Throughout their existence and development, the people of the three Indochinese countries have always had to confront powerful invading forces. Due to geographical and historical conditions, the people of the three countries had to rely on each other to have enough strength to defeat the common enemy.
History has proven many actions of a combat alliance nature, demonstrating the close relationship between the three nations. However, it was not until the birth of the Indochinese Communist Party to lead the liberation struggle of the three countries that this relationship truly became a strategic relationship.
During the resistance war against French colonialism (and the resistance war against American imperialism later), both we and the enemy soon realized that Indochina was a battlefield, in which Vietnam was always the main battlefield, Laos and Cambodia were two battlefields with important strategic positions. To annex this country, the enemy had to control and divide the two remaining countries, then annex the whole of Indochina, set up a puppet regime, and impose domination on all three countries.
A unit of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers participates in fighting on the Lao battlefield. Photo: VNA
On the Indochina battlefield, two opposing relationships were actually formed: On one side was the collusion between the reactionary French colonialists supported by the US and their puppet lackeys, on the other side was the alliance between the resistance forces and the people of the three nations against the common enemy.
Under the leadership of the Indochinese Communist Party, from September 1945 to the end of 1946, the people of the three countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia began to fight, while helping each other build up forces and prepare for a long-term resistance. During this period, Vietnam soon played a pivotal role in building a relationship of solidarity and fighting among the people of the three countries.
From 1947 to 1950, the Vietnamese people both promoted the resistance cause and wholeheartedly helped the people of the two neighboring countries. The Vietnamese government and people always worked for the interests of their friends and the common interests, creating conditions for their resistance movements to rise up on their own, to take on the requirements of fighting and building up their forces, helping their friends was helping themselves.
During the years 1951, 1952, 1953, the resistance of the three nations continued to advance, gaining more victories in the military, political, and diplomatic fields, pushing the invading enemy into a strategically passive position, gradually defeating their plots. Entering the summer of 1953, the war situation on the Indochina battlefield had important changes. After consecutive failures in Hoa Binh (late 1951, early 1952), Upper Laos (Spring 1953), the French expeditionary army fell into an increasingly difficult situation. However, the reactionary French colonialists, supported by the United States, still tried to find an honorable way out through a military victory on the battlefield.
It was in that context that the Navarre Plan was born. It was a plan based on the highest efforts of France and the greatest military aid of the United States, with the greatest contribution of human and material resources from the puppet governments. It was a dangerous plan to save the defeat of both France and the United States in the war of aggression, a counter-revolutionary alliance between imperialism and its reactionary lackeys against the people of the three countries. The Navarre Plan was a severe challenge to the united fighting alliance of the people of Indochina.
After evaluating and analyzing the important French military plan, we had instructions to respond. On the main front, we attacked and destroyed the enemy troops stationed in Lai Chau, completely liberated the Northwest region, coordinated with the Pathet Lao troops to liberate Phong Xa Ly province, coordinated with the Pathet Lao troops and Cambodian troops to fight the enemy in Central Laos, Lower Laos and Northeastern Cambodia, and expanded the liberated areas. The 1953-1954 Winter-Spring combat plan "included the national battlefield and the Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos battlefield".
Thus, in the Winter-Spring campaign of 1953-1954, through attacks in strategic directions across the Indochina battlefields, the armies and people of the three countries united, closely coordinated in combat, and won extremely great victories.
Although they had fallen into a passive position to respond throughout the Indochina battlefield, with the help of the US, the French colonialists still strengthened the construction of Dien Bien Phu into an unprecedentedly strong base in the Indochina war, with the hope of turning this base into the main "meat grinder" of the Viet Minh to regain the lost initiative. Dien Bien Phu became the sudden center of the Navarre plan, something that not only Navarre but also the warmongers of France and the US had not considered before. Thus, the decisive battle at Dien Bien Phu reflected the results of the resistance war against the common enemy of the people of the three countries that took place continuously for nearly 9 years, first of all the results of the attacks of the three countries' people's alliance in the Winter-Spring of 1953 - 1954.
Dien Bien Phu was not only the decisive strategic battle of the sacred resistance of the Vietnamese people but also the decisive strategic battle of the united fighting alliance of the three Indochinese countries. While the Vietnamese army and people attacked and destroyed the Dien Bien Phu stronghold, the army and people of the two brotherly countries of Laos and Cambodia stepped up combat activities in coordination with Dien Bien Phu, supporting and "sharing the fire" with Dien Bien Phu.
After 56 days and nights of fighting, the historic Dien Bien Phu campaign ended in victory. The historic Dien Bien Phu victory defeated the highest war efforts of the French colonialists and the American interventionists, dealing a decisive blow to the imperialists' will to invade and the alliance between imperialism and reactionary lackeys in the three countries of Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia. "Dien Bien Phu rang the death knell of French colonialism not only in Vietnam but also in the remaining part of its colonial bloc."
For the three Indochinese countries, the Dien Bien Phu Victory was not only a great victory of the Vietnamese people in the resistance war against French colonialism but "also a victory of the comprehensive solidarity and fighting alliance between the armies and peoples of the three countries".
(excerpt)
- Excerpt from the book Dien Bien Phu Victory: National strength and the stature of the times
- Excerpt from Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum (btctdbp-svhttdl.dienbien.gov.vn)
According to People's Army Newspaper
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