We sniper in Dien Bien

The Vietnamese people's intelligence and creativity have been highly praised by international friends. In the Dien Bien Phu campaign, our troops flexibly and creatively applied many fighting methods, including sniping.

That was the confession of veteran Nguyen Kim Toan when talking to us about his days fighting in Dien Bien Phu.

Mr. Toan recounted that in Dien Bien Phu, changing the fighting style to "fighting firmly, advancing firmly" in a timely manner was a great intelligence and creativity, rarely seen in the history of world war. It was from the motto "fighting firmly, advancing firmly" that we created a system of trenches to surround the entire enemy army in Dien Bien, making them lose the ability to retreat. Specifically, our army dug trenches to surround each area of Muong Thanh, Hong Cum... Then we dug trenches to surround each stronghold, pointing each section of the "beard" trench close to the fence, close to the enemy's gun emplacement... then the enemy's retreat was no longer possible.

Another content related to our later sniping method was the enemy's supply. Previously, transport planes landed directly at Muong Thanh airport. When our anti-aircraft artillery controlled them, they landed and took off like thieves. When our troops dug trenches to cut Muong Thanh airport in half and held it there, enemy planes had to drop parachutes for soldiers from nearby bases to collect and rob. Until our troops had surrounded the base so tightly that the enemy soldiers from inside the base could no longer "rob parachutes", then enemy planes were forced to swoop very low, choose the wind, and drop parachutes so that they fell on the base's surface. Of course, our anti-aircraft artillery made it very rare for enemy planes to achieve that wish. However, enemy soldiers still hoped for some kind of release from their superiors. Therefore, our troops had to increase pressure by organizing sniping at each enemy base.

Shock units attacked Muong Thanh airport during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Photo: Archive

“At that time, each of our battalions had a sniper squad. In Battalion 418, Regiment 57, Division 304, the sniper squad was located in Company 60 and was in charge of several bases in the Hong Cum area. Depending on the terrain of each base and the control ability of each base, the number of people in charge of snipers was arranged at each enemy base, especially in places where the enemy often moved around, forcing them to get out of the trenches such as: going to get water, food, going to the toilet…”, veteran Nguyen Kim Toan recounted.

After some of them died and were injured while walking on the ground, the enemy either stopped or suddenly jumped up and quickly escaped. Our comrades had learned their lesson, so they still suffered casualties and were defeated by us… so the enemy switched to moving at night.

While we were still unsure how to destroy the enemy at night, our superiors equipped our units with specialized sniper rifles. The rifles were a bit heavier and longer, but they could shoot farther and more accurately thanks to the scope. Knowing the difficulties of our unit, our superiors also equipped us with night vision devices. From then on, the enemy operated almost day and night in the trenches. We were always waiting, and whenever someone popped his head up, we would “bang”, hit him in the head, causing terror in the enemy.

Sniping in the early days, especially on days when there was an element of surprise, many bullets could penetrate 2 enemies. Some days, each comrade could kill 4 to 5 enemies. But later on, it was very difficult. The enemy was on guard, on guard, and on the defensive…

“We are sometimes very stressed. Our eyes are tired and sometimes our eyelids are stiff because we haven’t dared to blink for a long time. Honestly, sometimes we want to wait for the shift to change so we can relax, first and foremost to rest our eyes,” said veteran Nguyen Kim Toan.

When summarizing the campaign, the sniper mission alone, veteran Nguyen Kim Toan's squad killed 96 enemies and was commended - most of them were commended by the regiment, some comrades were commended by the division. The deputy squad leader and Mr. Nguyen Kim Toan were elected as Regimental Emulation Soldiers.

According to People's Army Newspaper

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