietnam - this post is occupied by the most senior of the Vietnamese military.
The commission includes the president and the prime minister of the country, deputy ministers of defense, the head of the Main Political Directorate of the army (this post is occupied by the second-ranking military man) and his deputies, the chief of the general staff, commanders of the military branches and military districts.
The Vietnamese People's Army remains the most powerful army in Southeast Asia, currently numbering 482,000 regular forces and 3 million locals. The country spends 5% of GDP on defense. They serve in Vietnam on conscription for 2 years. Now girls can serve.
Weapons to Vietnam were traditionally supplied by the USSR / Russia, in recent years Israeli weapons have also been purchased for sappers, and issues of military cooperation with other countries are being worked out.
The ranking system corresponds to world traditions, except that all military ranks have original Vietnamese names, for example, colonel is "fuong ta".
(this is generally characteristic of the Vietnamese language, where it is customary to invent your own words for foreign things, and not borrow foreign terms).
Only the highest ranks they are called in their own way - in the NAV, after the colonel, there are senior colonel, junior general, middle general, senior general and great general. The latter in Vietnam can be only one and he holds the post of Minister of Defense.
The ranks are identical in ground forces, air force, border guard and coast guard. Only in the fleet are already admirals.
Duplication is observed at all levels, there is a commander and a political commissar, usually in equal military ranks. At the same time, political commissars are not subordinate to the Ministry of Defense, but to the completely independent Main Political Directorate of the Army.
The ground forces do not have a separate command, all ground units, army corps, military districts and various special forces such as sappers are subordinate to the Ministry of Defense.
The territory of the country is divided into 9 military districts.
The main forces of the army are concentrated in 4 corps, one is poetically called the Corps of Inevitable Victory, the other three in geography - the Fragrant River (Huong), the Central Highlands and the Mekong Delta. The first two corps are now deployed in the capital area and near the border with China, the deployment of the other two corresponds to their name.
Corps headquarters are located in Tam Diepe (Ninh Binh Province), Bak Giang, Pleiku and Zi'an (Binh Duong Province).
Each corps includes 3 infantry divisions, a tank unit, separate air defense regiments, artillery, engineers, signalmen. Special Forces sappers are subordinate to their own command.
Each infantry division consists of three infantry regiments
All parts are numbered, and by number it is easy to establish its origin. Three-digit numbers have regiments and divisions formed in the north of Vietnam, one or two digits in the number are former units of the NLF (Viet Cong). The composition of the name of the parts includes the awards assigned to them.
Six infantry divisions, formed in the early 50s during the war with the French colonialists - the 304th, 308th, 312th, 316th, 320th and 325th - bear the honorary names of "iron and steel divisions" and have colorful denominations. So the 316th, whose fighters hoisted the flag over Dien Bien Phu, bears the full name of the "316th Order of Ho Chi Minh Miscanthus Division."
(Miscanthus is such an ornamental grass, a terrible weed that is practically impossible to get rid of.)
The tank fleet has not been updated since the beginning of the 80s, although at the beginning of the 21st century the Israelis modernized the Vietnamese T-54s. The same applies to infantry fighting vehicles, the local forces still use the M-113 left over from the South Vietnamese army.
The main tank is the T-62, assembled into two (202nd and 203rd) tank brigades and one separate (273rd) tank regiment. The 201st Tank Brigade is equipped with the T-54, the 405th with the PT-76. Also, a large number of tanks of various modifications are stored in local units.
In recent years, Vietnam has made the development of the fleet and aviation a priority, due to the aggravation of the situation around the disputed islands in the South China (called the East Sea in Vietnam) Sea.
The NAV Air Force now has 3 air divisions and 6 air defense divisions. The main aircraft for many years were the MiG-21 and Su-22, but in recent years Vietnam has been changing them to the Su-27 and Su-30 purchased in Russia.
For air defense, S-300 systems are being purchased.
The Vietnamese fleet has 7 frigates, 11 corvettes, 5 submarines and about a hundred other ships. In the coming years, Vietnam will receive 2 more Gepards from Russian shipyards.
Negotiations are underway with the Dutch on the construction of the UDC. The main base of the Vietnamese fleet is Haiphong.
Activity
During World War II, he fought both the Japanese occupiers of Vietnam and the French colonial administration subordinate to them.
At the same time, the Viet Minh provided assistance to the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - in particular, by passing intelligence on Japanese forces in French Indochina.
During this period, Viet Minh leaders approached OSS representatives in China four times with a proposal to intensify sabotage against Japanese troops in French Indochina if the American side provided them with weapons, but all these proposals were rejected. In total, one Thompson submachine gun and two Colt pistols were received from the USA through the OSS line; six more .38 caliber revolvers and a batch of cartridges were handed over to Viet Minh representatives by OSS employee Paul E. Helliwell as payment for rescuing three downed American pilots. There is evidence that in the summer of 1945, American instructors trained 200 Viet Minh partisans.
In addition, during this period of time, the Viet Minh received assistance from France (after the signing of an agreement on the fight against Japan in March 1944, 165 Remington rifles and 40 carbines were received on March 23, 1944) and the Kuomintang government of China.
By the time of Japan's surrender in August 1945, support from Western countries was discontinued.
Vietnam National Army
The National Army of Vietnam was created in 1949 by France in opposition to the Viet Minh, when the puppet State of Vietnam was proclaimed by the colonial forces. Together with Expeditionary Force France, the National Army of Vietnam took part in the First Indochina War, but was distinguished by low combat capability and did not enjoy the confidence of the French. The Vietnamese National Army was disbanded after the 1954 Geneva Accords.
Lien Viet United National Front
Lien Viet (Viet. Liên Việt, short for Vietnam. Hội Liên hiệp quốc dân Việt Nam, Hoi Lien Hyep Quoc Zan Vietnam, "National Union of Vietnam") is a patriotic organization in Vietnam, founded in 1946 and played an important role in unifying the Vietnamese people to fight the French colonialists during the War of Resistance 1945-1954.
Story
The Union was established on May 29, 1946 in Hanoi by a committee of 27 people as a socio-political organization with the aim of uniting all the patriotic forces and people of Vietnam, regardless of party, caste, religion, political views, in order to make Vietnam independent, united, democratic and prosperous country.
The Viet Minh front, which retained its organizational independence, a number of organizations adjoining the Viet Minh or included in it, as well as parties and individuals who stood outside the Viet Minh front, entered the Union.
Main members of Lien Viet:
Viet Minh (Việt Minh),
Vietnamese General Confederation of Workers
Society for the Study of Marxism-Leninism
Vietnam Women's Union (Vietnamese: Hội Liên hiệp Phụ nữ Việt Nam, founded October 1946),
Federation of Vietnamese Youth (Vietnamese Hội Liên hiệp Thanh niên Việt Nam, founded in 1946),
Democratic Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Đảng Dân chủ Việt Nam, founded in 1944),
Vietnam Socialist Party (Vietnamese: Đảng Xã hội Việt Nam, founded in July 1946).
For several months, Lien Viet included right-wing bourgeois-nationalist parties:
National Party of Vietnam
Vietnamese Revolutionary Union
In the future, only a small progressive-minded group of Dong-min-hoi remained in the Union.
In 1951, the Viet Minh and Lien Viet merged, resulting in the creation of a united national front, which retained the name Lien Viet. In March 1951, the Vietnam Workers' Party (Vietnamese: Đảng Lao động Việt Nam) officially entered Lien Viet. The front played a big role in rallying and mobilizing populace to fight the French invaders during the First Indochina War.
On September 10, 1955, at a national front congress, a decision was made to dissolve Lien Viet and create the Fatherland Front of Vietnam on its basis.
Leaders
Ton Duc Thang (Chairman, March 1951-1955)
Ho Chi Minh (honorary president, 1946-1955)
Armed Forces of South Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARV) - (Viet. Quân lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa (Quân Lực VNCH)) is the armed forces of the state of the Republic of Vietnam (also known as South Vietnam), created in 1955 and ceased to exist in 1975.
The armed forces of South Vietnam consisted of three branches of service:
ground forces (Vietnamese Lục quân Việt Nam Cộng hòa);
navy (Vietnamese Hải quân Việt Nam Cộng hòa);
air force (Vietnamese Không lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa).
South Vietnamese soldiers in battle. 1961
Story
The predecessor of the ARV was the National Army of Vietnam, created in 1949, when France formally granted self-government to Vietnam, then a colony of France. Soldiers of the National Army, together with the French Expeditionary Force, took part in the Indochina War. The units of the Vietnamese army played, as a rule, a secondary role in the hostilities, since they were distinguished by low combat capability and did not enjoy the confidence of the French.
The Vietnamese National Army was disbanded after the 1954 Geneva Accords. The pro-American politician Ngo Dinh Diem, who came to power in South Vietnam, believed that the implementation of the Geneva Accords would inevitably lead to the establishment of control over South Vietnam by the communists.
On January 20, 1955, the governments of the United States, France and South Vietnam signed an agreement on the training of the South Vietnamese army of 100,000 regular troops and 150,000 reservists. General leadership was entrusted to the French General Paul Ely, military advisers, weapons and equipment were committed to provide the United States.
In violation of the agreements, on October 26, 1955, the creation of the Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed, on the same day the creation of the South Vietnamese army was announced.
By the end of 1958, the government of South Vietnam had the following armed formations at its disposal: armed forces - 150 thousand military personnel; civil defense corps - 60 thousand people, police corps - 45 thousand people, rural guard detachments - up to 100 thousand people.
Initially, the ARV was created on the model of the American army and with the active participation of American military advisers. The army immediately became the mainstay of Ngo Dinh Diem's regime. It was entrusted with the task of repelling a possible invasion of the army of North Vietnam. When in the late 1950s the country developed Civil War between government forces and communist guerrillas, the focus was shifted to waging a counter-guerrilla war.
In 1960, there were 700 US military advisers in South Vietnam.
In May 1961, at a meeting between US Vice President L. Johnson and South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, an agreement was reached on increasing US military and financial assistance.
On October 11, 1961, the US government reported to Saigon that "America will assist the government of the Republic of Vietnam in the fight against guerrillas", General Maxwell D. Taylor was sent to South Vietnam to assess the needs of the South Vietnamese army. On December 12, 1961, the first two helicopter squadrons transferred by the United States for the South Vietnamese army arrived in South Vietnam.
On December 14, 1961, US President John F. Kennedy, in his letter to Ngo Dinh Diem, announced that US support would be "immediately increased" again. As a result, if in 1961 South Vietnam ranked third in terms of volumes received from the United States military aid(after South Korea and Taiwan), then since 1962 he took first place: in 1950-1963 - 1443.0 million dollars; in 1964-1969 - 5703.0 million dollars, in 1970-1976 - not less than 11042.0 million dollars. The exact amount of American military assistance to South Vietnam is difficult to ascertain, since the appropriations were partly included in the budget of the US Department of Defense between 1970 and 1975.
As a result, already in 1961-1962, the number of South Vietnamese armed forces was increased from 150 thousand to 170 thousand soldiers and officers, the number of "civil guard" (civil guard) - from 60 thousand to 120 thousand people. At the end of 1962, the number of the South Vietnamese army was 200 thousand people.
At the end of 1963, there were 17,000 military specialists, advisers, instructors, and US Air Force pilots in South Vietnam.
In 1962, four corps were formed, each of which was assigned a certain area of responsibility (tactical zone):
Map of South Vietnam with corps tactical zones marked
I Corps - the northern provinces of the country, closest to North Vietnam. Headquarters in Da Nang.
II Corps - Central Highlands. Headquarters in Pleiku.
III Corps - provinces adjacent to Saigon. Headquarters in Saigon.
IV Corps - the Mekong Delta and the southern provinces of the country. Headquarters in Can Tho.
A unique feature of the ARV corps was that they were also administrative units. The corps commander handled all military and civil affairs on his territory. In addition to regular units, the RAF included Regional Forces (Regional Forces, RF) and People's Forces (People Forces, PF). Regional forces operated within their provinces and were paramilitary formations. The People's Forces were local village-level militias with minimal military training and armed only with obsolete small arms. It is noteworthy that one of the two main opponents of the ARVN - the Viet Cong - had almost the same structure.
During the course of the war, the ARV steadily increased in numbers: by 1972, it already had about a million military personnel. In 1961-1964, the army was constantly defeated in battles with the guerrillas of the NLF. By 1965, the situation was so critical that American experts predicted the possibility of overthrowing the government of South Vietnam by communist forces. The reasons for this were a number of ARV-specific problems:
A 12-year-old South Vietnamese paratrooper with an M79 grenade launcher. 1968
The politicization of the leadership of the army led to the fact that the ARV became the main lever of the numerous coups that took place in South Vietnam in 1963-1967. The inability of the ARV on its own to resist partisan movement was one of the key factors behind the US administration's decision to send US ground troops to Vietnam. In parallel with this, the United States began rearming the South Vietnamese army.
As of 1968, the military budget of South Vietnam was 36.8 billion piastres (312 million US dollars), which was 60% higher than in 1967.
the ground forces numbered 370 thousand military personnel (a total of 160 battalions, consisting of 10 infantry divisions; one parachute division; one special forces group; 20 "ranger" battalions; 10 tank battalions; six battalions marines; 26 artillery battalions, as well as training, rear and auxiliary units), while some of the battalions were not fully staffed personnel. The basis of the tank fleet was made up of American M41 light tanks and French AMX-13V tanks.
the air force consisted of 16 thousand military personnel, 145 combat aircraft (100 A-1 Skyraders; 15 F-5 jet fighters and 20 A-37 attack aircraft), as well as 80 units. light aircraft O-1A, 80 pcs. C-47 and Cessna 180 Skywagon transport aircraft and about 100 H-34 Choctaw helicopters
the naval forces numbered 24 thousand people and were armed with 63 combat and auxiliary ships (including 8 escort ships, 3 minesweepers, 22 landing craft, 22 artillery boats) and a river "mosquito fleet" of 350 motor junks of the type "saipan";
irregular forces consisted of 700 companies of "territorial forces" (142 thousand people), 4000 platoons of "local forces" (143 thousand people), detachments of "civil defense forces" (40 thousand people) and police. The irregulars were armed with mainly light small arms (including obsolete models), but the police were armed with several armored personnel carriers and helicopters.
The armed forces of the country are distinguished by a high spirit of soldiers and at the same time an archaic structure.
The armed forces (AF) of Vietnam are the largest in Southeast Asia and traditionally have a very high combat capability (in the West, Vietnam is called the "Prussia of Southeast Asia"). In just a quarter of a century (from 1954 to 1979), they won victories over France, the United States and China, which has no precedent in modern history.
A significant drawback of the Vietnamese Armed Forces at present is the archaic structure and, most importantly, a very high proportion of obsolete equipment. In the ground forces, it is close to 100%. In the Air Force and Navy, a gradual renewal of military equipment has begun in recent years.
The main supplier of weapons to Vietnam was the USSR, now it is Russia. Israel became the second largest arms exporter to Vietnam. Small purchases aviation technology produced in Poland, Spain, Canada, combat boats - in Australia. A certain amount of captured American equipment captured in the first half of the 1970s, as well as Chinese equipment received in the late 60s, is still in service. With the help of Russia and Israel, their own military-industrial complex is being created. First of all, enterprises for the production of small arms and missile weapons are being built, and shipbuilding is developing.
The ground forces include seven military regions, the Capital Command and four army corps. The most combat-ready are the parts that make up the corps. In total, the seven districts and the Capital Command have 21 infantry and seven military construction divisions, three artillery, three air defense, five engineering brigades, three infantry, four tank, two artillery and one communications regiments. The four army corps include one mechanized and 11 infantry divisions, two tank, two artillery, two engineering brigades, one tank, two special forces, two artillery, two air defense, one communications, two engineering regiments.
The amount of equipment in the ground forces is known approximately, since almost all of it is very outdated. Because of this, it is not always clear what part of the available equipment remains combat-ready. Therefore, not exact values are given below, but ranges of values.
There are up to 100 launchers (PU) OTP R-17 and up to 2 thousand missiles of this type in service.
The tank fleet consists of obsolete vehicles. The most "new" of them are the T-62, of which there are up to 220 units. The most massive are the T-54 and T-55 (from 850 to 990, some of the vehicles were modernized with the help of Israel) and their Chinese counterparts Tour 59 (360 units). Numerous light tanks are also in service - up to 300 Soviet PT-76, 50-100 North Korean PT-85, up to Chinese 300 Tour 62 and up to 500 Tour 63.
There are 50–200 BRDM-1, 50–480 BRDM-2, 150–600 BMP-1 and BMP-2 each. The number of armored personnel carriers reaches 3 thousand. These are 200–500 American M113s, up to 300 V-100s, up to 200 V-150s, 100–200 Israeli RAM Mk3s, up to 80 Chinese Tour 63s, 400–800 Soviet BTR-50s, 500 BTR-60s, up to 200 BTR-70s , 10–15 Russian BTR-80s.
There are 100-150 Soviet self-propelled guns 2S1 (122 mm) and 30-70 2S3 (155 mm) in service. 100 American self-propelled guns M107 (175 mm) are in storage. Towed guns - 450–900 Soviet D-30 (122 mm), 250–500 M-46 (130 mm), 350–700 D-20 (152 mm), 100 American M114 (155 mm). Mortars - 200 PM-41 (82 mm), 200 mountain M1938 (107 mm), 200 PM-43 (120 mm), 100 M-160 (160 mm). MLRS - 350 BM-21 (122 mm), perhaps remain in service with up to 360 Chinese Tour 63 (107 mm).
There are several thousand Soviet anti-tank systems "Malyutka", "Fagot", "Konkurs" and up to 100 self-propelled anti-tank systems SU-100.
The Air Force has three aviation divisions and six air defense divisions, including 11 aviation, 16 anti-aircraft missile and seven anti-aircraft artillery regiments.
There are 74 outdated MiG-21 fighters in service (60 MiG-21bis, 14 combat training MiG-21UM; at least three more bis in storage), 38 equally old Su-22M3 / M4 attack aircraft, 11 modern Su-27 fighters ( including five combat training Su-27UBK), 28 of the latest Su-30MK2 fighter-bombers.
Transport aviation is weak and obsolete, it consists of 12 An-2s, 24 An-26s (17 more in storage), 11 Polish M-28s. Training aircraft - 28 Yak-52, 26 Czech L-39.
There are 19 Mi-24 combat helicopters (six more in storage), 36 multi-purpose and transport helicopters - five American UH-1H (five more in storage), two Ka-32s, 17 Mi-8s, 12 Mi-17s.
Vietnam has a very powerful ground air defense, although much of the equipment in it is outdated. There are nine divisions of the Kvadrat air defense system (36 launchers), 50 divisions of the S-75 air defense system (300 launchers), 25 divisions of the S-125 air defense system (100 launchers), two divisions of the S-300PS air defense system (24 launchers), 20 Strela- ten". In the near future, four to six Buk-M2 divisions, 8-12 Pantsir-S1 air defense missile systems should enter service. There are also at least 100 old Strela-2 MANPADS and 20 newest Igla-S, 100 ZSU-23-4M, about 3 thousand anti-aircraft guns - 2500 ZU-23-2 (23 mm), 260 M1939 (37 mm ), 250 S-60 (57 mm).
The country's navy has two newest Russian submarines, Project 636 (four more are under construction), seven frigates (patrol ships) - two newest Russian Projects 11661, five old Soviet Projects 159. In Vietnam itself, a corvette of the BPS-500 type was built (created on the basis of the Soviet IPC pr. 1241P).
The basis of the strike power of the Vietnamese Navy so far is made up of Soviet and Russian-built missile boats - eight old Project 205M, eight modern Project 1241, incl. four with the latest anti-ship missiles "Uranus" (pr. 12418). In Vietnam, it is planned to build eight more boats, Project 12418, with Uran anti-ship missiles, and these missiles will also be produced in Vietnam. Five hydrofoil torpedo boats, pr. 206M, remain in service.
There is a significant number of patrol boats - six of the latest Russian pr. 10412, two of our own TT-400TR (built according to the Ukrainian project), 15 Soviet pr. 1400M, 10 Australian type "Stallcraft". In addition, the Coast Guard has four old Soviet boats pr. 206 (torpedo boats with removed torpedo tubes) and 32 boats of its own construction - 14 TT-120, 12 TT-200, six TT-400.
The Navy has eight Soviet minesweepers (four Project 1265, two Project 266, two Project 1258) and five TDKs (3 Polish Project 773, 2 American types LST-542).
The Naval and Coast Guard aviation has five basic patrol aircraft (two Canadian DHC-6s, three Spanish C-212s) and nine helicopters (seven Russian Ka-28s, two European EC225s).
In service coastal defense there are two divisions (10 launchers) of the latest Russian Onyx SCRC.
In general, the Vietnamese Armed Forces have a very significant potential. However, they need a radical technical upgrade, especially given the fact that their main (if not only) potential adversary is the PLA.
The situation in Russia's relations with Vietnam is very similar to relations with India. Vietnam is our ideal ally thanks to the long-standing and strong all-round ties between Moscow and Hanoi and the potential of the Vietnamese Armed Forces described above. Moscow's most important foreign policy task should long ago have been the creation of a Russia-India-Vietnam military-political bloc in order to contain China. Delhi and Hanoi would go to the creation of such a bloc with great pleasure, they really need a strong ally AGAINST China. Alas, we are imposing an alliance with China on both of these countries, because of which they both begin to “migrate” towards Washington. In the early 2000s, Hanoi asked Russia to withdraw from the Cam Ranh base solely and exclusively because it stopped seeing us as a deterrent to China. Now Moscow is beginning to court Hanoi in order to return Cam Ranh. This would indeed be very helpful. But the conditions of Hanoi have not changed, and the Vietnamese are absolutely right in this.
As in the case with India, fairly good Russian-Vietnamese relations are based only on military-technical cooperation. Here is his hope for now.
Alexander Khramchikhin - Deputy Director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis