As someone who had the honor of participating in many campaigns and battles, both in the resistance war against the French and the Americans and the wars to protect the Southwest and Northern borders, Dien Bien Phu is still a special memory. , indelible to Lieutenant General Dang Quan Thuy.
At the age of 96, when talking about the 56 days and nights at the Dien Bien Phu front, Lieutenant General Dang Quan Thuy still vividly remembers his emotions when assigned to accompany General Vo Nguyen Giap to observe the Dien Bien basin before the war. Translation begins. At that time, Mr. Thuy was only 26 years old and was a combat envoy at the campaign headquarters.
Holding in his hand a photo of the group of officers inspecting the Dien Bien Phu front in 1954, General Thuy introduced each person, including: Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap, Mr. Kim Hung – Head of the Military Intelligence Department of the 316th Army, Mr. Vu Lang – Commander of Regiment 98 (Regiment 316) and combat envoy Dang Quan Thuy.
According to General Thuy, in January 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap – General Commander of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign wanted to check the combat preparation process of the units, as well as how to attack the first bases. pioneer of the French army.
“At that time, I was in the operations room, and I had the task of studying the battlefield and observing previous battles. Therefore, I was assigned to go with General Vo Nguyen Giap to report on the battlefield situation.”General Thuy said.
In the perception of the 26-year-old young soldier, General Vo Nguyen Giap is a highly talented general with great intelligence and is always concerned about choosing the combat motto with the least casualties, the most suitable, and the most effective in Dien Bien. The French army turned this basin into a group of strongholds that they called “inviolable”.
“The general, with his sharp vision and natural strategic talent, realized something that few people at that time saw, which was that when the enemy became stronger and reinforced troops up to 12 battalions, the fortifications were firmly built. Surely, the motto “attack quickly, resolve quickly” is no longer appropriate.”General Thuy recalled.
Before choosing to build the Dien Bien Phu base group, the French army in Vietnam was in a passive position when it suffered a series of failures and was unable to build large base clusters in the Northern Delta.
This forces them to switch to defensive tactics through a base system. However, this plan was not successful as it only took our army a short time to solve it.
But the French army still did not give up, they moved to build clusters of bases close together so they could support each other when needed, typically the two bases Nghia Lo and Pu Trang. However, this French tactic also failed when our army destroyed both Nghia Lo and Pu Trang, because both were easily isolated and unable to protect each other.
Faced with our army developing ways to attack bases and clusters of bases faster and faster, the French army was forced to carry out a plan to build groups of bases like Dien Bien. The French assessed Dien Bien Phu as a place that could attract our main force and make it convenient for them to use firepower to destroy it.
“This is a very subjective assessment of the French Army General Staff. They intend to lure our main force up there and use force to defeat our main force, then spread out to retake the Northwest.”General Thuy commented.
General Vo Nguyen Giap observed the situation on the front, 1954. Source: National Archives Center III, background photo document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SLT 3111 – 2769.
According to General Thuy’s memory, in January 1954, he received the mission to set up an observation post for the enemy battlefield, and together with his artillery scouts and engineers climbed a high mountain. On the top of the mountain, through artillery binoculars, you can observe the surrounding area with a range of up to 10km.
The forward combat team with General Thuy participating could clearly see the Dien Bien basin where the French army began to set up an air bridge to bring paratroopers inside. Monitoring day and night, the working group recorded details of each tank shelter position and enemy artillery bunkers on the military intelligence map.
“At that time, I really did not fully imagine the scale of the future battle. But I know I will participate in a big war and believe that our army will win.” General Thuy recalled.
This belief of General Thuy was further reinforced when General Vo Nguyen Giap, as Commander-in-Chief of the Dien Bien Phu front, decided to change the combat motto from “fight quickly, resolve quickly” to “fight firmly, advance firmly.” ”.
Lieutenant General Dang Quan Thuy said that changing the method of combat is a bold decision by the military leader, showing a very high responsibility for the success of the campaign and helping to reduce the sacrifice of soldiers.
This decision was made by Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap based on closely following battlefield developments, scientifically analyzing the actual situation and deeply grasping President Ho’s ideology of “fighting for sure victory”. Chi Minh, Politburo and General Military Commission.
Even in the meeting with General Vo Nguyen Giap before the campaign, President Ho Chi Minh also advised: “This match is very important, we must fight to win. If you are sure to win then fight, if you are not sure to win then don’t fight.
Uncle Ho’s advice became the guiding principle in the thinking and combat motto of General Vo Nguyen Giap in the decisive strategic battle of vital significance to the nation’s history. The Dien Bien Phu Campaign is the pinnacle development of Vietnamese military art, with many great battles demonstrating the creativity and determination of our army.
Sharing more about the combat motto “fight firmly, advance firmly”, General Thuy said: “According to the usual way of fighting, before each attack, firepower including artillery and mortars will be fired at enemy bases, reducing their fighting ability, then the soldiers will attack the barbed wire fence with explosives. . From there, gradually advance to the center of the stronghold.”
Most battles took place like that, however there were battles where soldiers silently cut and destroyed the entire barbed wire fence system and only left a small part to bypass the enemy’s eyes. When attacking, the entire fence will open, allowing soldiers to attack inside the base.
“Of course victory doesn’t come easy for us”Lieutenant General Dang Quan Thuy shared.
The enemy’s Northern division was quickly destroyed in the first phase of the campaign, but when the second attack in the eastern hills of the central division, all units failed to win as expected.
“In the second phase, we advocate capturing and liberating the eastern gateway base. At this time, we are stuck at two points that we cannot finish yet: C1 and A1.”General Thuy said.
“This caused us to not be able to carry out the campaign successfully. At that time, a small number of our soldiers felt that it was too difficult to fight, and their determination more or less wavered. While the campaign was as tense as However, psychological fluctuations are very difficult. That’s why the Command organized a meeting with officers, divisions, regiments, and battalions in attendance.”General Thuy recalled.
At this meeting, Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap summarized and evaluated the advantages and severely criticized the ideology of not being determined and afraid of difficulties and hardships. Therefore, the General requested that ideology be resolved by organizing political activities to strengthen and enhance the determination of officers and soldiers.
According to General Thuy, in that situation, this is an extremely important, correct and wise policy. After receiving instructions from the Commander-in-Chief, units quickly organized political activities, from division, regiment, battalion to grassroots units. This has strengthened the determination of officers and soldiers to find a way to fight.
“General Vo Nguyen Giap once said that the strength of our army lies in its fighting spirit and the infinite support of the people, in addition to military art.”General Thuy recalled.
He and his teammates were very happy to read “Letter calling on Dien Bien Phu soldiers to step up the competition to snipe the enemy” by General and Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap in the midst of the most difficult war period.
General Thuy remembered the letter saying: “I call on: All rifle shooters, machine gun shooters, mortar shooters, artillery soldiers, to promote the spirit of actively destroying the enemy, and strive to emulate Sniping enemy troops at Dien Bien Phu. One bullet, one enemy!”.
Entering the third attack, Lieutenant General Dang Quan Thuy was sent as a combat envoy to monitor Regiment 174 (Regiment 316), followed by Regiment 36 (Regiment 308).
Recalling the day of victory, he said: “At noon on May 7, 1954, I was on duty at the Campaign Headquarters when I received a report from the units that many white flags appeared in the enemy’s fortifications. We quickly reported them. Reported to the Command about this phenomenon. General Vo Nguyen Giap immediately ordered the units to carry out a general attack immediately, not waiting until night as expected.”
The Dien Bien Phu campaign ended successfully, “making a red crown, a golden history”.
On the afternoon of May 7, 1954, the “Determined Battle – Determined Victory” flag of the Vietnam People’s Army flew on the roof of General De Castries’ bunker, marking the complete victory of the historic Dien Bien Phu Campaign. (Photo: File)
“Being present from the first days until the end of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign was a joy and boundless joy. Among these common joys, I have another joy: I will soon be able to reunite with my wife and meet my first son.”General Thuy emotionally recalled.
After the victory day, the Forward Command was ordered to return to the base in Thai Nguyen, and Mr. Dang Quan Thuy was sent to attend the campaign summary conference.
When listening to General Vo Nguyen Giap’s summary and President Ho Chi Minh’s assessment of the great significance of the Dien Bien Phu victory, soldier Dang Quan Thuy was overjoyed to have just contributed a small part to the victory. victory of the entire nation.
According to him, the Dien Bien Phu Campaign was a decisive strategic battle, directly leading to the signing of the Geneva Agreement on ending the war, restoring peace in Indochina, creating the basis and conditions for our people to continue. continue to win great victories in the resistance war to protect and build the Fatherland later.
Because of understanding the strategic significance both militarily and politically, father Dang Quan Thuy from the battlefield planned to name his son Dang Quan Chinh as a reminder of the future.
After attending the conference, Dang Quan Thuy was assigned the task of writing summary documents. At this time, he planned to return to visit his family, but once again he had to put aside his personal matters because he received orders to go to Inter-Region 5 to disseminate combat experience in Dien Bien Phu to the officers here.
In November 1954, after completing his mission, he returned to the North by ship. After arriving in Hanoi, Dang Quan Thuy returned to Thai Nguyen to visit his wife and children. Dien Bien soldiers walked all the way 50km from the provincial capital to Cho Chu (Dinh Hoa district, Thai Nguyen) to reunite with their families in the joy of victory.
During more than 60 years of work, Lieutenant General Dang Quan Thuy has made many important contributions to the cause of the struggle for national liberation, building and firmly defending the Fatherland in many positions such as: Commander of the Armed Forces. learn; Commander of Military Region 2; Member of the 7th Party Central Committee; National Assembly delegates of the VIII, IX, and X terms; Vice Chairman of the National Assembly and Chairman of the National Assembly National Defense and Security Committee; Chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Association.
Tags: strategic vision General Nguyen Giap memories Dien Bien soldiers
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