Great victory for Vietnam and all oppressed peoples in the world

Golden shining landmark of history

Under the big slogan, “Resistance – Building the Nation”, President Ho Chi Minh gave the opening speech with warm responses from National Assembly delegates. After the National Assembly elected the National Assembly Standing Committee and established the Resistance Coalition Government, the entire National Assembly solemnly declared to the entire Vietnamese people and the world that: “The sovereignty of an independent Vietnam belongs to the entire Vietnamese people. Vietnam’s national destiny is in the hands of the Vietnamese National Assembly. Vietnam’s government is a democratic republic, with the task of protecting freedom and pursuing happiness for all classes of people.

All ethnic groups in the territory of Vietnam have equal rights and duties.”

“Independence and democracy were established thanks to the solidarity, sacrifice and fight of the entire people…

The National Assembly of Vietnam resolutely protects to the end the independence and territory of the nation and the freedom of the Vietnamese people.

The National Assembly of Vietnam orders the entire nation to make every effort to defend the country and rebuild the Fatherland so that the Vietnamese people can move quickly toward glory and prosperity.”.

The great victory of 9 years of long resistance war, including the final attack on the “impregnable citadel” of Dien Bien Phu, is the greatest, best and most realistic result of the People. and our Army in implementing the National Assembly’s heroic Declaration.

With the magnitude of the victory “resplendent in five continents, shaking the earth”, in May 1964, at the 10th Anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, President Ho Chi Minh once again affirmed: “Dien Bien Phu is like a shining golden landmark of history. It shows clearly where colonialism was rolling downhill and disintegrating, while at the same time national liberation movements around the world were rising to complete victory.” and “That is a great victory for our people but also a common victory for all oppressed peoples in the world.”.

The National Assembly has declared that all ethnic groups in the territory of Vietnam have equal rights and duties; The entire nation must make every effort to defend the country. So how did our army and people carry out the tasks assigned by the National Assembly in the decisive battle of Dien Bien Phu?

Following the second step of General Henri Navarre’s plan, which was to strategically attack the North and win great military victory…, General Cogny – the French Commander in Tonkin excitedly said, “The Ministry The French commander would certainly have forced the Viet Minh to suffer a serious defeat at Dien Bien Phu. We look forward to long and arduous battles, and we will emerge victorious.”

Dr. Alain Ruscio (Chairman of the Center for Information and Documentation on Vietnam, French Republic) in his work “From passionate optimism to the trauma of failure” wrote: The French military staff believes in 4 premises. One isthe French defense, organized according to the most modern principles (American experts were involved in the technical preparation), was therefore unassailable. Twothe enemy’s artillery, in any case, was inferior to our own, and could not reach the heights surrounding the basin. Third, Giap’s units, in any case, could not be supplied with ammunition and other necessities; Transporting thousands of kilometers of jungle and thousands of tons for a fighting force of up to 50,000 people was an unbearable challenge. And Four is, we control the airspace, we can disrupt Viet Minh traffic making it difficult to live. The biggest mistake of the French Command was that they knew the enemy’s difficulties very well, but were too arrogant and underestimated their strength and ability to overcome them.

Fully implement the National Assembly’s declaration

Indeed, in the war against invasion, our army and people were of one mind and the whole country went to war. “Because our resistance is an all-people resistance, all-people armed.”. Our Party, State and President Ho Chi Minh have mobilized and organized the entire people’s forces to fight the enemy, with the people’s armed forces as the core., perform “Twenty pagesVietnamese compatriots are determined to defeat tens of thousands of reactionary colonialists.”.

Statistics on the Dien Bien Phu Campaign show that we have mobilized 261,451 citizens from the Northwest, Viet Bac, Inter-zone 3, Inter-zone 4… and 20,991 bicycles, 11,800 rafts, built contributed 25,000 tons of food to the campaign. The provinces of Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Vinh Yen, Phuc Yen, Thai Nguyen, Phu Tho… also mobilized more than 7,000 wheelbarrows, 1,800 buffalo carts, 325 horse carts… to serve campaign logistics. Excluding consumption along the way, the amount of goods sent to the front to supply the army was 14,950 tons of rice, 266 tons of salt, 62 tons of sugar, 565 tons of dry food, 577 tons of meat, 1,200 tons of ammunition, 1,733 tons of oil, 177 tons other material. The amount of goods guaranteed for more than 87,000 people participating in the campaign, of which 53,830 were regular soldiers (initially expected to be 35,000 people), 33,300 young volunteers and civil servants serving the campaign, ambulance transport and rescue. Treated 8,458 wounded and sick soldiers (expected 5,000 people).

Regarding repairing and building new roads, only from the midline upwards, civil servants and youth volunteers have repaired 308 km of motorable roads, renewed 63 km of artillery roads, and renovated 102 rapids to organize transportation. water on the Nam Na River. The total volume of excavation is up to 35,000 m³ land, 15,000 m³ stone; destroyed thousands of slow-explosive bombs… The forces worked in extremely harsh conditions, enemy aircraft were always bombarding, the enemy mobilized up to 250 bomber aircraft a day. The passes of Lung Lo, Pha Din, traffic hubs of Co Noi, Tuan Giao, Ta Khoa ferry… became the focus of fierce attacks by the enemy, one day they threw down Co Noi and Pha Din pass 160- 300 bombs of all kinds… Not only did the enemy attack continuously, but also the weather conditions, the rainy and muddy environment from the scene to the resting place; Sacred forests, poisonous water, flies and mosquitoes, snakes and centipedes, especially “Yellow flies, dog beetles, Tay Trang wind” were also tortures that had to be endured… But throughout the entire campaign, there was rarely a road section that was broken for a day or night (the main road was broken, we transported it on a detour)…

On the battlefield, the French force had 12 battalions and 7 infantry companies, (later increased by 4 battalions and 2 companies of paratroopers), 2 105mm artillery battalions (24 guns, later increased by 4 more guns). ), 1 company of 155mm artillery (4 guns), 2 companies of 120 mortars (20 guns), 1 battalion of engineers, 1 company of 18-ton tanks (10 M24 Chaffee supplied by the US), 1 company 200 transport vehicles, 1 aircraft squadron of 14 aircraft (7 destroyers, 6 reconnaissance liaison aircraft, 1 helicopter). This force has about 16,200 troops, organized into 3 subdivisions (Northern Division – Him Lam; Central Division – eastern high points; Southern Division – cluster of bases and Hong Cum airport)…

The campaign took place for 56 days and nights. To suit the battlefield conditions, the 56 days were divided into 3 periods (after each period, the number of troops, formations, and additional logistics were reorganized).

Phase 1, from March 13 to 17, our troops destroyed the Northern division of the stronghold group. After only 5 days of fighting, the northern door of the Dien Bien Phu stronghold group was opened wide. The French counter-attack force could not regain lost positions, in particular, their support, the airport, was seriously threatened by our 105 and 120 artillery.

Phase 2, taking place from March 30 to April 30, our troops attacked the central region, especially the important high point range in the East with more than 10,000 enemy soldiers here; “Besiege, invade, attack, destroy, completely” suffocate a group of strongholds; control Muong Thanh fields.

The third phase took place from May 1 to 7, our troops completely defeated the eastern hills and launched a general attack to destroy the remaining positions when the French forces were exhausted and desperate. Completely destroy peaks A1, C1 and general attack… At exactly 3:00 p.m. on May 7, units were ordered, “No need to wait for darkness, immediately launch an attack on Muong Thanh. The eastern units attacked the central area directly; The western units attacked and entered the enemy’s headquarters together. We must fight hard, surround ourselves tightly, not letting De Cat or any other enemy escape.”

The French army was exhausted, exhausted, and exhausted, they raised the white flag and surrendered en masse. At that time, Company 360 only had 5 soldiers left. At about 5:00 p.m., after using artillery to destroy the security team in the outer room, 5 soldiers passed through the second tunnel and entered the middle tunnel with General De Castries and other soldiers. French officials are here. Ta Quoc Luat said in French, “You guys surrender, you’ve lost…”. Our soldiers escorted the prisoners out of the bunker and headed towards Muong Thanh… At 5:30 p.m., Group 312 reported, “All enemy troops in the central area have surrendered; captured General De Castries”…

The Dien Bien Phu campaign was completely and utterly victorious.

Years have passed, but in the minds of the Vietnamese people, Uncle Ho’s teachings and the victory of Dien Bien Phu are always engraved in the minds of the Vietnamese people.This is a great victory for our people but also a common victory for all oppressed peoples in the world.” Our people and our army have fully implemented the National Assembly’s declaration from the first days of the resistance war, “The National Assembly of Vietnam resolutely protects the independence and territory of the country and the freedom of the Vietnamese people.”

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History of the National Assembly of Vietnam 1946-1960, page 76, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi 1994.