I - a son of Thanh Hoa hometown visited Dien Bien when the season of Ban flowers bloomed all over the streets and alleys of Dien Bien Phu city. How touching, the land that was once rained with bombs and bullets is now changing day by day. Muong Thanh bridge across Nam Rom river is not only a historical "witness" of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, standing tall in the Northwest sky and land, but also witnessed many changes of the homeland and the country.
The Dien Bien Phu battlefield special national relic site is a complex of historical relics recording the feats of arms of the Vietnamese army and people in the heroic resistance war against the French colonialists. The prominent relics of the Dien Bien battlefield in the past are hills A1, C1, C2, D1, Hong Cum stronghold, Him Lam, Doc Lap hill, Muong Thanh bridge and airport, command bunker of General De Castries (Dien Bien Phu city); Dien Bien Phu campaign headquarters (Muong Phang)...
The Muong Thanh Bridge relic spans the Nam Rom River in Muong Thanh and Thanh Truong wards (Dien Bien Phu City). According to documents from the Dien Bien Provincial Relic Management Board, at the beginning of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, to facilitate the movement, the French army built an iron bridge across the Nam Rom River. The bridge is 40m long and 5m wide, with simple iron bars on both sides of the bridge without a central axis. The bridge floor is paved with wood, and underneath are iron beams firmly connected together to ensure a load capacity of 15 to 18 tons.
In 1954, Muong Thanh Bridge was the only iron bridge connecting the important artery between the bases in the West of Nam Rom River with the high points in the East of Dien Bien Phu Base Group, the route for transporting food, weapons, ammunition,... raw materials for the construction of defensive bases in the Eastern region. Here, an extremely fierce battle took place between the Vietnam People's Army and the French Expeditionary Army.
70 years ago, at 2:00 p.m. on May 7, 1954, Company 360, Battalion 130, Regiment 209, Division 312 attacked across Muong Thanh bridge, destroyed the enemy's 4-barreled heavy machine gun nest, and attacked directly at the Command Center of the Dien Bien Phu stronghold.
On the Muong Thanh bridge, there is still a 4-barreled heavy machine gun – protecting the Command Center of the Dien Bien Phu stronghold. The 4-barreled heavy machine gun was destroyed by the gunners of Company 360, Battalion 130, Regiment 209, Division 312 and the artillery of the 351st Artillery Division at 4:00 p.m. on May 7, 1954.
A Dien Bien child next to a historical artifact - a 4-barreled machine gun of the French colonialists on display near the Muong Thanh bridge relic.
In the area of the 4-barreled machine gun and Muong Thanh bridge relic, local authorities have erected signs prohibiting markets to protect the landscape of the relic area.
Over the past 70 years, Muong Thanh Bridge has been renovated many times, replacing the floorboards and repainting the exterior, so the appearance of the historic bridge remains intact.
In order to ensure the safety of people and vehicles passing through the bridge and at the same time preserve and maintain the bridge for visitors and tourists, the Dien Bien Provincial Monument Management Board has restricted heavy vehicles and cars from crossing the bridge. Currently, only motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians can pass through. Recently, Dien Bien province has been implementing the project "Multi-disaster management of Nam Rom river basin to protect people's lives, adapt to climate change and develop the economy and society of Dien Bien province".
Currently, the local government has temporarily banned vehicles from passing through Muong Thanh Bridge to deploy the installation of the Muong Thanh Bridge lighting system and the sightseeing tour project in time to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory (May 7, 1954 - May 7, 2024). Photo: Duc Huy (Dien Bien Phu Newspaper).
Ngoc Huan
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