Ben Tre’s long-haired army honoured

Southern Ben Tre province on August 6 received the “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces” title for the Women’s Liberation Association – Long-Haired Army, the name of an all-female armed force during the resistance war against the U.S.

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)

The ceremony saw the presence of National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh.

Chairwoman Ngan presented the title to representatives of the Women’s Liberation Association – Long-Haired Army. She also congratulated Ben Tre on 50 years since it was bestowed with the title “Heroic in uprising, winning against the U.S., defeating the puppet regime.”

During the war, Ben Tre was one of the fiercest battlefields, where the U.S. and its puppet regime suppressed and terrorized the revolutionary movement and turned the whole southern region into prisons and concentration camps under the name of “strategic hamlets”.

In the face of such an urgent situation, the 15^th session of the second Party Central Committee in January 1959 worked out the policy of rising up to seize power for people. The Party organisation and people of Ben Tre realised the session’s resolution in a creative way and waged the resounding General Uprising in 1960.

The Long-Haired Army was established and developed in this movement. It was one of the key forces in the guerrilla warfare during the fight against the U.S.

This army initially fought only in the political aspect but then also took part in armed combats. In 1961, the number of female guerrillas in local communes and hamlets surpassed 3,000, accounting for one-ninth of the total female guerrillas across the southern region then.

From Ben Tre, the General Uprising spread across the south. The Long-Haired Army also developed in almost all southern provinces, greatly helping to reverse the revolutionary situation from defending and saving forces to attacking the enemy and gaining victories.

After the General Uprising, the Party organisation and people of Ben Tre closely coordinated with the revolutionary forces in the southern region to defeat the U.S.’s “Limited War” strategy, with the peak being the victory of the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of 1968.

With those prominent feats, at the fourth meeting of southern guerrillas, Ben Tre was chosen as one of the three leading provinces in the guerrilla warfare movement. The high command of the liberation army honoured it with the title “Heroic in uprising, winning against the U.S., defeating the puppet regime.”

VNF/VNA