The victory on April 30, 1975 was a historic milestone of profound historical significance, laying the foundation for 50 years of peace and unity, opening a solid foundation for the country to build and develop comprehensively. To have a glorious victory is the brave patriotic spirit, not afraid of sacrifice and hardship of many generations of our ancestors.
At the age of 76, Lieutenant General, Hero of the People's Armed Forces (LLVTND) Doan Sinh Huong still seems to remember memories of a time of fire.
Mr. Huong said that he started his military service when he was only 17 years old. "At that time, I was only about 1.4m tall, weighed 48kg, and was on my way to join the army (in 1966), becoming a soldier of Division 308 - Pioneer Corps" - Mr. Huong said.
Just like that, he went through fierce battlefields, participated in the Quang Tri and Road 9 - Southern Laos campaigns, and was sent to the 1st Army Officer School. After completing the course, he was assigned to be the tank captain of the Armored Corps, then entered the Central Highlands battlefield.
Referring to the spring battles in 1975, Mr. Huong said: "The battle in Cau Bong (HCMC) was a memorable battle in my military career. The Cau Bong battle took place on the morning of April 29, 1975, when we received a mission from the Army. My convoy of cars only has 4 when they arrived at the Bong Bridge area".
He recalled that when the convoy arrived at Cau Bong, it suddenly discovered a convoy of enemy tanks consisting of 24 ships and 2 transport cars in formation approaching us. The situation at that time was extremely dangerous, our forces were too thin compared to the opponent.
In such an urgent situation, he quickly ordered the formation to retreat, pushing troops to both sides of the road. If we face each other directly, with much smaller numbers, we will face a big disadvantage. Finding favorable terrain, gathering troops on both sides of the road will create surprises and can separate the enemy formation.
When observing the enemy's tank formation having crossed Cau Bong, the front one was about 500m away, he set fire first, the front one caught fire, turning around and could not move anymore.
After that, he ordered the rear-end car to be fired but the bullet did not hit. Therefore, he immediately fired a second shot, locking the last one. Thus, the head was blocked, the tail was locked, the enemy was forced to stretch the formation to both sides to fight with us.
With the advantage of surprise in hand, he took turns sending each convoy of armored vehicles on favorable terrain, both approaching and destroying targets, continuously digging deep into the enemy formation, destroying enemy soldiers.
This was a dangerous blow to disrupt the enemy formation, causing them to lose direction and fighting spirit. Indeed, when the two cars at the front and end caught fire, the enemy formation panicked, drifted into the fields and fired back in a crazy way.
At this time, with a smaller number of vehicles but a very high fighting spirit of the brothers, and an advantage in terms of ambush terrain, he calmly commanded each vehicle to survey the enemy formation. The whole team focused their firepower on vulnerable locations, defeating one by one.
When about 12 enemy vehicles were burned down, the enemy was completely unable to fight. They start panicking, abandon their vehicles or try to flee and are destroyed.
"In just over an hour, we held the Long Bridge, causing the enemy's formation to flee," Mr. Huong recalled and said that after the battle, the company reinforced their formation and continued to attack the enemy's Quang Trung camp and then attacked the intersection of Bay Hien and Lang Cha Ca, Tan Son Nhat airport and the General Staff.
From the public victories, Mr. Doan Sinh received the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces in 1975 at 26 years old when he brought the rank of Lieutenant Lieutenant, the Company's Company's Company's 9th Battalion, 3rd Battalion, 273 Regiment, 3rd Corps.
During his military career, he held the position of Commander of the Armored Corps, Commander of Military Region 4 and held the rank of Lieutenant General.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day, Lieutenant General Doan Sinh Huong hopes that today's young generation needs to clearly define their role and responsibility towards the country.
He hopes that the younger generations and classes will take advantage of all conditions to study hard, practice ethics and cultivate themselves. This is not only a personal responsibility but also a mission of each person in protecting and building an increasingly strong Fatherland.
