The source of Dien Bien's "lifeblood"

Former Youth Volunteers Do Vu Xo and Tran Cong Chinh revisit the concrete spillway at the headwaters.

From the center of Dien Bien city, less than 20 minutes by motorbike towards Tay Trang border gate, we found the land that used to be the Hong Cum battlefield (currently in Thanh An and Thanh Yen communes, Dien Bien district). The war has been over for 70 years, covering the fierce battlefield of the past are now vast green rice and corn fields, spacious houses with bright red tiled roofs.

Although he is at a rare age, with hair as white as silk, Mr. Tran Van Dap, a Dien Bien soldier and worker at the Dien Bien State Farm, still remembers clearly the heroic years. Mr. Dap recalled: “In the Dien Bien Phu campaign in 1954, Hong Cum, along with Him Lam and Hill A1, were the three most solid and strongest resistance centers of the French army. Hong Cum was the last stronghold of the French army that was destroyed by our army on the night of May 7, 1954, completely ending the Dien Bien Phu victory of our army and people.”

After the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Mr. Dap's unit was ordered to move to Thanh Hoa to take up a new mission. In 1958, his unit was assigned to return to Dien Bien. After days of hard marching, the entire unit arrived in Dien Bien and started building barracks, while focusing on clearing land to produce crops in time and preparing all necessary conditions for the establishment of the Military Farm.

Mr. Dap continued: “At that time, Hong Cum only had a few thatched roofs of the Thai ethnic people living sparsely. People’s lives were lacking in many ways, mainly self-sufficient, hunting and gathering in the forest. The land where the French Army built the Hong Cum battlefield was large, but after the campaign, there were only piles of barbed wire, bombs, weapons… like a dead land.

Thanks to the soldiers who cleared mines and steel wires; guided the people in techniques for growing rice, corn, sugarcane and other crops... the first steps to start restoring and building a new life on the still deep wounds of war."

Former Youth Volunteers together recall heroic memories.

There was a very special event that he always remembered, in 1960, Mr. Dap and all his comrades officially held a "lowering star" ceremony, officially leaving the army, becoming workers of Dien Bien Farm. Soldiers from the companies were arranged into a production team interspersed with communes and villages in the Dien Bien basin area. Mr. Dap was assigned to team C2, workers participating in production at Hong Cum, Thanh Yen commune.

After the first years of both reclaiming and transforming the bomb-strewn battlefield into rice fields; organizing production, performing the task of mass mobilization and being ready to fight to protect Dien Bien; Team C2 actively reclaimed land, planted coffee, food crops and developed livestock and poultry farming to meet the on-site food needs of the cadres, soldiers and workers of the Farm.

On May 8, 1958, Dien Bien Military Farm was established under the Department of Agriculture and Military, Ministry of National Defense, including 1,954 officers and soldiers of Regiment 176. The Farm organization at that time included: Ministry Farm, affiliated departments and 23 production units, each production unit was a company (called C) performing the tasks of agricultural production, planting, raising livestock, processing agricultural products, making traffic, irrigation, mechanics, tractors, producing basic construction materials...

The Cs were arranged interspersed with communes throughout the Dien Bien basin and the Muong Ang and Tuan Giao areas. On December 22, 1960, the Dien Bien Military Farm was transformed into the Dien Bien State Farm, under the Ministry of Agriculture and was assigned the task of continuing to reclaim and expand the agricultural land area for food production and coffee development according to the motto: Production first, planning later; planting first, construction later; using short trees to grow long trees, planting perennial trees and developing other industries. At the same time, instructing ethnic minorities to develop production and be ready to fight when war breaks out.

In 1963, young man Do Vu Xo from Thanh Tri district, Hanoi, currently residing in Residential Group 1, Thanh Minh commune, Dien Bien Phu city, was only 20 years old at that time, Deputy Secretary of the Cooperative Youth Union, volunteered with 300 team members from Hanoi to go to Dien Bien to build the Nam Rom Irrigation Construction Site.

Despite his old age, the memories of the past are still intact in soldier Tran Van Dap.

Now, although his eyes were dim and his legs were tired, when we asked, Mr. Xo did not hesitate to enthusiastically go with us to visit the concrete spillway project at the headwaters. When we arrived there, many memories of his twenties, despite the hardships and difficulties, came flooding back, making his face suddenly become radiant.

Mr. Xo emotionally said: “During 7 years (from 1963 to 1969), the Youth Volunteers (TNXP) built a concrete spillway to block water. The main canal is 823m long, the left canal is 15.017km long, the right canal is 18.051km long. Of which, the most magnificent is the main dam of the water-raising project in the form of a hydraulic spillway, Ofixerop, built of concrete-coated stone, with a height of more than 9 meters located at the Him Lam gateway of Dien Bien city. From this main dam, water will be divided equally into the two left and right canals with the task of "leading water, entering fields" to provide irrigation water for the entire Muong Thanh field.

While enthusiastically telling the story, Mr. Xo suddenly stopped, his voice lowered: “I still clearly remember the advice at the emulation launching ceremony of Mr. Hoang Tinh - at that time the Head of the Construction Site Command in charge: “If we have 1 difficulty, we must overcome 10 and the measures are 20”. With the slogan “three compensations” (compensate for rain, compensate for illness, compensate for air defense), the Youth Volunteer Force participating in the construction of the project worked overtime, increasing working hours from 10 to 12 hours/day, as if to affirm the youth, solidarity, courage, enthusiasm and enthusiastic working attitude of the Youth Volunteer Force generation at that time.

Holding the memoir in his hand, his eyes filled with tears, Mr. Xo continued softly: “I cannot forget March 13, 1966, the whole unit was filled with grief and loss, 5 of my comrades were sacrificed while on duty when American bombs fell and destroyed the main dam project. Some were hit by shrapnel, others were crushed by bombs and bullets. The most pitiful was Team Leader Nong Van Man, when the American planes suddenly came, he stood at the mouth of the tunnel observing and only had time to shout: “Comrades, get down to the tunnel!”. After the loud explosion, his body was torn apart by the bombs and mixed with the soil”. Speaking of this, he choked up: “I feel so sorry for you guys! That was a moment I can never forget, it has haunted me all my life.”

The Nam Rom Irrigation Project was officially started in 1963 and completed in 1969. More than 2,000 cadres and team members, including more than 800 August Youth Volunteers of the Capital and youth from many lowland provinces such as Hung Yen, Thai Binh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Nam Dinh, Vinh Phuc, Thanh Hoa... volunteered to go to Dien Bien to contribute their efforts. They carried the noble mission and responsibility of completing the Nam Rom Irrigation Project as soon as possible to create a "lifeline" for Dien Bien, to soon escape the situation of hunger and crop shortage...

70 years have passed, but the spirit and brave will of the Dien Bien Phu soldiers of the past and the former Youth Volunteers are still like a "source" flowing forever, adding patriotism and national pride to the generations who join hands to protect and build the land of Dien Bien to become more and more beautiful and prosperous; worthy of the stature of the Dien Bien Phu victory "famous in five continents, shaking the earth".

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