People's Army of Vietnam
combined military forces of Vietnam
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) is the military of modern-day Vietnam. It was also the military of communist North Vietnam during the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War. Non-communist fighters called it the Viet Minh during the First Indochina War and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) during the Vietnam War. The NVA is not to be confused with the Viet Cong because the Viet Cong were South Vietnamese who fought for North Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, the NVA made a system of trails (mostly in Laos and Cambodia) called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This was made to send NVA soldiers into South Vietnam and to give Viet Cong support to fight against non-communist soldiers.