Editing Trần Văn Trà

{{Short description|North Vietnamese commander}}
{{family name hatnote|Trần|Trà|lang=Vietnamese}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = Colonel General
| name                = Trần Văn Trà
| office              = 2nd Chairman of [[Ho Chi Minh City|Saigon]]
| predecessor         = [[Lê Đức Anh]]<br>
| successor           = [[Võ Văn Kiệt]] ''(as Chairman of People's Committee of [[Ho Chi Minh City]])''
| term_start          = 3 May 1975
| term_end            = 20 January 1976
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1919|9|15|df=yes}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1996|4|20|1919|9|15|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = [[Sơn Tịnh]], [[Quảng Ngãi Province|Quảng Ngãi]], [[Annam (French protectorate)|Annam]]
| death_place         = [[Ho Chi Minh City]], Vietnam
| allegiance          = {{flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[North Vietnam]]
| branch              = {{flagicon|Vietnam|war}} [[People's Army of Vietnam]]
| image               = Tranvantra.jpg
| caption             = Trần Văn Trà in 1974
| nickname            = Tư Chi
| serviceyears        = 1938–1982
| rank                = [[Colonel General]]
| commands            = {{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} ([[People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam|PLAF]]) Commander of the Liberation Army<br>Deputy Secretary of the Military Committee<br>Deputy Regional Commander (8 June 1968 to 2 July 1976)
| battles             = '''[[First Indochina War]]'''<br>'''[[Vietnam War]]'''<br>[[Tet Offensive]]<br>[[Easter Offensive]]<br>[[Ho Chi Minh Campaign]]
| awards              = [[Resolution for Victory Order]]<ref>[http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-medals/nva-vc.htm NVA and/or VC Awards<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021195652/http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-medals/nva-vc.htm |date=2007-10-21 }}</ref>
| laterwork           = 
}}

'''Nguyễn Chấn''', known as '''Trần Văn Trà''' (15 September 1919 – 20 April 1996) was a colonel-general in the [[People's Army of Vietnam]]. He was Commander of [[NLF_and_PAVN_strategy,_organization_and_structure#Geographic_commands|B2 Front]] during 1963 – 1967, Deputy Commander of [[Liberation Army of South Vietnam]] during 1968 – 1972; member of the Central Committee of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Workers' Party of Vietnam]] from 1960 to 1982 (3rd and 4th terms) and second chairman of [[Ho Chi Minh City|Saigon]] administration after [[Fall of Saigon]]. <ref name="mod.gov.vn">{{cite web |title=Colonel General Trần Văn Trà |url=https://mod.gov.vn/vn/noi-dung/sa-qdndvn/sa-qdndvn-child/sa-qdndvn-tlqdndvn/sa-qdndvn-tlqdndvn-thuongtuong/189d874a-5842-484a-9ad1-23d58cd5587c |website=mod.gov.vn |access-date=1 June 2024}}</ref>

==Early life==
The son of a bricklayer, Trần Văn Trà was born in [[Quảng Ngãi]] Province in 1918.<ref>Spencer C. Tucker The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Oxford University Press, USA (November 1, 2001) p175 "Trần Văn Trà", also 2011 - Page 1140 "Trần Văn Trà, whose true name was Nguyễn Chấn, was born to middle-class parents in 1918 in Quang Ngai, ..."</ref> He joined the [[Indochinese Communist Party]] in 1938 and spent the years of the Second World War in a French prison. Between 1946 and 1954, Trà fought against the French in the [[Vietnam People's Army]] and became a general in 1961, commanding communist forces in the southern half of [[South Vietnam]]. During the days of The [[First Indochina War]] with the French, the [[Viet Minh]] recruited more than 600 defeated Japanese soldiers to fight with them.

In June 1946, some of these Japanese followers became instructors in a military school set up by the Viet Minh in Quang Ngai Province, Trà's birthplace, to teach fighting skills to more than 400 Vietnamese trainees. It is not known if Trà was one of the organisers or attendees at this military training school. He was Commander of [[7th Military Region (Vietnam People's Army)|7th Military Region]] (1949-1950) and Vice Commander of [[Cochinchina]] (1951-1954).

==Vietnam War==
During the [[Vietnam War]] against the Americans and South Vietnamese, he led the attack on [[Saigon]] during the [[Tet Offensive]] of 1968 and commanded the B2 Front during the [[Easter Offensive]].[[File:Svnmapfront.jpg|thumb|left|270px|NLF Fronts and Military regions, 1970]]

During a 1974 meeting of North Vietnamese military leaders in Hanoi, Trà argued against a conservative strategy during the coming year and suggested that South Vietnam's [[Phước Long province|Phước Long Province]] be attacked in order to test both [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam|South Vietnamese]] and American military reaction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/Vietnam.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916230911/http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/Vietnam.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 16, 2012 | title = Vietnam: A History of the Bulwark B-2 Theater Translation of ''Kết thúc cuộc chiến tranh 30 năm.'' | author = Colonel General Trần Văn Trà | publisher =  United States. Joint Publications Research Service | date = February 1983 | accessdate =14 October 2015}}</ref> The attack was successful and the U.S. did not respond militarily, prompting larger, more aggressive communist operations. In April 1975, Trà became Deputy Commander of the A75 headquarters under Senior General [[Văn Tiến Dũng]] during the [[Ho Chi Minh Campaign]], the final assault on Saigon which led to the capitulation of the South Vietnamese government. He took charge of Vice-Minister of Defence from 1978 to 1982.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}}<ref>{{Cite web|last=Thanh Binh|first=Nguyen|date=25 September 2012|title=Senior Lieutenant General Tran Van Tra|url=http://www.mod.gov.vn/wps/portal/!ut/p/b1/vZTbbqMwFEW_pR8QYQjXRwPhFjA3A4aXCHJrCAkkZIDw9ZNOq5GmmiYvbXyejrSPlvc-sqmMIlR2zLvdNr_s6mNevfUZv9AgCkSZhgCAkAPmFM4jW7o1ULgJ0ptA0aHBCjYAoq3fBNCIAsmfTgGc_juvw1gDphUCqAgco-gslVCkTDmk1E4_M4kH9knSgwAt1etcaC3H8XW0u3jMZJ-_mgbG46Yrk7FfLl2lPYGiLTNAHJJ6kTwyjTM5F5ZdHRMxcOeZJdTI7SR5Clmms1KJ351n8SqaX5SJatFrpW4UzpRJVB6rndhw-bDRak7ZZAuAkWRsNzAv5eOHP_DFgeCRv_f5O4IH-SZUdhfBCh-Ceyv4I7jjIb0JhK8vyVGYIoBdhOW1Mcf9GJSjP4Sqzzg4sOiItkMgxCjaA7yK0UWFNCijvo1ebQebAGHkhRfDW8VBJENo_bKV-gFQ5J8NZH8c6BpvQGxxoeszgGWe7fD7d2hR2baqi9snEWdpY6u1BWcz7LGnORkxNl8dHdf2ZThsVWujyXm_am1LSffFqVl3WXCi7YjooQR9zxEz0ZEyhdVqhbAu1NEoBrBwyDxjrjIxz2FQ6VMjyAI1VlO78bQLmeUNmhrbq7tgeyOQUu9YD-pis6i5yuPjdLcqoJscssqNtXPUKNcRhWdSGWY75hOU5rTDcUWHeb9FZ2EPKWTUh_XnCD89Rv8_EYagnV0HR11ZtJrQjmqEqJjBdtfjqB_oMh0wVpgwAgOyl1csEWel3RKUxK1q9i8vD4A8-2SgL_w08PMzAM-OlP92YHOIurnNB8ZI_tZa7w7vtX35Dfj4uXo!/dl4/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/|access-date=15 February 2022}}</ref>

In 1982, Trà published ''Vietnam: A History of the Bulwark B-2 Theatre, Volume 5, Concluding the 30-Years War'', which revealed how the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam|Hanoi Politburo]] had overestimated its own military capabilities and underestimated those of the U.S. and South Vietnam prior to and during the [[Tet Offensive]]. This account offended and embarrassed the leaders of the newly unified [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam]]. This was probably the reason he lost his membership in the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam|Central Committee]], and only two volumes were ever published of the five Tra had planned. Suggestions that he remained in such disgrace as to be under something similar to house arrest, until his death on 20 April 1996,<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.historyandtheheadlines.abc-clio.com/contentpages/ContentPage.aspx?entryId=1194574&currentSection=1194544&productid=10 | title =The Tet Offensive and the Media: Tran Van Tra |author =  William Head |publisher = [[ABC-CLIO]]  |date =  2011 |accessdate =14 October 2015 |archive-date=14 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151014150347/http://www.historyandtheheadlines.abc-clio.com/contentpages/ContentPage.aspx?entryId=1194574&currentSection=1194544&productid=10 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{refn|group=note|William Head's source contains a critical misinformation that consider '''Trần Nam Trung''' was just an alias of '''Trần Văn Trà'''. In fact, they were two different figures.}} are exaggerated. He published two articles in ''Tap chi lich su quan su'' [Journal of military history] in 1988,<ref>Tran Van Tra, "Tet Mau Than, chien cong hien hach [Tet, the Year of the Monkey, a glorious feat of arms]," and "Thang loi va suy nghi ve thang loi [Victory and reflections on victory]," ''Tap chi lich su quan su'' [Journal of military history], February 1988, pp. 8-23, and April 1988, pp. 36-45.</ref> and he was even permitted to travel to the United States in 1990 to present a paper at a conference at Columbia University.<ref>Tran Van Tra, "The War that Should Not Have Been," in Jayne S. Werner and Luu Doan Huynh, eds., ''The Vietnam War: Vietnamese and American Perspectives'' (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1993), pp. 233-242.</ref> In 1992, the People's Army published another volume of his projected five-volume history of the B-2 Theater.<ref>Tran Van Tra, ''Nhung chang duong lich su cu B2 thanh dong,'' vol. 1, ''Hoa binh hay chien tranh'' (Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1992)</ref> From 1992 to 1996 he was Deputy Chairman of the Veterans Association of Vietnam.<ref>''Tu dien bach khoa quan su Viet nam'' [Military encyclopedia of Vietnam] (Hanoi: Quan doi nhan dan, 1996), p. 807.</ref>

==Notes==
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== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Van Tra}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Quảng Ngãi province]]
[[Category:Viet Minh members]]
[[Category:Generals of the People's Army of Vietnam]]
[[Category:North Vietnamese military personnel of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Alternates of the 3rd Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam]]
[[Category:Members of the 4th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam]]
[[Category:Vietnamese nationalists]]