The Vietnam People's Army (VPA) (Vietnamese: Quân Đội Nhân Dân Việt Nam, also known as the Vietnamese People's Army and the People's Army of Vietnam) is the army of Vietnam. The VPA is a part of Vietnam People's Armed Forces. The VPA includes: Ground Force (including Strategic Rear Forces), Navy, Air Force, Vietnam Border Defense Force and Vietnam Marine Police. However, Vietnam does not have a specific separate Ground Forces or Army branch. All of the ground troops, army corps, military districts, and specialized arms belong to the Ministry of Defence (Vietnam), directly under command of the Central Military Commission, Minister of Defence and General Staff (Vietnam People's Army).
Communist Party of Viet Nam leaders of the People's Army of Vietnam absolute and direct all aspects; the centralized leadership of the Party is unified into the Central Executive Committee that directly, often the Politburo, the Secretariat (Charter of CPV - Article 25).
The name People's Army can be traced to President Ho Chi Minh's phrase "born from people, for people to fight and for people to serve". The word People are also present in many names of such organizations in Vietnam such as the People's Public Security, Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuracy. One other name for the army that Vietnamese named by love is Uncle Ho's soldiers (Bộ đội Cụ Hồ). The military flag of the Vietnam People's Army is the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with the words Quyết thắng (Determination to Win) added in yellow at the top left.
During the French Indochina War (1946–1954), the VPA was often referred to as the Việt Minh. In the context of the Vietnam War (1959–1975), the army was referred to as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). This allowed writers, the US Military, and the general public, to distinguish northern communists from the southern communists, or Viet Cong. However, northerners and southerners were always under the same command structure. According to Hanoi's official history, the Vietcong was a branch of the VPA. In 2010 the Vietnam People's Army undertook the role of leading the 1,000th Anniversary Parade in Hanoi by performing their biggest parade in Vietnam's history.
Read more about Vietnam People's Army: Organization, Service Branches, Ranks and Insignia, Equipment
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