April 28, 1954, all for victory

Dien Bien Phu Campaign: On April 28, 1954, on the campaign lines, all people and vehicles were focused on a sprint race against the weather and the enemy. The porters who had set out to serve the campaign since winter were now in summer.

On our side : The Front Command called on Dien Bien Phu soldiers to step up the "hunting the West, sniping" movement and prepare for the third attack. Continue to destroy enemy forces, capture the eastern highlands and the western strongholds, bring all our firepower of all sizes closer to control the airspace, threaten the central area, increase the wear and tear on enemy forces and seize supplies, launch a general attack to destroy all enemy troops in Dien Bien Phu.

Long lines of motorbike taxis on the way to the campaign. Photo: VNA

On the campaign lines, all men and vehicles were focused on a sprint against the weather and the enemy. The labor groups that had set out to serve the campaign since winter were now in summer. The best carts had become rickety and patched together. The transport vehicles were running continuously, without time for maintenance, and were becoming more and more dilapidated every day.

The tireless legs of tens of thousands of people continued to cross mountain passes, wade through streams, and overcome bombs and bullets. The trucks also refused to give up halfway, continuing to cross the landslide slopes despite enemy air strikes. The biggest difficulty for the drivers was not only the bombs and bullets, but also having to fight sleepiness after many sleepless nights sitting at the wheel.

During this campaign, political work made great progress to meet the growing demands. A large number of artists and cultural troupes were present, forming a special force in the campaign formation. The General Political Department also brought along a printing house.

Officers and soldiers read the People's Army Newspaper to learn information from the battlefield during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Photo courtesy

In particular, during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, the People's Army Newspaper directly organized an editorial office at the front line, conveyed all policies of the leadership, reflected the battles in a timely manner, became an indispensable spiritual food for officers and soldiers, contributing to encouraging the spirit and determination to win of soldiers and laborers.

There were songs and poems composed right at the front, precious documentary films for history. Performing arts performed in the trenches, in the artillery bunkers. Propaganda leaflets to mobilize enemy soldiers were distributed into the central area. At the end of April, we had completed the construction of a loudspeaker system around the stronghold, regularly influencing the thoughts of enemy soldiers who were living in "hell on earth".

The special closeness of the staff and political officers to the units participating in the campaign was the result of the summer training. The delegates worked with the grassroots cadres to resolve on-site difficulties and promptly reported all aspects of the situation to the Party Committee and the Front Command. The leaders of the logistics sector were always on the road to closely monitor the situation.

Thanh Hoa province people saw off bicycle porters on their way to serve the front line in 1954. Photo courtesy

In response to the campaign's demands, the Party Committee and people of Thanh Hoa contributed nearly 11,000 tons of food to the campaign, to the point of almost depleting reserves. After the victory, the State had to take many measures to relieve hunger and quickly restore production in Thanh Hoa. The people of the Northwest, mainly in 4 districts: Tuan Giao, Dien Bien Phu, Quynh Nhai, Thuan Chau, contributed 32,000 laborers, 7,310 tons of rice, and 389 tons of meat. Tuan Giao district alone, bordering Dien Bien Phu, with sparse population and scarce land, contributed 1,200 tons of rice to the front, far exceeding the initial estimate of the supply agency. Many places also contributed rice seeds. After the campaign, the rear had to immediately transfer rice seeds and farming tools to the Northwest to help people promptly resume production.

By the end of April 1954, despite the enemy's fierce and frantic reaction, our troops' encirclement around Muong Thanh and Hong Cum had tightened. All preparations for the third attack were basically completed.

On the enemy side : In fact, the enemy was in a "suffocating" situation. Their occupation area was still very narrow, food and ammunition were running out. The supply situation for the Dien Bien Phu stronghold was so difficult that Cogny had to call Navarre to report: "The results of the parachute drops to Dien Bien Phu on the 28th, the night of the 28th, the 29th, and the night of the 29th were zero. Only Hong Cum received 22 tons". Before we launched the third attack, De Castries sent a telegram to Cogny with the content "Dien Bien Phu only has 275 155mm bullets, 140,000 105mm bullets, 5,000 120mm mortar bullets". And De Castries' request was for urgent supplies.

The more fierce the fighting, the more rapidly the number of wounded French officers and soldiers increased, causing them many difficulties. In the last days of April, the rain turned the trenches into quagmire. The life of hiding and struggling of the French soldiers in the mud, under bombs, bullets, and rain all day and night quickly exhausted their physical strength and weakened their fighting spirit. Seeing the danger that the Dien Bien Phu stronghold could be destroyed by us, the French Government officially requested the US Government to launch the Vautour operation to relieve the Dien Bien Phu stronghold. But there was disagreement within the US authorities so that plan was eventually cancelled. Navarre also considered a relief operation from the Nam Hu river basin (Upper Laos) to Dien Bien Phu and Cogny once again planned to use about 4 mobile army corps to attack deep into our rear. Because of the lack of forces and means, these plans were in reality just wishful thinking of the French Command in Indochina before the fate of Dien Bien Phu had been decided.

Coordinate with Dien Bien Phu battlefield

In Inter-zone 4, we attacked Uu Diem and Pho Trach, destroying more than 200 enemies and burning down a fuel depot.

THANH VINH/qdnd.vn

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/chien-dich-dien-bien-phu-ngay-28-4-1954-tat-ca-de-chien-thang-212837.htm