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One of history’s greatest military strategists and the architect of Vietnam’s milestone battlefield victories against the US and France, General Vo Nguyen Giap of Vietnam’s People’s Army (VPA) is no more. He died Friday (4) at the age of 102. Second only to late revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh as modern Vietnam’s most admired figure, General Giap defeated Vietnam’s colonial masters in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu where French rule ended but started direct US involvement leading to the Vietnam War.
General Giap, best known as a military hero who had never backed down despite rising obstacles on his way, rose to prominence as a superb military tactician, using best guerilla tactics, aided by the extremely favourable terrain and the general public.
Until his death, he remains a most respected military leader in the country described as a military leader par excellence who has been placed in the ‘pantheon of great military leaders’ in the world who owed his achievements to innate genius rather than to formal training.
The legendary General who was said to be an admirer of Napoleon and Sun Tzu was born on August 25, 1911 as the son of a poor scholar. He who underwent a number of personal tragedies due to atrocities perpetrated on family members including his own wife by French troops went into the northern jungles of Vietnam in 1941 with Ho Chi Minh to train an army of revolutionary peasant soldiers.
In one of his several memoirs, he went on to write; ‘Guerrilla war is the war of the broad masses of an economically backward country standing up against a powerfully equipped and well-trained army of aggression. Every inhabitant is a soldier, every village a fortress.’
After Ho Chi Minh proclaimed his first government on Sept 2, 1945, he appointed Giap as his Interior Minister, Army Chief and later Defence Minister. He became a national hero as Vietnam’s greatest living military hero until his death on Friday (4).
The state funeral for General Giap will take place for two days (Oct 12-13) before his burial in his home province of Quang Binh in line with his wish in the presence of a large gathering of mourners. All state offices and public places will fly the national flag at half-mast and a 30 member committee has been appointed to organize the funeral.
