Nguyễn Hữu An (October 1, 1926 – April 9, 1995) was a Vietnamese military officer in the

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...

(PAVN) during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

Overview

Nguyễn Hữu An was born in the Truong Yen Commune of the Hoa Lư, Ninh Bình, Tonkin protectorate (

Northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam or '' Tonkin'' () is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sôn ...

). He joined the

in September 1945.

First Indochina War

In the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

, An took part in several decisive battles. He participated in the battles of Bong Lau Pass and Lung Phay in 1949. The following year he took part in the Border Campaign, he was commander of 251st Battalion, a battalion of 174th Regiment (''CAA Bac Lang'') at the Battle of Đông Khê. He successively held titles of battalion commander, regiment deputy commander participating in actions at Bình Liêu, Vĩnh Phúc, and Mộc Châu. In the

Battle of Dien Bien Phu The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the forces of the French Union and Viet Minh. The French began an operation to in ...

, he commanded 174th Regiment of the 316th Division, and three times attacked Hill A1 (Éliane 2). On 7 May 1954 his regiment finally overcame French defences on A1 and this marked one of the final actions in the battle. Thieu-tuong-Huu-An

Vietnam War

In late 1964 he commanded the

(PAVN) 325th Division as it infiltrated into

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

. In November 1965 he commanded PAVN forces in the Battle of Ia Drang. He subsequently commanded the 1st Division. In 1968 he took command of the 308th Division in Laos. In mid-1973 he travelled to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to attend a course on combined-arms warfare. In 1974 he was promoted to major general. For the

1975 Spring Offensive The 1975 spring offensive (), officially known as the general offensive and uprising of spring 1975 (), was the final North Vietnamese campaign in the Vietnam War that led to the capitulation of the Republic of Vietnam. After the initial succ ...

, he was commander of 2nd Corps (''Hương Giang''). 2nd Corps, under his command, successively captured Quảng Trị and Huế; and in combination with armed forces of Military Region No.5 defeated nearly 100,000 regular troops of the ARVN within just 3 days at

Da Nang Da Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons (, ) is the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the Western Pacific Ocean of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is one of Vietnam's most important p ...

. He then commanded the entire corps to march along nearly 1000 km to engage in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign after having destroyed the ARVN defensive line in

Phan Rang Phan may refer to: * Phan (surname), a Vietnamese family name * Phan District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand * Phan River The Phan River () is a river of Bình Thuận Province, Vietnam.Vietnam Administrative Atlas, NXB Bản Đồ, 2004 It flo ...

. In the last decisive fight to capture Saigon, 2nd Corps was one of five wings to surround Saigon, and planted the National Liberation Front's flag onto top of the Independence Palace at 11:30 on 30 April 1975.

Postwar career

After the end of the Vietnam War, An continued serving in the Vietnamese military. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant general in 1980. He was called the "General of Battles" by the famed General

Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp ( vi-hantu, , ; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general, communist revolutionary and politician. Highly regarded as a military strategist, Giáp led Vietnamese communist forces to victories in wars agains ...

Awards

The Communist Party of Vietnam and State of Vietnam awarded him with: *Independence Order of First-Class *Two Military Exploits Orders of First-Class *Military Exploits Order of Third-Class *Liberation Military Exploits Order of Third-Class *Two Exploits Orders of First and Second-Class *Vic at age 68tory Order of Second-Class

In popular culture

*Nguyễn is portrayed by actor Đơn Dương in the 2002 film '' We Were Soldiers''.