The story behind the Dien Bien Phu soldier's helmet
Báo Dân trí•01/05/2024
(Dan Tri) - The battle helmet woven from bamboo, covered with mesh or parachute fabric has created an immortal image of the soldier who liberated Dien Bien.
In the 80-year history of the Vietnam People's Army, the indispensable item associated with soldiers is the battle helmet. The helmet is designed differently in each period, but is the most recognizable sign of an army and a historical period. Viet Minh soldiers after the Dien Bien Phu victory (Photo from Roman Karmen's documentary). In documentary photos of Viet Minh soldiers during the resistance war against France (1946-1954), the image of a truncated cone-shaped battle cap, often covered in fabric or mesh, with a five-pointed star badge attached to the front stands out. The hat is so distinctive that it was chosen as the architectural concept for the Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum in Dien Bien province (Photo: Ngoc Tan). (Photo taken at the Logistics Museum). An aesthetically pleasing hat that creates a uniform, neat impression for an entire army, but in reality is a self-sufficient product of the soldiers. Using bamboo available in the Viet Bac mountains and parachute fabric captured from French soldiers, the Viet Minh soldiers wove their own hats and gradually became a uniform design throughout the army. A Viet Minh soldier wearing a cloth-covered bamboo hat stands next to a French soldier on the day of the takeover of Hanoi (October 1954). It can be seen that the uniforms of the soldiers at this time did not have any signs of rank through the shoulder boards and lapels. (Photo from a documentary by Roman Karmen). The bamboo hat of martyr Tran Can used in the Dien Bien Phu campaign (Photo: Trithucvacuocsong). The image of the Viet Minh soldiers' bamboo hats was once depicted by poet To Huu in the poem Viet Bac: "Our Viet Bac roads/Every night rumble like the earth shakes/The troops march in layers/The starlight on the gun muzzles is our companion in the bamboo hats". A restored version of the Viet Minh soldiers' bamboo hat is displayed at the Logistics Museum (Photo: Ngoc Tan). Speaking to Dan Tri reporters, a representative of the Logistics Museum said that military equipment during the resistance war against France was mainly aid from abroad combined with bamboo hats made by soldiers themselves. It was not until 1958 that the Vietnamese military supply industry introduced the first uniform model that was unified throughout the entire army. In terms of protecting soldiers from bombs and bullets, the "homemade" bamboo helmets of the Viet Minh army could not compare to the steel helmets of the French expeditionary army. However, the soldiers with simple military uniforms defeated the army with modern equipment. In the picture is the steel helmet of a French soldier at the Dien Bien Phu battlefield (Photo: Ngoc Tan). The mortar helmet was the official equipment of the Vietnam People's Army during the resistance war against America (Photo: Archive). At the end of the resistance war against France, the bamboo hat also completed its historical mission, and was replaced by the military supply industry with the pith helmet. The pith helmet was the standard equipment of the Vietnam People's Army during the resistance war against the US and the subsequent border protection wars. The helmet was made of papier-mâché or pressed pulp, covered with fabric and rolled up with a brim. Before 1979, pith helmets were mainly produced in China according to orders from the Vietnamese military supply industry. After the border conflict, Vietnam became self-sufficient in producing this type of helmet. Vietnam Border Guard in Lao Cai (Photo: Ngoc Tan). In recent years, the A2 helmet has begun to replace the mortar helmet in the army uniform. The A2 helmet is made of hard plastic, not bulletproof but creates a strong feeling. In addition, Vietnam has also equipped specific forces with steel helmets, bulletproof helmets such as anti-aircraft artillery soldiers, marines... However, up to now, the mortar helmet is still the basic equipment of soldiers and conscripts. This helmet has low production costs and is convenient for use in training, labor, and production activities. In the future, with the need to build a lean, compact, and strong army, the pith helmet may be replaced by another type of helmet that is better and more durable. However, the bamboo helmet during the anti-French period or the pith helmet during the anti-American period are still the symbolic hats of Uncle Ho's Army, showing that an army with simple equipment still defeated the invaders with modern equipment.
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