During the days when the whole country turned its attention to Dien Bien , we visited the small house in residential group 8, Nam Thanh ward, Dien Bien Phu city - where Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ly lives. Mrs. Ly was a frontline laborer who participated in transporting food for our army at the Dien Bien Phu battlefield. This year she has turned 89, but the memories of the time carrying rice, clearing roads through forests, waterfalls, high mountains, deep ravines... are still intact in her mind. Especially, every time someone mentions the Dien Bien Phu Campaign or the frontline laborers, the youth volunteers, Mrs. Ly seems to return to the spirit of her twenties.
Knowing that we wanted to hear the story of "the woman carrying the load, the man carrying the load", as if touching the most beautiful memories of her life, her eyes lit up as she told us about those unforgettable years.
Born and raised in An Lac village, Hanh Phuc commune, Tho Xuan district ( Thanh Hoa province), in 1953, Nguyen Thi Ly turned 18 years old. Responding to the call for the entire population to participate in transporting food to serve the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, Ly eagerly volunteered to go to serve the campaign.
Ms. Ly said: “At that time, everywhere in the village and commune there was the slogan “All for the front, all for victory”. Many people volunteered to join the campaign, so the road to the front was as crowded as a festival; the whole village and commune only had the elderly and children left.”
After passing the "selection rounds", Ms. Ly and hundreds of other young men and women took on the task of transporting food and provisions to the Dien Bien Phu battlefield. At that time, all food, provisions and essential goods from all over the province were gathered at the Luoc warehouse (Tho Xuan) and Cam Thuy warehouse. From here, food continued to be transported in many directions with many different routes to ensure safety, secrecy, and avoid enemy detection, such as: the route from Tho Xuan to Lang Chanh and then to Hoi Xuan (Quan Hoa); the route from Tho Xuan through Cam Thuy, up to Ba Thuoc and then back to Hoi Xuan. Further, goods were transported from Hoi Xuan to Suoi Rut (Mai Chau - Hoa Binh ). From here, goods continued to be transported through the Co Noi junction (Son La) and then through Pha Din pass, to Tuan Giao district. Further, goods continued to be transported to a large warehouse in the Na Tau forest, nearly 40km from the battlefield. Another direction goes from Phu Le (Quan Hoa), through the forest through Muong Lat district, to Upper Laos and then back to Dien Bien...
In a simple house, Mrs. Ly proudly recounted the wartime. At that time, on average, each woman carried 20kg of rice from Tho Xuan to the warehouse in Suoi Rut (Hoa Binh province) to transport to Son La and to the Dien Bien battlefield. The group of porters transporting food to Dien Bien Phu had to take many different routes to avoid detection by secret agents and enemy aircraft. When night fell, the men and women carried rice to the battlefield. To bring the rice to a safe place was a difficult and arduous process that cannot be described in words. Enemy bombs exploded right next to the ears; the forest roads were dangerous, steep, deep ravines, and forest mosquitoes biting the women, causing malaria; food and water were scarce; many people passed away forever. But with the spirit of "all for the front, all for victory", groups of rudimentary bicycles and people carrying loads on foot followed each other through high mountains and deep passes into the campaign. From that first trip, she could not remember how many trips she had participated in and how much goods she had transported to Dien Bien. Until one day, they received news from their comrades on the front line: Dien Bien Phu had been liberated! Immediately, the entire forest, which was usually quiet, burst into cheers from tens of thousands of laborers.
With the great contributions of the youth volunteers and frontline laborers in transporting food for the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, Thanh Hoa became the largest rear base in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Every time the Central Government assigned Thanh Hoa to mobilize and transport food, Thanh Hoa always completed and exceeded the target. Typically, in the first phase, the Central Government assigned Thanh Hoa to mobilize and transport 1,352 tons of rice (delivered at Hoi Xuan), 100 tons of food (delivered at Son La). In the second phase, the mobilization and transport of 1,000 tons of rice and 165 tons of food delivered at Km22, Road 41, Thanh Hoa was completed 3 days ahead of schedule.
When the campaign entered its final phase, due to the urgent demands of the battlefield, the Central Government assigned Thanh Hoa to mobilize the third phase with the target of 2,000 tons of rice and 282 tons of food. At this time, the province's rice reserves were gone, the harvest season had not yet come, the people had "emptied their baskets and baskets" to provide the frontline with the last grains of rice; many families had to eat young corn, cassava instead of rice to save rice for the frontline. To have enough food for the troops to eat well and win, Thanh Hoa advocated mobilizing the people to go to the fields to trim each branch of rice and ripe rice. The results exceeded the assigned target, contributing significantly to the victory of Dien Bien Phu.
After years of participating in transporting food for the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, frontline laborers like Ms. Ly continued to participate in the resistance war against the US to save the country. Ms. Nguyen Thi Ly was recognized by the State and awarded the First Class Resistance War Medal against the US.
70 years have passed, now there are very few people like Mrs. Ly who “carry goods, carry rice, clear the way for vehicles to pass”. But the contributions of her and her teammates will forever be honored by history, the nation and the descendants. As General Secretary Le Duan once affirmed: “Without the Thanh - Nghe - Tinh rear (Thanh Hoa - Nghe An - Ha Tinh), there would be no Dien Bien Phu victory”.
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