Gallery: History of the Revolution

 

           An Giang is located in the southwest of the country, a large province in the Mekong Delta, annually supplying a large amount of food for the whole country. Due to favorable natural conditions and important strategic location, An Giang soon fell into the hands of the French right from the beginning of the French invasion and occupation of the southwestern provinces.

           With the indomitable spirit of patriotism and fierce resistance to foreign invaders, right from the beginning of the country's loss, the people of the whole country did not hesitate to sacrifice and stand up to fight. Many uprisings broke out continuously: the uprising of Nguyen Trung Truc, Thien Ho Duong, military leader Tran Huu Hanh, Duc Co Quan Tran Van Thanh (the cannon Duc Co Quan used against the French army). However, all the uprisings failed because of the lack of leadership from a political party.

           An Giang is also a place where patriotic scholars come to: Mr. Truong Gia Mo, Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac,... came here to spread and foster patriotism among the people.

           In 1911, at Nha Rong port, the patriotic young man Nguyen Tat Thanh left to find a way to save the country. After coming to Marxism-Leninism (June 1925), he affirmed that "To save the country and liberate the nation, there is no other way than the path of proletarian revolution". In Guangzhou, China, he wrote and published the book The Revolutionary Path.

           In February 1927, comrade Nguyen Ngoc Ba was assigned by the Party Committee to work in the Hau Giang - Long Xuyen region. He chose Tran Minh School (now Nguyen Trai Secondary School) as a place to teach and develop members.

           At the end of 1927, the first Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association cell in An Giang was established in Cho Moi, consisting of three comrades: Chau Van Liem, Bui Trung Pham, and Lam Van Can. The cell actively mobilized the masses to join the association, thereby educating and recruiting active people into the organization (photo:Long Phu Pagoda, Lap Vo - Base of Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association; (Exhibit only: Bureau table containing documents of the Party cell at the pagoda)

           On February 3, 1930, Nguyen Ai Quoc, on behalf of the Communist International, merged three communist organizations in the country into the Communist Party of Vietnam. In early April 1930, the first Party cell in An Giang was established. To celebrate this event, the cell sent Mr. Le Van Do - a good citizen - to hang the Party flag on a steel wire pole in Long Dien (Cho Moi).

           Since the Party took leadership, the struggle movements broke out continuously and vigorously. During this time, we had a number of secret bases such as: Mr. Chanh Y's house was the place for printing and storing documents in Long Dien, Buu Linh pagoda was the place where Party members and cadres met and hid Party leaflets in the 1930s.

           In June 1938, hundreds of people from My Luong, Long Dien, and Kien An communes marched into Cho Moi district headquarters to demand that soldiers stop searching houses without reason and forcing young men to join the army (Photo only:Mrs. 6 Nho - a citizen who fought against conscription). Promoting the achieved victory, Cho Moi organized a struggle in the celebration on May 1st, causing a great resonance (Photo only: article published in the People's newspaper on the May 1st event).

           To prepare for the Southern uprising and to carry out the policy of the Southern Party Committee, despite receiving the order late, the An Giang Party Committee convened a meeting at comrade Boi's house, chaired by comrade Luong Van Cu, and decided to form the Uprising Committee. (Only meeting drawing)

           At the exact time the cannon was fired, the Cho Moi area commanded by comrade Linh rushed in to burn down the government office and the post office.

           However, the uprising was suppressed. The French imprisoned 315 Party members and patriots in Chau Doc town's large prison and executed three comrades: Huynh Van Hay, Nguyen Luong Duoc, and Le Minh Nguon at the foot of Sam mountain.

           After the 1940 uprising, most of the bases were exposed and the organizations lost contact.

           On February 8, 1941, Nguyen Ai Quoc returned to the country. He chaired a meeting of the Party Central Committee and emphasized that the most urgent task at that time was the issue of national liberation and national independence. The conference decided to establish the Vietnam Independence League, abbreviated as the Viet Minh Front, and proposed the Viet Minh program.

The revolutionary movement in An Giang 1942 - 1944 spread throughout the province.

1945:

• On March 9, 1945, Japan overthrew France and monopolized Indochina. This was a very favorable opportunity for us to gain independence.
• On March 12, 1945, the Central Party Standing Committee issued the directive "Japan and France fighting each other and our actions".
• On August 23, 1945, the Long Xuyen Provincial Party Committee received instructions from the Regional Party Committee to seize power on August 25 and urgently convened a meeting in Long Dien - Cho Moi.

           Comrade Le Thien Tu - the leader of the coup in Cho Moi.

           By August 25, the entire An Giang province was basically liberated.

           On September 2, 1945, at Ba Dinh Square - Hanoi, President Ho Chi Minh read the "Declaration of Independence" giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, opening a new era, an era in which the people were masters of their own destiny.

           After the success of the August Revolution, our people still faced many difficulties. France did not give up its intention to invade our country. On September 23, 1945, hiding behind the shadow of the British army, France once again invaded our country. Our people, with bamboo sticks and sticks, rose up together to fight against foreign invaders.

           In November 1945, in the Bay Nui area, the French parachuted troops into the To mountain fields, but under the leadership of the Party, the army and people of An Giang promptly foiled this plot, confiscated all weapons, and captured enemy soldiers and brought them back to the province.

           September 14, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh signed a provisional agreement with France, both sides ceased fire, our people strictly implemented the agreement but France betrayed the provisional agreement, there was no other way but for us to use violence to destroy the invaders.

           On December 19, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh called for national resistance. In his letter, he said: “Whoever has a gun will use a gun, whoever has a sword will use a sword, whoever doesn't have a sword will use a hoe, shovel, or stick, everyone must strive to fight the French to save the country”. We went from victory to victory: downing the Glycine D27 ship and the MZ712 aircraft.

           During the resistance war against the French, most of the weapons were homemade, such as crowbars, phoenix-necked spears, lances, sticks with sharp blades inside... (Only physical)

In 1950: implementing the policy of expanding the liberated area, we launched the Long Chau Ha I campaign at Vinh Thong iron bridge with comrade Tang Thien Kim as commander. In this battle, we destroyed many enemy forces, temporarily liberated the Chau Doc - Tri Ton route, and destroyed a number of enemy outposts.

In 1951: we proactively launched the Long Chau Ha II campaign to liberate the Vinh Hanh - Tra Kiet route, at Vinh Trach station, destroyed the enemy's 17th company, and captured Major Niem alive.

1954: The people's resistance war was breaking out continuously and widely throughout the province. In Dien Bien Phu, our army won a resounding victory, capturing General De Castries and his staff. The victory of our army and people on the Dien Bien Phu front forced France to sign the Geneva Agreement in Switzerland on July 20, 1954, ending the 80-year rule of the French army in our country. Both sides ceased fire, the last French troops withdrew from Vietnam, and our soldiers prepared to gather in the North.

When France had just withdrawn from Vietnam, the US jumped in. Our people had just ended more than 80 years of French oppression when they had to face the US army and its lackeys. At first, they waged a unilateral war, sending warships into Saigon to sabotage the Geneva Agreement, organizing persecution and arrest of our people. The Party and people of An Giang fought a political struggle combined with armed struggle.

1955: The US overthrew Bao Dai and installed Diem as president without a general election. Under US control, the Diem government increasingly terrorized patriots, established secret zones, and sent people to strategic hamlets. At the first National Assembly meeting, President Ho was very emotional when mentioning his fellow countrymen in the South who were still suffering from division.

1959: Diem issued Law 10/1959, the most brutal fascist law, according to which they dragged the guillotine everywhere to massacre the people.

December 20, 1960: The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam was established, with the policy of "uniting all classes, ethnicities, parties, organizations, religions... regardless of political tendencies to overthrow American domination" and bring the revolution to a new stage. 

1961-1963: The enemy advocated forcing people into strategic hamlets. They used F105 aircraft to bomb the villages of the ethnic minorities in O Lam commune, and this aircraft was shot down by our guerrillas. We fought the enemy in many ways. Children in Thien My commune contributed by collecting scraps of lead for the engineering factory to manufacture weapons.

Spring 1968: preparing for the general offensive and uprising, An Giang armed forces on the march prepared to attack Chau Doc town, destroying the bridge blocking the enemy's reinforcement route. (Photo only)

In An Giang, the enemy focused on attacking the Bay Nui area and Chau Doc town. Our cadres and soldiers retreated to the revolutionary base on Tuc Dup hill. Every inch of land on this hill bore the mark of the heroic An Giang army and people. The Tinh Bien - Tri Ton female artillery team became a terrible threat to the enemy. The battle on Tuc Dup hill had many new developments. After 128 days and nights of fighting, we exhausted a lot of enemy forces, destroyed many means of war, expanded the liberated area, the guerrillas guarded day and night so that the people could do business in peace, serve the arts, and at the same time produce weapons and sew military equipment for combat.

While the army and people of the whole country were fighting against the increasingly large-scale enemy offensive, a painful news came to all the Vietnamese people, on September 2, 1969, President Ho Chi Minh - the father of the nation passed away forever, leaving the Vietnamese people in endless sorrow. The provincial struggle agency published a special issue to acknowledge this great loss, the entire commando unit stationed on Tuc Dup hill wore mourning scarves to mourn Uncle Ho. This grief increased the determination of our army and people to fight the enemy.

In 1970-1971, implementing the plan of "Vietnamization of the war", the US increased pressure, they used Play-mo bombs and mines to hunt down cadres. Despite the fierceness, the army and people of An Giang still fought steadfastly without fear of sacrifice, attacked the enemy at the posts, destroyed pacification hamlets, destroyed enemy M113 vehicles and organized a congress of emulation fighters at Tuong Lang mountain, commended and encouraged soldiers, exhibited homemade weapons, etc.

1972: We defeated many enemy attacks to encroach on territory, contributing to crushing the "Vietnamization of the war" strategy, creating a strong position for the signing of the Paris Agreement.

1973: Marked an important turning point in the history of the Vietnamese revolution. On November 27, 1973, the Agreement to End the War and Restore Peace was signed in Paris, forcing “the United States and other countries to recognize our independence and sovereignty as recognized by the Geneva Agreement”. The American soldiers withdrew from South Vietnam under the supervision of our army, but they turned their backs on the agreement and did not implement it. In An Giang, they launched many attacks on the liberated areas. Faced with that situation, our people, regardless of age, youth, ethnicity… enthusiastically joined the liberation army.

1974: We defeated many more enemy plans to plant flags and win people over, liberating many more communes.

1975: The domestic situation was very positive, the Central provinces were liberated one after another. The Politburo and the Central Military Commission directed the general offensive and uprising in the spring of 1975, carrying out the Ho Chi Minh campaign.

Faced with the stormy attack of the liberation army on April 29, 1975, the last Americans withdrew from Vietnam.

At 11:30 on April 30, 1975, the revolutionary flag flew on the roof of the Independence Palace, and puppet president Duong Van Minh announced unconditional surrender. In An Giang, on April 30, 1975, many places in the province rose up to seize power and take over Chau Doc and Long Xuyen towns. Tay An ancient temple was one of the last places where the enemy held out. People happily welcomed the liberation army in Long Xuyen and Chau Doc. On May 5, 1975, we were completely liberated.

Our victory in the resistance war against America, the culmination of which was the victory on April 30, has gone and remained in people's hearts like an eternal heroic epic. The army and people of An Giang have written glorious golden pages of history, and that is the achievement we have today.