National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (third, left) presents the “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces” title to representatives of the Women’s Liberation Association – Long-Haired Army (Photo: VNA) Ben Tre (VNA) – Southern Ben Tre province on August6 received the “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces” title for the Women’sLiberation Association – Long-Haired Army, the name of an all-female armedforce during the resistance war against the US.
The ceremony saw the presence of NationalAssembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh.
Chairwoman Ngan presented the title torepresentatives of the Women’s Liberation Association – Long-Haired Army. Shealso congratulated Ben Tre on 50 years since it was bestowed with the title“Heroic in uprising, winning against the US, defeating the puppet regime.”
During the war, Ben Tre was one of the fiercestbattlefields, where the US and its puppet regime suppressed and terrorized therevolutionary movement and turned the whole southern region into prisons andconcentration camps under the name of “strategic hamlets”.
In the face of such an urgent situation, the15th session of the second Party Central Committee in January 1959 worked outthe policy of rising up to seize power for people. The Party organisation andpeople of Ben Tre realised the session’s resolution in a creative way and wagedthe resounding General Uprising in 1960.
The Long-Haired Army was established anddeveloped in this movement. It was one of the key forces in the guerrillawarfare during the fight against the US.
This army initially fought only in the politicalaspect but then also took part in armed combats. In 1961, the number of femaleguerrillas in local communes and hamlets surpassed 3,000, accounting forone-ninth of the total female guerrillas across the southern region then.
From Ben Tre, the General Uprising spread acrossthe south. The Long-Haired Army also developed in almost all southernprovinces, greatly helping to reverse the revolutionary situation fromdefending and saving forces to attacking the enemy and gaining victories.
After the General Uprising, the Partyorganisation and people of Ben Tre closely coordinated with the revolutionaryforces in the southern region to defeat the US’s “Limited War” strategy, withthe peak being the victory of the General Offensive and Uprising in the Springof 1968.
With those prominent feats, at the fourthmeeting of southern guerrillas, Ben Tre was chosen as one of the three leadingprovinces in the guerrilla warfare movement. The high command of the liberationarmy honoured it with the title “Heroic in uprising, winning against the US,defeating the puppet regime.” –VNA
VNA
