Nguyễn Văn Minh

Nguyễn Văn Minh (1929-2006) was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) during the Vietnam War. Minh entered military service during the First Indochina War in 1950 as an airborne officer serving in the French colonial forces. In November 1960, he supported a group of officers that staged an unsuccessful coup against President Ngo Dinh Diem. Minh was then dispatched to An Giang Province, in the Mekong Delta, and served as provincial chief until Diem's death in 1963. He was sometimes known as "Little Minh" to distinguish him from the much larger (physically) Dương Văn Minh, known as "Big Minh".^[1]

The following year, he became deputy commander of the 21st ARVN Division in the IV Corps Tactical Zone. In 1965 Minh was promoted brigadier general and given command of the division. Upon the accidental death of the commander of III Corps, Lieutenant General Do Cao Tri during the Cambodian Incursion of 1970, Minh was promoted and became corps commander.

Although he had been an excellent divisional commander and was an able and energetic administrator, he was out of his depth when given an entire corps.^[2] In 1971, he commanded his unit during the Battle of Snuol.

Minh did manage to convince President Thieu that An Lộc, not Tây Ninh, was the major communist objective during the third phase of the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive (Nguyễn Huệ Offensive) of 1972. He successfully commanded his forces in the city's defense.

Notes

References

• Andrade, Dale, Trial by Fire: The 1972 Easter Offensive, America's Last Vietnam Battle. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1995. ISBN 978-0781802864