Although not in the original plan of both sides, with this decision, Dien Bien Phu officially became the decisive strategic battle between us and the French colonialists, paving the way for the "famous Dien Bien Phu, shaking the world" victory.
Soldiers pull artillery into the battlefield during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Photo: Archive
High determination
During the resistance war against French colonialism, the Party made many important decisions, creating major turning points for the resistance war, such as launching the Border Campaign, the Peace Campaign, etc. However, the decision to attack Dien Bien Phu was the most important, demonstrating the highest determination of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh throughout the entire resistance war.
For the French and American empires, Dien Bien Phu was an important strategic location to control Northern Vietnam, Upper Laos and Southwestern China.
Initially, the French army, directly led by General Nava, only considered Dien Bien Phu as a normal stronghold to prevent our military actions. However, from the end of 1953, when discovering that our army was moving many forces to the Northwest, the French army focused on reinforcing Dien Bien Phu to turn it into the strongest stronghold group in Indochina.
On December 6, 1953, under the chairmanship of President Ho Chi Minh, the Politburo met to discuss and listen to the General Military Commission report on the determination of the 1954 spring combat plan, focusing on the Dien Bien Phu Front. After listening to the General Military Commission's report, the Politburo discussed, carefully considered and unanimously decided to launch the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, code-named "Tran Dinh". The Front Party Committee was established, including comrades: Hoang Van Thai - Chief of Staff, Le Liem - Political Commissar, Dang Kim Giang - Supply Commissar, General Vo Nguyen Giap was assigned to hold the position of Commander and Secretary of the Front Party Committee.
It can be seen that the decision to attack Dien Bien Phu was a historic decision. When deciding to attack Dien Bien Phu, the Party Central Committee and the Politburo not only recognized the enemy's strengths, our difficulties and obstacles, but also thoroughly analyzed all aspects to find the enemy's weaknesses that we could exploit, and saw the great potential of our army and people to overcome; at the same time, pointed out our decisive advantages.
In the book "Dien Bien Phu Memoirs - Historical Rendezvous", General Vo Nguyen Giap analyzed: We have seen two major weaknesses of the "Dien Bien Phu porcupine".
First of all, the rigidity and passivity of the defense system by the stronghold group that the enemy has chosen. The stronghold group is a tight structure of many strongholds, but in reality, they are still separate strongholds. Although the enemy there is large, when a stronghold is attacked, the main counterforce is still the force of the stronghold itself, plus the support of firepower from a distance and the intervention of a small combat force that we have the conditions to limit. This weakness allows us to concentrate our strength to destroy each stronghold we choose at the right time.
Second, is the isolation of the “porcupine Dien Bien Phu” itself. In reality, Dien Bien Phu lies alone in the middle of a vast, completely liberated mountainous area, very far from the rear bases, especially the enemy’s large air bases. All reinforcements and supplies must rely on air routes. If the air routes are restricted or cut off, it will quickly lose its fighting strength.
General Vo Nguyen Giap also analyzed: On our side, our forces are elite main units with high fighting spirit, advanced technical equipment, enthusiastic and determined to destroy the enemy. Our army has certain experience in fighting the enemy in solid fortifications, has received initial training to fight strongholds, has the ability to overcome difficulties, solve necessary problems in destroying strongholds...
From the above calculations, the General Military Commission affirmed that: “The Dien Bien Phu battle will be the largest siege battle ever… Preparations are difficult, and we need to urgently concentrate forces to keep up, but if we resolutely overcome the difficulties and complete the campaign, this victory will be a very great victory.”
Desire for national liberation
When the Party decided to launch the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, it received the wholehearted support of our people and progressive people around the world, especially the people of oppressed nations.
According to the report of the Central Front Supply Council on July 10, 1954, during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, “the ethnic people of the Northwest, Viet Bac, Lien Khu III, Lien Khu IV contributed more than 260,000 laborers (equivalent to about 13 million working days), 20,991 bicycles and thousands of other rudimentary and semi-rudimentary means of transport. In terms of material security, the people contributed to the campaign (at the source) 25,056 tons of food, 907 tons of meat and thousands of tons of other food...”. This was an extremely great contribution and effort of the Vietnamese people. Evaluating this feat, French General Gra commented: “The entire Vietnamese people have found a solution to the logistical problem and this solution has defeated all calculations and projections of the French General Staff”.
The resistance of the Vietnamese people also received great attention and support from progressive people around the world.
During the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, the Chinese military advisory team actively participated with Vietnamese generals in the stages of surveying, planning, and preparing the battlefield, supporting changes in the combat plans proposed by the Vietnamese side. In terms of material, during the campaign, China provided Vietnam with 1,700 tons of rice, equivalent to 6.8% of the total rice mobilized for the campaign; 3,600 105mm artillery shells, accounting for 18% of the total artillery shells used.
The Soviet Union also paid due attention and provided much support to Vietnam. Sharing the fire with the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, there were also national liberation movements taking place in many places in Asia, Africa and Latin America; in addition, there were anti-war movements in many capitalist countries, especially the anti-war movement of the progressive people of France.
The great support of the Vietnamese people and progressive people around the world is proof that the Party and President Ho Chi Minh's decision to attack Dien Bien Phu was in line with the demands of history and the aspirations of peace-loving people around the world.
After the Politburo decided to destroy the Dien Bien Phu stronghold, the entire Party, people and army quickly entered the preparation stage and carried out the campaign. On March 13, 1954, our army opened fire to attack the Him Lam and Doc Lap strongholds, opening the historic Dien Bien Phu Campaign. After 56 days and nights of heroic fighting, at 5:30 p.m. on May 7, 1954, our army's "Determined to Fight, Determined to Win" flag flew on the roof of the enemy's command bunker, and the Dien Bien Phu Campaign was a complete victory.
The Dien Bien Phu victory in 1954 ended 9 years of long, arduous but also heroic resistance of our army and people. This victory marked a brilliant milestone in the history of the nation and the times, becoming a symbol of heroism and strength of the times, forcing the French colonialists to sign the Geneva Agreement, ending the war and restoring peace in the Indochinese countries, ending the centuries-long domination of French colonialism, opening a new step of development for the revolutions of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The victory encouraged our entire Party, people and army to be determined to successfully carry out the national democratic revolution in the South, unify the country and lead the whole country to socialism.
The Dien Bien Phu victory left the Vietnamese revolution with many valuable lessons: Persistently pursuing the goal of national independence and socialism; maintaining and strengthening the Party's leadership; promptly seizing opportunities, making decisive, sharp, and sensitive strategic decisions to concentrate the strength of the whole country to gain victory. Those lessons remain valuable and continue to be creatively applied by the Party in the current cause of building and defending the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.
Colonel, Dr. Nguyen Van Truong
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