(VOVWORLD) -50 years ago on April 29, when forces of the Vietnam People's Army advanced to liberate Saigon, another force crossed the sea to liberate Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago. The Ho Chi Minh Campaign secured victory on land and the liberation of Truong Sa sealed Vietnam’s territorial integrity from mainland to islands.
 Naval commandos of Brigade 126 liberated Sinh Ton Island in the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago on April 28, 1975. (Photo: VNA) |
In late March 1975, with the southern front seeing rapid progress, General Vo Nguyen Giap directed the Command of Military Region 5 and the Navy Command to liberate Truong Sa.
Lieutenant General Nguyen Ngoc Tuong, former Deputy Political Commissar of the National Defense Academy and the Navy, said, “The Navy Command proposed liberating Truong Sa to the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of Defense in late 1974, when the forces of the Saigon regime were weakening, both on land and at sea. After we liberated Buon Ma Thuot, Thua Thien-Hue, and Da Nang, on March 25, 1975, the Politburo ordered to liberate the South before the rainy season, as well as islands and archipelagos, including Truong Sa, occupied by the Saigon regime.”
 Naval commandos of Brigade 126 on Truong Sa Island after its liberation on April 29, 1975. (Photo: VNA)
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A special task force was formed, comprising marine commandos from the Navy’s Special Forces Brigade 126. They set out to sea and reached Song Tu Tay Island on April 13, 1975. At dawn the next day, marine and infantry units launched a surprise assault and took control of the island within 30 minutes.
Tran Dang Ninh, a 70-year-old former commando from Hai Hau district, Nam Dinh province, recalled, “The operation was secret and we swiftly approached the island. The Saigon forces didn’t expect us. The situation on the mainland was still unstable. Enemy vessels were patrolling heavily, looking like foreign ships. After April 14, our commando unit stayed to defend the island while other units took the wounded soldiers and prisoners of war back to Da Nang.”
 Nguyen Van My (L) and Tran Dang Ninh (C) recall their battle to liberate Truong Sa 50 years ago. (Photo: VOV's reporter based Central Region) |
On April 21, 1975, a second fleet headed out to sea and successively liberated Sinh Ton, Nam Yet, Truong Sa, and Son Ca Island. Eight days later, the islands of the Truong Sa archipelago had been liberated, just one day before liberation forces seized the Independence Palace in Saigon.
Second Lieutenant Nguyen Van My, a former reconnaissance officer of Division 2, Brigade 126, recalled that, after liberating Song Tu Tay, his unit was ordered to hold the island.
 Song Tu Tay island today (Hoang Hieu/VNA) |
On the afternoon of April 30, they heard the news of the liberation of Saigon via a special Voice of Vietnam radio broadcast. “We were in Song Tu Tay, communication was so difficult. When Voice of Vietnam announced the complete liberation of the South and said a flag had been raised over Independence Palace, everyone was overjoyed. Yet in the midst of our happiness, we grieved for our comrades who had fallen just before peace was achieved.”
In the five decades since liberation, Truong Sa district has been developing rapidly. Dubbed “the heart of the East Sea”, Truong Sa contributes to Vietnam's goal of becoming “a strong maritime nation, prospering from the sea.”