Dien Bien Phu in the hearts of soldiers

Dien Bien soldier Hoang Tien Luc recalls heroic memories of his military career.

In the memory of Dien Bien soldier Hoang Tien Luc, Hoang Son commune, Hoang Hoa district, Thanh Hoa province, the heroic image of his comrades, the memories of the fierce fighting days and the heroic sacrifices of his comrades have never faded. When we opened up about the war, Mr. Luc told us about the days of being drenched in the rain of bombs and bullets with the overflowing emotions of a person who had been through life and death.

“In the history of the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the battle to destroy the enemy at Hill A1 was one of the fiercest battles and the most resounding victories. When attacking, when defending, fighting for every inch of land, one person fell, another charged forward, steadfastly and resolutely destroying the enemy. At that time, I belonged to Company 506, Regiment 174, so I participated in all 3 phases of the campaign. I was in the medical evacuation unit, so I always had to follow the combat unit closely. During this time in Dien Bien, it rained a lot, so the communication trenches were muddy, we had to carry stretchers on our heads to transport the wounded and those who had sacrificed themselves to the rear of the front. Mud and blood of the wounded fell on the faces and heads of the medical evacuation workers, it was very painful.”

Mr. Phung Sy Cac - a frontline laborer in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign still remembers clearly the heroic memories of climbing mountains and wading streams.

“Despite suffering heavy casualties, after our army’s second attack, the enemy’s central area of Dien Bien Phu fell into a state of passivity and high morale loss. Entering the third attack, after discovering that the enemy had an underground tunnel on Hill A1, my unit and another engineering unit were assigned the task of digging an underground tunnel close to the enemy’s underground tunnel. When digging close to the enemy’s underground tunnel, our army prepared nearly 1 ton of explosives. At exactly 20:30 on May 6, 1954, the sound of the explosive placed at the end of the tunnel on Hill A1 rang out. Our troops from all directions successively captured the remaining targets, broke the enemy’s counterattacks, and created a springboard for soldiers to attack the De Castries bunker. On May 7, 1954, our troops advanced straight into the enemy’s command post, raising the victory flag high.”

During a business trip to Thanh Hoa, we were helped by colleagues from Thanh Hoa Newspaper to meet Mr. Phung Sy Cac, Dong Tho Ward (Thanh Hoa City) - a frontline laborer in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. In a level 4 house, although he was 88 years old, with poor eyesight and shaky legs, when he knew we wanted to hear about the heroic memories of his youth, Mr. Cac seemed to be more agile. He searched for souvenirs that had been preserved for many years. Mr. Cac recalled with emotion: In Thanh land, during the years of fighting the French, many people in villages and communes wrote applications to volunteer to join the army, youth volunteers, and frontline laborers with heroic spirit. At that time, Mr. Cac was 17 years old. His brother and brother-in-law were already in the army so he did not have to go, but with hatred for the enemy, "fighting the French regardless of how many people in the family" he volunteered to go to the frontline.

Tourists visit Thanh Hoa Provincial Museum, which marks the history of the youth volunteer force and frontline laborers.

Together with Mr. Cac, the village had 11 people who went to the front line, gathering 6km from home; due to his educational level, he was assigned as a squad leader. After receiving a shoulder pole and 2 baskets each, our task was to carry rice to supply our troops to fight the enemy. The next person followed the previous person, just like that, crossing high mountains and deep passes to the front. When our group marched to the Son La province area, it was heavily bombed...

The supply route for the campaign became a fierce line of fire as soon as the French colonialists discovered it. Due to the urgent demands of the battlefield, I was assigned to the task of ensuring traffic from Tuan Giao to Dien Bien Phu. I widened narrow areas, filled in muddy areas, carried rocks to block slippery areas, and pulled vehicles through deep streams. When I was about 15km from the artillery site, I was assigned the important task of carrying ammunition for the troops to fight the enemy. Although enemy planes continuously swept through, despite all the dangers, we completed the mission excellently. The campaign was completely victorious, I stayed behind to do the task of clearing bombs and mines, cleaning up the battlefield, and only left Dien Bien Phu in August 1954.

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