Military hero-writer recalls national victory
Lieutenant-Colonel Dang Van Viet - “the Tiger of Road 4” as called by French officers - continues to lead a full life, with energy and enthusiasm despite an early retirement from the army in 1960 and many ups and downs in his personal life. On the occasion of Vietnam's 62nd National Day, he recounted some of his experiences of services to the nation.
Dang Van Viet, who was born in 1920 into a feudal official’s family, began his revolutionary activities as a third year medical student in the secret resistance movement. In Hue city, where the royal cabinet was headquartered, he bravely raised the revolutionary flag instead of the feudal one over the citadel on August 21, 1945.
Lieutenant Colonel Viet has written many books on his experiences during the battles he eventually fought against the French in the early days of Vietnam’s Independence from the colonialists.
In one book on Highway No 4 in the northern mountainous region, he recounts how the fight to prevent this major supply line from being closed played an important role in enabling continuity of Chinese and Russian weapons to supply Viet Minh forces, culminating in the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu valley in 1954.
As commander of the Vietnamese revolutionary army on strategic Highway 4 bordering China from 1947 to 1950, he had to plan carefully to win battles against the enemies under severe conditions. Dang Van Viet showed a marvellous aptitude for leadership as he managed to equip the fledging forces with necessary weapons, food, medicine, and radio transmitters, etc., which were effectively and frugally used in each battle. The army units under Mr Viet’s command won 116 out of 120 battles in the Viet Bac resistance base, creating both fear and respect in professional French soldiers. By the end of 1950, he and his comrades wiped out all French forces on Highway 4.
Mr Viet commented that in 1950, it was France who squandered a good opportunity to retreat from the war with honour and privileges offered by the Vietnamese revolutionary government in terms of diplomacy, culture and economics, etc. France under General Charles de Gaulle refused to negotiate with Viet Minh forces and consequently suffered great failures and lost the whole of Indochina together with all its interests here.
The former Lieutenant colonel said there was a real sense of the nation struggling as one people to reclaim their country after having driven off many invaders over the previous thousand years. This national unity and determined spirit allowed the Vietnamese people to overcome great hardships and personal suffering in their efforts to win a righteous sovereignty.
In 1960, he left the army and moved to work in the Ministry of Construction and then Ministry of Fisheries as a dynamic economic manager in the field of construction.
When the man completely retired from state work, he continued with writing or translating books while courageously facing numerous difficulties in his daily life. He has so far written or translated more than 10 books on history and military affairs. He rendered into Vietnamese the memoirs The Deathly Road RC4-1950 by French author Charles de Henry, who once fought against Dang Van Viet on Route 4 and with whom Mr Viet now shows special empathy. Dang Van Viet’s memoirs, under the title The Old Soldier Dang Van Viet on Heroic Road 4, were also published in France and praised by BBC Radio as one of the world leading autobiographies in 2004. He recently translated a French book on General C. de Gaulle and finished the compilation of a 1000-page book that presents in detail the world and Vietnam’s warfare history. After reading the summary of this military study (which has not been published yet), some veteran French and US generals said humorously to him that if they had read the book earlier, they would not have dared to wage the war against Vietnam.
Today, Lieutenant colonel Dang, whose skin belies his age of nearly 90, remains a sprightly, intellectual and highly cultured man. His eyes sparkle with the enjoyment of life and dedication to the nation. The respectable man prides himself on spending half of his life defending national independence and the rest of his life working for national construction, and he hopes young Vietnamese generations will follow President Ho Chi Minh’s teachings to build a wealthy, strong and democratic Vietnam. He feels happy about the country’s recent development but also worries about corruption, which is threatening her future. Mr Viet believes the nation’s enormous strength will be liberated once new leaders of Vietnam are committed to expanding democracy, giving people more chances to raise their voices, and adopting an open-minded approach to young talents from various backgrounds.
Dang Van Viet is a widower with a son and a daughter, who are respectively a construction engineer and an architect. He swims and plays tennis every week to keep fit and has so far won six tennis championships held by the Hanoi Association for the Elderly. The kind and gentle man still rides his motorbike around the busy streets of Hanoi these days./.