With its timely war news written and disseminated directly from the battlefield, the People's Army Newspaper published at the Dien Bien Phu Front truly became a sharp weapon on the cultural and ideological front.
1. In the history of revolutionary Vietnamese journalism, as well as world journalism, there are few newspapers organized right on the battlefield like the 33 issues of the People's Army Newspaper published at the Dien Bien Phu Front in 1954. The newspaper's editorial office at the Dien Bien Phu Front had only five people: a general manager (Hoang Xuan Tuy), an editorial secretary (Tran Cu), two reporters (Pham Phu Bang, Nguyen Khac Tiep), and a graphic designer (Nguyen Bich), but they had to perform all the tasks of a rear-area newspaper headquarters: writing articles, editing, printing, and distributing. The outstanding and unique feature of these newspapers was the timely and up-to-date nature of the war news. With its function of "propaganda, mobilization, and collective organization," the People's Army Newspaper published at the Dien Bien Phu Front carried the spirit of the battlefield, promptly reflecting the developments of the war as quickly as possible. It encouraged and motivated soldiers to enthusiastically compete in killing the enemy and achieving meritorious deeds, contributing to the great victory of the nation and spreading its influence throughout the world. This is evident in every issue of the 33 newspapers published at the Dien Bien Phu Front.
2. The first issue of the People's Army Newspaper published at the Dien Bien Phu Front was issue 116 (named after the numbering of newspapers published in the rear) on December 28, 1953. This issue focused primarily on publicizing the victory at Lai Chau, with key articles including: "The enemy's retreat from Lai Chau to Dien Bien Phu and our pursuit"; "Advancing into Lai Chau town"; and "Celebrating the liberation of Lai Chau". Besides the Lai Chau victory, the newspaper also featured articles such as "Lao Pathet Lao Liberation Army achieves great victory on the Thakhek Front" and a summary of "The first victories in the Winter-Spring campaign and our tasks". Only with a holistic view can we truly appreciate the immense value of these victories.
According to the Navarre Plan, in the autumn and winter of 1953, the enemy concentrated its main forces in the Northern Delta to carry out strategic defense in the North. In the spring of 1954, they launched a strategic offensive in the South, and in the autumn and winter of 1954, they concentrated their forces to launch a strategic offensive in the North, destroying a significant portion of our main forces and achieving a great military victory that forced us to negotiate an end to the war. Understanding this intention of the French colonialists, we devised the 1953-1954 winter-spring battle plan: to maintain the initiative, force the enemy to disperse their forces, disrupt their concentrated mobile units, and redeploy enemy main forces in different directions, choosing advantageous directions to destroy them. The directions we chose were Northwest Vietnam, Central and Lower Laos, and Northern Central Highlands. These were areas where the enemy had many weaknesses. Lai Chau was the first point we chose to implement this strategy. Our victory at Lai Chau forced the enemy to withdraw their forces to defend Dien Bien Phu and build it into a strong fortified complex, hoping to turn it into a decisive battleground to annihilate our main forces.
Issue No. 117, published on January 3, 1954, the People's Army Newspaper continued with the article "The Significance of the Lai Chau Victory," along with an analysis of the heavy failures of the Navarre Plan under the title "The Navarre Plan Has Suffered Heavy Failures." Subsequent issues of the People's Army Newspaper continuously reported on the fighting on the Central-Lower Laos Front, such as "At the Central Laos Front on Highway 9: Lao Liberation Army Wins Another Great Victory" (issue No. 118, published on January 13, 1954); "Lao Pathet Lao Liberation Army Achieves Great Victory on the Upper Laos Front" (issues No. 121, published on February 7 and No. 122, published on February 11).
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Journalism students learn about 33 issues of the People's Army Newspaper published at the Dien Bien Phu Front, currently stored at the People's Army Newspaper's editorial office. Photo: THANH AN |
Not only did the newspaper reflect the fighting in Northwest Vietnam and Central-Lower Laos, it also updated the fighting on the Northern Central Highlands Front. Issue 122 featured an article titled "Our troops have liberated the entire Kon Tum province." Thus, it can be said that although the People's Army Newspaper was published at the Dien Bien Phu Front, primarily reflecting military activities on the Northwest Front with Dien Bien Phu as its center, it still closely followed the 1953-1954 Winter-Spring campaign plan and reported on the fighting in other key battlefields (Central-Lower Laos and the Northern Central Highlands). This spirit was most clearly demonstrated in issue 123, published on February 18, 1954, which dedicated page 2 to summarizing "The situation of the Winter-Spring campaign this year" on the battlefields of Vietnam and Laos, highlighting prominent military events.
3. The main focus of the war news in the 33 issues of the People's Army Newspaper published at the Dien Bien Phu Front was news about the historic Dien Bien Phu Campaign, from the opening day of the campaign (March 13, 1954) to the closing day (May 7) and continuing until the victory celebration (May 13). The first issue reflecting on this campaign was issue 131, published on March 14, 1954 (one day after the campaign began). This issue included articles such as "Our troops have completely annihilated the enemy forces at Him Lam" (the opening battle of the campaign) and "Completely destroying the Him Lam position". The next issue (issue 132), published the very next day (March 15), included the article "The second great victory at the Dien Bien Phu Front: Our troops completely annihilated the North African Battalion at Doc Lap Hill".
The second phase of the campaign began on March 30 and lasted until April 30, 1954. Reflecting on this phase, issue 138, published on April 2, featured an article titled "Our troops launched the second offensive on Dien Bien Phu, capturing many high points in the East." Issue 139, published on April 4, continued reporting on the victory after four days of the second phase: "At Dien Bien Phu, after four days and nights of fighting: Our troops again annihilated one enemy battalion and nine enemy companies, capturing many high points in the East." Issue 141, published on April 11, reported: "During the two days of April 10 and 11, on Hill No. 4, our soldiers fought bravely and resolutely, continuously defeating five enemy counterattacks." Along with this was an announcement of commendations from the General Staff for units that achieved many successes on the Dien Bien Phu Front. This information was of great motivational and encouraging value, inspiring our troops to fight enthusiastically and achieve many victories on various fronts, especially at Dien Bien Phu. Issues 143 (April 19) and 145 (April 26) continued to report on the victory at Muong Thanh airfield.
The third phase of the campaign lasted seven days (from May 1st to 7th). During this phase, we captured the last remaining high points in the East, simultaneously seizing the opportunity to launch a general offensive, annihilating all enemy forces at Dien Bien Phu. On the very day the third phase began, issue 146 of the newspaper published a summary of the enemy situation at Dien Bien Phu with the headline "The enemy is facing increasing difficulties," along with smaller stories about the precarious situation of the French army on this front. Ten days later (May 11th), the newspaper published the next issue, dedicating two full pages to reporting the victory at Dien Bien Phu. On the first page, the newspaper featured the large headline "The General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army announces: Our army has achieved complete victory on the Dien Bien Phu Front," along with an assessment of the unprecedented and great significance of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.
The last issue of the People's Army Newspaper at the Dien Bien Phu Front was issue 148 (published on May 16, 1954). This was a special issue with 6 pages (three times the size of other regular issues). In this issue, the People's Army Newspaper published the General's Order read at the victory ceremony on May 13, 1954, held at Dien Bien Phu, along with the article "The General's Assessment of the Significance of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign". At the same time, the People's Army Newspaper published President Ho Chi Minh's letter of commendation to the officers, soldiers, civilian workers, and youth volunteers at the Dien Bien Phu Front and the local people; a letter from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Labor Party to the officers, soldiers, civilian workers at the Dien Bien Phu Front and the local people; and a telegram from Mr. Ton Duc Thang - Acting Head of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly and Chairman of the Lien Viet Front - to the Command, officers, soldiers of the People's Army, and civilian workers at the Dien Bien Phu Front. The newspaper also reported on the parade of victorious units at Dien Bien Phu. In addition, there were many articles about the heroic fighting of the units in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.
4. It can be said that the People's Army Newspaper published at the Dien Bien Phu Front was a unique and innovative phenomenon of Vietnamese revolutionary journalism, a newspaper that carried the vibrant spirit of the battlefield. The newspaper was not only an invaluable source of spiritual nourishment for the soldiers but also a tool for disseminating the Party and State's policies and guidelines, providing political and ideological direction to officers and soldiers fighting on the Northwest Front in general, and the Dien Bien Phu battlefield in particular, and transmitting combat experiences to the troops. With its timely war news written and disseminated directly from the battlefield, the People's Army Newspaper at the Dien Bien Phu Front truly became a sharp weapon on the cultural and ideological front. The newspaper fulfilled its function and nhiệm vụ in accordance with the directive on political and ideological work during the 1953-1954 Winter-Spring campaign of the General Political Department of the Vietnam People's Army, which stated: "It is necessary to make cadres and soldiers clearly understand the special importance of the 1953-1954 Winter-Spring campaign, to transform the assessments and policies of the Central Committee and the General Military Commission into the awareness and determination of the masses so that all tasks can be successfully accomplished."
In that sense, it can be affirmed that the People's Army Newspaper published at the Dien Bien Phu Front is not only a precious asset of the Vietnam People's Army but also a special legacy of Vietnamese revolutionary journalism that deserves to be honored appropriately.
Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/van-hoa/doi-song/giau-gia-tri-thong-tin-chien-su-1020033
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