Lữ Mộng Lan
Military career
Military career
---------------

He served as Company commander, 1951 in the [Vietnamese National Army](/wiki/Vietnamese_National_Army "Vietnamese National Army") then as Deputy Battalion commander, 1952; Regimental Chief of Staff, 1954; Division Chief of Staff, 1955\.

In the ARVN in 1957, he graduated from [Command and General Staff School](/wiki/Command_and_General_Staff_School "Command and General Staff School"), Fort Leavenworth. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, [Joint General Staff](/wiki/Joint_General_Staff "Joint General Staff") from 1958\. He was then appointed commander of the [25th Division](/wiki/25th_Division_%28South_Vietnam%29 "25th Division (South Vietnam)") in 1962\. He was appointed commander of the [23rd Division](/wiki/23rd_Division_%28South_Vietnam%29 "23rd Division (South Vietnam)") in 1964\. He was appointed commander of the [10th Division](/wiki/18th_Division_%28South_Vietnam%29 "18th Division (South Vietnam)") in 1965\.

By the end of 1965 the US advisers to the 10th Division regarded Lan as "moody and vacillatory" and "a marginal commander who would have to be worked with." They gave Lan high marks for his "perceptiveness and dexterity in civil affairs and troop morale" but saw his interest in local politics as too distracting. Although they found his three regimental commanders "capable and willing people," they felt that it was too early to judge if the Division was going to jell into a fighting unit. [COMUSMACV](/wiki/COMUSMACV "COMUSMACV") General [William Westmoreland](/wiki/William_Westmoreland "William Westmoreland") predicted that combined operations with the US [1st Infantry Division](/wiki/1st_Infantry_Division_%28United_States%29 "1st Infantry Division (United States)") and the [173rd Airborne Brigade](/wiki/173rd_Airborne_Brigade "173rd Airborne Brigade") would inspire the Division to higher standards.

From September 1966 he served as the deputy chief of staff for training and director of the Central Training Command.

In March 1968 he succeeded [Nguyễn Phước Vĩnh Lộc](/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_Ph%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Bc_V%C4%A9nh_L%E1%BB%99c "Nguyễn Phước Vĩnh Lộc") as [II Corps](/wiki/II_Corps_%28South_Vietnam%29 "II Corps (South Vietnam)") commander, he was not necessarily regarded as an improvement by [MACV](/wiki/MACV "MACV"). As commander of the 25th, 23rd and 18th Divisions between 1962 and 1966, he had received poor ratings from almost all of his American advisers, he was, however, an ardent supported of [President](/wiki/Leaders_of_South_Vietnam "Leaders of South Vietnam") [Nguyễn Văn Thiệu](/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_V%C4%83n_Thi%E1%BB%87u "Nguyễn Văn Thiệu") and could be expected to follow the dictates of the Saigon government more closely than his predecessor.

In August 1970, Thiệu replaced Lan as II Corps commander with General [Ngô Du](/wiki/Ng%C3%B4_Du "Ngô Du"). Lan became inspector general of the armed forces and later commandant of the National Defense College.


What position did Lan hold from September 1966?