Guerrilla warfare and the army's rear contributed to victory.

During the Atlan campaign, the Campaign Command and Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee thoroughly utilized the spirit and art of people's war and guerrilla warfare; mobilized the entire strength of organizations, people, financial and material resources, creating an invincible strength, ready to fight and win, determined to die for the Fatherland.

In the Phu Yen free zone, the provincial local army had only 3 companies C377, C392, C389 and 4 local companies in Tuy Hoa (C378), Son Hoa (C380), Tuy An (C374), Dong Xuan (371) districts, in communes with guerrilla forces. By the end of February and early March 1954, the Phu Yen battlefield was reinforced with the main force Battalion 375 (taken from the local army - C389); on March 20, Battalion 365 was added.

Meanwhile, the French launched the Atlant campaign against Phu Yen on the morning of January 20, 1954, with a force 10 times stronger in terms of troops, firepower, and combat equipment. Along with that was a preemptive, four-pronged combat plan: Attack from Khanh Hoa out, attack from Dak Lak down, land from the sea, and parachute troops to Chop Chai airport.

The enemy expected that within 3 days they would easily occupy the southern area of Phu Yen province. However, the reality was completely opposite, the French army's march was fiercely fought by the Phu Yen army and people, causing heavy casualties. After 10 days, the French army was able to advance to Tuy Hoa town, occupying some localities along Highway 1. In the next three weeks, the enemy continued to suffer casualties, wasting away, and continuously requested reinforcements. On January 20, 1954, the campaign began, and on February 16, 1954, General Nava had to increase 3 mobile corps: 41, 42, 100, bringing the total to 34 battalions.

Guerrilla warfare - take the few against the many!

With such a huge difference in force, we still defeated the Atlan campaign. This shows the important role of the art of people's war and guerrilla warfare.

The lessons that we later learned, explaining the heroic feats of arms throughout both the resistance wars against the French and the Americans to save the country in general and the defeat of the Atlant campaign in particular, are: The resistance line is independent and autonomous, correct, creative, determined to fight, determined to win. In fighting the enemy, we know how to use the small to fight the big, promote the strength of the revolutionary war method and the military art of people's war. Organize and mobilize the entire people's forces to fight the enemy, taking the people's armed forces as the core. While fighting the resistance, we also build bases and build a strong rear. Build a united front for the entire people. Make every effort to build the Party, build Party cells to become fighting strongholds, train cadres equal to the mission of leading the resistance.

In fact, in the war to defeat the Atlan campaign, the Phu Yen Party Committee trained a large contingent of cadres and soldiers with pure revolutionary qualities, closely attached to the people. The Party comprehensively led all aspects of politics, ideology, and organization, leading the resistance to victory.

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh once affirmed: “The militia, self-defense forces and guerrillas are the forces of the entire nation, an invincible force, an iron wall of the Fatherland. No matter how ferocious the enemy is, if they come into contact with that force, that wall, any enemy will have to disintegrate.”

Guerrilla warfare is a type of warfare conducted by small forces, the core of which is the local armed forces. Guerrilla warfare is proactive, clever, fast, widespread, continuous, everywhere, at all times, with all kinds of primitive and modern weapons. The army and people of Phu Yen in the At-Lang campaign successfully applied this method.

One of the feats that showed the role of guerrilla warfare on the Phu Yen battlefield was that the Hoa My commune guerrillas set up defenses, planted mines, and planted spikes on the road to the village when the enemy massively advanced to Hoa My commune, stationed troops in Phu Thuan hamlet, and divided into 3 groups to sweep the entire commune. As a result, the enemy stumbled upon mines, exhausted their forces, and faltered; or the guerrillas arranged positions out of sight, favorable for sniping. The surprise and secretive attack made the enemy only station troops in Hoa My commune for 1 day and 1 night, then retreated without fanfare.

Reviewing the battles in the Atlan campaign, from small-scale to concentrated, the main force and local militia skillfully applied guerrilla warfare, using the few to fight the many, using the weak to defeat the strong, using the enemy's weapons to destroy the enemy, using primitive weapons along with intelligence to counter the enemy's modern weapons.

The long-haired army contributed to the defeat of the Atlantean campaign.

From the very first days of fighting against the Atlan campaign, Phu Yen women actively served the battlefield and participated in combat.

Not only the women's force, in the Atlan campaign in particular and throughout the two resistance wars to protect the Fatherland in general, the army and people of Phu Yen mobilized all forces and social components... which were propagated and educated by the Party in the spirit of patriotism, joining hands and unanimity in the fight to protect the Fatherland, determined to reach the final victory of national liberation and national unification.

In Hoa Xuan, there was a whole team of women doing enemy propaganda work led by Ms. Dang Thi Lieu and Ms. Trai. The team's mission was to do enemy propaganda work, scout and stay close to the posts, gather information and report back so that the army could plan to fight the enemy.

South of Ban Thach River, in addition to the network of female guerrillas surrounding the enemy, there were also many women from Hoa Vinh, Hoa Tan, Hoa Hiep communes... who guarded the fighting fence day and night, built fortifications along Ban Thach River, and contributed to fighting the enemy when they were surrounded and isolated in the north of Ca Pass. Being continuously attacked by armed forces combined with military propaganda, many enemy forces were destroyed, and revolutionary strength was developed right in the enemy-controlled area in Hoa Xuan commune.

On the Western Front, in Son Ha and Son Dinh communes (Son Hoa district), the female guerilla teams were divided into two groups, one group stayed close to the enemy and fought, the other group participated in guiding people to evacuate when the enemy raided. Women in the communes of Son Hoa district responded to the movement of each person sharpening 100 spikes to resist the raids, and participated in making primitive weapons such as slingshots, bows, stone traps, poisoned arrows... to fight the enemy.

In the east of the coastal communes of Tuy Hoa 1, Tuy Hoa 2, Tuy An, and Song Cau districts, female militia teams participate in guarding and promptly alerting when the enemy appears so that coastal people can feel secure in their work. In addition to the task of promptly alerting, female militia teams also have to help people evacuate to a safe place when the enemy bombards or lands.

During the resistance war against the French in general and the At-Lang campaign in particular, many Phu Yen women were elected as emulation fighters in many fields, such as: Ms. Dang Thi Lien (Xuan Long commune, Dong Xuan district) was a popular education fighter; Ms. Nguyen Thi Dap (An My commune, Tuy An district) was a fighter who killed the enemy; Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga (An Ninh commune, Tuy An district) was a medic; Ms. Nguyen Thi Chin (Hoa Kien commune, Tuy Hoa town) was a nursing fighter; Ms. Nguyen Thi Roi (An Xuan commune, Tuy An district) was an agricultural production fighter...

Hero of the People's Armed Forces HO DAC THANH TRAN QUOI - PHAN THANH

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