Đồng Sĩ Nguyên, also spelled Đồng Sỹ Nguyên, other name Nguyễn Hữu Vũ (1 March 1923 – 4 April 2019), was a Vietnamese soldier and politician. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, a member of the

Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam The Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee is the highest body of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in between gatherings of the National Congress and of the plenary sessions Central Committee. Accord ...

, lieutenant-general of the North Vietnamese Army, and minister of transport of Vietnam. He was born in

Quảng Bình Province Quảng Bình was formerly a southern coastal Provinces of Vietnam, province in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Việt Nam, Vietnam. It borders Hà Tĩnh province, Hà Tĩnh to the north, Quảng Trị province, ...

, home to 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 ...

and

Ngô Đình Diệm Ngô Đình Diệm ( , or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam ( Republic of ...

, president of the

Republic of 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 international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with it ...

Biography

Born on March 1, 1923, to a middle-class family in Quang Trung Commune, Quảng Trạch District, Quảng Bình Province, Dong Sy Nguyen attended Sainte Marie Lycée in

Đồng Hới Đồng Hới () is the capital city of Quảng Bình Province in the north central coast of Vietnam. The city's area is . Population as per the 2019 census was 133,672. It is served by National Highway 1A, the Đồng Hới Railway Station, a ...

. He participated in anti-French political movements and was sought by the French colonists; therefore he fled to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and participated in overseas Vietnamese patriotic movements there. He joined the Indochinese Communist Party in 1939. In 1944, he secretly returned to Vietnam and was made leader of the Communist Party committee branch in Quang Trach Phu, served as editor-in-chief of the ''Hong Lac Newspaper'', built up the Trung Thuan Military Zone, trained the armed forces, and participated in the

August Revolution The August Revolution (), also known as the August General Uprising (), was a revolution led by the Việt Minh against the Empire of Vietnam from 16 August to 2 September 1945. The Empire of Vietnam was led by the Nguyễn dynasty and was ...

. After the August Revolution, he was nominated as the leader of the Viet Minh in Quảng Bình Province. He was a member of the first session of the National Assembly of Vietnam.

Joining the army

When the First Indochinese War broke out, Đồng Sĩ Nguyên was assigned the leader of

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a Communist Party of Vietnam, communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1 ...

's army in

and the provincial army's communist party committee member. In 1950, he was sent to

Việt Bắc Việt Bắc (''Northern Vietnam'') is a region of Vietnam north of Hanoi that served as the Việt Minh's base of support during the First Indochina War (1946–1954). Việt Bắc is also called the capital of northernmost Vietnam because this ...

to attend an advanced level army class, then he was sent to the Bureau General of Politics of Vietnamese Army to act as an envoy in Command wing in Lower Laos in Winter-Spring Campaign of 1953-1954. In 1954, he was dispatched to the General Staff of

North Vietnamese Army 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 ...

, in charge of Civilian Forces Mobilization Department. In 1959, he was promoted lieutenant-colonel. In 1961, he was sent to China to attend Beijing Advanced Military School. In 1964, he came back to

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

and was assigned Vice General Staff for a brief period, then the head of Communist Party Committee of North Vietnamese Army's arm Military Zone IV in 1965, and Chief Command and Head of Communist Party Committee arm in North Vietnamese Volunteer Armed Troops in Central and Southern Laos. In late 1965, he was wounded and returned to

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

for medical treatment, he was assigned Vice Director of the Bureau of Logistics of North Vietnamese Army and Frontline Logistics, reporting to Dinh Duc Thien. In early 1967 (although he was offered the position in December 1966), he was assigned Chief-in-Command of 559 Troop, replacing colonel Hoang Van Thai. He remained in this position until 1976. Dong Sy Nguyen was one of important persons in constructing the

Ho Chi Minh trail The Ho Chi Minh Trail (), also called Annamite Range Trail () was a Military logistics, logistical network of roads and trails that ran from North Vietnam to South Vietnam through the kingdoms of Kingdom of Laos, Laos and Cambodia (1953–1970), ...

during

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 ...

. When he became commander of the Ho Chi Minh trail he converted it from an old low-key covert supply line into a modern strategic overt battlefield. Much of his success stemmed from the fact that he converted most of his forces, which had previously used foot power, bicycles or elephants to carry loads, into vehicle transportation units. He then equipped these troops as fighting units and supported their activities with better supplied and fortified army stations, he installed an advanced communications network to link between stations and constructed a fuel pipeline that stretched across the mountains both in Lao and Vietnam. Later he went on to strengthen anti-aircraft defenses, deployed surface-to-air missile sites at crucial locations to disrupt B-52 missions and designed mobile anti-aircraft detachments. His rational for these changes was that there was no legal justification not to, and the trail needed to be transformed in order to support what North Vietnam needed to resource the war in the South, a situation partly linked to both China and the Soviets because they had agreed to increase their military aid to North Vietnam. In 1974, he was conferred lieutenant-general. In 1976, he was promoted deputy minister of the

Ministry of National Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divide ...

in charge of Economic Construction, then Minister of Construction, Minister of Transportation. In 1979, he returned to the military to assume Command-in-Chief and leader of the Communist Party of the Capital Military Zone (an arm of Vietnamese Army in charge of defending Hanoi). He was a member of the secession IV Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Back to civil duty

From 1982, he was an alternate of the session V

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

then member of Politburo of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (the supreme power body of the Communist Party of Vietnam) (1986–1991) and Vice Chairman of the Council of the Ministers (Cabinet) and Minister of Transport. After he had retired from above positions, he was assigned as a special governmental envoy in charge of Programme 327 (an afforestation programme). He was assigned by Vietnamese prime minister

Phan Văn Khải Phan Văn Khải (; 25 December 1933 – 17 March 2018) was a Vietnamese politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Vietnam from 25 September 1997 until his resignation on 27 June 2006. He was considered to be a technocratic, innovat ...

as the special envoy in supervision of

Ho Chi Minh Highway Ho Chi Minh Road or Ho Chi Minh Highway () is a highway in Vietnam. It runs from the north to the south of Vietnam, west of National Route 1. The highway was named after Hồ Chí Minh. History The route roughly coincides with the Ho Chi Minh t ...

. His wife is Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, they have 4 sons and 2 daughters. His eldest son is Nguyen Sy Hung, chairman of the board of directors of

Vietnam Airlines Vietnam Airlines () is the flag carrier of Vietnam. The airline was founded in 1956 and later established as a Government-owned corporation, state-owned enterprise in April 1989. Vietnam Airlines is headquartered in Long Biên district, Hanoi ...

. Đồng Sĩ Nguyên was interviewed in 2003 and 2004 for the books ''A History of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, The Road to Freedom'' and ''Ho Chi Minh's Blueprint for Revolution, in the Words of Vietnamese Strategists and Operatives'' by Virginia Morris and Clive Hills. Đồng Sĩ Nguyên was interviewed for '' The Vietnam War'' by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, and appeared in four episodes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dong, Si Nguyen 1923 births 2019 deaths Generals of the People's Army of Vietnam North Vietnamese military personnel of the Vietnam War People from Quảng Bình province Alternates of the 5th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam Members of the 6th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam Members of the 4th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Members of the 5th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Members of the 6th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Government ministers of Vietnam Deputy prime ministers of Vietnam