Lessons on "the power of the people"

The historic victory of Dien Bien Phu (May 7, 1954) left many profound lessons in our nation’s cause of building and defending the Fatherland. Among those valuable lessons, the lesson about “the power of the people’s hearts” is the most brilliant peak…

The power of the people has defeated all the most modern and sophisticated weapons. Photo: Document

Reading the verses “…Fifty-six days and nights of digging mountains, sleeping in tunnels, pouring rain, steamed rice…” by poet To Huu, one would think that the Dien Bien Phu campaign took place and ended in victory after 56 days and nights of tenacious fighting by our army and people against the invading French colonialists? No, the Vietnamese people “resisted for three thousand days without rest”; in the Dien Bien Phu campaign alone, for 210 days and nights, our army and people devoted their strength and heart with the spirit of “All for the front, all for victory”!

The Dien Bien Phu victory “resounded throughout the five continents, shook the world”, ending the 9-year long resistance war against French colonialism (1945 - 1954); forcing the French colonialists to sign the Geneva Agreement to end the war and restore peace in Indochina. Over the past 70 years, there have been many studies and lessons drawn from the Dien Bien Phu victory; that is the lesson of the crystallization of the intelligence, steadfastness and patriotic tradition of the Vietnamese people; the lesson of Vietnamese military art; the lesson of promoting the strength of great national unity; the lesson of “the people’s heart position”…

Bamboo poles built by the people themselves transported weapons and food for the Dien Bien Phu campaign. Photo: Document

First of all, affirming the leadership role of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh in gathering and arousing the patriotism of our people, making the people clearly see that for the benefit of the nation, they unite, creating invincible strength in the Dien Bien Phu campaign.

In the years 1947 - 1953, with our army continuously winning victories in the Viet Bac - Thu Dong campaigns (1947), the Border campaign (1950) ... the war situation in Vietnam and Indochina changed unfavorably for the French colonialists. To save the situation, France built Dien Bien Phu into a strong stronghold to block, attract and wear down our main force, controlling the entire Northwest region of Vietnam and Upper Laos. The French colonialists mobilized and arranged forces in Dien Bien Phu at the peak of up to 16,200 troops, many modern weapons and means of war at 49 strongholds with 3 sub-regions: Northern Sub-region, Southern Sub-region and Central Sub-region. France confidently claimed that the Dien Bien Phu stronghold was "inviolable"!

On December 6, 1953, the Politburo met and decided to launch the Dien Bien Phu campaign; established the Campaign Command, General Vo Nguyen Giap was appointed as Party Secretary and Commander of the Campaign Command; Major General Hoang Van Thai as Chief of Staff of the campaign; Deputy Prime Minister Pham Van Dong as Chairman of the Front Supply Council...

Faced with the situation of the enemy increasing their forces and changing their positions, at the Party Committee meeting of the front, General Vo Nguyen Giap decided to change the combat strategy from "fight fast, solve quickly" to "fight firmly, advance firmly"; a timely decision, suitable to the reality of the entire battlefield and the specific situation of the front.

Dien Bien Phu has rugged mountainous terrain, many high passes, deep ravines, and almost no roads; ensuring logistics, medical, and technical supplies for a large-scale campaign lasting for many days posed great difficulties. Faced with that situation, our Party promoted the combined strength of both the rear and the front lines to fully and promptly provide all the requirements of the campaign.

The Politburo's resolution and President Ho Chi Minh's call "The entire people, the entire Party and the Government must definitely use all their strength to support the Dien Bien Phu campaign and must definitely do everything necessary to win this campaign" were responded to by the army and people of the whole country. This was the "largest military campaign", in addition to 55,000 main force troops, more than 100,000 people were mobilized, including: laborers, youth volunteers and other forces to participate in the campaign. With the spirit of "all for the front, all for victory", from the Viet Bac free zone, Inter-zone 3, Inter-zone 4, the Northwest to the base areas in the Northern Delta and Upper Laos, all focused their human and material resources on the Dien Bien Phu campaign.

Documents recorded that in 210 days (from November 1953 to May 1954), we mobilized 261,653 frontline laborers to participate in the campaign; of which 18,200 cadres, team members, and youth volunteers directly participated, built 89 km of new roads and repaired 500 km of roads to serve the transportation of weapons, food, and provisions for the campaign. In particular, the bright spot that demonstrated the ingenuity and intelligence of the Vietnamese people that greatly surprised the French colonialists was the effective use of primitive means; and, the bicycle was the main means of transporting thousands of tons of goods to the stronghold, contributing to the victory of Dien Bien Phu. In the Dien Bien Phu campaign, 22,000 bicycles were mobilized; 11,800 boats of all kinds, 1,800 bamboo rafts, 756 primitive vehicles, 914 pack horses, buffalo carts, wheelbarrows, a fleet of 628 cars... transported 30,759 tons of food, provisions, weapons... to serve the campaign.

In the people's participation in the Dien Bien Phu campaign, there are simple but extremely touching stories, showing the high level of patriotism imbued in every Vietnamese person. Among the more than 7,000 wheelbarrows participating in the campaign that were built by the people themselves, Mr. Trinh Dinh Ban (Dinh Lien commune, Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa province) was the one who built the most. Among the 3 pieces of wood on a wheelbarrow, there was a board that Mr. Ban took from his family's ancestral altar! And, there were old people over 70 years old who still volunteered to work as laborers...

With 56 days and nights of “digging mountains, sleeping in tunnels…”, through 3 sudden, thunderous attacks, our army crushed the Dien Bien Phu stronghold complex - the “impregnable fortress” of the French colonialists, captured General De Castries; eliminated 16,200 enemy soldiers from combat, seized all of the enemy’s weapons and military equipment; and ended the campaign.

The Dien Bien Phu victory represents the highest tradition of patriotism and revolutionary heroism of the Vietnamese people; affirms the talented leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh in carrying out the people's war; thoroughly promotes the "power of the people's hearts" to create the greatest victory in the 20th century.

The lesson of "Forbearance and tolerance for the people" of our ancestors has been and is being continued to be promoted by our Party in the cause of building and defending the country.

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