THE HEROIC DEATH OF ARVN COLONEL HO NGOC CAN, HE REFUSED TO SURRENDER TO THE ENEMIES

 ARVN Colonel HO NGOC CAN (1940-1975)


This photo is from movie

Ho Ngoc Can was admitted in the ARVN Junior Military Academy when he was 14 years old. After graduation, he served 4 years as an instructor sergeant in the same academy. In 1961, he attended the Officer Candidates Class at the Dong De NCO Academy and was the distinguished graduate of the class in 1962.

After commissioned, Can served the Ranger Corps as a platoon leader. He was promoted to captain in 1965, to major in 1968, to lieutenant colonel in 1971, and to full colonel in 1974. 

He was successfully commanding the 1/33 Battalion (21st Infantry Division), the 15th Regiment (9th Inf. Div.). In 1974, Can was appointed province chief of Chuong Thien Province, Vietnam south area.

On April 30, 1975, he refused to surrender to the enemy. Along with his troops, Can was fighting with all his might, holding the provincial headquarters until 11:00 PM on May 1, when his forces were out of ammunition. 

In the last minutes, he ordered the soldiers to leave the headquarters for safety while he and a faithful Popular Force militiaman covered them with a machine gun. He fell into the hands of the Communist force after he failed an attempt to kill himself.

He told the enemy that he wouldn't surrender, and asked them to let him salute the ARVN colors in his uniform before the execution.

Colonel Can was publicly executed by the Communist firing squad after a quick summary trial at a Communist kangaroo court.

Related Post

(Staged) Russian Red Cross medics attending to wounded German soldiers on the battlefield, ca. 1914.


Colourised by @color_by_klimbim.

Today 109 years ago, on September 7, 1914, the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes began on the Eastern Front.

In late August 1914, the German 8th Army had effectively annihilated the Russian 2nd Army in the Battle of Tannenberg, leaving just the Russian 1st Army to defend the conquered German East Prussia.

The Germans sought to follow up their success at Tannenberg by defeating and ejecting the Russian 1st Army from German territory before the Russians were able to regroup, and thus prepared planning for an offensive straight away.

The Russian 1st Army's found itself in a vulnerable position, being outflanked from the south, which the Russian 2nd Army had previously covered before Tannenberg. Therefore, the Russian 2nd Army withdrew to a defensive line from Königsberg (Kaliningrad) in the north to Angerburg (Węgorzewo) in the south.

Just south of Angerburg were the Masurian Lakes which the Russians also sought to use to their advantage. The terrain here was so rugged, the Russians didn't expect the Germans to attack there, and therefore deployed their majority of their forces up north at Königsberg. Further south, a Russian 10th Army was being formed, which would cover the 1st Army's southern, left flank.

The German plan called for an encirclement maneuver just like at Tannenberg. The Germans foresaw the weak Russian force on the Masurian Lakes and chose it for the main thrust of the attack.

On September 7, 1914, the Germans attacked at the Masurian Lakes and even further south at Lyck (Ełk). The numerical inferior Russian troops in the south initially fought well and repulsed the German troops, but German reinforcements turned the tide and forced the Russians to retreat.

On September 8, the Germans also attacked at Angerburg in the north and managed to force the Russians to retreat, but a Russian counter-attack halted the German advance.

On September 9, the Germans in the south truly broke through the Russian lines and began pursuing the retreating Russians.

Knowing the fate of the encircled Russian 2nd Army at Tannenberg, on September 10, the Russians ordered a general withdrawal to the Russian border on the Neman river.

The Germans now sought to encircle and destroy the Russian 1st Army, but with this they encountered problems.

Small pockets of Russian resistance slowed down the German advance, and the Germans faced severe problems advancing across the rugged Masurian Lakes.

By September 13, the Russians had withdrawn safely behind the Neman river, ending the battle.

In the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, the Germans had suffered some 40,000 casualties. The Germans had not been successful in encircling the Russian 1st Army, but had ejected them from German territory in a resounding victory. The Russians had suffered up to 125,000 casualties, of whom some 30,000 - 45,000 were prisoners.

But on September 15, 1914, the Russians launched a succesfuld counter-offensive in the Battle of Augustów or Battle of the Neman, recapturing much of the ground lost in the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes by September 25, while inflicting at least 65,000 total losses on the Germans.

It would take a second, even bloodier Battle of the Masurian Lakes in February 1915 before the Russians were ejected from East Prussia for good.


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