Take enemy tanks to transport troops

On the night of March 25, the unit marched south of Hue City. A part of Battalion 7 went ahead. Along the way, they saw many enemy tanks abandoned, and a comrade suggested trying to take them to transport the troops faster. With the commander's consent, comrade Hue climbed into a fairly new M41 tank (Hue used to be a bulldozer driver). He climbed into the cockpit, and after a while, he got out and shook his head: "I don't like this tank!"

The entire platoon turned their eyes to Sergeant Pham Trong Quy. "I heard you used to be a "bus conductor", why don't you try going up there and see?" - said a soldier.

Entering the cockpit, Quy fumbled around but couldn’t get the engine to start. As he was about to leave the vehicle, he saw three switches on the dashboard. He pressed them randomly and suddenly the engine started. The whole unit cheered with joy. Quy told his men to move aside for safety because he didn’t know the tank’s gear system well, so he would try it first.

The brothers waited anxiously. The tank shifted into gear, stopped, and slowly moved forward. Quy leaned out and said, "We know how to drive, let's get in." The soldiers quickly helped each other get in. The comrade in charge asked the soldiers not to use the cannon on the tank because they did not know how it worked, and were only allowed to use the 12.7mm machine gun and heavy machine gun on the tank when necessary.

At dawn, the car reached Huong Thuy (outskirt of Hue), someone shouted: "The car is on fire". Quy turned off the engine, everyone jumped down. The two exhaust pipes were glowing red. Many people living along the road brought water to pour on the tank. An old man said: "The car is not on fire, but because the gear was too low (1st gear) that the engine was hot".

After resting for a while, the entire platoon got back on the vehicle and continued marching. At 5:00 a.m. on March 25, the tank entered Hue City. At 10:00 a.m. the same day, the rear formation also entered Hue City. Along the streets, enemy clothes, ammunition bags, hats, shoes, belts... were strewn about. Hue was liberated, Sergeant Pham Trong Quy was assigned the task of collecting enemy tanks and cars and he became a driver transporting food and provisions for the unit participating in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign.

Article and photos: CHI PHAN

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