Tran Van Tra

In this Vietnamese name, the family name is Tran. According to Vietnamese custom, this person should properly be referred to by the given name Tra.

Trần Văn Trà
Tran Van Tra in 1973
Nickname	Tư Chi
Born	1918 Quảng Ngãi Province, French Indochina
Died	April 20, 1996 Hanoi, Vietnam
Allegiance	North Vietnam
Service/branch	People's Army of Vietnam
Rank	Colonel General
Commands held	Commander of the Liberation Army (Vietcong)
Battles/wars	First Indochina War Vietnam War Tet Offensive Easter Offensive Ho Chi Minh Campaign
Awards	Resolution for Victory Order

Trần Văn Trà (1918 – April 20, 1996) was a commander in the Vietcong; a member of the Central Committee of the Lao Dong Party (North Vietnamese communist party) from 1960 to 1982; a lieutenant general in the army of the North Vietnam; chairman of Military Affairs Committee of the Central Office of South Vietnam (COSVN) (1964–1976).

The son of a bricklayer, Tra was born in Quảng Ngãi Province in 1918. He joined the Indochinese Communist Party in 1938 and spent the years of the Second World War in a French prison. Between 1946 and 1954, Tra fought against the French in the Vietnam People's Army and became a general in 1961, commanding communist forces in the southern half of South Vietnam. During the Vietnam War against the Americans and South Vietnamese, he led the attack on Saigon during the Tet Offensive of 1968 and commanded the B-2 Front during the Easter Offensive.

During a 1974 meeting of North Vietnamese military leaders in Hanoi, Tra argued against a conservative strategy during the coming year and suggested that South Vietnam's Phước Long Province be attacked in order to test both South Vietnamese and American military reaction. The attack was successful and the U.S. did not respond militarily, prompting larger, more aggressive communist operations. In April 1975, Tra became deputy commander of the A75 headquarters under Senior General Văn Tiến Dũng during the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the final assault on Saigon which led to the capitulation of the South Vietnamese government. He was vice minister of defense from 1978 to 1982.

In 1982, Tra published Vietnam: A History of the Bulwark B-2 Theater, which revealed how the Hanoi Politburo had overestimated its own military capabilities and underestimated those of the U.S. and South Vietnam prior to and during the Tet Offensive. This account offended and embarrassed the leaders of the newly-unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam and ultimately led to his purging from the party. He lived under house arrest until his death on April 20, 1996.