Hai Duong City on Liberation Day

Soldiers entering and taking over Hai Duong town on October 30, 1954 (archival photo)

The joy of Liberation Day

For every citizen of Hai Duong City, the day of the city's liberation is deeply etched in their hearts, especially for those who participated in and witnessed that historic moment.

As a veteran of the pre-revolutionary period, Mr. Le Xuan Tho, residing in Zone 2, Tran Hung Dao Ward (Hai Duong City), is celebrating his 100th birthday this year and has been a Party member for nearly 80 years. Despite his advanced age and the fact that many events have faded from his memory, October 30, 1954, remains deeply etched in Mr. Tho's mind.

Mr. Tho still remembers that in 1950, while engaged in revolutionary activities, he was captured by the enemy and imprisoned in Con Dao prison. After nearly four years of imprisonment, in September 1954, Mr. Tho was released and returned to work in Binh Giang district. When he received the notification to prepare to join the group advancing into Hai Duong town, Mr. Tho was very emotional.

He recounted that on the morning of October 30, 1954, he and his group marched towards Hai Duong town. Along the way, the red flag with a yellow star fluttered in the wind. On both sides of the road, houses displayed the national flag, and people waved the flag to greet the troops. "The red flag with a yellow star flew everywhere on the streets and corners of the town that day. Those were sacred and precious moments that I will never forget," Mr. Tho said emotionally.

In the mind of Mr. Le Xuan Tho, the day of the liberation of Hai Duong City on October 30, 1954, remains vividly remembered.

These days, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ho, born in 1933 and residing on Mac Hien Tich Street, Hai Tan Ward (Hai Duong City), regularly reads news about activities celebrating the 220th anniversary of the founding of Thanh Dong (1804 - 2024) and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Hai Duong City (October 30, 1954 - October 30, 2024).

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ho was one of the soldiers of the 42nd Regiment who advanced along National Highway 5 and Highway 17 to take over and liberate Hai Duong town on the morning of October 30, 1954. Mr. Ho reminisced that soldiers like him shared the same spirit of "Fighting to the death for the Fatherland" and were determined to return home only when they had fought in the resistance war, believing that "it was either death or death."

"When I received the news that I was advancing with the troops to take over the town, I felt a surge of emotion; there was no greater joy than that moment! At that time, I was a soldier in the liberation army. We entered the town with a defiant spirit, rifles slung over our shoulders and military equipment backpacks slung over our shoulders, our hearts overflowing with joy," Mr. Ho recalled.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ho was one of the soldiers of the 42nd Regiment who advanced to liberate Hai Duong City.

Building a livable city.

After liberation, Hai Duong town entered a period of economic recovery and development. With its new position and new opportunities, the city was given added strength to move forward steadily and develop continuously.

Hai Duong City has been upgraded to a Class I urban area three times and is now one of more than 20 Class I urban areas nationwide. Hai Duong City has undergone a strong transformation, becoming a dynamically developing city with relatively synchronized infrastructure and rich cultural identity.

When Hai Duong City was first recognized as a city in 1997, its industrial production value was only 200 billion VND, but now it has reached over 120,000 billion VND; agricultural production value was only 63 billion VND, but now it has reached 1,400 billion VND. In recent years, the city has experienced economic growth of over 14%, with a rapid shift in structure towards increasing the proportion of services and industry. Average per capita income in 1997 was 2.9 million VND/person/year, and has now reached 80 million VND/person/year, nearly 28 times higher.

Hai Duong province is striving to become a modern industrial province by 2030, meeting some basic criteria of a centrally-governed city; and to become a centrally-governed city by 2050. In this plan, Hai Duong City is identified as the core urban area, the central urban center, ensuring linkages and promoting development between urban areas within the province and the Hanoi capital region and the Red River Delta region.

The 23rd Congress of the Hai Duong City Party Committee set the goal of striving to make Hai Duong City fundamentally a green, smart, friendly, and safe city by 2030.

Hai Duong City is developing rapidly and always prioritizes serving the people as the highest goal in all its tasks.

Comrade Le Dinh Long, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Hai Duong City Party Committee, stated that Hai Duong City always prioritizes serving the people as the highest goal of all its activities. The city's socio-economic development is oriented towards sustainability, with a focus on attracting projects in supporting industries, high value-added projects, large-scale projects, new technologies, and environmentally friendly projects.

Hai Duong City will also focus on administrative reform and creating a favorable investment environment. It will concentrate on mobilizing all resources to invest in building infrastructure and urban beautification. It will gradually build an urban government and an e-government, moving towards a digital government to serve the people and businesses, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life for its citizens and making Hai Duong City a livable city.

According to the history of the Hai Duong City Party Committee, on October 27th, the Military-Political Committee, headed by Comrade Nguyen Nhu Thiet, entered the town to receive the handover from the enemy. On October 28th, the Civilian Police Team entered the town first. On the afternoon of October 29th, both sides signed the handover minutes.
At 5:00 AM on October 30, 1954, the 42nd Regiment and a provincial battalion advanced along National Highway 5 and Highway 17 to take over Hai Duong town. At 6:30 AM the same day, our troops advanced along Highway 17 to receive handover at guard posts and government offices. That afternoon, our soldiers, in uniform and with their weapons, solemnly marched to Bao Dai Flower Garden (now Independence Square) for a rally to celebrate the complete liberation of Hai Duong town.

LAN NGUYEN

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/tp-hai-duong-ngay-giai-phong-396753.html