3rd Corps ( vi, Quân đoàn 3) or Tây Nguyên Corps ( vi, Binh doan tay nguyen, literally: ''Corps of

Tây Nguyên Central Highlands ( vi, Cao nguyên Trung phần), Western Highlands ( vi, Tây Nguyên) or Midland Highlands ( vi, Cao nguyên Trung bộ) is one of the regions of Vietnam. It contains the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, K ...

'' or Corps of the Western Highlands) 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

Vietnam People's Army Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. First organised in 1975 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 ...

, 3rd 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

Pleiku Pleiku is a city in central Vietnam, located in the Central Highlands region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province. Many years ago, it was inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or De ...

, Gia Lai. * Commander: Maj. Gen. Nguyễn Đức Hải * Political Commissar: Maj. Gen. Chu Công Phu

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 to unify the country. In executing the issue, three months later the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and the Military Commission of the Central Committee approved the plan of organising regular

for the Vietnam People's Army. On 26 March 1975, 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 H ...

, Minister of Defence, signed the edict that led to the establishment of the 3rd Corps in

, from which came the name Tây Nguyên Corps of the unit. The first headquarters of the corps consisted of party committee secretary (''bí thư'') Đặng Vũ Hiệp and commander (''tư lệnh'')

Vũ Lăng Vũ or Võ ( 武 or rarely 禹) is a common Vietnamese surname. Vũ is primarily used by Vietnamese who live in the north, while Võ mostly is used by Vietnamese who live in the south (from Quảng Bình Province to the south). The latinized v ...

. During the

, it was 3rd Corps that advanced through the maritime regions of Phú Yên,

Khánh Hòa Province KH may refer to: Places * Cambodia (Kampuchea, Kambuja, ''Srok Khmer''), a sovereign state with ISO 3166-2 alpha code KH ** .kh, the Internet country code top-level domain for Cambodia * Kutná Hora District, Czech Republic (vehicle plate code) * ...

and later captured

Tan Son Nhat Airport Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport ( vi, Sân bay quốc tế Tân Sơn Nhất or Cảng hàng không quốc tế Tân Sơn Nhất) is the busiest airport in Vietnam with 32.5 million passengers in 2016 and 38.5 million passengers in 2018 ...

. After the

, 3rd 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 1979.

Organisation

The command structure of 3rd Corps consists of the High Command (''Bộ tư lệnh''), the Staff of 3rd 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

Notes

References

* {{Vietnam People's Army Corps of the People's Army of Vietnam Military units and formations established in 1975 Hero of the People's Armed Forces