Dien Bien Phu Campaign: On April 18, 1954, after 4 days of besieging the enemy, Regiment 141 began to attack stronghold 105. The enemy hastily withdrew from the stronghold. Stronghold 105 protecting the north of the airport was completely destroyed.
On the enemy side: On April 18, Deputy Commander of the Central Area Bigeard recruited a company of the 6th Parachute Battalion and a company of the 1st Moroccan Battalion to launch a march towards the 105th stronghold, hoping to organize a retreat to Muong Thanh with the Foreign Legion Company there.
At exactly 2 o'clock, the march began. But when they reached the airport, the troops suffered heavy losses because the front line's fire grid had been so well-arranged that a reckless advance would be a useless sacrifice. The march was completely bogged down.
At dawn, a part of the French army had to retreat to an engineer position that had just been set up in the drainage trench at the edge of the airport. This trench could provide some protection from the Viet Minh artillery fire, but it was flooded. At 7:30, Bigeard understood that in Dien Bien Phu, there was no way out if one dared to take risks; the plan to retreat to Muong Thanh had failed and to persist would do more harm than good, even if it saved a few of these unfortunate people.
Under attack, the enemy in the positions of Hill C scattered, our shock troops in the trenches used sniper rifles to shoot the enemy. Photo: VNA
The morning mist partially shielded them from the enemy, after a volley of grenades and the support of a single machine gun from a wounded corporal who volunteered to stay behind to provide cover fire, the troops jumped over our trench, some of the soldiers were bewildered, and rushed towards the French stronghold. Only then did our soldiers open fire. When Bigeard, the commander of the stronghold, gathered his troops at Huguette 2 at 10 o'clock, the company had suffered 106 dead, 49 wounded and 79 missing. Of the 16 officers of Huguette 6, only 5 survived.
On the night of April 18, after four days of besieging the enemy, Regiment 141 began attacking stronghold 105. The enemy hastily abandoned the stronghold and fled. Stronghold 105, which protected the northern part of the airport, was completely destroyed.
At this time, the 88th Regiment of the 308th Division had dug a trench across Muong Thanh airport and established contact with the 141st Regiment of the 312th Division on the east side of the airport. The 36th Regiment was also consolidating the siege position of the 206th stronghold. The 206th stronghold became an emergency position in the north of the central area. The position was defended by the 4th Company of the 13th Foreign Legion Half-Brigade. The foreign legionnaires here resisted quite fiercely. The soldiers from the two provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang had experience in destroying the 106th position, persisted in the siege tactic, and were determined to win with the least loss of men and weapons.
If the experience of “encroaching” of Regiment 36 was spread throughout the front, this time it was the turn of Regiment 141 to quickly spread the experience of “encircling” and “sniping” to all units. The whole front was aroused by the movement of “Sniper Competition”. The infantry approached and sniped each enemy soldier. The artillery and mortars were also deployed to gradually move forward and snip each enemy gun emplacement.
At this time, many new recruits from the rear came to the front to supplement the units that were lacking in troops. Among these new recruits were many youth volunteers and laborers who carried supplies to the front and then applied to join the army, volunteering to return home after independence. There were also many students who asked to become "Uncle Ho's soldiers" to fight in Dien Bien Phu. The process of encircling and sniping the enemy was also a process of training new recruits right in the field. Within 4 days, four sniper teams killed 110 enemies, with a "skillful" soldier killing 13 enemies with 15 bullets.
THANH VINH/qdnd.vn
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