The 12th Army Corps Demonstrated Good Training Spirit and High Combat Readiness in Exercises

28 Desember 2023

The 12th Army Corps of Vietnam People's Army during exercise (all photos : QDND)

Affirming the strength of the new main force

At 9 a.m. on December 23, Major General Truong Manh Dung, Commander of the 12th Army Corps, issued an order: "The live fire exercise begins." This morning, the 12th Army Corps (The 12th Army Corps is a mobile main force corps, directly under the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam. This is the first reorganized corps-level unit of the Vietnam People's Army on the basis of merging Army Corps 1 and Army Corps 2, established on November 21, 2023 in Ninh Binh) began the exercise. Although newly established, after a short period of preparation work, with the attention, direction and guidance of the Steering Committee and functional agencies of the Ministry of National Defense; along with the proactive spirit in leadership and direction of party committees and commanders of agencies and units; The close coordination of the forces, the sense of responsibility, and the spirit of trying to overcome all difficulties of the officers and soldiers of the units, the tactical exercises with the live fire of the 12th Army Corps have took place according to plan.

Secret forces maneuvered into battle positions; Each commando unit in all directions penetrated deep, approached the target, coordinated on time, attacked from the inside, and attacked the enemy command post from the outside. Air force, missiles, artillery, tanks, armored vehicles... maneuvered into position and practiced bombarding targets. Bombs and bullets were like thunder, tearing apart the entire mountainous area...

The exercise of the 12th Army Corps was directed and supervised by comrade Pham Minh Chinh, Politburo member, and Prime Minister. Politburo members: General Phan Van Giang, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defense; General To Lam, Minister of Public Security; General Luong Cuong, Standing Member of the Central Military Commission, Chairman of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army (NDPA); Dinh Tien Dung, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, attended and directed the exercise.

Watching the exercise were leaders of the Ministry of National Defense, leaders of a number of central and local departments, ministries, and branches; comrades, heads of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army; agencies and units under the Ministry of National Defense.

The first match won

79 years ago, on December 22, 1944, the Vietnam Propaganda Unit of Liberation Army (the predecessor of today's Vietnam People's Army) was established, after only a few days of its birth, with rudimentary weapons but cadres, Soldiers of the Vietnam Liberation Army Propaganda Team defeated the two posts of Phai Khat and Na Ngan of the French colonialists, opening the heroic history of the Vietnam People's Army. Continuing the glorious tradition of our Army, although the 12th Army Corps has only received the decision to establish for 3 weeks and immediately started performing drill tasks with high requirements, the Army Corps has already "won the first battle". , left a deep impression on the leaders of the Party, State, and Army.

The highlight of this exercise was that the participating forces maximized their assigned firepower, flexibly applied tactics and courageous actions, handled situations flexibly, and demonstrated bravery. steel, steel spirit of officers and soldiers. Receiving the sortie order, Major Bui Van Lap, Political Commissar, Pilot of Squadron 1, Regiment 927, Division 371 (Air Defense-Air Force) led a squadron of Su-30 MK2 fighter aircraft. Dive, cut the bomb, hit the target, and then soared into the air. After the YAK-130 squadrons and Mi-17 armed helicopters with intense firepower supported the attacking forces, the Commander of the 12th Army Corps counted down: "Five, four, three, two, one . Shoot".

From afar, the formations of missiles, artillery, and anti-aircraft guns piled up, making it impossible for the enemy to react in time. The firepower changed lanes, the tank force went downhill, crossed deep trenches, and bravely occupied the battlefield to suppress the enemy's firepower; Soldiers equipped with communication devices, chemical masks, integrated armor, bulletproof helmets, using STV-380 rifles, AK guns... rushed down from armored vehicles to attack and capture the target. . Promoting the synergistic fighting power of troops and soldiers, simultaneously volunteering to cross open gates, quickly hitting targets, and mastering the battlefield.

The battle took place close to reality with effectively handled situations, smooth combat coordination between the air force and ground forces, between infantry and firepower, infantry, and tanks when attacking in all directions. , noses; Command work, close coordination, closeness, decisiveness, creativity in fighting, and continuous combat action. After each attack by the forces, a series of applause from the visiting delegates rang out. Many times we observed Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh smiling brightly, turning to General Phan Van Giang and General Luong Cuong to express his satisfaction.

After watching the forces practice drills in the field and encouraging officers and soldiers on the field, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh acknowledged, appreciated, and praised the officers and soldiers of the 12th Army Corps and other soldiers. The participating forces successfully completed the exercise task, ensuring the absolute safety of people and weapons. 

According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, this exercise's special feature is the coordinated combat of many main forces from many directions, many areas, and the use of many types of weapons and equipment/vũ khí, trang bị(VKTB); including many VKTB improved, researched, manufactured and produced by Vietnam. This is also a testament to the maturity and comprehensive growth in all aspects of the heroic Vietnam People's Army.

Based on the analysis of the current world, regional, and domestic situation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested the 12th Army Corps and units to continue to thoroughly grasp and implement resolutions, strategies, and directions. of the Party, State, Central Military Commission, and Ministry of National Defense on military and defense tasks. Improve the quality of training, combat readiness, and close to combat objects, consistent with existing VKTB; Identify training as a central, regular task in peacetime, so continue to strengthen research and application of science and technology and modern technical means; Improve the ability to coordinate military and military operations in conditions of high-tech warfare; At the same time, master technical VKTB, especially new VKTB.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh reminded all levels to regularly take care of building clean, strong, and representative party organizations in terms of politics, ideology, ethics, organization, and cadres. Focus on building close relationships with the people, party committees, and local authorities; Participate in building an all-people national defense and building a strong and comprehensive local political base. Do a good job of political and ideological education, raise awareness of responsibility, will, and determination to fight and win for officers and soldiers, absolutely loyal to the Party, Fatherland, and people; Ready to accept and complete assigned tasks well.

Improve training quality in new conditions

The 12th Army's live-fire exercises were relatively large in scale, with many forces participating and using many types of weapons, including new, modern weapons researched and manufactured by Vietnam. , a production that previous rehearsals did not have. In particular, this is an exercise with coordinated combat between many forces: Air Force, artillery, air defense, tanks, armored vehicles, engineers, chemistry, communications, and operations. electronics, special forces... require high precision, both ensuring the safety of the forces participating in the exercise and in accordance with tactical intentions.

Through the exercise to report the results of research, manufacturing, production, and improvement of VKTB of the defense industry to equip units; leadership and direction to improve the quality of training, combat readiness, and mastery of technical weapons, especially new weapons; At the same time, improve the capacity and level of command organization and coordination of the forces participating in the exercise to meet the requirements of assigned tasks.

Talking with Major General Truong Manh Dung, we learned: to prepare for this important "battle", with the close direction of the leaders of the Ministry of National Defense and the help of competent agencies of the Ministry of National Defense Department and Army Corps proactively conduct field research, develop drill plans, and report live ammunition through the Exercise Steering Committee of the Ministry of National Defense; Deploy and guide units to develop a system of documents directing live fire in accordance with the plan and adjust training plans, develop additional training plans, focusing on training and fostering principles. tactical principles, actions, and command styles for staff at all levels; combat action; The ability to exploit and proficiently use all types of weapons, especially newly commissioned weapons.

“We will promote the results of the exercise, constantly improve the quality of training and combat readiness, build a comprehensive and strong "exemplary and typical" Corps, and successfully complete all assigned tasks. , worthy of being the main, strategic mobile Corps of the Vietnam People's Army, organized in the direction of "lean, compact, strong, moving towards modernity", said Major General Truong Manh Dung.

According to Lieutenant General Thai Van Minh, Director of the Department of Military Training, and General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, through exercises of the 12th Army Corps and a number of other units, in the coming time, the Department of Military Training will continue to advise superiors, Direct and guide units throughout the army to well implement the training motto "basic, practical, solid", attaching importance to synchronous, intensive training, close to actual combat. Focus on training to master technical weapons, especially new weapons. Organize night training, movement training, camouflage training, decoy training, diversion training, improving mobility and combat ability in conditions where the enemy uses high-tech weapons. Apply information technology to gradually organize training and exercises using simulation methods, and automate real-time command and cyber warfare. Strengthen the organization of drills at all levels and types of units, in many combat areas with many plans and tactical forms in difficult and complex conditions, where the enemy uses high-tech weapons and in Short preparation time.

(QDND)