General, Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap wrote: Every day, at the Command Center, when I heard reports on the number of enemy soldiers killed by snipers, the amount of food and ammunition parachuted in by our troops, I thought, we are giving the enemy the most bitter blows.
On the enemy side: At 3:00 p.m. on April 13, 1954, an enemy B26 bomber dropped a bomb on the position their soldiers were occupying in the north of the central area of Muong Thanh. After this mistaken bombing, the remaining enemy troops in Dien Bien Phu became even more confused and scared.
On our side: The Campaign Command instructed the divisions to use small units to attack in combination with regular attacks.
During this time, not only did our troops continuously use small forces to encircle and attack the enemy on the ground, but the shooting down of aircraft to cut off the enemy's supply and reinforcement sources was also given increased attention. The anti-aircraft artillery force of the 351st Division, together with the anti-aircraft machine gun units of the infantry divisions, formed a fire net system to control the sky of Dien Bien Phu at an altitude of 3km or less. There was not a day when enemy aircraft were not shot down or damaged. Aircraft had to drop parachutes from an altitude of 3km, so one-third of those parachutes fell into our battle area. The work of picking up and seizing enemy parachute supplies became a lively movement in all units and we captured quite a lot of ammunition of all kinds, especially 105mm howitzer shells, 120mm and 81mm mortar shells, along with a lot of food and medicine. The 57th Regiment at Hong Cum alone captured 120 tons of ammunition and food from the enemy in 15 days.
A machine gun unit supports the assault force attacking the central area of the Dien Bien Phu stronghold. Photo courtesy of VNA
The “sniper hunting for the West” movement also developed strongly, causing much damage to the enemy. All types of guns, big and small, were used by our troops for sniping, making the enemy’s morale very tense. In the second half of April alone, snipers of the 57th Regiment killed 100 enemies, snipers of the 312th Division killed 110 and wounded more than 40 others. The 308th and 316th Divisions also achieved similar results. The highest sniper record belonged to comrade Luc Van Thong, who killed 30 enemies in one day. The new recruits were trained by the old soldiers in tactics and shooting in actual combat right on the trenches. They all progressed very quickly. Some people after a short time knew how to use all types of guns and became good marksmen.
The newly brought 75mm artillery batteries to occupy the positions on hills D and E often aimed their barrels straight at the central area, causing great terror to the enemy soldiers. One morning, in an unequal artillery battle, the 75mm artillery company deployed on hill E, although only one battery of comrade Phung Van Khau remained, still steadfastly continued to fight, continuously destroying four enemy 105mm howitzers in the central position of Muong Thanh.
French prisoners captured by our army during the second attack on the Dien Bien Phu stronghold. Photo courtesy of VNA
In the memoir “Dien Bien Phu - Historical Rendezvous”, General, Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap wrote: "On Hill A1, the soldiers collected heavy sacks filled with sand. They were also useful for us. Once, the Battalion Commander saw the word “Sucre” on the outside of the sack, so he quickly stopped his comrades from taking them out to build fortifications. Poking the bayonet into the sack, it was clearly white sugar, a precious commodity for soldiers on the front. There were goods that no one thought of. An umbrella carried all the ice blocks. This was a commodity that could not be stored for a long time. The comrades broke the ice and shared it to wash their faces, hands and feet, and even bathe. There was an umbrella carrying all the fresh vegetables: salad, onions, leeks and even Lang basil. Those who participated in the campaign from Hanoi had the opportunity to remember the vegetable gardens outside the city.
Battalion 225 picked up a bag full of books and newspapers, in one package were two novels and a letter from De Castries' wife to her husband. The unit asked the Front Command for advice on how to handle the letter. Political Commissar Le Liem said it should be forwarded to De Castries. We announced over the radio, just one hour later, according to the convention, a French soldier carrying a white flag came to the meeting point, received the letter and the two books and brought them back to Muong Thanh.
Every day, at the Command Center, when I heard the report of the number of enemy soldiers killed by snipers, the amount of food and ammunition that our troops had captured by parachute, I thought, we are giving the enemy the most bitter blows. Indeed, with this way of fighting, we are winning without wasting much blood of soldiers, without consuming much ammunition. Each of these spoils of war has different effects, both making the enemy's already miserable situation even more miserable, and also bringing what we need, turning it into our strength and continuing to inflict it on the enemy, and saving the effort of transporting it for many days on the fire roads.
Enemy planes intensified their bombing. Many military positions were stripped bare of vegetation by enemy bombs. One day, hearing that the enemy had dropped bombs on the headquarters area of the 316th Division for an hour, I called Le Quang Ba to ask about the damage. Ba happily replied: "Reporting to you, there was nothing, only a pair of shorts of a boy drying on the roof of the bunker burned." That evening the enemy reported: "The bombing raid during the day at Dien Bien Phu killed 1,200 Viet Minh."
THANH VINH/qdnd.vn
Source
![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs Government Conference with localities on economic growth](https://vstatic.vietnam.vn/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/2/21/f34583484f2643a2a2b72168a0d64baa)
Comment (0)