Combat Banners.

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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.

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Liberation of Núi Đất 1966.

Núi Đất (Dirt Hill) was transformed from nothing to the base of the 1st Australian Task Force in 1966. The Australians stayed for 6 1/2 years, proving that there was no Vietnamese victory in 1966.

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Victory at Mỹ Tho 1967.

There were so many skirmishes at the city of Mỹ Tho and on the Mỹ Tho River in 1967 that it is impossible to pinpoint just which action this "Victorious" one is.

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Liberation Of Đắk Tô 1967.

The Battle of Đắk Tô lasted from 3rd to 23rd November 1967 resulting in the retreat of the Communist forces.

This major battle with ~22,000 combatants resulted in the awarding of three Medals Of Honor to US servicemen.

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Victory at Buôn Mê Thuột 1968.

During the Tết offensive of 1968, the National Liberation Army was able to knock out Camp Torres at Buôn Mê Thuột for a few days (4th Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment were based there at the time). This "Victory" was very short lived however, with operational status restored within a week.

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Liberation of Cần Thơ 1969.

Once again, there were too many skirmishes at Cần Thơ in 1969 to pinpoint.

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Determined To Victory 1969.

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Liberation of Mỹ Tho 1969.

Once again, a very "hot" place - though not a victory this time.

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Victory at Sài Gòn 1975.

The defining victory of the Vietnam war, the fall of Saigon.

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Determined To Victory 1975.