Destroy base 105 north of Muong Thanh Airport

Our army attacked the position north of Muong Thanh airport, destroying an enemy company.

Base 105 (Huguette 6) was one of the important bases, located by the French north of Muong Thanh Airport, protecting and controlling a relatively large area to prevent our attacks.

The goal of capturing stronghold 105 had been thoroughly understood beforehand. After a period of careful preparation in all aspects, the General Military Commission decided to use several regiments of Division 308 and Division 312 to attack the stronghold.

On the night of April 18, 1954, our army opened fire to attack stronghold 105. We continuously attacked and organized to defeat the enemy's counterattacks.

On the enemy side, realizing that Muong Thanh Airport was in danger of being cut in half and Huguette 6 at the northern end of the airport was about to be destroyed, half of Muong Thanh Airport, occupying one-fifth of the area of ​​the stronghold, would fall into enemy hands, De Castries ordered Langlais to immediately proceed to clear the airport, first of all to supply Huguette 6 far away which was tightly surrounded.

On April 15, 16, and 17, Langlais mobilized three airborne battalions, the 1st, 2nd, and 6th, to launch an operation to relieve and supply Huguette 6 at the northern end of the airport. The legionnaires at this stronghold not only lacked ammunition but also lacked drinking water.

However, the supply operation for Huguette 6 caused Langlais to lose more combat troops than the counterattacks to regain Hill C1. At the end of the third day, De Castries ordered the third officer Bizard, the commander at Huguette 6, to withdraw his troops from here on the night of April 18.

Bigeard, deputy commander of the central sector, gathered a force consisting mainly of paratroopers and legionnaires, along with two tanks to clear the way, to intercept the retreating troops at Huguette 6. But the entire army lost its fighting strength in front of our trenches after less than half an hour of fire.

Bigeard had to order the commander of Huguette 6 to "either leave all the wounded behind, open an escape route to Muong Thanh or surrender."

Shock units attack Muong Thanh Airport

On our side, thoroughly implementing the idea of ​​actively attacking, and at the same time creating favorable conditions to attack and destroy all enemy troops, the Party Committee and the Campaign Command advocated continuing to consolidate and build the battlefield, tighten the siege and gradually suffocate the enemy, capture the airport, actively attack aircraft, cut off supplies, actively fight enemy counterattacks, encircle and attack, and sniping, causing the enemy's defense area to narrow, supplies to be difficult, casualties to increase, forces to be worn out, and morale to increasingly collapse.

Based on the tasks assigned by the Campaign General Staff, the divisions set to work, first of all building the battlefield.

Building the battlefield was a fierce struggle between us and the enemy. The closer we dug to the stronghold, the more we threatened their survival, so they tried their best to stop us. They used artillery to fire explosive shells in the air, used planes to bomb and shell, and sent troops to fill in the trenches...

During the day the enemy filled in, at night we came up and continued digging. The soldiers came up with many ways to dig. At first we crawled on the ground with a "gourd" of straw covering the front, then switched to digging, digging a hole and gradually digging up to the front. Finally we used the method of digging underground in sections and then collapsing it, with a straw cover on top to cover the shrapnel.

Our army successfully applied the tactic of 'sneaking in,' digging trenches, secretly approaching deep into the enemy's fort, so much so that the French army felt like our troops were 'coming up from underground' right in the middle of the enemy's fort.

Thanks to the persistent struggle and those innovations, the trenches were getting closer and closer to the enemy base. On April 10, the 57th Regiment dug across Hong Cum Airport.

On April 15, the 165th Regiment's position approached the 105th stronghold, in some places 15 meters from the fence. On April 17, many sections of the fence surrounding the stronghold were cut. The enemy was tightly surrounded, without food supplies or drinking water.

Leveraging their experience in encroachment, on the night of April 18, Regiment 165 destroyed stronghold 105 protecting the northern part of the airport. The last stronghold at the northern end of the airport no longer exists.

TB (according to VNA)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/chien-dich-dien-bien-phu-tieu-diet-cu-diem-105-phia-bac-san-bay-muong-thanh-379163.html