General Vo Nguyen Giap was born on August 25, 1911, in Loc Thuy commune, Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province, to a Confucian family. In 1930, when he was 19 years old, he was arrested by the French colonialists and detained at Thua Phu prison in Hue city.

Vo Nguyen Giap and Nguyen Thi Quang Thai, his first wife, who was the younger sister of revolutionary Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and the mother of distinguished physicist Dr. Vo Hong Anh. Thai was born in 1915 and died in 1944.

The founding of the 34-member Vietnam Liberation Propaganda team led by Vo Nguyen Giap in Cao Bang on December 22, 1944.

On August 26, 1945, Commander Vo Nguyen Giap watched his troops pass in review for the first time after seizing power from the French colonialists.

On September 2, 1946, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam celebrated its 1st anniversary. Vo Nguyen Giap read the order of the day of the Military Party Committee.

In 1948, at the age of 37, Vo Nguyen Giap was brevetted as General, becoming the first General of the Vietnam People’s Army.

President Ho Chi Minh and Commander-in-chief General Vo Nguyen Giap at the headquarters of the Border Campaign against the French in 1950.

President Ho Chi Minh, General Vo Nguyen Giap, regiment commander Thai Dung (left), and battalion head Dung Ma study the Border Campaign map in 1950.

General Vo Nguyen Giap inspects newly-liberated Cao Bang town in 1950.

General Vo Nguyen Giap and Prince Souphanouvong discuss the Upper Laos Campaign of 1953, which made a breakthrough in the resistance war against the French in Vietnam and Laos.

President Ho Chi Minh and General Giap discuss the Dien Bien Phu Campaign of 1954.

General Vo Nguyen Giap observes the battlefield one last time before issuing an order to open fire to start the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. (Archive photo: VNA)

General Giap and his soldiers celebrate the Dien Bien Phu victory at the Muong Phang Command headquarters.

General Vo Nguyen Giap and Lt. General Song Hao, Chairman of the General Department of Politics, observe a training session of Regiment 6 of the Dong Da artillery unit during the 1968 Lunar New Year. 

General Vo Nguyen Giap prepares for the Road 9-Southern Laos campaign in 1971.

At the air force and air defense command center, General Giap approves a plan to counter B52 bomber strikes launched by the US against Hanoi in 1972.

During an inspection tour of the Quang Ninh maritime area in 1973, General Vo Nguyen Giap said: “We are determined to protect our national sovereignty over the sea and islands."

General Giap studies the strategic transportation map of Truong Son soldiers during his visit to Unit 559 in March 1973.

A secret handwritten dispatch from General Giap on April 7, 1975, urging military units to advance rapidly to liberate the south of Vietnam.

General Vo Nguyen Giap delivers a speech on April 14, 1975, at a meeting at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, at which the Politburo renamed the Saigon-Gia Dinh campaign the Ho Chi Minh campaign.

The Central Military Party Committee observes the Ho Chi Minh campaign in 1975. In the photo, from left to right: Colonel Le Huu Duc (head of the Operational Department), Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Van Thai (deputy chief of the General Staff), Major General Vu Xuan Chiem (deputy head of the Logistics Department), Lieutenant General Song Hao (head of the General Department of Politics), General Vo Nguyen Giap (Commander in Chief, Minister of National Defense, and Secretary of the Central Military Party Committee), and Lieutenant General Le Quang Dao (deputy head of the General Department of Politics).

General Vo Nguyen Giap poses for a photo with key cadres in front of the Central Military Commission house on April 30, 1975.  

Vung Chua (pagoda pool) on Yen (Swallow) Island in Quang Dong commune, Quan Trach district, Quang Binh province, is chosen as the final resting place of General Vo Nguyen Giap. His tomb is located at the foot of the Hoanh Son range in Tho Son hamlet. (Photo: baophapluat.vn)

General Vo Nguyen Giap’s tomb site during Tet, Vietnam’s traditional Lunar New Year holiday. (Photo: vietnamnet.vn)

General Vo Nguyen Giap’s tomb site seen from Vung Chua. (Photo: tptravel.com.vn)