In particular, political and ideological work, strengthening the spirit of determination to fight and win for our army and people has always received special attention, contributing significantly to the final victory of the campaign. Preparing to enter the campaign, President Ho Chi Minh presented the "Determination to fight and win" flag to the Army and sent a letter of encouragement to the officers and soldiers: "You are about to go to the front. Your mission this time is very great, difficult, but very glorious... I am sure that you will promote the past victory, determined to overcome all difficulties and hardships to fulfill the upcoming glorious mission...". After that, "The order to mobilize all officers and soldiers, all units, all branches, to launch a great offensive on the Dien Bien Phu stronghold group" by General Vo Nguyen Giap also had great spiritual value. These instructions and calls were disseminated throughout the front, creating an exciting atmosphere of competition to make achievements on all battlefields. During the fighting, some cadres and soldiers sometimes showed negative, rightist thoughts, such as fear of casualties, fear of attrition, fatigue, fear of hardship, fear of suffering; subjectivity, underestimating the enemy, and complacency with initial victories. To overcome this, the Politburo issued a directive for units to resolutely correct their shortcomings and be determined to complete their tasks. At the same time, the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army directed the art troupe to perform right in the trenches and in the artillery bunkers; and sing for the soldiers at the frontline to listen via telephone. Many poems, prose, songs, and valuable documentary films; 33 issues of the People's Army Newspaper with rich content became spiritual food, encouraging and motivating cadres and soldiers to work with peace of mind, be excited, and believe in the victory of the campaign...
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Officers and soldiers read the People's Army Newspaper to get information from the battlefield during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Photo: Archive |
Specifically, the work of resolving ideology and strengthening the spirit of determination to fight and win for the troops in the campaign was shown in the following aspects: According to the initial plan, our combat motto was "fight quickly, resolve quickly", concentrating forces to quickly destroy the enemy in a short time, about 2 days and 3 nights. However, in the face of the new situation, we changed the combat motto from "fight quickly, resolve quickly" to "fight firmly, advance firmly". In the face of the new situation, the preparation of the battlefield had to be done from the beginning, especially the artillery had to be pulled out. That made many cadres and soldiers wonder, their thoughts were not clear. Therefore, political and ideological work focused on educating the troops to fully understand the situation of the campaign, the objectivity and inevitability of changing the combat motto; using the victorious results of previous campaigns to educate and motivate the troops to promote their determination to fight; Focus on making the troops clearly understand the objectives, tasks, and fighting methods, on that basis, promote the spirit of determination to fight and win, build in the troops a high determination to fight and political responsibility for the campaign. With a strong force, the enemy arranged a dense defense system of 49 strongholds with a multi-layered firepower system, with horizontal and vertical trenches and independent defense capabilities, able to rescue and support each other. Some strongholds also had underground bunkers, barbed wire fences surrounding them from 50m to 200m. In addition, there were dense minefields and electric fences close to the ground... This was a great difficulty and obstacle in combat. Faced with that situation, the Party committees, commanders, and cadres at all levels proactively grasped the ideological developments of the troops, promptly encouraged, imparted combat experience, and encouraged cadres and soldiers to compete to complete their tasks well, making each cadre and soldier uphold the spirit of bravery and resilience in combat, endure hardships, and be ready to sacrifice for the Fatherland. Thanks to that, ideological work contributed significantly to the victory of the first phase, destroying all three resistance centers of Him Lam, Doc Lap, and Ban Keo.
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| Performing arts serving soldiers and civilians at the Dien Bien Phu front. |
In the second phase of the campaign, after the unsuccessful battles at the A1 and 105 bases, on April 4, 1954, the Campaign Command decided to temporarily stop the attack to consolidate forces, maintain the position and continue to prepare for a new attack. In order to overcome the negative right-wing phenomenon, the Campaign Party Committee launched a political activity, fighting against the idea of seeking safety, wavering, fear of hardship and sacrifice; raising the belief in victory and the spirit of determination to fight and win of cadres and soldiers on the entire front. The political agency went down to each unit to disseminate the new combat plan and educate the troops to clearly understand the situation, strengthening their determination to complete the task. Thanks to that, we achieved the goal in the third attack phase beyond expectations. This was an outstanding success in our political and ideological work during the hot period of the final strategic battle in the resistance war against the French. During the campaign, there were many examples of selfless fighting and heroic sacrifice for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland, such as: Be Van Dan used his body as a gun mount; Hoang Van No used his bayonet to stab repeatedly, destroying many enemies, until he died but still in a heroic posture of destroying the enemy; To Vinh Dien did not hesitate to sacrifice his life to protect the artillery; Phan Dinh Giot used his body to fill the loopholes... Those were the intelligence soldiers who single-handedly and cleverly captured many enemies, the wounded drivers who did not let go of the steering wheel... At the front line, our people fought side by side with the army, rolling in the smoke and fire to carry ammunition and transfer wounded soldiers. At the hospitals, on the way to transport wounded soldiers, the people cared for and visited wounded soldiers like their own children, providing the army with all the necessary needs for fighting, from needles, threads, gifts, cakes, sending thousands of letters of encouragement, visiting soldiers, sending to the soldiers the whole heart of love and care of the whole people. The thoughtful care and timely encouragement and support have helped wounded and sick soldiers maintain their determination, have the will to overcome pain, and feel secure in their treatment and training to recover soon. In particular, promoting the effectiveness of propaganda work in conjunction with organizing and implementing policy work and the Army's rear has created solidarity and determination to fight of our army and people in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. The experiences in solving ideology and strengthening the spirit of determination to fight and win in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign are still valuable today. Currently, the world, regional and domestic situations have both advantages, opportunities and difficulties, challenges intertwined, complex and unpredictable. In the trend of increasingly deep international integration, the information explosion under the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is posing new requirements for political and ideological education, especially the orientation of awareness and ideology for soldiers in the face of sensitive, complex and contradictory information flows. Many new issues, increasingly high and complex requirements for the cause of building a politically strong Army, require us to continue to innovate and improve the quality and effectiveness of political and ideological education. Lessons on education and building the will to fight in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign 70 years ago need to be studied, applied and promoted effectively in the new situation.
Colonel, Dr. NGUYEN NHU TRUC, Deputy Chief of Politics, Military Region 7
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