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ThePeople's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially theVietnam People's Army (VPA;[12]Vietnamese:Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam,pronounced[kwən˧˧ʔɗoj˧˨ʔɲən˧˧zən˧˧viət̚˧˨ʔnaːm˧˧],lit. 'Military of and for thepeopleof Vietnam'[13]), also recognized as theVietnamese Army (Vietnamese:Quân đội Việt Nam,lit. 'Military of Vietnam'), thePeople's Army (Vietnamese:Quân đội Nhân dân) or colloquiallythe Troops (Bộ đội[ʔɓo˧˨ʔʔɗoj˧˨ʔ]), is the nationalmilitary force of theSocialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wing of the rulingCommunist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The PAVN is the backbone component of theVietnam People's Armed Forces and includes: Ground Force,Navy,Air Force,Border Guard andCoast Guard. Vietnam does not have a separate and formally-structured Ground Force orArmy service. Instead, all ground troops, army corps, military districts andspecial forces are designated under the umbrella termcombined arms (Vietnamese:binh chủng hợp thành) and belong to theMinistry of National Defence, directly under the command of theCPV Central Military Commission, theMinister of National Defence, and theGeneral Staff of the Vietnam People's Army. The military flag of the PAVN is theNational flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam defaced with the mottoQuyết thắng (Determination to win) added in yellow at thecanton.
During theFrench Indochina War (1946–1954), the PAVN was often referred to as theViệt Minh. In the context of theVietnam War (1955–1975), the army was referred to by its opposition forces as theNorth Vietnamese Army (NVA;Vietnamese:Quân đội Bắc Việt), serving as the military force of theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam. This allowed writers, the U.S. military, and the general public, to distinguish northern communists from the southern communists, called theViet 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 theLiberation Army of South Vietnam (LASV). It was practically considered a branch of the PAVN by the North Vietnamese.[14] 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 the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.[15]
The first historical record of Vietnamese military history dates back to the era ofHồng 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.
TheSouthern expansion of Vietnam resulted in the destruction of Champa as an independent nation to a level that it did not exist anymore; total destruction ofLuang Prabang; the decline of Cambodia which resulted in Vietnam's annexation of theMekong 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 inSoutheast Asia as well as Asia in a large extent.

The PAVN was first conceived in September 1944 at the first Revolutionary Party Military Conference as theInformation, Communication and Education Unit of the Liberation Army (alternatively translated as theVietnam Information, Communication and Education Liberation Army,Việt Nam Tuyên truyền Giải phóng Quân) to educate, recruit and mobilise the Vietnamese to create a main force to drive theFrench colonial andJapanese occupiers from Vietnam.[16][17] Under the guidelines ofHồ 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.[18] It fought the PAVN's first ever engagement at theBattles of Khai Phat and Na Ngan against French soldiers in late 1944. TheUnited States'OSS agents, led byArchimedes 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 inTonkin saw 500 soldiers kill fifty Japanese soldiers and officials, freeing French civilian captives and escorting them to the Chinese border. The PAVN also fought theJapanese 21st Division in Thai Nguyen that year, and regularly raided rice storehouses to alleviate anongoing famine.[19]
There was another separate communist army called theNational Salvation Army (Cứu quốc quân) which was founded and commanded byChu Văn Tấn on 23/2/1941.
On 15/5/1945 the Propaganda Liberation Army merged with the National Salvation Army into theVietnam Liberation Army (Việt Nam Giải phóng Quân) on 15 May 1945.[20] TheDemocratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed inHanoi byHo Chi Minh andVietminh on 2 September 1945. Then in September, the army was renamed the VietnamNational Defence Force (Việt Nam Vệ quốc Đoàn).[21][20] At this point, it had about 1,000 soldiers.[20] On 22 May 1946, the army was called theNational Army of Vietnam (Quân đội Quốc gia Việt Nam, not to be confused with the oppositeVietnamese National Army of the France-associatedState of Vietnam which had a synonymous English name and exactly the same Vietnamese name). Lastly, in 1950, it officially became thePeople's Army of Vietnam (orVietnam People's Army,Quân đội Nhân dân Việt Nam).[17]
Võ Nguyên Giáp 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 theBattle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and being in overall command against U.S. backedSouth Vietnam at theFall of Saigon on 30 April 1975.
On 7 January 1947, its first regiment, the 102nd 'Capital' Regiment, was created for operations aroundHanoi.[22] Over the next two years, the first division, the308th 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 the312th Division. In late 1951, after launching three campaigns against three French strongpoints in theRed River Delta, the PAVN refocused on building up its ground forces further, with five new divisions, each of 10–15,000 men, created: the304th Glory Division atThanh Hóa, the312th Victory Division in Vinh Phuc, the316th Bong Lau Division in the northwest border region, the320th Delta Division in the north Red River Delta, the325th Binh Tri Thien Division in Binh Tri Thien province. Also in 1951, the first artillery Division, the351st Division was formed, and later, beforeBattle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, for the first time in history, it was equipped with 24 captured 105mm US howitzers supplied by the ChinesePeople'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 theFrench Union forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, ending 83 years of French rule in Indochina.
TheFrench Foreign Legion had been deployed to combat the Vietnamese insurgency during the First Indochina War. However, some of the legionnaires, such asStefan Kubiak, deserted after witnessing torture of Vietnamese peasants at the hands of French troops and began fighting for theViệt Minh, volunteering to join the PAVN.[23][24][25]


Soon after the1954 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 theNorth Vietnam, the 305th and the324th near theDMZ, and the 335 Division of soldiers repatriated fromLaos. 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 theSouth Vietnamese government was solidifying its position as an independent republic underNgô 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 intoSouth Vietnam were taken;Group 559 was established, a logistical unit charged with establishing routes into the south via Laos andCambodia, which later became famous as theHo 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 atXuan 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 theBattle 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 the1st Cavalry Division, the101st Airborne Division, the173rd Airborne Brigade, the4th Infantry Division, the1st Infantry Division and the25th Infantry Division. Many of those formations later became main forces of the3rd Division (Yellow Star Division) in Binh Dinh (1965), the5th Division (1966) of 7th Military Zone (Capital Tactical Area of ARVN), the7th (created by 141st and 209th Regiments originated in the 312th Division in 1966) and9th 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 calledNational 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 calledLiberation Army of South Vietnam (LASV) to fight against the American supportedArmy of the Republic of Vietnam. The LASV was controlled and equipped by the PAVN.
GeneralTrần Văn Trà, one-time commander of theB2 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.[26]
During the Vietnamese Lunar New YearTết 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 andArmy 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, theU.S Embassy in Saigon, Presidential Palace,Headquarters of the Joint General Staff andRepublic 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 theMekong Delta area due to the extensive use of thePhoenix 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.[27] Public demonstrations increased in ferocity and quantity after the Tet Offensive. During 1970, the 5th, 7th and 9th Divisionsfought in Cambodia against U.S., ARVN, and CambodianKhmer National Armed Forces. The PAVN gained new allies: theKhmer Rouge and guerrilla fighters supporting deposed Prime MinisterSihanouk. In 1975 the PAVN were successful in aiding theKhmer Rouge in topplingLon Nol's U.S.-backed regime, despite heavy US bombing.
After the withdrawal of most U.S. combat forces fromIndochina because of theVietnamization strategy, the PAVN launched the ill-fatedEaster 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 1973Paris Peace Accords, the PAVN launched aSpring 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 andcaptured 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.
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 has been actively involved in Vietnam's workforce to develop theeconomy 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.

The Foreign Relations Department of the Ministry of National Defence organises international operations of the PAVN.
Apart from its occupation of half of the disputedSpratly Islands, which have been claimed as Vietnamese territory since the 17th century, Vietnam has not officially had forces stationed internationally since its withdrawal fromCambodia and Laos in early 1990.
The effectiveness of thePeople's Army of Vietnam Special Operation Forces during the Vietnam War saw them instruct various other countries andMarxist rebel groups. From the 1970s to 1990s, they covertly provided training at the PAVN Sapper Training School in via Vietnamese sapper advisors assigned to theCuban Army's Sapper School in Cuba, and, during the 1980s, by a secret Vietnamese sapper training team stationed inNicaragua. In addition to trainingCambodian,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 ofAugusto Pinochet, as well as the Colombian FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) movement, a Marxist guerilla group.[30]
The Center for Public Policy Analysis and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as well as Laotian and Hmonghuman rights organisations, including theLao Human Rights Council, Inc. and theUnited League for Democracy in Laos, Inc., have provided evidence that since the end of theVietnam 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 religiousdissident and opposition groups including the peaceful 1999 Lao Students for Democracy protest in Vientiane in 1999 and theHmong rebellion.[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] In late November 2009, shortly before the start of the2009 Southeast Asian Games inVientiane, 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.[40][41]
In 2014, Vietnam had requested to join theUnited Nations peacekeeping force, which was later approved.[42] The first Vietnamese UN peacekeeping officers were sent toSouth Sudan, marked the first involvement of Vietnam into aUnited Nations' mission abroad.[42] Vietnamese peacekeepers were also sent to theCentral African Republic.[43]
From 2022, Vietnam has deployed its firstmilitary engineer unit to thepeacekeeping missions inAbyei.[44]
As an effort to helpTurkey overcome the consequences of the 2023 earthquake, PAVN has sent 76 servicemen of theBorder Guard,Army Medic, andEngineering Corps (alongside personnel fromPublic Security) to participate in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief includingsearch-and-rescue missions.[45]
This is the first time ever that Vietnam has officially deployed and engaged in an overseas search and rescue campaign.
The PAVN deployed 76 personnel from theBorder Guard,Army Medical Corps, andEngineering Corps, along with members of thePublic Security forces, to take part in humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, andsearch-and-rescue operations[46] in Sagaing on 31 March.[47]

Thede jureCommander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is thePresident of Vietnam, though this position is virtually nominal and a majority of political power over the military is assumed by theCentral Military Commission of the rulingCommunist Party of Vietnam. Thesecretary of Central Military Commission (usually theGeneral Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam) is thede facto supreme commander and now isTô Lâm.
TheMinister of National Defence oversees operations of theMinistry of Defence, and the PAVN. He also oversees such agencies as theGeneral Staff and the General Department of Logistics. However, military policy is ultimately directed by the Central Military Commission of the rulingCommunist Party of Vietnam.

The Vietnamese People's Army is subdivided into the following service branches:
(Lục quân Nhân dân Việt Nam)
(Không quân Nhân dân Việt Nam / Quân chủng Phòng không - Không quân)
(Hải quân Nhân dân Việt Nam)
(Bộ đội Biên phòng Việt Nam)
(Cảnh sát biển Việt Nam)
(Bộ Tư lệnh Pháo binh - Tên lửa)
(Bộ Tư lệnh Tác chiến không gian mạng)
(Bộ Tư lệnh Bảo vệ LăngChủ tịch Hồ Chí 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 andweapons training, and stock maintenance.
Within PAVN the Ground Force have not been established as a separate full Service Command, thusall of the ground troops, army corps, military districts and the specialised arms are under the responsibility of theMinistry of Defence, under the direct command of theGeneral Staff, who serves as itsde facto commander.
| Infantry | Armor - Tank | Artillery (reorganized as theArtillery-Missile Command) | Special Forces | Mechanized Infantry | Engineering | Medical | Signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation | Technical | Chemical | Logistics | Military Police | Military Music Band | Military Athletes | Ensembles |
The following military regions are under the direct control of the General Staff and the Ministry of Defence:

| Vietnam People's Army |
|---|
| Governance |
| Central Military Commission Ministry of National Defence |
| Command |
| General Political Department General Staff |
| Services |
| Ranks and history |


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.[48]1st Corps, located in theRed 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, with4th Corps, in Southern Vietnam, consisting of two formerLASV divisions, the 7th and 9th.
From 2014 to 2016, theIISS 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."[49]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 singleShort-range ballistic missile brigade. The ground forces according to the IISS, hold Scud-B/C SRBMs.[50]
First organised on 21 November 2023, the 12th Corps was created by merging all of the units from the former1st Corps and the2nd Corps. It is stationed inTam Điệp District,Ninh Bình.[51][52]
First organised on 10 December 2024, the 34th Corps was created by merging all of the units from the former3rd Corps and the4th Corps. Stationed inPleiku,Gia Lai.[53]
Local forces are an entity of the PAVN that, together with themilitia 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.
The rank insignia ofcommissioned officers.
| Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Đại tướng | Thượng tướng | Trung tướng | Thiếu tướng | Đại tá | Thượng tá | Trung tá | Thiếu tá | Đại úy | Thượng úy | Trung úy | Thiếu úy | |||||||||||||
The rank insignia ofnon-commissioned officers andenlisted personnel.
| Rank group | Senior NCOs | Junior NCOs | Enlisted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thượng sĩ | Trung sĩ | Hạ sĩ | Binh nhất | Binh nhì | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

From the 1960s to 1975 theSoviet Union, along with some smallerEastern 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 fromIndia,Turkey,Israel,Japan,South Korea, andFrance. In 2016,PresidentBarack Obama announced the lifting of the lethal weapons embargo on Vietnam, which has increased Vietnamese military equipment choices from other countries such as theUnited States, theUnited 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.[55]
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, theSTV rifles are three Vietnam-made indigenous service rifles modeled after theGalil ACE of Israel.[56]
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'