War (continued)
Warm the Soldiers’ Hearts
(English text of the original article in
Vietnamese: Chiến Tranh (Tiếp) …Ấm lòng chiến sĩ)
English Translation: Hung Nguyen
Vietnamese text: Jimmy Nguyen Nguyen
27/02/2022
After 1975, old classmates who had to join the army often
met with each other to relive old memories. Many missing friends were thought
they were dead but returned because they were prisoners of war. I have a friend
who had been imprisoned in Vietcong’s so called re-education camps for a number
of years, then forced to go to new economic zones, have met each other by
chance. A friend of mine (Minh) was a lieutenant, guarding an outpost in Quang
Duc Province. The outpost was not strategically important, so it was not a
target to be attacked by Vietcong forces. The unit was still intact. At noon on
April 20, Minh could not contact the regional commander. Very bewildered. If
there was no order, they were still not allowed to leave the post even though
they have heard that most of the Northern provinces had evacuated. The next morning,
several helicopters were seen flying above the sky. His commander was up there.
The transmission could be picked up now. This was the command of the commander:
“Lieutenant, authority is now in the hands of the lieutenant. Decide for
yourself. Goodbye and farewell...!”
Minh wanted to cry but still remembered his
responsibility. He ordered his soldiers to destroy their guns and gave the
order to "escape". Soldiers are surprised: lieutenant, we haven't met
yet!. Minh resolute: “listen to my orders: dismantle your guns, destroy the
triggers and throw them away”. The guns were then useless. Everyone sadly took
off their soldier's uniforms and left the bunker. Minh did not dare to let his
soldiers know that the commander had run away. It is known that in the war, the
success or failure of the war is largely due to the commander, the moral factor
is very important. Loss of morale then the fight is lost before it even starts.
Another friend (Luu) also recently returned from the
re-education prison. He also held the rank of lieutenant. (My peers, born in
53-54, most were enlisted in 71-72 and usually got that rank by 75. This age
group went to the army when the Paris Agreement was signed, so they survived from
the war) No matter which level of command, the commanders often have solid
operational plans, combine with local troops to lead the way, and always march
within firing range protected by artillery. The adventurous commanders are
often reckless, only knowing how to order attacks, with no plans to protect the
soldiers. So death is sometimes fate, but often it is the stupidity of the
commander.
Leading soldiers to the battlefields, what "sooth"
the soldiers' hearts is when asking for artillery support then in the blink of
an eye artillery shells explode at the correct coordinates. At this time, the
morale of the soldiers will be very high. The risk of getting errors is not
rare, but thanks to the way of proceeding the actual live fire, the artillery unit
fires two blank shells coordinates, put the compass and then draw a line
connecting the two coordinates, their coordinates are used to draw a
perpendicular median line to determine where you are standing, thereby leading
troops out of the danger zone. Now all eyes were on the commander. If learning
by buying a degree, then how do you know how to do trigonometry, how many lives
it would lost, including yourself.
Luu talked about his memory with his soft and sad
voice. The memory has constantly tormented him. On that faithful day, the order
was to cross a small river. The safe place was marked on the field’s map. It
was a wharf with a shrine under a large banyan tree. Walking along the river,
he found the place easily, so he ordered to cross the river. Usually, when
crossing a river, a small advance group must be allowed to cross first, while
the rest of them observe and support. Only after the other bank is safely
guarded will the rest of the group dare to cross the river. So over confident
that he lead the whole unit crossing the river without any safety precaution.
The whole platoon got into the boat across the river. In the middle of the
river, he was ambushed. The entire platoon were either killed, or caught,
including Luu. Later, Luu learned that the field map was exposed to the enemy
(by insiders), the enemy-vietcong- had altered with fake terrains to set the trap
and put Liu's unit to the certain death.
War is like that, all evil schemes apply. The biggest
fear is that there are spies from inside. Only those who have lived through war
will understand.
Returning to Ukraine, with the war news are flying
around none stop, one doesn’t not know which side to believe, but what everyone
saw is that their Ukrainian commanders were united and willing to fight until death
for the country. The President live-streamed with the full cabinet and firmly
confirmed that he would fight to the end. This greatly boosted the morale of
the soldiers and their people. Everyone thought that when Russia opened fire,
the government would ran away because of the miss match comparison of the two
armed forces, it was obvious that eggs were against rocks. Uncle Bi was
depressed, so he also advised the President of Ukraine to flee to a safe area
outside Ukraine-in his bunker (as if he did in Afghanistan, ran with hi pans
down!). Fortunately, not listening to the ever kneeling instigator, the President
chose to stay. It made his people and soldiers more encouragement. They have
partly halted Putin's storming advance. No need to watch any radio stations,
just listen to JNN radio. 72 hours passed and the ten Russian invading spear- headers
could not unite in Kiev. The risk of a bog down is possible, if not imminent.
In war, the invading army must advance relentlessly to victory. To stop is to
lose. Even the most daring plan is to occupy the airport near Kiev and then pour
paratroopers to make a bridgehead to hit the capital Kiev of the country, and
lands the Russian flag on Maidan Square in Kiev to demoralize the Ukrainian
army and her people. This invasion plan has gone bankrupt. The news of Ukraine
authority announced the killing of more than 3,000 Russian troops may be real.
Now Russia is frantically bombarding indiscriminately including
civilian buildings. It won't work if the infantry can't capture the city. It is
said that the resupply of the invading army is stagnating. Of course, as said
in the previous post, if you advance too quickly, who will protect your back?
Ukraine did not choose to counterattack, so Russian tanks were ineffective.
Tanks entering the city without infantry accompanying, they become sitting preys
for stinging antitank rockets or even home-made petrol bombs.
Burnt Russian soldier's bodies were shown in the news,
I believe it's not fake news. Because I have lived through the war, I know:
both have to suffer, it's not like you hit me with two punches and I don't
fight back with at least one.
The commander who always stands by the side of his soldiers
will warm their hearts and stimulate their will to fight harder and sacrifice
for their country. Now death has no meaning. Do Russian soldiers have such
ideals? I think no. Are they willing to die for the ruthless ex KGB “emperor” Putin?
Never!!