From a 40kg soldier to a battle map maker at the 'steel door' of Xuan Loc

This afternoon, the National Political Publishing House Truth in collaboration with the University of Transport Technology organized a seminar "The Great Victory of Spring 1975 - The Power of Will and Belief in Victory".

At the seminar, Dr. Dam Duy Thien, former scout and cartographer of Regiment 266, Division 341-Song Lam, shared an impressive story about the work of drawing maps for the attack on the "steel door" of Xuan Loc.

At the end of 1972, when he had just finished 7th grade, young man Dam Duy Thien joined the army. At that time, he only weighed about 40kg, "my comrades thought that if I traveled 40-50km of Truong Son road, I would not survive because I had to climb mountains, wade through streams, and overcome so many bombs and bullets. Later, when some comrades returned to their hometown, they thought I had died," he happily recalled.

In return, Mr. Thien has a good memory, especially a talent for drawing, which impresses many people in the unit.

Veteran Dam Duy Thien.

"We were very worried but not afraid, because we knew that going to war meant accepting sacrifice. We even sent letters home to our families saying that we were going far away, that we were still alive but had died. But the worry here was that not completing the mission would endanger the unit. Because a small mistake could wipe out a unit of thousands of people," Mr. Thien shared.

Talking about his chance to work in cartography, veteran Dam Duy Thien said that people doing this job should have been sent to study at the army officer school, but because he had a little talent for painting and a good memory, his superiors sent him for training.

He said that at that time there was only one set of maps, "wherever we went to war, they gave us a set of maps". Remembering terrain, place names, and landmarks was extremely difficult while his superiors required Mr. Thien to remember and answer immediately when asked.

"After 50 years, I still remember the locations of Xuan Loc, Tan Phong, Dau Giay... When superiors ask to highlight a point, that point must be accurately marked on the map," said Mr. Thien.

In the battlefield, two subjects that are especially monitored are the cartographer and the confidential worker. If both are captured by the enemy, the battle will fail and the force will even suffer great losses.

Therefore, soldier Dam Duy Thien must ask for permission before going anywhere and is not allowed to go outside the combat area without permission.

In the field, the complex terrain made it very difficult to draw maps. Mr. Thien said that sometimes we had to draw in the basement to avoid detection by the enemy. "In the basement, there was a lack of light, so we used flashlights or very dim storm lamps. Sometimes the smoke from bombs flew into the command post, making it stuffy and difficult to breathe, but we still had to draw and wipe away tears...", Mr. Thien recalled.

He emphasized that in drawing a map, if the reference is one millimeter wrong, it can lead to a loss of up to 12km, so "one millimeter wrong is a mile off."

In the past, conditions were difficult and there were no satellites or electronic devices to support mapping, but "we had scouts, military intelligence, and deep-cover commandos," so Mr. Thien had many advantages in information.

"We used 15x25 cm rulers with pre-divided columns and used a compass to determine the direction, along with memory and information from reconnaissance, military intelligence, and spies, then drew... sometimes we had to erase and re-erase because it was not accurate," he said.

On April 9, 1975, our troops attacked Xuan Loc town, the enemy's key defensive base protecting Saigon from the Northeast. On April 21, the enemy troops in Xuan Loc fled, and the gateway to Saigon from the Northeast was opened. Photo: Document/VNA

In early 1975, he and his division marched to the B2 front (Southeast), directly participating in the Ho Chi Minh campaign in the 4th Corps formation on the eastern wing to liberate Saigon-Gia Dinh.

During the battle of Xuan Loc, Dam Duy Thien was assigned to draw the battle map of Regiment 266. From the actual survey, on the map he drew each direction, attack and defense of ours as well as the enemy's defense posts accurately and in detail down to the company level.

From the map he drew, the Command of Regiment 266 easily determined the correct direction of attack and the correct targets of the units to make timely and accurate decisions for the battle.

The map made by Dam Duy Thien contributed significantly to the fact that after 12 days and nights of fierce attacks, our army broke through the enemy's impregnable steel defensive wall, opening wide the eastern door for our powerful force to enter and liberate Saigon-Gia Dinh.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tu-chien-si-nang-40kg-den-nguoi-ve-ban-do-tac-chien-vao-canh-cua-thep-xuan-loc-2393581.html