The bodies of wounded Foreign Legion soldiers lay scattered in the waterlogged trenches. The counterattack was repelled. The 308th and 312th Divisions successfully dug trenches that cut the runway in two. The Muong Thanh central airfield was completely captured by our forces.
On the enemy side: To retake outpost 206 and secure a landing zone for paratroopers, De Castries deployed the 2nd Foreign Legion Battalion – their last remaining reserve force – and five tanks in a counterattack. The counterattack was extremely fierce. The enemy air force dropped 600 bombs on the area, hoping to destroy our forces and provide cover for the infantry and tanks counterattacking. The battle raged throughout the day on the 24th.
Muong Thanh airfield was shelled by our troops during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. (Photo: VNA)
On the same day, Admiral Radford met with British Foreign Secretary Eden in Paris on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (OTAN) meeting. Radford once again tried to persuade Eden that Britain should at least give the United States a symbolic statement of support. But Eden bluntly told his American counterparts that a policy based on an air strike would lead the Americans to ground intervention, as in Korea, an intervention that would prompt the Americans to push their allies to take a “coalition action,” meaning deploying their troops into the war. The British would do everything to ensure the success of the Geneva Conference.
On our side: When the enemy penetrated the 213th Company's position, Battalion Commander Nguyen Quoc Tri ordered his troops to temporarily retreat and requested the 105mm howitzers to fire directly at the enemy's position. The bodies of Foreign Legion soldiers hit by bullets lay scattered in the waterlogged trenches. The counterattack was repelled. The 308th and 312th Divisions successfully dug trenches to cut the runway in half. The Muong Thanh central airfield was completely captured by our forces. After losing strongholds 105, 206, and the Muong Thanh airfield, the central position of the fortified complex was now just a narrow piece of land with an area of about 1 square kilometer.
French prisoners of war captured by our troops during the second attack on the Dien Bien Phu fortified complex. (Photo: VNA)
In the East, units of the 316th Division made great efforts in consolidating and holding newly captured positions and in building offensive positions against the C2 and A1 strongholds.
In the preliminary report of the small-scale operation at Hong Cum during this period, the 304th Division captured 600 105mm artillery shells, 3,000 120mm and 81mm mortar rounds, along with tons of other ammunition of various calibers, tens of tons of food and medicine, and killed over 200 enemy soldiers. At Hong Cum, just one of our regiments surrounded, neutralized, weakened, and ultimately killed 2,000 enemy troops, mostly European and African soldiers.
If, in the recent major battle on the eastern hills, our troops revealed weaknesses in reconnaissance, combined arms combat, and attacking the enemy in fortified positions, then when switching to small-scale tactics, our soldiers demonstrated outstanding qualities. This time, a new surprise awaits the enemy on the Muong Thanh plain.
THANH VINH/qdnd.vn
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