Dien Bien Phu - where 70 years ago, the sound of gunfire from the Vietnamese army and people poured down on the French invaders, destroying the strongest stronghold in Indochina, creating a feat that "resounded throughout the five continents and shook the world". In the golden milestone engraved in the history of the nation, Thanh Hoa is proud to be the locality that contributed greatly in human and material resources to the victorious campaign.
The wheelbarrow of Mr. Trinh Dinh Bam, a Thanh Hoa laborer who transported food for the campaign, is on display at the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum.
Dien Bien is located in the Northwest, so General Nava decided to choose this place as the strategic battle point in the 1953-1954 Winter-Spring campaign. Nava thought that Dien Bien was a rugged mountainous province, far from the rear, so the transportation of food would be very difficult. He also calculated that: Each Vietnamese laborer, whom he often called by a derogatory term, a Viet Minh "coolie", could transport an average of 10 to 20 kg of food to the front, but the whole journey would be eaten up, leaving only 0.8 to 2 kg left, not enough to serve the campaign. On the contrary, the French army with a modern air bridge only needed 90 minutes to have 5 tons of goods landing at Muong Thanh Airport.
As calculated by the French colonialists, the army and people of the whole country entered the war with countless difficulties and challenges. Among those difficulties, the most prominent and severe was the problem of logistics. How to provide enough food, weapons, and ammunition for a large force 500-600km away from the rear for a long time and in very difficult traffic conditions when having to open and repair roads at the same time; means of transport were lacking and rudimentary; the enemy often scouted and bombed. Not to mention the harsh weather conditions of the northern mountainous region in late spring and early summer, often with showers whose destructive power could be even stronger than bombs and bullets. At the historic conference on January 26, 1954, the campaign's logistics chief determined: "No matter how we fight, we must consider the ability to ensure supplies. Rice is often the commander, the deciding factor." General Vo Nguyen Giap also had to hand over the command of combat operations to his chief of staff, spending several days directly directing logistics work and discussing measures to quickly deliver rice to the battlefield.
With the spirit of “all for the front, all for victory”, together with the whole country, the army and people of Thanh Hoa wholeheartedly turned to Dien Bien. After receiving the plan from the Central, the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee met and issued a resolution emphasizing: “Focus all efforts on implementing the policies and strategic plans set forth by the Central”. The provincial Frontline Support Council was also quickly established to mobilize food and provisions, and at the same time urgently build a system of warehouses and stations along the entire transport route, mobilize youth volunteers to open Route 41 to Dien Bien Phu, repair roads, and build bridges for soldiers and laborers to go to the frontline.
Overcoming countless difficulties of a locality far from the front line, in the lean season, and harassed by the enemy, cadres and people of Thanh Hoa from the lowlands to the highlands entered the Dien Bien Phu logistics front line with great enthusiasm. Along with the struggle to radically reduce rent and interest, implement land reform, after the harvest, the people enthusiastically put good rice and dry rice into the warehouse. Day and night, mothers, sisters, and children milled rice and pounded it. Elderly men and women split bamboo, whittled bamboo strips, and wove logistics baskets. People in coastal areas were busy fishing, making salt, and packaging food. People in mountainous areas cut wood, chopped bamboo, built tents, warehouses, and built bridges. Workers in military factories worked hard to ensure that our soldiers on the front line did not lack ammunition or guns. Match, textile, paper, pharmaceutical, and printing factories worked overtime and increased production hours. Workers prepared their burdens and eagerly set off.
On the logistics front, transportation is considered an important but difficult and complicated task. The province assigned planning targets to each district and stipulated: Districts north of Chu River delivered goods at Cam Thuy warehouse cluster; districts south of Chu River delivered goods at Luoc warehouse cluster (Tho Xuan). From these two warehouse clusters, the province established transportation route 80, called the forward transportation route. Over 300 cadres at all levels and sectors were assigned to take charge of many stations. The emulation movement to increase productivity was launched on all transportation routes. A large rear area poured people and goods to the front to join the army in destroying the enemy. Thanh Hoa transportation route 80 completed ahead of schedule and tasks, bringing the transportation productivity of the entire route to 150% of the norm, excellently completing the task in phase 1.
On March 13, 1954, our army opened fire and destroyed the Him Lam stronghold and Doc Lap hill. The Party Committee of the front line issued an appeal: “Our guns have fired, our bullets are indispensable. Our troops have fought, and we cannot eat without food. Our army has advanced, and we will never stop.” The cadres, soldiers, and laborers of Thanh Hoa used all their strength to coordinate closely and urgently, not afraid of hardship and fatigue, and determined to complete the task. Entering the second phase of the campaign, although they were focusing on fighting drought, thousands of laborers of Thanh Hoa still went through Hoa Binh and Son La to transport 1,000 tons of rice and 165 tons of food to the front line, completing the plan on April 17, 1954, 3 days ahead of schedule.
The Thanh Hoa army's carts transporting food and provisions to the front line were recreated at the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum.
Phase 3 was the most intense phase of the war. The Central Government assigned Thanh Hoa to mobilize 2,000 tons of rice and 292 tons of food. This was the lean season, the reserve rice was gone, and the rice had not yet reached harvest time, so the people of Thanh Hoa "emptied their baskets and emptied their pantries" to have more rice to feed the army. People went to the fields to pick each golden, early-ripening rice stalk at the top of the flower to have enough food to serve the battlefield. In phase 3 alone, Thanh Hoa laborers transported to the battlefield 10,000 tons of food, provisions, dozens of tons of guns and ammunition, in time for our troops to eat well and win.
At the end of the Dien Bien Phu campaign, Thanh Hoa mobilized 34,927 tons of food, nearly 7,000 tons more than the central food supply. The food included 1,300 cows, 2,000 pigs, 250,000 eggs, 150 tons of beans of all kinds, 450 tons of dried fish, 20,000 jars of fish sauce and hundreds of tons of vegetables of all kinds. The number of bicycles carrying goods reached 16,000, 1,126 boats, 31 cars. History has recorded the Dien Bien Phu victory with the great contribution of the legendary "porter-carrying women and porters". Many laborers from Thanh Hoa became transportation champions such as Ma Van Khang, Cao Van Ty, Trinh Ngoc... famous throughout the country and admired by many people.
Not only was Thanh Hoa a large rear base providing food and provisions, it was also a large rear base supporting the front line with manpower. At that time, the people of Thanh Hoa everywhere were full of the spirit of "all for Dien Bien Phu". As time went on, the demands of the battlefield became greater and greater, and more and more laborers, youth volunteers, and new soldiers joined the army. In all three phases of the campaign, Thanh Hoa mobilized 178,924 long-term and short-term laborers, nearly 70% of the entire campaign. The number of young men joining the army was 18,890, equal to the previous 7 years. The children of Thanh Hoa, with their feet and shoulders, were present in many main force regiments that directly advanced into Dien Bien and participated in many battles against important enemy bases. The strong forces of men and women followed closely behind the soldiers fighting in the Dien Bien Phu trenches. Thousands of Thanh Hoa laborers, after completing their mission on the frontline, volunteered to supply the troops close to the battlefield. The example of Hero To Vinh Dien using his body to block artillery strongly encouraged his comrades to compete to kill the enemy and gain achievements. Many heroic martyrs and thousands of laborers on the frontline of Thanh Hoa fell on the roads. The blood of uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters soaked the roads red, dyed the flag on the roof of General De Castries' bunker on May 7, 1954, contributing to the immortal heroic epic of all time.
“Now wherever the Vietnamese language goes, the Dien Bien Phu language goes there. Wherever the Dien Bien Phu language goes, the Thanh Hoa people also have a part of the honor.” That is the worthy recognition of President Ho Chi Minh for the immense contributions of the Thanh Hoa army and people, contributing to beautifying the glorious golden history of the Vietnamese nation.
Article and photos: Thu Vui
(The article uses some documents in the book "Thanh Hoa with the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu" (Thanh Hoa Publishing House - 2014) and "Collection of specialized press information and documents" (Thanh Hoa Provincial Library).
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