Our troops raised the victory flag high on the newly captured Him Lam stronghold in the opening battle of the Dien Bien Phu campaign, on the afternoon of March 13, 1954. Photo: VNA archive

However, in order for March 13, 1954 to become the opening day of a historic campaign, before that, the Party Committee and the Dien Bien Phu Campaign Command had made the right decisions in changing the combat strategy, contributing to the victory of the Campaign, so that the "Determined to Fight - Determined to Win" flag of our Army flew on the roof of General De Castries' bunker on May 7, 1954.

In the fall and winter of 1953, the French colonialists and American interventionists launched the Nava Plan. The focus of this plan was to build Dien Bien Phu into the strongest stronghold in Indochina to control a large area of ​​the Northwest and Upper Laos, with the intention of destroying most of our main force within 18 months, moving towards controlling Vietnamese territory and pacifying all of Southern Indochina.

The French generals praised the Dien Bien Phu stronghold and called it a formidable "porcupine" with solid concrete fortifications sprouting in all four directions. In the Muong Thanh basin, the French colonialists arranged 16,200 troops with 21 battalions into 3 sub-regions: North, Central, South, including 49 supporting bases, inner and outer. The two airports of Muong Thanh and Hong Cum with nearly 100 take-offs and landings each day could transport about 200 to 300 tons of goods and parachute from 100 to 150 enemies.

Considering Dien Bien Phu as "a trap to crush the Viet Minh main force", General Cogny boasted: "We have a strong firepower capable of wiping out an enemy 4-6 times larger...". General Navarre commented: "If they come down, they will be dead to us...".

Notably, before the battle took place, US Vice President Richard Nixon (later to become President) personally inspected the construction of the base cluster to "ensure that US investment in Indochina was used effectively", and was very satisfied, without any criticism.

Fully aware of the plots and tricks of the French colonialists, in early December 1953, the Politburo decided to launch the Dien Bien Phu Campaign and approved the "Fight fast, win fast" operational plan. However, assessing the balance of forces between the two sides for this strategic decisive battle, General Vo Nguyen Giap made the most difficult decision in his military career: Stop the battle, pull out the artillery, and change the plan from "fight fast, win fast" to "fight steady, advance steady".

The decision to change the combat strategy leading to the artillery pulling out was a big challenge for artillery officers and soldiers. That decision caused great ideological turmoil because of the sweat and blood of thousands of people who had shed on the way to pull the artillery, the hardships they had overcome... now they had to pull the artillery out. Faced with that situation, the Party committees of the units convened a conference of cadres, focused on ideological work, meticulously disseminated the new strategy and combat plan, thoroughly explained the reasons so that the troops could understand, and encouraged everyone to overcome difficulties and challenges to complete the new mission.

Concentrating our mind, strength and determination "All for the battlefield, all for victory", for nearly 2 months after that, our army continued to launch diversionary attacks, opening wider and longer roads around the mountains and forests of Dien Bien Phu. Then we brought in artillery, built more solid fortifications, dug deeper trenches, and got closer to the French base. Food and weapons from the rear were also brought to the front in greater numbers. Everything was prepared for a long battle, possibly until the rainy season.

During the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, tens of thousands of laborers participated in transporting the wounded, carrying food, provisions, weapons, and equipment to the battlefield; cutting mountains and clearing passes for our troops to pull artillery into the battlefield. The people of Thanh Hoa province alone sent 9,000 tons of rice to the front line, the people of Lai Chau province contributed 2,666 tons of rice, 226 tons of meat; 210 tons of green vegetables to Dien Bien Phu, mobilizing 16,972 laborers, participating in 517,210 working days; 348 pack horses, 58 rafts, contributing 25,070 trees to build roads.

In four years (from 1951 to 1954), the people of Inter-zone V contributed 1,322,600 tons of rice and the equivalent of 1,500,000 tons of money. The people of the whole country contributed 25,056 tons of rice, and 260,000 people to work as laborers on the front line. The Campaign's logistics line alone used about 33,500 people serving with more than 30,000 working days.

The great significance of the Campaign also permeated each person: "Destroy the enemy's strongest stronghold group, smash the Nava plan, defeat the French - American imperialists' plot to prolong the war of aggression, and open a new situation for the resistance."

On March 11, 1954, President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to the soldiers: "You are about to go to battle. Your mission this time is very great, difficult but very glorious... I am confident that you will promote the past victory, determined to overcome all difficulties and hardships to fulfill the glorious mission ahead... I wish you great victory!".

At exactly 5:00 p.m. on March 13, 1954, our troops attacked the Him Lam stronghold, opening the Dien Bien Phu campaign. We successively destroyed this stronghold and Doc Lap stronghold, forced the Ban Keo stronghold to surrender, broke the northern gateway of the Dien Bien Phu stronghold complex; killed and captured more than 2,000 enemies, destroyed 25 planes, wiped out a regiment, and threatened Muong Thanh airport. In April 1954, our troops simultaneously attacked the strongholds, tightened the siege, divided, and controlled Muong Thanh airport, causing the enemy to fall into a state of passivity and high morale loss.

From May 1 to May 7, 1954, our army captured the eastern strongholds and launched a general attack to destroy the entire Dien Bien Phu stronghold complex.

At 5:30 p.m. on May 7, 1954, the flag of victory of our army was raised on the roof of the enemy command bunker. By 12:00 p.m. that day, all enemy troops had been captured.

56 days and nights of resilient, brave, and creative fighting, our army and people achieved the Dien Bien Phu victory that "resounded throughout the five continents and shook the world". The entire "invincible" Dien Bien Phu stronghold was completely wiped out by our army and people.

President Ho Chi Minh affirmed that "The Dien Bien Phu victory is a golden milestone in history". This victory directly led to the signing of the Geneva Agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Indochina; creating the foundation and conditions for our people to move forward to win the resistance war against the US, save the country, liberate the South, and unify the country in 1975.

70 years have passed, the Dien Bien Phu Victory will forever be the pride of the Vietnamese people because of its great significance and great stature. As Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed: "The Dien Bien Phu Victory "resounding throughout the five continents, shaking the world" has great historical significance, profound epochal significance, is a victory of patriotism, indomitable will, resilience, the strength of the great solidarity of the Vietnamese people under the talented and wise leadership of the Party, demonstrating the maturity of the Vietnam People's Army.

The 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory is an important political event through which to arouse national pride, strengthen revolutionary tradition education for cadres, party members, and people, especially the young generation; encourage and motivate ethnic minorities in Dien Bien and the Northwest provinces; honor and show gratitude to those who have contributed to the revolution, to the people and soldiers who have contributed their efforts and blood to build and defend the Fatherland; and at the same time contribute to the development of Dien Bien to become increasingly prosperous.

According to VNA