Brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Vũ Văn Giai (12 May 193413 October 2012) was a general in the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).

Military career

He served as deputy commander of the 1st Division. From 16 April to October 1971 he commanded division elements in Operation Lam Son 720 against PAVN bases in the

A Sầu Valley The A Shau Valley (Vietnamese: ''thung lũng A Sầu'') is a valley in Vietnam's Thừa Thiên-Huế Province, west of the coastal city of Huế, along the border of Laos. The valley runs north and south for 40 kilometers and is a 1.5-kilometer- ...

. In June 1971 he was responsible for the division’s actions around Firebase Fuller. He was appointed as the original commander of the 3rd Division on its formation in November 1971. In an interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' in early February 1972 he and 1st Division commander General

Phạm Văn Phú Major General Phạm Văn Phú (1927, Hà Đông, French Indochina – 30 April 1975, Saigon, South Vietnam) was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He was a graduate of the 8th class of the Dalat Military Academy in 1954. Milit ...

expressed doubts about the widely anticipated PAVN offensive in the northern provinces in mid-February, stating that no major action would take place until March at the earliest due to the need for the PAVN to build up their logistics. Following the defeat of the 3rd Division in the First Battle of Quảng Trị in April 1972 he was made a scapegoat for the loss of Quảng Trị Province. While the new

I Corps I Corps, 1st Corps, or First Corps may refer to: France * 1st Army Corps (France) * I Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * I Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French A ...

commander General

Ngô Quang Trưởng Ngô Quang Trưởng (13 December 1929 — 22 January 2007) was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Trưởng gained his commission in the Vietnamese National Army in 1954 and moved up the ranks over the next decade, most ...

wanted to keep him as commander of the 3rd Division he was overruled by President

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF), becam ...

. On 3 May he was relieved of command and placed under investigation. A U.S. official stated at the time that he "was just overwhelmed by the problems that he faced in the invasion." On 2 October 1973 he was found guilty of abandoning his post by a military court and was sentenced to five years' hard labor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vu Van, Giai Army of the Republic of Vietnam generals South Vietnamese military personnel of the Vietnam War 1934 births 2012 deaths