Excerpts from ''Ordnance: Chronology of Historical Events, Volume 2''

Ordnance: Chronology of Historical Events, Volume 2 [Bien nien su kien lich su quan khi, Tap 2]

Editorial Supervision: Ordnance Department Party Current Affairs Committee and Department Command
Author: Colonel Nguyen Quoc Trong 
People’s Army Publishing House, Hanoi, 1999

1976

[...]

9 December 1976
Implementing Plan for Packaging “X” Supplies

Pursuant to orders received from the General Staff and the General Political Department, the Department for the Handling of Weapons, Equipment, and Ammunition [Cuc Quan Ly Vu Khi Khi Tai, Dan Duoc] packaged up a quantity of ammunition to support our international responsibilities (Plan X). These supplies were carefully preserved and packaged securely to ensure secrecy.

A number of the department’s ammunition storage warehouses carried out Plan X quickly and correctly, meeting the goals set by higher authority.

[...]

1980

[...]

5 February 1980
Implementing Plan “N” and Plan “C”^[1] 

Pursuant to directions received from the General Staff and the General Political Department, on 5 February 1980 the Chief of the Department for the Handling of Weapons, Equipment, and Ammunition issued instructions for General Warehouse 767 to inspect, carry out technical preparations, and standardize a large quantity of second-generation ordnance equipment to be used to carry out our responsibility to provide international aid (Plans “N” and “C”).

Displaying a pure, noble spirit of international solidarity, General Warehouse 767 carried out the plan quickly and correctly, ensuring that the materials supplied were of the highest quality, that they were standardized [uniform], and that there were sufficient manuals and guidance documents written in the foreign language.

The turnover of all of this second-generation ordnance equipment to representatives of the friendly [allied] country was completed by 14 February 1980.

[...]

9 August 1980
Implementing Plan “S”^[2] 

Pursuant to a decision of the General Staff, the commander of the Department for the Handling of Weapons, Equipment, and Ammunition ordered the department’s headquarters element stationed in South Vietnam to implement “Plan S” at the request of our friends [allies]. The department requested that the various types of second-generation ordnance equipment^[3] listed in this plan be inspected for quality and uniformity and then packaged up for shipment.

In early August 1980, Comrade Nguyen Ngoc Luong, Deputy Department Chief, acting as the representative for the Vietnamese side, officially turned over this ordnance equipment to a responsible friendly [allied] officer in Vietnam.

[...]

12 October 1980
Military Attaché of the Cuban Embassy in Vietnam Visits General Warehouse 767

With the permission of the Ministry of Defense and the commanders of the General Technical Department and of the Department for the Handling of Weapons, Equipment, and Ammunition, on 12 October 1980 the Cuban Military Attaché from the Cuban Embassy in Vietnam visited General Warehouse 767 to mark the General Warehouse’s successful completion of Plans “N,” “C,” and “S.”

After visiting the unit’s headquarters compound at the General Warehouse’s headquarters office the military attaché gave a gift to the General Warehouse as a souvenir and wrote the following lines in the unit’s tradition book: “This is a great honor for me. This visit to your unit is of special significance because all of the officers and enlisted men of the General Warehouse have completed a task that, although relatively simple, is of tremendous significance for the success of the Asian and Latin American revolutions and for all peoples who have or are prepared to fight for their own permanent liberation.” 

[...]

1982

[...] 

2 July 1982
Completion of the International Aid Plans

On 27 February 1980, the General Staff issued Decision No. 332/QDTM regarding the Ammunition Department’s preparation of a number of types of second-generation ordnance equipment to provide as international aid. This plan was called “KH-3,” codename “LEMUS.” Following the completion of this plan, the Ammunition Department completed four more plans pursuant to decisions issued by the General Staff.

The Ammunition Department gave its warehouses in South Vietnam the responsibility of carrying out these plans from early 1980 through the end of June 1982. The Ammunition Department delivered the equipment to our friends [allies] at the port of Saigon. All of the equipment and supplies covered by these five plans were transported on two ships, one of which sailed on 26 June 1982 and the other on 2 July 1982. The quantity, quality, and other factors of these supplies and equipment met all of the General Staff’s requirements and specifications.

[1] Plan “N” may refer to Nicaragua, meaning the weapons were intended for delivery to the Sandanistas in Nicaragua. Plan “C” may refer to Chile or to Cuba, meaning that the weapons were to be delivered to Marxist guerrillas in Chile or directly to Cuba. [back]

[2] Plan “S” may refer to Salvador, meaning that the weapons were to be delivered to the FMLN guerrillas in El Salvador. [back]

[3] The Vietnamese use the term “second generation” to refer to captured U.S-made equipment and weapons. Soviet and Chinese-made weapons and equipment supplied to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War are referred to as “first generation” material. [back]