Souvenirs relating to Vietnam of Major General Anatoli Pozdeev

40 years has passed but Major General Anatoli Pozdeev and his comrades cannot forget the time when they served in Vietnam as Soviet military experts. Major General Anatoli Pozdeev was a Deputy Chief for politics of the Soviet air-defence expert delegation supporting Vietnamese air-defence forces in Vietnam.

“I will never forget Vietnamese peaceful villages and beautiful eco-parks, which were then destroyed by the US Air Force. Millions of Vietnamese families have lost their relatives during the war. Many nice little children in central Vietnam were also killed by US bombs and bullets. I have witnessed these and I will never forgive the ones who committed the sins. They were the forces sending US troops and aircraft to devastate the country and kill local people, but not ordinary American people. All people with good sense who witnessed the sights could not live peacefully, even though the war has passed for nearly 40 years,” the old Soviet soldier was moved saying.

“From the very difficult days of the war, I still believed that Vietnam would win the war. One could have strong belief as me when they saw poor elderly people and women in the rear saving all things for the front. I admired the Vietnamese nation very much. The nation born heroic children, who bravely fought and defeated the enemy, ready to sacrifice themselves for their Fatherland,” he continued to say.

He also said that he met Hero of the People’s Armed Forces Pham Tuan, the first Vietnamese pilot shooting down a US B52.

This year, Major General Anatoli Pozdeev is 80 years old. But he still remembers clearly the events and his experiences in Vietnam 40 years ago. Sometimes, he recalls his experiences in Vietnam or reviews the photos and souvenirs that he collected during his service in Vietnam.

At present, he works at the former Soviet-Vietnam Friendship Association (now the Russia-Vietnam Friendship Association). According to him, he said that he works there because he wants to live with his deep and humane memories about Vietnam and its people.

In fact, the memory about the “Hanoi-Dien Bien Phu in the Air” Campaign is deep in the Soviet veterans who used to serve in Vietnam during the war. The images and stories of the heroic soldiers and people in Hanoi, who undauntedly fought the powerful enemy in an imbalanced war, were then compiled into a book named “That was Vietnam War (1965-1973)” by Soviet military experts in Vietnam. The book was published in 2005 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the German Fascist Victory in Russia. The book contains 29 stories about the deep experiences of Soviet veterans in Vietnam, featuring the “Hanoi-Dien bien Phu in the Air” Campaign of Hanoians in 1972 very lively and authentically.

Translated by Thu Nguyen

Source: qdnd.vn