Cogny received the US Air Force Commander Patorigio to review the “Hawk” plan. The plan was then revised as follows: 90 B29 heavy bombers would depart from the Philippines to attack Dien Bien Phu to rescue the soldiers stationed there.
On the enemy side: De Castries received a telegram informing him that he had been promoted to the rank of general. This was done at the suggestion of the US to encourage the soldiers stationed at Dien Bien Phu to defend. At the same time, the French Command also promoted Langlais to colonel and Bigeard to lieutenant colonel.
At 4:00 p.m. on April 15, a C119 aircraft circled a few times and dropped a series of parachutes, including a red parachute that landed near our position. At dusk, our soldiers went out to get the parachutes and found a box. It was brought to the regimental headquarters. When they opened the box, they found gift packages including cigarettes, wine, sausages, ham, a singlet, a razor blade, and a pink letter with the scent of perfume from De Castries' wife to her husband on the occasion of his promotion to general.
French paratroopers reinforced the forces building the Dien Bien Phu stronghold in December 1953. Photo: Archive
On the same day, Cogny received US Air Force Commander Patorigio to review the “Hawk” plan. The plan was then revised as follows: 90 B29 heavy bombers would depart from the Philippines to attack Dien Bien Phu to rescue the soldiers stationed there.
On our side: Around the Hong Cum stronghold, our soldiers used rifles, machine guns, artillery, and mortars of all sizes, ready to wait for the enemy to appear. After being fooled by us many times, the enemy did not dare to move or raise their heads above the trenches during the day. Our soldiers crawled through the fence to plant flags, waiting for the soldiers to crawl out and pull the flags before opening fire. The enemy left the flags flying in the stronghold. Every time they went to collect parachutes, the enemy had to organize it like a battle, with tanks accompanying them and artillery firing in coordination.
On the night of April 15, the trenches of the 88th Regiment in the West and the trenches of the 141st Regiment in the East both crossed five fences and entered the airport. The important battle to destroy the center of resistance protecting Muong Thanh airport began without any artillery preparation or warning signs.
Realizing that Muong Thanh airport was in danger of being cut in half, Huguette 6 in the north of the airport was about to be destroyed, half of Muong Thanh airport, accounting for one-fifth of the area of the stronghold group, would fall into the hands of the enemy. De Castries ordered Langlais to immediately proceed to relieve the airport, first of all to supply Huguette 6 in the north of the airport which could be overrun at any time.
From the central area of Muong Thanh to Huguette 6 (base 105) located at the northern end of the airport, there were three roads. The first road through the airport, flat, 1,500m long, was regularly bombarded by our firepower and now had a horizontal battlefield. The second road went along the west side of the airport, using part of what was left of Pavie road, but to reach Huguette 6, one had to cross the trenches that our troops had tightly surrounded Huguette 1. The third road was a drainage ditch running along the east side of the runway to the bottleneck at Huguette, then had to cross the empty airport from east to west to reach Huguette 1 and Huguette 6. The enemy at Huguette 6 needed 400 liters of water every day and had to transport it over a distance of more than 3,000m under the guns of the Viet Minh.
Continue to promote coordination activities with the Dien Bien Phu front
On April 15, the 4th Mobile Corps Command Post and the enemy artillery position in Phu Ly town were attacked by us, causing many losses. The 4th Mobile Corps was defeated and had to retreat to consolidate, the newly established 8th Mobile Corps was immediately sent to replace them and suffered heavy losses. In the battle with the 64th Regiment, the An Cu and An To guerrillas suffered heavy losses, 2 battalions of more than 300 enemy soldiers were destroyed and captured on the spot.
Soldiers fighting the enemy in An Khe (Central Vietnam). Photo archive.
At the same time, in Son Tay and Ha Dong, Regiment 254, together with local troops and guerrillas of the two provinces, continuously destroyed the positions of Quang Bi, Ha Hoi, Dai Dinh, Tu Chau, Luu Xa, expanded the base area and continuously defeated the relief operations, typically the Ha Bang battle, which destroyed and captured more than 400 enemies. In the temporarily occupied area of Nam Dinh, Regiment 52 and the provincial forces took turns continuously besieging and threatening the enemy troops clustered in Dong Bien and ambushing and destroying the reinforcements. In Ninh Binh, the provincial local troops raided and destroyed the positions of Duc Hau, Tu Tan, Nam Bien, Canh Tan, Duyen May... and ambushed the enemy on Highway 10 and 59, and destroyed many enemies.
Along with the military attacks, the political struggle movement and military propaganda work also developed with unprecedented momentum. In the areas temporarily occupied by the enemy, the people rose up to destroy most of the concentration camps to return to their hometowns to make a living. The plots and plans to herd people back to the concentration camps for easier control were all defeated by our people in many ways. A typical example was the fight against the enemy's herding of people into the Quy Kim concentration camp to establish a white belt around Kien An town. This struggle lasted for many days, attracting tens of thousands of people in Kien An, Do Son, Do Hai, Ngoc Quyen towns... and achieved great victory.
The movement against the enemy's conscription also took place vigorously throughout the delta. In the Left Bank alone, in the first three months of 1954, there were more than 200 struggles. In Ha Nam and Nam Dinh, people continuously marched into the city to demand the enemy release the young men being held in concentration camps. Some struggles took place on a fairly large scale and achieved high results. For example, in My Loc district, in April 1954, under the direct direction of the local Party Committee, thousands of people marched to Dang Xa post to demand the enemy release the young men who had been arrested. Although the enemy brutally suppressed and prevented them, the people still rushed up and shouted in fierce protest. Hundreds of women lay down on the road to block enemy vehicles, preventing them from transporting the young men to Nam Dinh. They fired shots to threaten them, but no one faltered. The women both propagated policies and fiercely denounced the enemy's plots, blocking and dragging the arrested people out of the vehicles. Faced with the determined fighting spirit of the people, the enemy was forced to release all 1,250 people (mostly young people from Vu Ban, Y Yen, and My Loc districts).
THANH VINH/qdnd.vn
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