From 18 to 29/12/1972, Hanoi and some northern provinces had to face the strategic air raid with the B52 flying fortress of the United States. In 12 days and nights of fierce fighting, the Hanoi air defense grids and all over the North Vietnam shot down several American planes, including 34 B52s, smashing the bombardment plot that used the destructive power to subdue Vietnamese people

Photo of General Võ Nguyên Giáp on the Times magazine, USA, May 1972

“On the night of December 26, 1972, hundreds of B52 jet fighters heavily bombarded residential areas in Hanoi. At times, the fortified command bunker of the Headquarters shook as if there had been an earthquake.”
(General Võ Nguyên Giáp’s memoirs)

An open conference was organized by the Politburo from December 18, 1974 to January 8, 1975.
The Conference was chaired by Comrade Lê Duẩn, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Workers’ Party (the middle man). As seen in the left row, from near to far: Comrade Phạm Hùng (2nd man), General Võ Nguyên Giáp (4th man), Comrade Lê Đức Thọ. In the right row: General Văn Tiến Dũng, Comrade Trường Chinh, Comrade Phạm Văn Đồng. At this Conference, the Politburo approved the 2-year strategic plan (1975 - 1976); and emphasized that 1975 would be an opportunity and if the opportunity came at the beginning or the end of 1975, the liberating of the South had to be achieved in 1975

In a memoir by General Võ Nguyên Giáp, he wrote:
“Tấn (Lieutenant General Lê Trọng Tấn) spread a large map over a table. On the map was a plan to attack Đà Nẵng within 5 days. Before that, I had asked him to develop a plan to attack the enemy on their way out in 3 days. However, Tấn kept his opinion, and said:
- We don’t have enough time to prepare if we fight that way.
I said harshly:
- I gave you permission to give orders because you are the Commander. otherwise I would have been the one to give the orders: If we attack Đà Nẵng according to the plan that takes 5 days to prepare instead of 3 days, so what if the enemy withdraw earlier? Huế has already been liberated...
Tấn said nothing but followed my orders. Later, Tấn came to see me, talked to me cordially and openly. He mentioned the controversy about the five-day plan and the three-day plan, and then he happily admitted his mistake”.
(General Võ Nguyên Giáp’s memoirs)

“I urge you to urgently develop an operation plan to besiege the East and West of Sài Gòn - Gia Định. Let’s mobilize the main forces to suddenly go deep and destroy the enemy. We only need one battle to win. Our strategy is “Activeness, bravery, unpredictability, victory”.
(General Võ Nguyên Giáp’s memoirs)

April 14, 1975 At the General Headquarters (House D67), the Political Bureau decided to name Sài Gòn - Gia Định campaign Hồ Chí Minh campaign. A meeting that was chaired by comrade Lê Duẩn - the First Secretary (the third man who sat on the right) took place, the attendants included comrade Trường Chinh…; the man who was speaking (on the left) was General Võ Nguyên Giáp
(Tổng tập Hồi ký Đại tướng Võ Nguyên Giáp)