Before retiring in 1991, Lieutenant Colonel Luong Van Muot worked at Regiment 50, Hai Phong City Military Command. Participating in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, he was in the Delegation Group of the 2nd Special Forces Division, tasked with monitoring, advising, and directing the 15th Special Forces Battalion of the 115th Special Forces Regiment to fight and hold Binh Phuoc Bridge, a major part of our army's eastern attack direction.

On April 24, 1975, the 15th Special Forces Battalion captured the bridges: Binh Phuoc , Tan An, Rach Cat, Cho Moi, and Cau Sat; then repelled many enemy counterattacks on April 29, 1975. On the morning of April 30, 1975, fierce battles took place at Binh Phuoc Bridge and our side still had soldiers falling. At exactly 8:30 a.m., a heroic army marched across Binh Phuoc Bridge to liberate Saigon. Mr. Muot's unit also joined that army to capture the targets...

Lieutenant Colonel, Hero of the People's Armed Forces Luong Van Muot and his wife.

The story between me and the old war veteran goes back to the difficult days in the Sac Forest War Zone (Can Gio, present-day Ho Chi Minh City).

In 1965, young man Luong Van Muot joined the army, trained in Quang Yen (Quang Ninh) and then crossed Truong Son to the South. From July 1967, soldier Luong Van Muot was present in the 10th Special Forces Group of the Sac Forest and fought on this special battlefield until near the day of liberation. According to records, during his years on the battlefield, Luong Van Muot directly fought and commanded 57 battles; sank 9 enemy warships and military cargo ships (including 8 ships with a tonnage of 8,000 to 13,000 tons); Collapsed 1 Nha Be wharf, destroyed 3 105mm cannons, 1 120mm mortar, 1 heavy machine gun, and annihilated many enemy forces... Among the many feats of arms with the direct participation of Hero Luong Van Muot, I was especially impressed with the battles against the Nha Be fuel depot, especially those that took place in 1972 and 1973.

CCB Luong Van Muot recalled that around the beginning of October 1972, the commander of the 10th Special Forces Group in the Sac Forest assigned him to be the Squad Leader, along with two comrades Phuc and Khay, to conduct research and reconnaissance. After many days of "eating and sleeping" on the Saigon River to study the enemy's operating patterns, his team identified the exact target and found a suitable way to fight. On the night of October 17, 1972, he and soldier Phuc received two mines, each weighing 18kg, with anti-disarming fuses. The two swam upstream, dragging the mines past many enemy guard posts. Upon arrival, the two used the tube-dropping technique, quickly infiltrated Cat Lai port, attached two mines to the target, set the timer and secretly went out. 30 minutes later, the mines exploded, the 8,000-ton ship carrying many American weapons was completely destroyed.

Ten days later, the two were assigned to continue attacking another target at Cat Lai port. Just like the previous time, they secretly swam to the target. On the shore, the enemy frequently fired and threw grenades randomly at the clusters of floating vases on the river. While Mr. Khay was swimming ahead to the right, about 5 meters away from Mr. Muot, there were suddenly screams, shouts, the sound of the canoe roaring savagely, and the sound of dry gunfire. Mr. Muot thought he had been exposed, but when he saw that Mr. Khay was still "standing still", he quickly signaled to dive deep into the river bottom and disperse to another location. After a while of circling and cursing, the canoe headed towards the port and turned off the engine. The two commandos quickly approached the target and placed two timed mines at the bottom of the enemy ship's engine compartment. 30 minutes later, a flash of light was accompanied by a deafening explosion. The 10,000-ton ship loaded with American weapons and war equipment was destroyed.

Having completed the mission, Mr. Muot and Mr. Khay each swam in a different direction back to the base. When they reached the Long Tau-Dong Tranh river junction, about 15 meters from the shore, a crocodile suddenly rushed forward and bit Mr. Muot's right leg. Mr. Muot immediately pulled out a dagger, turned around and stabbed the crocodile in the eye. Being hit by the fatal blow, the crocodile writhed and swung its tail strongly, throwing him away. Mr. Muot quickly climbed to the riverbank, blood gushed from the crocodile's teeth, numbing. He endured the pain, picked wild leaves to chew and apply, and tore a tourniquet to the wound. Because the crocodile's bite was quite deep, and it hit right on his right knee, Mr. Muot had to crawl for 5 days to reach the base of his unit...

Back to the "miraculous" battle to destroy the Nha Be fuel depot in 1973. The Nha Be depot was 20km from the starting base of the Rung Sac Special Forces and 8km from the sparse forest; the terrain was difficult with rivers, swamps, and the widest was the Nha Be River, 1,300m wide. After many failed attempts to break in, under the order of the commander of the Rung Sac Special Forces Group 10, Team 21 handed over this "hard to swallow" target to Team 5. Team 5 was reinforced by a number of talented special forces soldiers, such as Ha Quang Voc and Nguyen Hong The.

For 6 months, eating rice balls, fried rice, soaking in water, and being exposed to the sun, the special forces soldiers could not get past the enemy's 3.5m high tri-barbed wire fence. On the 13th trip (November 18, 1973), they encountered the enemy using a grass-cutting knife and almost clashed with each other. The brothers had to retreat, but luckily they discovered a gap in this "unique" fence. On the 14th trip, the special forces team infiltrated from the South, sneaking between the Shell warehouse and the port, the Caltex warehouse at the naval port, and their special zone headquarters.

After grasping the entire "guts" of the fuel depot, Team 5 reported to the commander of the 10th Special Forces Group of Rung Sac to develop a plan, determined to destroy 80% to 90% of the Shell depot on the night of December 3, 1973. Mr. Muot recalled that in the plan there were 11 expected situations, but all were options to charge forward, not to retreat halfway. On November 30, 1973, the unit held a departure ceremony with the slogan "Death to the Fatherland". Team leader Le Ba Uoc read the battle order, Deputy Team leader Ha Quang Voc swore on behalf of the whole team: "If we don't burn the Shell depot, we won't return!". Team leader Cao Hong Ngọt, Deputy Political Commissar Luong Van Muot saw the brothers off to the banks of the Nha Be River.

At 0:35 on December 3, 1973, fire rose into the sky, the Nha Be warehouse exploded. Next, the Shell gas warehouse caught fire, the fire lit up the sky, burning for 9 days and nights. On December 11, the fire spread to the 11 million liter fuel oil tank. The enemy feared the fire would spread to the Caltex warehouse, so they had to open the oil pipeline. Oil flowed into the Saigon River, Long Tau River, Soai Rap River... all the way to Vam Lang, Go Cong.

As a result of the battle, the Shell warehouse burned 35 million gallons of gasoline (equivalent to 140 million liters), 12 butaga tanks, a 12,000-ton Dutch oil tanker, an oil refinery, an oil mixing facility, a food storage area, a military barracks... total damage of about 20 million USD. In this historic battle, comrade Bao and comrade Tiem sacrificed themselves, the rest all retreated safely to the Rung Sac base.

CCB Luong Van Muot sadly recounted that later, sources from the base and the people said that 7 enemy ships had surrounded the two soldiers Bao and Tiem. The two used grenades to commit suicide, dragging dozens of enemies on the ship to be destroyed...

Looking at the tears rolling down the face of veteran Luong Van Muot. I understand that, even though half a century has passed and in today's peaceful life, the emotional wounds are still heavy in the hearts of the lucky veterans who have returned like him...

VIRTUE

* Readers are invited to visit the 50th Anniversary of the Great Victory of Spring 1975 section to see related news and articles.

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/phong-su-dieu-tra/ky-su/tu-rung-sac-den-sai-gon-826027