To protect and build Thanh Hoa into a strong base and rear for the resistance war against the French, on the basis of thoroughly implementing the direction of the Party Central Committee and President Ho Chi Minh, the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee has always attached importance to military work, building a strong armed force to both fight to protect the homeland and concentrate forces to support the battlefields. During the resistance war against the French colonialists, together with the Party Committee and all classes of people, the Thanh Hoa armed forces made great contributions.
The Dien Bien Phu victory "resounded throughout the five continents and shook the world". Photo archive
Immediately after the success of the August Revolution in 1945, our country gained independence, and a revolutionary government system was established nationwide. However, on September 23, 1945, the French colonialists returned to invade our country. In that situation, on December 19, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh, on behalf of the Party and the Government, called for a nationwide resistance war against the French colonialists. The national resistance war officially broke out nationwide.
During the resistance war against the French colonialists, Thanh Hoa was both a free zone and a rear base, and at times a frontline directly fighting against the French attacks. Based on the direction of the Party Central Committee and President Ho Chi Minh, the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee has always attached great importance to military work, building a strong armed force to both fight to protect the homeland and concentrate forces to support the battlefield, providing manpower and resources to the frontline.
The image of a bicycle used by porters to transport food during the resistance war against the French is displayed at the Thanh Hoa Provincial Museum.
Right from the early days of the resistance war, Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee paid attention to organizing the armed forces. The Dinh Cong Trang squadron, consisting of 1,500 soldiers, was established during the days of the general uprising. This was one of the first provincial-level main units in the country, and also the core unit for building armed organizations in districts and towns in the province. Authorities at all levels also focused on building militia, guerrillas, self-defense forces, concentrated troops, people's police units, reconnaissance teams, secret security forces, ready to coordinate with main units and the people to fight the enemy and protect the locality.
During the resistance war against French colonialism, although the province had the main task of being the rear base, the French colonialists still continuously launched a series of attacks to sabotage Thanh Hoa. In the face of the plots and actions of the French colonialists, the provincial Party Committee and government had to regularly direct the provincial armed forces to both fight and stop the enemy, and to build and develop resistance bases and protect the area. The provincial resistance committee and administration proactively sent main force troops to coordinate with units of Inter-zone 4, Inter-zone 3, and Inter-zone 10 to fight the enemy in Sam Neua (Laos).
Also from the strategic position of the Western Thanh Hoa region for the safety of the entire Thanh - Nghe - Tinh free zone, the stability and development of the Thanh Hoa rear as well as effective support for the Lao revolution, the Government decided to establish the Special Administrative Committee of the Upper Thanh Hoa region. At the same time, the Upper Militia Leadership Committee was also established in Ngoc Lac district. The Western Thanh Hoa districts built 2 concentrated guerrilla companies, named after 2 famous local commanders, Cam Ba Thuoc and Ha Van Mao. The independent companies of the 77th Regiment and the 2 companies of Cam Ba Thuoc and Ha Van Mao coordinated with the militia of the mountainous districts to organize the fight to destroy the enemy, smash the East-West corridor, and eliminate the reactionary organizations of the French. Along with the victory of the Western army and people, the army and people of the coastal districts smashed the enemy's sweeps, forcing them to board ships and flee.
By early 1950, the Inter-Zone 4 Command decided to establish and directly command the Thanh Hoa Front Command. Thanh Hoa was divided into 5 combat zones. The provincial armed forces were always ready to fight and coordinated with units of Inter-Zone 3 to fight the enemy invading from the North, from the sea, and from the West, contributing to breaking the enemy's Song Ma defense line, destroying, forcing the withdrawal, and forcing the surrender of many posts and posts, completely liberating the western part of Thanh Hoa.
In the summer of 1953, the resistance war of our people entered its 8th year, the situation of the Vietnam battlefield had important changes. In the Northern and Northwestern battlefields, our army and people launched many major campaigns. On December 6, 1953, the Politburo decided to launch the Dien Bien Phu campaign. To mobilize forces to respond to the campaign, the Thanh Hoa Party Committee quickly consolidated and improved the quality of the armed forces, especially the local troops.
Thanh Hoa's packcart convoy serving the Dien Bien Phu campaign (1954). Photo archive
On March 13, 1954, our troops began to open fire to destroy the Him Lam and Doc Lap strongholds, opening the Dien Bien Phu campaign. In coordination with the main Dien Bien Phu battlefield, at Nga Son, the Thanh Hoa Armed Forces and the people stepped up military attacks to hold back the enemy and destroy many enemy forces. The defeat on the main Dien Bien Phu battlefield forced the enemy to withdraw from Nga Son, and they were heavily destroyed in sweeps on the southern coast of Thanh Hoa. Their plot to destroy the Thanh Hoa rear was completely defeated. On August 7, 1954, the French colonialists had to withdraw from Hon Me Island, ending the presence of French troops in Thanh Hoa.
In addition to the task of fighting to protect the locality, Thanh Hoa Armed Forces contributed greatly to the frontline, supplementing many local army battalions and companies to the main force, such as: Battalion 275 of the provincial local army for Regiment 53, companies 150 and 160 for Air Defense Battalion 541, and 2 reconnaissance platoons for Division 304.
In addition, Thanh Hoa also mobilized thousands of officers and soldiers of the 128th Company of Ba Thuoc District, 112th Company of Tinh Gia District, and units of Hoang Hoa, Ha Trung, Quang Xuong, and Thach Thanh to participate in the battle at Dien Bien Phu.
Thanh Hoa's armed forces also served together with the people in major campaigns such as Quang Trung, Hoa Binh, Upper Laos and Dien Bien Phu. In particular, in the Upper Laos and Dien Bien Phu campaigns, Thanh Hoa mobilized to the highest level of people, vehicles and food to meet the needs of the campaigns. The efforts of Thanh Hoa's army and people contributed significantly to the overall victory of the army and people of the whole country, ending the resistance war against the French colonialists with the Dien Bien Phu campaign "famous in five continents, shaking the earth".
Continuing and promoting those glorious traditions, in carrying out the current task of building and defending the Fatherland, Thanh Hoa Military always upholds the spirit of determination to fight and win, constantly improves combat strength, acts as the core in building a national defense for all people, carries out military work, local defense, builds increasingly solid defense zones at all levels to well implement the motto of protecting the Fatherland early, from afar, from when the Fatherland is not yet in danger./.
MSc. Le Hai Yen
Thanh Hoa Provincial Political School
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References: History of Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee, volume 1 (1930 - 1954), researched and compiled in 1999 - 2000, page 295.
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