Dien Bien Phu Campaign: Anti-aircraft artillery and a surprise blow to the enemy

(Dan Tri) - During the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the anti-aircraft artillery force alone shot down 52 out of a total of 62 enemy aircraft shot down. All types of enemy aircraft were shot down by anti-aircraft, according to Colonel Tran Lien.

Although he is 96 years old this year, Colonel Tran Lien (former Staff Officer of the 367th Anti-Aircraft Regiment in 1954) still remembers clearly the tactics of using anti-aircraft artillery in the Dien Bien Phu campaign. He said that since the end of 1952, we decided to build a 105mm artillery regiment and a 37mm anti-aircraft artillery regiment to prepare for the 1953-1954 Winter-Spring plan. In November 1953, the Ministry of National Defense decided to send the 367th Anti-Aircraft Regiment to participate in the Dien Bien Phu campaign and ordered: "The absolute safety and secrecy of the artillery vehicles to the destination is considered 60% of the victory." Keeping the secret until the end, dealing a surprise blow to the enemy On January 8, 1954, anti-aircraft and artillery gathered in Tuan Giao (Dien Bien Phu). According to the initial battle plan, we advocated "fighting quickly, solving quickly", expecting to destroy the Dien Bien Phu stronghold in 3 nights and 2 days. The plan at this time was that 5,000 engineer officers and soldiers and an infantry battalion would pull the artillery by hand 15km of mountain forest road from Na Nhan (Dien Bien district) on Highway 41 through Pha Phu Xong mountain to Tau village on Lai Chau road, Dien Bien, in one day and night.

Colonel Tran Lien, former Staff Officer of Anti-Aircraft Regiment 367 in 1954 (Photo: Hong Phong).

But from January 16 to 26, 1954, we were only able to bring in 2 artillery companies and 2 anti-aircraft companies, with 32 guns scattered on the road. Meanwhile, the enemy had mobilized to increase its forces to 17 Euro-African battalions, 10 Thai companies, artillery, engineers, tanks, and aircraft to the Dien Bien Phu stronghold. When he came from the rear to the front, General Vo Nguyen Giap saw that the enemy situation had changed, so he decided to switch to the motto of "fighting firmly, advancing firmly" and ordered "postponing the attack", pulling out the artillery to gather and prepare fully to ensure victory. The General then reminded: "We must continue to keep the secret of the military branches until the end to be ready to strike a surprise blow on the enemy, at the first appearance, we must make the enemy fear the heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns of Vietnam". From that decision, our army had time to prepare all aspects for combat. The 367th Anti-Aircraft Regiment was composed of 6 battalions, of which 3 battalions (381, 383, 394) fought on the Dien Bien Phu front, and 3 battalions (385, 392, 396) were deployed to protect traffic and the campaign's rear. Our anti-aircraft guns were 37mm, single-barreled cannons and had no night-firing equipment. On the morning of March 11, 1954, all heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns were ready in the fortifications. At 5:30 p.m. on March 13, 1954, the Campaign Command ordered the opening fire. Our 24 105mm cannons fired continuously for 30 minutes at the enemy's positions and headquarters, opening the first phase of the attack.

Officers and soldiers of Air Defense Battalion 383 (Regiment 367) capture targets during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign (Documentary photo).

On the morning of March 14, 1954, the enemy sent a large number of planes from Hanoi to Dien Bien to attack, but were unexpectedly shot down by our anti-aircraft guns, forcing them to withdraw early. After this failure, from March 17, 1954, the enemy organized attacks on our anti-aircraft guns, but we retaliated fiercely, shooting down many planes. Our two anti-aircraft guns, 815 and 827, were attacked by the enemy in their positions, the Command of Company 827 was sacrificed, and 3 guns were damaged. At the same time, our 75mm mountain guns fired at Muong Thanh Airport, destroying 10 enemy planes (from March 27, Muong Thanh Airport was no longer usable). In the first 5 days, our anti-aircraft guns shot down 14 planes and damaged 25. The enemy's artillery was also restrained by our artillery. On March 15, 1954, two days after the opening day of the campaign, the enemy artillery commander named Pirot committed suicide. The growth of Vietnamese artillery During the second phase of the campaign from March 30, 1954 to April 30, 1954, our combat plan was to "peel and surround". Colonel Tran Lien recalled that at that time, our infantry dug trenches to encircle the ground, anti-aircraft guns surrounded and tightened the airspace, cutting off the air bridge. During this time, the enemy had to parachute in 100-120 tons of supplies including food, medicine, artillery shells, mortars... every day. Enemy planes flew over 3,000m but were still shot down by our anti-aircraft guns, so their cargo drops were not as accurate as expected, most of the supplies fell into the area we controlled. In the second phase, our infantry captured the eastern and western high points of the base, cutting the central Muong Thanh and Hong Cum sub-areas in half, leaving only Hill A1 unsolved. In this phase, anti-aircraft artillery shot down a B24 flying fortress and an F8F, capturing pilot Robert Daniel.

The relic of the hand-pulled artillery road in Na Nhan commune, Dien Bien Phu city during the Ban flower season in March (Photo: Dien Bien Phu Newspaper).

From May 1 to 7, 1954, we began the third phase, conducting a general attack. At 8:30 p.m. on May 6, 1954, we detonated explosives to attack Hill A1, and by 4 a.m. on May 7, 1954, we had captured the Hill. The enemy surrendered at 3:30 p.m. the same day. "During the campaign, the anti-aircraft artillery force alone shot down 52 out of a total of 62 enemy aircraft shot down. All types of enemy aircraft (B24, B26, F8F, F6F, F4U, C47, C119) were shot down by anti-aircraft artillery," said Colonel Tran Lien. "The art of using artillery in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign - Lessons learned in organizing and building forces and training for combat today," was also the content of the presentation by Major General Nguyen Hong Phong (Commander of the Artillery Corps). Major General Nguyen Hong Phong said that in the Dien Bien Phu campaign, we secretly used the 45th Regiment of 105mm Howitzers (24 guns), the first towed artillery regiment of our army that the French army did not expect. After 55 days and nights of fighting, the artillery successfully completed its mission, contributing to the campaign to destroy the entire Dien Bien Phu stronghold, eliminating 16,200 enemy soldiers from combat, destroying and capturing many weapons and equipment. According to Major General Nguyen Hong Phong, the successful completion of the mission in the Dien Bien Phu campaign marked the growth and maturity of Vietnamese artillery, in which the art of using artillery had a remarkable development. The artillery formation was also arranged in a dangerous and solid manner, forming a siege of the enemy throughout the campaign, according to Major General Nguyen Hong Phong.

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