Republic of Vietnam Military Forces

The Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF; Vietnamese: Quân lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa – QLVNCH), were the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam and were responsible for the defence of the country from 30 December 1955 to 30 April 1975. Its predecessor, the Vietnamese National Army, was the armed forces of the State of Vietnam and established on 1 January 1949. The Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces day has been celebrated in June 19 every years since 1965.

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")
Founded	1 January 1949/30 December 1955
Disbanded	30 April 1975
Service branches	Army Air Force Navy
Headquarters	Saigon, 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 personnel	586,838
Deployed personnel	1,000,000 in 1972
Industry
Foreign suppliers	United States Australia New Zealand Philippines South Korea Thailand
Related articles
History	Military history of Vietnam
Ranks	Ranks and insignia of the Republic of Vietnam

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 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 (mostly by the overseas Vietnamese people) every years in 19 June

• Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)
• Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF)
• Republic of Vietnam Navy including Marine Corps

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) as follows:

I Corps headquartered in Da Nang, included five provinces: Tactical zone 11, including 2 provinces Quang Tri and Thua Thien Tactical zone 12, including 2 provinces Quang Tin and Quang Ngai Quang Nam Special Zone, including Quang Nam Province and Da Nang City

II Corps headquartered in Nha Trang, but the 2nd Army Corps Command is located in Pleiku (had to move to Nha Trang from mid-March 1975), included 12 provinces: Tactical Zone 22, including 3 provinces Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Phu Bon Tactical Zone 23, including 7 provinces Darlac, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Tuyen Duc, Quang Duc, Lam Dong and Cam Ranh city Special area 24, including 2 provinces Kon Tum and Pleiku

III Corps headquartered in Bien Hoa, include 10 provinces: Tactical Zone 31, including 3 provinces Tay Ninh, Hau Nghia, Long An Tactical zone 32, including 3 provinces Phuoc Long, Binh Long, Binh Duong Tactical Zone 33, including 4 provinces Binh Tuy, Phuoc Tuy, Long Khanh, Bien Hoa and Vung Tau city Capital Military District of Saigon - Gia Dinh

IV Corps headquartered in Can Tho, included 16 provinces: Dinh Tuong tactical zone, including 4 provinces Kien Tuong, Dinh Tuong, Go Cong, Kien Hoa Tactical Zone 41, including 7 provinces Kien Phong, Chau Doc, Vinh Long, Vinh Binh, An Giang, Kien Giang, Sa Dec Tactical Zone 42, including 5 provinces Phong Dinh, Chuong Thien, Ba Xuyen, Bac Lieu, An Xuyen

On July 1, 1970 the four Corps were redesignated as Corps Tactical Zones (CTZs).

See also

• Cambodian Civil War
• First Indochina War
• Khmer National Armed Forces
• Laotian Civil War
• Royal Lao Armed Forces
• Royal Thai Armed Forces
• Republic of Vietnam National Police
• Republic of Vietnam Marine Division
• Provincial Reconnaissance Unit
• South Vietnamese military ranks and insignia
• People's Army of Vietnam
• Vietnamese National Army
• Vietnam War
• Weapons of the Vietnam War

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