Combat Banners.

[CtahhR]

Units of the National Liberation Army were frequently awarded as a unit with decorations and also battle honours. These Banners for combat actions I believe were given at the Company level. There are three main terms on the Banners are "Victory" - meaning a result which most, if not all can agree was a tactical and strategic victory for the National Liberation Army, "Determined To Victory" - meaning a large action that was on the whole a strategic victory for the National Liberation Army and "Liberation" - meaning they survived the action, whilst maybe also having a pyrrhic victory of some sort.

Some of the Banners celebrate action in battles that are household names, others for actions that are even difficult to find mention of in Vietnamese records - these Banners probably always had more of a propaganda purpose.

Although the dates on the Banners vary from the 1950's to 1975, they probably all date from mid-late 1975. Uniform in style and size. They are not rare on the whole but some battles are more desirable to collectors than others and some engagements were so small that the number of units involved was few.

Inexpensive mementoes of the battles of the war, that have been paid for in blood.

First in this selection we have Điện Biên Phủ 1954, the decisive battle of the Anti-French Resistance War.