Thanh Hoa with the Dien Bien Phu victory

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - The Dien Bien Phu victory was the pinnacle of the resistance war against the French colonialists, destroying the strongest group of strongholds in Indochina, creating a victory that "resounded throughout the five continents and shook the world". In this golden milestone engraved in the history of the nation, Thanh Hoa is proud to have contributed significantly in terms of manpower and resources to the victorious campaign.

The Thanh Hoa army's carts transporting food and provisions to the front line were recreated at the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum.

Dien Bien Phu was located in the Northwest mountains, far from the rear, so our army entered the war with countless difficulties that seemed insurmountable. Among those difficulties, the most prominent and severe was the logistical problem. How to provide enough food, weapons, and ammunition for a large army 500 to 600km away from the rear for a long time and in very difficult traffic conditions when having to both open and repair roads; means of transportation were lacking and rudimentary; the enemy was always scouting and shelling. However, with the spirit of "all for the front, all for victory", after receiving the plan assigned by the Central Government, the cadres and people of Thanh Hoa devoted all their efforts to the Dien Bien Phu campaign.

Thanh Hoa people entered the Dien Bien Phu logistics front with great enthusiasm. Day and night, mothers and sisters milled rice; old men and women split bamboo, whittled bamboo, and wove logistics baskets; porters prepared their shoulder poles and eagerly set off. Coastal people were busy fishing, making salt, and packaging food; mountainous people were cutting wood, chopping bamboo, building tents, building warehouses, and building bridges. Workers at military factories worked hard to ensure that our soldiers on the front line would not run out of ammunition or guns. On the logistics front, transportation was considered an important but difficult task. The province assigned districts north of the Chu River to deliver goods at the Cam Thuy warehouse cluster, and districts south of the Chu River to deliver goods at the Luoc warehouse cluster (Tho Xuan). From these two warehouse clusters, the province established transportation route 80, called the Tien Phuong transportation route. The emulation movement to increase productivity was launched on all transportation routes. From then on, a large rear area "poured people and resources" to the front to join the army in destroying the enemy.

On March 13, 1954, our army opened fire and destroyed the Him Lam stronghold and Doc Lap hill. In response to the call: "Our guns have fired, our bullets are indispensable. Our troops have fought, we cannot eat without food. Our army has advanced, we cannot stop", the cadres, soldiers and laborers of Thanh Hoa used all their strength, coordinated closely, urgently, persistently, not afraid of hardship, difficulty, fatigue, determined to complete the mission. Being present in the army of "women carrying on the shoulder, men carrying" serving the Dien Bien Phu campaign, Mr. Phung Sy Cac in Dong Tho ward (Thanh Hoa city) still remembers clearly the days of participating in combat service.

At first, Mr. Cac's task was to carry rice to supply our troops to fight the enemy. The next person followed the previous person, one after another, crossing high mountains and deep streams to bring goods to the front. The road to transport food for the campaign became a fierce line of fire right after the French colonialists discovered it. Due to the urgent needs of the battlefield, Mr. Cac switched to the task of ensuring traffic from Tuan Giao to Dien Bien Phu. Where it was narrow, he widened it, where it was muddy, he filled it, where it was slippery, he carried rocks to block it, where it was deep, he pulled the carts through. When he was about 15km from the artillery position, he was assigned the important task of carrying ammunition for the troops to fight the enemy. Although enemy planes continuously swept through, despite all the dangers, he and his teammates completed their mission excellently.

Entering the most intense stage of the war, although the people's lives were still extremely difficult and deprived, with the spirit of "the whole country going to war", the people of Thanh Hoa "emptied their baskets and baskets" to have more rice to feed the army. When the rice had not yet reached harvest time, the reserve rice was gone, people went to the fields to cut each ripe rice stalk at the top of the flower to have enough food to serve the battlefield. At the end of the Dien Bien Phu campaign, Thanh Hoa mobilized 34,927 tons of food, nearly 7,000 tons more than the amount of food assigned by the Central Government. The food consisted of 1,300 cows, 2,000 pigs, 250,000 eggs, 150 tons of beans of all kinds, 450 tons of dried fish, 20,000 jars of fish sauce and hundreds of tons of vegetables of all kinds. The number of bicycles was up to 16,000, along with 1,126 boats and 31 cars.

History has recorded the Dien Bien Phu victory with the great contribution of many heroic examples from Thanh Hoa. They have devoted themselves to the independence and freedom of the Fatherland, such as Mr. Doi Sy Trau, from Quang Xuong district, who continuously carried a pair of 60kg baskets, leading the charge in carrying goods to serve the campaign; the bicycle-packing soldiers Cao Van Ty and Trinh Ngoc from Thanh Hoa town who set a record for carrying from 160kg to 195kg, then over 300kg per trip; the farmer Trinh Dinh Bam from Dinh Lien commune, Yen Dinh district who decided to dismantle his ancestral altar to make a wheelbarrow to serve the transportation of goods...

Tourists visit A1 Hill relic in Dien Bien Phu city, Dien Bien province.

Not only was Thanh Hoa a great rear base supporting the campaign in terms of resources, it was also a great rear base supporting the campaign in terms of manpower. Strictly implementing the directives of the Central, the Government and the Provincial Party Committee, the people of Thanh Hoa from the lowlands to the highlands, everywhere were filled with the spirit of "all for Dien Bien", determined to join the whole country in crushing the aggressive colonial forces' will to invade. From the mountainous districts to the lowland districts, tens of thousands of laborers were mobilized to deliver food to serve the campaign. When the Dien Bien Phu campaign began, Thanh Hoa mobilized 5,000 laborers to transport food and provisions to prepare for the first phase of the attack. Although the second phase was focused on fighting drought, thousands of Thanh Hoa laborers still went to Hoa Binh and Son La to bring goods to the front. The Dien Bien Phu campaign became more and more fierce as it approached the day of victory. To achieve complete victory for the campaign and to coordinate with the diplomatic struggle in Geneva, the Party Central Committee and the Government decided to concentrate all efforts from the rear on the front line. The number of Thanh Hoa laborers participating in the third phase reached a record high of 120,000 people.

In total, Thanh Hoa mobilized 178,924 long-term and short-term laborers, nearly 70% of the entire campaign. The number of young men enlisting in the army was 18,890, equal to the previous 7 years. The sons of Thanh Hoa, climbing on their feet and carrying their shoulders, were present in many main force regiments that directly advanced into Dien Bien and participated in many battles against important enemy bases. Their blood soaked the roads red, dyed the flag on the roof of General De Castries' bunker bright, contributing to the immortal heroic epic of May 7, 1954, which ended the victory of the Vietnamese people's resistance war against French colonialism.

Thanh Hoa army and people are proud that "Wherever the sound of Dien Bien Phu goes, Thanh Hoa people also have a part of the honor" as President Ho Chi Minh praised.

Article and photos: To Phuong

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/thanh-hoa-voi-chien-thang-dien-bien-phu-247812.htm