Preface

I’ve been gravitating towards educational programs on Netflix recently. One of the most impressive shows so far is the Greatest Events in World War II, in which new and radical perspectives on the most remarkable battles of Germany against The Allies are presented with doctored footages in colour. The first episode of the series demystifies the terminology of Blitzkrieg, which is a tactical warfare methodology inheriting the essence of the German distinctive war philosophy: fast-paced attack — lightning strike. Through the employment of combined arms in manoeuvre warfare, Blitzkrieg attempts to unbalance the enemy by making it difficult for it to respond to the continuously changing front, then defeat it in a decisive Vernichtungsschlacht (battle of annihilation). The tactic relies heavily on overwhelming air superiority, super-fast tanks, up-to-the-minute communication, and a tireless and fearless military¹.

Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg first rose to prominence was after the Battle of Sudan (1940) in World War II and began to be adopted widely by the Western media as a description of Nazi’s military theory. Some historical documentaries² argue that Hitler himself referred to the term as “a completely idiotic word”. Notwithstanding the phraseology arguments around itself, the tactic proved to be extremely useful in applying to combats that require the element of surprise. In the Manstein Plan, a strategically important war proposal that was devised by Franz Halder, it served as the pivotal principle for the goal of invading France by swiftly advancing the Ardennes through the Meuse river.

At that time, Blitzkrieg impressed the supreme Fuhler by its bold ambition, despite his objection to its target initially. “Hitler recognised the breakthrough at Sedan only in tactical terms, whereas Manstein saw it as a means to an end. He envisaged an operation to the English Channel and the encirclement of the Allied armies in Belgium; if the plan succeeded, it could have a strategic effect.”

From May 10th to May 17th 1940, the German infantry, with extraordinarily artillery support from Luftwaffe (The German airforce) division, advanced towards Sedan with startling speed. Throughout the course of the march, the heaviest bombardment the world had yet witnessed has been executed, while soldiers advanced quickly, under the protection from aerial superiority, in an attempt to penetrate the coincidentally weakest link in France’s defensive sites—Ardennes. To the surprise of the French High Command, who expected the face-to-face confrontation to take place in two weeks due to the unavoidably biological limitations of German soldiers, it only took the Germans three days and three nights to successfully destroyed the unprepared and loosely organized French’s divisions. This victory profoundly paved the way for the Germans to shred the already low morale of French armies, resulting in the occupation of Paris in just one month later.

Comparison

Indisputably, it was one of the most extraordinary military advances in the history of war. The philosophy of Blitzkrieg has been demonstrated insightfully: armed tank divisions made direct strike to the enemy defensive line, followed closely divisions who ensure the creation of a safe supply line. From these initial advantages, the army caused shook and disorganization amongst the defenders. Many retreated, and the left-behind soldiers quickly became encircled and neutralized. Historians agreed upon the crucial importance of swift advances that were made by the Germans. In fact, the ability to perform rapid movements and being mobile of the armies was exactly the trump card of Germany at the time. In the episode, the German writer Norman Ohler praised the Ardennes advance:

For the first time in military history, an army doesn’t have to rest at night.

I hold no objection to the significance of the event. Nonetheless, I noticed a seemingly antithesis of the claim. I happened to recall the historic victory of Nguyễn Huệ’s army against the northern invaders. On account of the fact that in just shortly 40 days, Quang Trung emperor of the Tây Sơn dynasty had successfully defeated the Qing China’s invasion in 1788, I would hazard a guess—accepting the Ardennes’s march to be the first time in the history that an army doesn’t have to sleep as axiomatic—that Tây Sơn was, in fact, the first army to conduct such an intensive warfare movement.

Looking at the trustworthy historical evidence, it’s undeniable, although incomprehensible, that within a shortage amount of time, all the fives branches of Huệ’s army have been able to advance from Huế, which situated in the middle of Việt Nam, to Thăng Long (modern Hà Nội), with an incredible pace—48km per day, which is 2km per hour. To put modern German military into perspective, it is far more impressive on account of the fact that the Tây Sơn soldiers had to travel on their feet, with very rudimentary medical aids and food provisions. For an army to keep this pace of marching, the soldiers must perform at their best ability, and be suffered from the inevitable consequences, including sleep deprivation and tremendous physical fatigue. According to both Vietnamese historical documentaries and Western reports on the advance of Tây Sơn’s army, it is unlikely for them to take any rest along the journey. In fact, many historians are baffled thinking about the seemingly mysterious advance — How could an army of over 100,000 soldiers able to cross the treacherous terrain in such an incredible shortage of time.

Tay Son’s march

Below is a brief summary of Tây Sơn’s movement in the attempt to regain Thăng Long.

Nguyễn Huệ knew the situation on Lunar 24 November (21 December 1788), cursing the invaders. Huệ declared that Lê Chiêu Thống was a national traitor and not qualified for the throne. In the next day, Nguyễn Huệ erected an altar on a hill south of Phú Xuân and proclaimed himself Emperor Quang Trung, in effect abolishing the Lê dynasty. After the coronation, he marched north with 60,000 soldiers. He recruited volunteers in Nghệ An Province, now the number of his soldiers reached 100,000. In Thọ Hạc (Thanh Hóa), he made an invigorating speech before his soldiers. Soldiers replied a great shout of approval. They were encouraged and marched quickly.

Huệ arrived in Tam Điệp on Lunar 20 December (15 January 1789). In there, Huệ gathered together the whole forces, and divided them into five branches: main force led by Huệ, marched north to attack Thăng Long directly; a navy led by Nguyễn Văn Tuyết (Commander Tuyết), sailed from Lục Đầu River to attack Lê supporters in Hải Dương; another navy led by Nguyễn Văn Lộc (Commander Lộc), sailed from Lục Đầu River to attack Phượng Nhãn and Lạng Giang; a cavalry (including war elephants) led by Đặng Tiến Đông, marched to attack Cen Yidong in Đống Đa; another cavalry (including war elephants) led by Nguyễn Tăng Long (Commander Long) marched past Sơn Tây to attack Xu Shiheng in Ngọc Hồi (a place near Thanh Trì).

Meanwhile, Chinese soldiers were preparing to celebrate the Chinese New Year festival, and planned to march further south to capture Phú Xuân on 6 January of the next lunar year (31 January 1789). As Vietnamese New Year (Tết) was generally celebrated on the same day, Chinese generals assumed that Tây Sơn army would not attack in these days. However, subsequent events proved that they were wrong.

Nguyễn Huệ made a surprise and fast attack against Chinese forces during the New Year holiday. They reached Thăng Long in the night of 3 January of the next lunar year (28 January 1789). In the fierce 4-day battle, most of Chinese soldiers were unprepared, they were disastrously defeated by the Tây Sơn army in Ngọc Hồi and Đống Đa (part of modern Hanoi). Qing generals Xu Shiheng, Shang Weisheng, Zhang Chaolong and Cen Yidong were killed in action. Many Chinese soldiers and porters were killed in action, or drowned while crossing the Red River. According to Draft History of Qing, over half number of Chinese soldiers died in the battle. Sun Shiyi, the commander-in-chief of Chinese army, abandoned his army, fled for his life back to China with several soldiers. Lê Chiêu Tông also fled to China. Huệ marched into Thăng Long, his clothes were blackened by gunpowder. Tây Sơn army marched further north after the battle; they reached Lạng Sơn and threatened to march across the border to arrest Lê Chiêu Thống.

From a psychological perspective, it is even more remarkable that Tây Sơn’s soldiers didn’t take any medical support in order to maintain sane capacity during the war. On the contrary, the Germans’ Dutch-courage seemingly appeared to be a result of medicine consumption. Evidently, to curb the tiredness, the exhausted soldiers “were issued Pervitin like candy”. In the first stage of WW2, the pharmaceutical industry of Germany developed quickly, and under the order of Nazi commanders, a company called Temmler began to produce methyl-amphetamine medicine — latter called Pervitin, which is synonymous with the ability to boost confidence and enhance performance rapidly and effortlessly. Take Tây Sơn’s army into account, their morale was also fantastically increased, but by mere psychological effects. As can be found in the summary above, it is said that “in Thọ Hạc (Thanh Hóa), he (Nguyễn Huệ) made an invigorating speech before his soldiers”. The speech is interpreted as follow:

Đánh cho để dài tóc
Đánh cho để đen răng
Đánh cho nó chích luân bất phản
Đánh cho nó phiến giáp bất hoàn
Đánh cho sử tri Nam quốc anh hùng chi hữu chủ

References