Dien Bien Phu, the memories of the past are still intact
Báo điện tử VOV•01/05/2024
VOV.VN - After 70 years of the Dien Bien Phu victory, the Dien Bien soldiers of the past are now all over 90 years old. 70 years have passed, but the memories of the battle that created a victory that shook the world are still intact in their minds.
"That comrade participated in the battle of Him Lam and suffered a traumatic brain injury and was taken to my infirmary. He was in a daze for 2-3 days, then that day he woke up and called out, "Doctor, do you know how to sing the song "My Village" by Van Cao? Sing it to me, I miss my hometown. I also vaguely remember "My village is green with bamboo, the sound of the afternoon gongs, the sound of the church bells ringing..." He just lay there nodding. "But it's over, where is my hometown..." Two nurses ran in and said he was dead, what else could he sing? We all burst into tears." In the atmosphere of the last days of historic April, the time when 70 years ago, the Dien Bien Phu campaign was at its peak, with 56 days and nights of "digging mountains, sleeping in tunnels, pouring rain, and rice balls", Mr. Vu Trong Thuan, a soldier of the Tay Tien Regiment in the past, emotionally shared his memories of the battle that year.
Mr. Vu Trong Thuan, Tay Tien Regiment
As a member of the youth of the capital, born and raised at 12 Hang Bac Street, Hanoi, following the sacred call of the Fatherland, the young man Vu Trong Thuan joined the Tay Tien Regiment right from its inception and was assigned to be a nurse. After the war ended, instead of returning to the capital, Mr. Thuan decided to stay in Hoa Binh city to live.
According to Mr. Vu Trong Thuan, a soldier of the Tay Tien army, at that time, most of them were young people, students, and young intellectuals in Hanoi. They volunteered to register their names and take up arms to go to the battlefield. The Tay Tien army's area of operation was quite large, mainly in the Northwestern highland provinces such as Hoa Binh, Son La, Lai Chau, Thanh Hoa...; fighting in extremely difficult and deprived conditions, the most frightening at that time was malaria. Due to the lack of medicine, a quinine pill had to be mixed with water and divided among several people. However, overcoming all that, the Tay Tien soldiers at that time still fought bravely and selflessly. During the resistance war against the French colonialists, the Tay Tien Regiment, "the hairless army", achieved resounding victories. The regiment was honored to be awarded the "Flag of determination to fight and victory" by President Ho Chi Minh.
Mr. Mai Dai Xa - Regiment 141
Mr. Mai Dai Xa, a son of Thanh Hoa, has 7 siblings, 3 of whom participated in the Dien Bien Phu campaign, 2 of whom later died. This year, he is over 90 years old, but he is still agile, still diligently rides his bike to exercise every day, and also writes poetry and music. As a soldier of the 141st Regiment, participating in the opening battle at Him Lam hill, Mr. Mai Dai Xa, Hoa Binh city, remembers that Him Lam is an iron door. To enter Dien Bien, we must go through Him Lam, which means we will be successful and sure that we will win Dien Bien Phu because it is the most fortified: "We charged forward but could not because the enemy had machine guns firing from the bunker and other places supporting, it was like a meat grinder. Then Mr. Phan Dinh Giot held a grenade and crawled up to the mouth of the loophole, he clung tightly to it and threw the grenade in. He knew he would die but still held on tight, they shot him in the chest, while our army rushed forward to attack and occupy..." During the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the decision to change the combat strategy from "Fight fast, win fast" to "Fight steady, advance steady", to retreat and pull the artillery out was considered to have decisive significance for victory. At that time, to make the decision to retreat and pull the artillery out when our troops had just gone through difficult days of pulling the artillery into the battlefield was very difficult. The story of pulling the artillery in and pulling the artillery out explained many things about the strength of our army.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc An, Regiment 45
Mr. Nguyen Quoc An, originally from Thai Binh, was an artillery soldier of Regiment 45, Division 351, and is 95 years old this year. Despite his advanced age, when talking about the Dien Bien Phu campaign, images and memories flood back as if it were just yesterday. "The artillery was pulled in and then ordered to be pulled out, which was very difficult. At that time, the ideological work was very difficult for both the cadres and the soldiers. We agreed to fight quickly and win quickly, but now we had to pull the artillery out. General Vo Nguyen Giap requested that the artillery be pulled out to win. The General told the artillery division that they could arrange it however they wanted, but "firepower must be dispersed and firepower must be concentrated" - Mr. Nguyen Quoc An recalled. Of the 299 Dien Bien veterans living in Hoa Binh, only 84 remain, of which only 25 are still lucid and able to walk. Despite their old age and poor health, the old soldiers still actively participate in social activities, passing on to the next generation the glorious feats of arms of the past. Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, Chairman of the Veterans Association of Hoa Binh province, affirmed: "For many years now, in conversations with the younger generation, the elders are living witnesses. Through the stories of the elders who directly participated in the battle at Dien Bien Phu battlefield. The stories are so vivid that no teaching material can be better than the examples of the elders, who directly witnessed the event.
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