The Ba To uprising made a splash
In early 1945, the revolutionary situation in the country and the world had many changes. General Secretary Truong Chinh issued the directive "Japan and France are fighting each other and our actions". This was considered the guiding principle for the entire Party at that time.
As the Party had predicted, on March 9, 1945, Japan staged a coup against the French. Communist prisoners at the Ba To "re-education" camp began to take action. Just two days later, under the leadership of the provisional Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee, an uprising to seize power in Ba To was carried out. On March 11, 1945, prisoners in Ba To occupied the inspectorate office and destroyed the Ba To station; the French station chief had to flee towards Kon Tum .
Portrait of General Nguyen Chanh
PHOTO: DOCUMENT
That same afternoon, a rally with thousands of participants, the revolutionary government and the Guerrilla Team were established. This can be considered a turning point in history because it was this army that together with the entire Quang Ngai people made the August Revolution and became the first armed force in Zone 5.
When Japan staged a coup against France on March 9, 1945, with the intuition of an experienced revolutionary activist, Nguyen Chanh told his fellow prisoners that "the comrades in the Ba To detention camp will revolt. I am very eager to return to join the comrades there!"
As he predicted, the Ba To uprising broke out and resonated throughout the Central region. With the help of some revolutionary bases in Hue, Nguyen Chanh escaped from prison. He arrived in Ba To shortly after the uprising and was assigned by the Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee at that time to join Pham Kiet, the Team Leader, in leading this fledgling Guerrilla Team.
To survive, the Guerrilla Team had to retreat into the deep forest and establish war zones. Due to being far from residential areas and running out of supplies due to being surrounded by Japanese fascists, the Guerrilla Team was at times in dire straits. They even had to butcher their war horse on Cao Muon peak to survive.
Seeing that the situation was too dire if they remained in the deep forest without the support of the people, Nguyen Chanh discussed with his comrades to move the Guerrilla Team to the plains so that they could rely on the people and expand their area of operation. Letting the Ba To Guerrilla Team advance to the plains was a wise decision. Because in just a few months, until the uprising day (August 14, 1945), that young army did not only have a few dozen gunmen but also hundreds of members with two companies operating along the two wings north and south of the Tra River. Together with team leader Pham Kiet, Nguyen Chanh directly commanded the capture of Di Lang - Son Ha fort, the most fortified stronghold built by the French in Quang Ngai.
Ba To Guerrilla Team
PHOTO: DOCUMENT
After more than 3 months of advancing to the plains, the Ba To Guerrilla Team grew stronger, destroyed many important enemy points, and was strong enough to join the entire people in the province in rising up to seize power on August 14, 1945.
The scholarly general
In 1951, Nguyen Chanh and the delegation went to Viet Bac to attend the 2nd Party Congress. He was elected to the Party Central Committee. Immediately after the congress, Nguyen Chanh hurriedly returned because at that time, the resistance war against French colonialism was at its most fierce.
The Central region from Quang Ngai to Phu Yen at that time became the free zone of Inter-zone 5. However, the French colonialists repeatedly attacked this free zone from many directions: from Khanh Hoa , from the sea to Quy Nhon, and from the Central Highlands to the south.
During the 9 long and arduous years, the army and people of Zone 5, headed by General Nguyen Chanh, Secretary of the Zone Party Committee and Commander of Zone 5, not only firmly protected the achievements of the August Revolution but also contributed significantly to the overall victory of our army and people nationwide. Especially with the battle to capture Mang Den stronghold - a solid French military group in the northern Central Highlands and smashing the Atlante campaign, sharing the fire with the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the army and people of Zone 5 fulfilled their mission, contributing to forcing the French colonialists to sign the Geneva Agreement, bringing peace to Indochina.
In his memoirs, General Vo Nguyen Giap reserved special feelings for General Nguyen Chanh, especially when he recalled the meeting between General Nguyen Chanh and General De Beaufort - Commander of the French expeditionary force in the Central Highlands battlefield.
The thing is, before returning to France, General De Beaufort suggested to General Giap that he meet the commander in the battlefield of Zone 5 who had driven him crazy for 9 years. This French general was extremely surprised when he met General Nguyen Chanh - a man of average height and scholarly appearance rather than a battle-hardened general.
While his revolutionary career was still unfinished, on September 24, 1957, General Nguyen Chanh suddenly passed away at the age of 43, leaving behind endless sorrow, as General Vo Nguyen Giap wrote: "With his death, the army lost a talented general, I lost a close friend."
The Ba To uprising broke out on March 11, 1945 in the mountainous district of Ba To, Quang Ngai province, two days after the Japanese coup against the French in Vietnam. The victory of the Ba To uprising and the establishment of the Ba To Guerrilla Team initiated a massive revolutionary movement, directly contributing to the preparation for the uprising to seize power in Quang Ngai and the South Central provinces in the August 1945 General Uprising.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/80-nam-khoi-nghia-ba-to-1131945-1132025-nguyen-chanh-mot-vi-tuong-thao-luoc-185250310180347212.htm
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