"The forest covers the army, the forest surrounds the enemy"

We returned to Dong Tam town (Cho Moi district, Bac Kan province) on a late spring day, when the festival had ended and daily life returned to its hustle and bustle. Passing Tham temple on a small road close to the cliff, looking at the Cau river winding at the foot of the mountain, winding around the village, the gardens with a strong vitality. Layers of alluvium nourish the land of the land, making the mountains and hills green and lush with fruit trees. From Dong Tam town, we went another 2km along the road to Quang Chu commune to reach the historical site of the resistance war of the General Department of Defense Industry and the National Defense Trade Union (at group 3, Dong Tam town). The site has just been ranked as a National Monument by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in December 2024.

The campus of the historical relic of the resistance war of the General Department of Defense Industry and the National Defense Trade Union Committee. Photo: THANH BINH

The historical site was the site where the General Department of Defense Industry implemented the investment project to build the Military Equipment Memorial and Vietnam Weapon Production Union in 2014. The project was built on an area of ​​1,911m2 including the following items: Monument house, cultural house, concrete yard, flower garden, ornamental plants...

Pac San 2 Hamlet, Yen Dinh Commune (now Group 3, Dong Tam Town), Cho Moi District was the military base of the Military Ordnance Department (the predecessor of today's General Department of Defense Industry) during the years 1947-1954. Taking advantage of the advantage of "Forests cover the troops, forests surround the enemy", all houses, offices, and factories were built under the forest canopy. In the early days of the resistance war against French colonialism, the country faced many difficulties, especially in terms of weapons and technical equipment for the armed forces.

The Military Ordnance Department directed the research, production, and repair of weapons, promptly equipping the people's armed forces and the people in the resistance war against the French colonialists. During this time, in Pac San 2 village, engineer Tran Dai Nghia (later Major General, Professor, Academician, Hero of Labor) and his colleagues successfully researched and manufactured Bazooka guns and bullets, SKZ recoilless rifles, grenades, mines, black powder, guns, flintlock bullets, AT guns, rainbow bullets... These weapons contributed significantly to the victory in major campaigns such as the Viet Bac Campaign in the Fall-Winter of 1947, the Border Campaign in 1950, and the Dien Bien Phu Campaign in 1954.

This is also the place where the Vietnam Weapons Production Trade Union was born and operated. The weapons production trade union agency directed the trade union work, encouraged and promoted the workers' movement in military factories to compete enthusiastically in labor, produce and repair many weapons to supply to the fronts and battlefields against the French colonialists. The initial weapons production trade union gradually built and formed a vertical trade union system in the Army, creating the premise for the birth of today's National Defense Trade Union.

Memories of the old war zone

We went to the house of Mr. Luong Van Nam (born in 1932) in Group 3, Dong Tam town. At the age of 93, Mr. Nam is still lucid, using a smartphone, doing light work to help his children and grandchildren. We visited him in the morning, when he was meticulously cutting the leaves of the “chít” tree for his children to wrap “banh gio”. Every day, his family wraps several thousand cakes to sell. Although his hands are no longer as flexible as before, he feels happy with such simple tasks every day. He welcomed us in his sturdy, airy stilt house, when we expressed our desire to hear him share his memories of the old war zone.

Mr. Nam recounted that in the 40s of the last century, Pac San 2 village, nearly 2km2 wide, was a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, right on the bank of Cau River. The roads were very difficult to travel, the small, narrow path wound along the winding riverbank. To reach the town center for communication and trading, one had to go through the most difficult section, the road through Tham Temple, at that time the road was only wide enough for one foot. Therefore, since ancient times, the population was very sparse, few people passed by, in 1948, houses were built along the riverbank with a few small fields, the rest was dense forest, mostly lim trees with ancient trees that two people could not hug around. Because of the characteristics of such land, it was chosen as the place where the Military Department operated.

In the memory of Mr. Luong Van Nam, when the Military Department moved to Pac San 2, at that time the village had only 16 households living together. The commune leaders and the village chief mobilized the people to help the agency transport equipment, machinery, and raw materials mainly from the center of Yen Dinh commune (now Dong Tam town) and moved them to Pac San 2 to hide under the stilt houses of the households in the village. Mr. Nam recalled that they were sealed wooden boxes, carefully and neatly covered with parachute cloth. When the soldiers finished building the factory, they moved them all out one by one. The relationship between the army and the people was like fish and water, the people enthusiastically helped the soldiers, the soldiers also enthusiastically helped the people during the harvest season, such as bailing water with a bucket into the fields; teaching literacy to everyone in the village...

At the age of 16, the young man Luong Van Nam joined the guerrilla team led by Hoang Van Sang as squad leader at home. A year later, due to work requirements, Luong Van Nam replaced Hoang Van Sang as squad leader. Due to the nature of the war zone, "no one goes out, no one comes in", all production and combat activities were disciplined, each department only knew its own department, and were kept secret at the highest level. As a resident of the war zone, and a special agency, the Military Armament Department directed the research, production, and supply of weapons and technical equipment for the people's armed forces, such as: grenades, mines, black powder, guns, flintlock bullets, Bazooka, AT and rainbow bullets, and grenade shells.

During his time protecting the agency, Mr. Nam's guerrilla squad was all trained and given guns. Mr. Nam was given a Mousqueton gun to perform military duties in the locality. There was close coordination between the professional security team and the guerrilla team from the inside out.

Mr. Nam still remembers clearly each plot of land associated with the agency areas, area 1 is the research area, area 2 is the department area, area 3 is the food and food area, area 4 is the working area of ​​engineer Tran Dai Nghia, which is the most carefully and strictly protected. Because it was made of materials such as bamboo and rattan and after nearly 80 years, the relic only retains the ground. The relic area still has an ancient banyan tree from the time engineer Tran Dai Nghia lived and worked here.

In early October 1954, after peace was restored in the North, the agency moved to the lowlands. The farewell between the agency and the villagers was very emotional and regretful, everyone looked forward to the day they would meet again. That period of time has passed, in the locality, Mr. Nam is the only living historical witness. Over the years, Mr. Nam occasionally asked his children and grandchildren to take him to the village cultural house, where more than 50 photos associated with a period of revolutionary activities in the old war zone are kept... Mr. Luong Van Nam was admitted to the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1964 and was awarded the Second Class Resistance Medal, the 55-year Party membership badge, by the Party and the State...

Coming to the relic site and listening to Mr. Nam tell stories, in our minds, each of us felt the contributions and dedication of generations of fathers and brothers in the resistance war and national construction. We admire even more engineer Tran Dai Nghia and his colleagues and the military equipment soldiers who promoted the will of self-reliance, self-strengthening, diligence and creativity, not afraid of difficulties and hardships, making efforts to research and produce many types of weapons and technical equipment to serve the soldiers in a timely manner, contributing with the entire Party, the entire army and the entire people to fight and defeat all enemies, writing heroic pages of the nation's history.

Notes of HUONG LY

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/phong-su-dieu-tra/phong-su/ve-tham-chien-khu-xua-cua-bo-doi-quan-gioi-821720