Anti-aircraft artillery - The secret weapon that led to the Dien Bien Phu victory

In preparation for the 1953-1954 Winter-Spring plan, from the end of 1952, the Party Central Committee, the State and our army asked the former Soviet Union and China to support weapons, train cadres, and at the same time establish Regiment 367 - the first anti-aircraft artillery regiment of the Vietnam People's Army. In November 1953, Regiment 367 marched to the Northwest to receive the mission of the "Tran Dinh" campaign, the code name of the Dien Bien Phu campaign, with the motto: Absolute safety and secrecy.

Dien Bien soldier Pham Duc Cu - Battalion 394, Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment 367: "Received orders to pull artillery to the Northwest to Tran Dinh, but did not say to go to the Dien Bien campaign, everyone asked but the document also said to ensure absolute secrecy, the trip must be safe for vehicles and people. From Tuyen Quang to here, it took 17 days and nights".

By disassembling the removable parts and then using human power to transport them secretly, quickly and accurately, our troops successfully transported 37mm anti-aircraft guns weighing more than 2 tons through hundreds of kilometers of mountain forests to the campaign.

Reporter Minh Trang : “This relic is one of many anti-aircraft artillery positions built by our army during the Dien Bien Phu campaign. Normally, artillery positions will be arranged in places with clear views, without many obstacles around so that it is easy to observe and fight. In particular, these positions will be changed and moved continuously every day to avoid detection by the enemy.”

On March 13, 1954, our anti-aircraft artillery began to speak out in the opening battle at Him Lam. Immediately after, the first French “Moran” reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by the 815th Company of the 367th Regiment. The appearance of anti-aircraft artillery at Dien Bien Phu made the French army extremely surprised and confused.

Dien Bien soldier Pham Duc Cu - Battalion 394, Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment 367 : "If there were no anti-aircraft guns, they would destroy everything. If anti-aircraft guns fired up, either they would hit the plane, crash, or burn. Or they would see the anti-aircraft guns and fly high, not daring to fly low to destroy our infantry anymore."

At Dien Bien Phu, the 367th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment shot down 52 aircraft and damaged 117 others, including the B-24 “flying fortress”. Not only helping to protect the infantry, our artillery forces created fire encirclements in the air, eliminating the possibility of take-off and landing at Muong Thanh and Hong Cum airports, and cutting off the enemy’s air supply.

Ms. Nguyen Thuy Khanh - Hanoi City : “My feelings about the news that our troops pulled the artillery were very emotional, because we only had 20 hours to pull the artillery into the battlefield, but pulling the artillery in was difficult and pulling it out was even more difficult. To achieve that success, I personally think that each comrade, with each position and task, put love for the Fatherland and revolutionary ideals above all else. With such a unity from the army to the people, we had a historic victory.”

The victory of the Dien Bien Phu campaign also marked the success of a new military unit - the anti-aircraft artillery unit, and the emergence of a new front - the surface-to-air front. The Vietnamese anti-aircraft artillery unit successfully completed its mission, making an important contribution to the decisive and strategic battle to create a victory that "resounded throughout the five continents and shook the world"./.

Source Vnews

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