Republic of Vietnam Military Forces

Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces

Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces
Quân lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa
War flag of the Republic of Vietnam
Flag of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces
Motto"Tổ Quốc – Danh Dự – Trách Nhiệm"
("Homeland – Honour – Duty")
Founded30 December 1955
Disbanded30 April 1975
Service branches Army
 Air Force
 Navy
HeadquartersSaigon, Central-South region of Vietnam
Leadership
Commander-in-Chief Ngo Dinh Diem (1955–1963)
Nguyen Van Thieu (1967–1975)
Chief of Joint General Staff See list
Personnel
Active personnel586,838
Deployed personnel1,000,000 in 1972
Industry
Foreign suppliers United States
 Australia
 Canada
 France
 Germany
 Israel
 Japan
 New Zealand
 Philippines
 South Korea
 Francoist Spain
 Taiwan
 Thailand
 United Kingdom
Related articles
HistoryMilitary history of Vietnam
RanksRanks and insignia of the Republic of Vietnam

The Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF; Vietnamese: Quân lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa – QLVNCH; Chữ Hán: 軍力越南共和), were the official armed defence forces of the defunct Republic of Vietnam and were responsible for the defence of the state and the republican regime since it's independence from France in 26 October 1955 to its collapse in 30 April 1975.

Branches

The QLVNCH (also known as the RVNAF) was formally established on December 30, 1955, by the strongman and republican first South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem, which he declared on October 26 that year after winning a rigged referendum[1] on the future of the State of Vietnam. Created out from ex-French Union Army colonial Indochinese auxiliary units (French: Supplétifs), gathered earlier in July 1951 into the French-led Vietnamese National Army or VNA (Vietnamese: Quân Đội Quốc Gia Việt Nam – QĐQGVN), Armée Nationale Vietnamiènne (ANV) in French, the armed forces of the new state consisted in the mid-1950s of ground, air, and naval branches of service, respectively,the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces day is also celebrated every years in 19 June

Their roles were defined as follows: to protect the sovereignty of the free Vietnamese nation and that of the Republic; to maintain the political and social order and the rule of law by providing internal security; to defend the newly independent Republic of Vietnam from external (and internal) threats; and ultimately, to help reunify Vietnam – divided since the Geneva Accords in July 1955 into two transitional states, one at the north ruled by Ho Chi Minh’s Marxist Lao Dong Party regime and the other in the south under Diem's regime.

Command structure

Regional commands

Administrative divisions and military regions of South Vietnam in June 1967.

The Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces consisted of four military corps (Quân đoàn) that were responsible for administrating four military zone of the Republic of Vietnam.


See also

Notes
  1. Rottman and Bujeiro, Army of the Republic of Vietnam 1955-75 (2010), p. 7.

References
  • Gordon L. Rottman and Ron Volstad, US Army Special Forces 1952-84, Elite series 4, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1985. ISBN 9780850456103
  • Gordon L. Rottman and Ron Volstad, Vietnam Airborne, Elite Series 29, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1990. ISBN 0-85045-941-9
  • Gordon L. Rottman and Ramiro Bujeiro, Army of the Republic of Vietnam 1955-75, Men-at-arms series 458, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2010. ISBN 978-1-84908-182-5
  • Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, South-East Asian Special Forces, Elite series 33, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1991. ISBN 9781855321069
  • Lee E. Russell and Mike Chappell, Armies of the Vietnam War (2), Men-at-arms series 143, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1983. ISBN 0-85045-514-6.
  • Leroy Thompson, Michael Chappell, Malcolm McGregor and Ken MacSwan, Uniforms of the Indo-China and Vietnam Wars, Blandford Press, London 1984. ASIN B001VO7QSI
  • Martin Windrow and Mike Chappell, The French Indochina War 1946-54, Men-at-arms series 322, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 1998. ISBN 978-1-85532-789-4
  • Phillip Katcher and Mike Chappell, Armies of the Vietnam War 1962-1975, Men-at-arms series 104, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1980. ISBN 978-0-85045-360-7

Further reading
  • Jade Ngoc Quang Huynh, South Wind Changing, Graywolf Press, Minnesota 1994. ASIN B01FIW8BJG
  • Mark Moyar, Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. 2009. ISBN 978-0521757638, 0521757630
  • Neil L. Jamieson, Understanding Vietnam, The Regents of the University of California press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California 1995. ASIN B00749ZBRC
  • Nguyen Cao Ky, How we lost the Vietnam War, Stein & Day Pub 1979. ISBN 978-0812860160, 0812860160
  • Tran Van Don, Our Endless War: Inside Vietnam, Presidio Press, Novato, California 1978. ISBN 978-0891410195, 0891410198
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