4th Corps ( vi, Quân đoàn 4) or Cửu Long Corps ( vi, Binh đoàn Cửu Long, literally: ''Corps of Cửu Long'' or "Corps of the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , ...

") is one of the four regular

army corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

of the

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the ...

. First organized in 1974 during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, 4th Corps had a major role in the

Ho Chi Minh Campaign The 1975 spring offensive ( vi, chiến dịch mùa Xuân 1975), officially known as the general offensive and uprising of spring 1975 ( vi, Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy mùa Xuân 1975) was the final North Vietnamese campaign in the Vie ...

and the

Cambodian–Vietnamese War The Cambodian–Vietnamese War ( km, សង្គ្រាមកម្ពុជា-វៀតណាម, vi, Chiến tranh Campuchia–Việt Nam), known in Vietnam as the Counter-offensive on the Southwestern border ( vi, Chiến dịch Phản ...

. Today the corps is stationed in Dĩ An, Bình Dương. * Commander: Maj. Gen. Nguyễn Hoàng * Political Commissar: Maj. Gen. Nguyễn Trọng Nghĩa

History

In July 1973, the

Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: ''Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam'') is the highest decision-making body of the party between convocations of the National Congress. History The C ...

after its 21st conference issued a resolution of strengthening the armed forces in order to unify the country. In executing the issue, three months later the Ministry of Defence and the Military Commission of the Central Committee approved the plan of organizing regular

for the Vietnam People's Army. On July 20, 1974, General

Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp (; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general and communist politician who is regarded as having been one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century. He served as interior minister in President ...

, Minister of Defence, signed the edict that led to the establishment of the 4th Corps in Đông Nam Bộ, where is located the part of

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annuall ...

called Cửu Long River (Cửu Long Giang or Sông Cửu Long), from which came the name Cửu Long Corps of the unit. The first headquarters of the corps consisted of party committee secretary (''bí thư'') Hoàng Thế Thiện and commander (''tư lệnh'') Hoàng Cầm. During the

, it was 4th Corps that advanced through the delta regions of Phước Long,

Biên Hòa Biên Hòa (Northern accent: , Southern accent: ) is the capital city of Đồng Nai Province, Vietnam and part of the Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area and located about east of Ho Chi Minh City, to which Biên Hòa is linked by Vietnam Hi ...

and later captured the Special Capital Military District of

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

and several important targets within Saigon. After the

, 4th Corps continued to engage in the

, the corps was awarded the title

Hero of the People's Armed Forces The Hero of the People's Armed Forces ( vi, Anh hùng lực lượng vũ trang nhân dân) are designations of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., gr ...

(''Anh hùng Lực lượng vũ trang nhân dân'') in 1980.

Organization

The command structure of 1st Corps consists of the High Command (''Bộ tư lệnh''), the Staff of 2nd Corps (''Bộ tham mưu''), the Political Department (''Cục chính trị''), the Department of Logistics (''Cục hậu cần'') and the Department of Technique (''Cục kỹ thuật''). The combat forces of the corps include:

Commanders

References

* {{Vietnam People's Army Corps of the People's Army of Vietnam Military units and formations established in 1974 Hero of the People's Armed Forces