Trans-mountain Tunnel – the headquarters of Điện Biên campaign

In the historical Dien Bien Phu battlefield, most of the relics belong to the old fortress group. The headquarters of Dien Bien Phu campaign vestige in Muong Phang is the most outstanding and special one. It is characterized with the primeval old and confidential forest. In the past, this place was honorred to be chosen as the headquarter for the campaign and the residence of the General.Vo Nguyen Giap and his counsel. In this place, the Vienamese has created a great victory that is famous all around the world. Coming to Muong Phang is returning to the historical, national and victory source.

At the end of 1953, the company 425 led by Mr. Do Hai was given the task of coordinating with a military platoon to build the Headquarters of Dien Bien Phu campaign in an old forest at the foot of Pu Don mountain of the Muong Phang commune, Dien Bien district. The safety and secrecy are the most important issue for the Dien Bien Phu campaign location. On January 31, 1954, after two temporary shifts to Tham Pao cave (15km from Tuan Giao) and Huoi He cave (Na Tau commune), the headquarters of the commander was relocated in primeval Muong Phang forest in the East of the Muong Thanh field. Each shack includes tunnels as well as a place to work and rest when needed. Simple small shacks were built from the available materials in this forest, along the stream at the foot of the mountain. In 105 days that the commanding agency was located here, it was ensured with the safety and confidentiality.

The most prominent work of the headquarters of the Dien Bien Phu campaign was the trans-mountain tunnel between two working camps of the commander-in-chief, Vo Nguyen Giap and the Chief of Staff Hoang Van Thai. The structure and function of the tunnel were supernormal. At the end of the first attack, we started to make the tunnel. The most important thing is to dig a solid tunnel to avoid bullets and reconnaissance aircraft. At that time, there was only one comrade as a miner and comrade Thanh Xuan Thi, who has a lot of experience in building the headquarters, the remaining the soldiers have no experience in making the tunnel. They did not have compass and measure either. More than 50 people from are the forces have been alternately digging day and night to fulfill the mission. The tunnel is dug from the East and the West, and interconnected in the middle of the hill. There were so many difficulties that they had to encounter. The deeper they you dig, the less oxygen and light are there. Especially, the communication and finding of the right direction were extremely difficult. Every 5m, they had to clear the forest trees and hold the tunnel ceiling. They also had to dig the holes to place the oil lamp and change the shift in each 25 to 40 minutes. In addition to the shovel and hoe, there were only the creative intelligence and determination of the soldiers. After 28 days and nights, the tunnel was completed. It was the time that the hands of the soldiers were injured and the shovels were damaged. The tunnel had a length of 69m, a height of 1.7m and a width of 1m to 3m with a meeting room (which is a diversion). There were 5 subsidiaries niches as the places for the information machines, in which 1 piece is connected from the headquarters of Dien Bien Phu campaign with the Politburo of the Party Central, the chairman Ho Chi Minh and the frontier agency; The remaining 4 machines were connected to the companies participating in combat on the front and receiving orders from the Command Headquarters. The place was deflected, modified into a meeting room with a vent and has a ladder to escape. The tunnel was put into use from the middle of the second attack. This was the greatest and most remarkable project in the headquarter in Muong Phang, which ensures the safety and confidentiality of the Commanders, headed by the General Vo Nguyen Giap.

Muong Phang Forest was the working place of the Commander headquarter, which is simple as the Vietnamese. They walked to the battlefield, carried rice and food with heavy bikes produced by the enemy. They pulled the cannon up the mountain by hand. They beat the enemy with booty weapons. Sometimes glory comes from the simplest things.

Preserving the Dien Bien Phu battlefields in association with tourism development

Besides the historical value, Dien Bien Phu battlefield complex is always considered as a tourist attraction. Over the past years, the restoration of the relics has been especially focused by Dien Bien province in order to preserve the historical value and honor the Dien Bien Phu victory in 1954.

The highest place on the D1 hill is selected as the location of the Victory Monument. This is the tallest and most massive bronze statue in Vietnam. The statue with a height of 12.6m is cast with 217 tons of copper. Dien Bien Phu Monument will be a symbol of the victory of Vietnam forever.

The Dien Bien Phu battlefield vestige has been ranked as a special national monument. This relic includes of 45 sites in which 8 points were served as the visiting places such as: The Dien Bien Phu Victory exhibition, De Castries basement, A1 Hill, Dien Bien Phu headquarter in Muong Phang, the victory monument in Dien Bien Phu city, the artillery monument in Na Nhan commune, Him Lam relic and the victory square in Muong Phang commune.

The monuments of artillery are made of green stone and placed in the position of facing towards the river backward with the mountain. It has 24 meters long, 8 meters wide and 12.5 meters high and weighs 1,200 tons. The vestige is located on Bo Hom hillside (Na Nhan commune, Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province). The monument was placed on the road 64 years ago. This was one of the first artillery units of the army and included the 105-mm Artillery Regiment of the Hero of Martyrs To Vinh Dien, who pulled the cannon into the battlefield of the North. At this place, To Vinh Dien inserted his body into the fire-rescue gear and sacrificed. The monument was recreated to demonstrate the will and determination of the soldiers in the Dien Bien Phu battle.

Over the years, there were many projects of preservation and embellishment of relics by the Government, ministries, Party committees and Dien Bien provincial authorities. Since 1999, an urgent investment project to prevent relic degradation has been implemented in some of the most important sites of the relics. In 2003, the Prime Minister approved the decision to preserve, restore and promote the value of the historical Dien Bien Phu relics, which including the construction of a new Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum. This is a key project with the great significance, which was inaugurated and put into use on the 60th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu's victory (2014). Many other sites are also preserved and renovated by the Dien Bien authorities.

The 320 steps lead to the Dien Bien Phu victory Monument. These are divided into 3 big breaks, which are represented for 3 attacks of the Army to the Dien Bien Phu basement. There are 56 milestones made of green stone on the two sides of the ceremony, which symbolize 56 days and nights of "digging mountains, tunnels in the rain with the hunger" of the soldiers. Ban flowers and some other trees are planted on the two hillsides along the ceremony to create the natural beauty for this relic.

The number of tourists to the Dien Bien Phu battlefield is increasing. According to statistics of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dien Bien province, in 2017 there were more than 380,000 visitors; from January to April of 2018, there were more than 130,000 visitors; Particularly, in the vacation 30^th April and 1^st of May, 2018, there were nearly 35,000 visitors to Dien Bien Phu battlefield complex, which is strongly increased in compared with the same period of 2017.

Hill D, which is located in Domomich clusters, consisting of D1, D2, and D3 hills. The French colonists took advantage of the terrain of these 3 hills to build a firm defensive position, which is considered as "an automatic fire net” to burn the enemy from outside. The Vietnamese soldiers dug around the hills and split the basements. At 17:30 on March 30, 1954, the soldiers attacked to destroy the base of hill D and aimed at the center of the center on the 2^nd attack. From that victory, the army proceeded to destroy the strongholds surrounding the central zone and proceed to destroy the headquarters.

Ms. Vu Thi Tuyet Nga, Deputy Director of the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum (the manager of the Dien Bien Phu relics) said that: The number of the tourists to Dien Bien Phu battlefield is increasing. Many typical relics have been embellished and restored to promote the tourism. The monument is also concerned by the provincial authorities. In particular, the propaganda of the relics was also paid special attention.

The headquarter of the Dien Bien Phu campaign was located here in 105 days (from January 31, 1954 to May 15, 1954). The Dien Bien Phu Operation Headquarters were built along a small stream around the foot of Pu Don Mountain, on a natural area of about 90km2. It was arranged into a continuous system with convenient shacks in accordance with the urgently working speed of the Campaign Command to ensure absolute secrecy and security. Dien Bien Phu Operation Headquarters is the most important unit of the historical Dien Bien Phu campaign. In this place, the General Vo Nguyen Giap and the Operation Command made crucial instructions and orders to form the victory of each battle. The most significant one was the massive attack on May 7, 1954. Photo: Xuan Tien-VNA

In addition to preserving historical values at the relics, Dien Bien province is also interested in creating a green, clean and beautiful environment to attract visitors.

A1 Hill is the most important base in the Eastern hills, protecting the Headquarters of the Dien Bien Phu . Thi is the last shield and the key to open the door to the headquarters of Dien Bien basement. The French called this as Eliane 2. The hill was 49m above the ground, 200m long, 80m wide in oval shape, stretching in the direction of the Northwest - Southeast. A1 site covered the eastern area and together with other sites forming a shield to protect Muong Thanh central area. In this place, the French arranged many strong forces, firepower and weapons. Photo: Xuan Tien-VNA

However, according to the Dien Bien provincial government, the restoration of relics still depends heavily on the central budget. Social mobilization and investment attraction have been promoted but it is still small and fragmented. The only social investment is the outdoor glass roof for 13 artifacts and monuments that were implemented in 2012 and 2013. It is essential to have a secure mechanism and attract more investment to restore, preserve, embellish and promote the value of the of Dien Bien Phu battlefields to the vision to 2030.

The A1 Hill relic area. Photo: Xuan Tien-VNA

Developing tourism has become a key economic sector is the orientation of Dien Bien province. It contributes to economic restructuring and creates a driving force for the development of other industries of the province. However Dien Bien tourism has not developed as its potential and advantages. The reason is that the management, conservation, exploitation and promotion of the value of relics have not met the requirements of practice and development.

Muong Thanh Bridge over the Nam Rom River, which was called the "Prenley" bridge by the French. It was the ready-made bridge from France, which was brought and assembled in Dien Bien. Today, the bridge is about 300 m from the junction of the road 279. This is a military project located in the central section of the Dien Bien Phu basement. The entire bridge is 40m long and 5m wide. On either side of the bridge are simple support bars without a central axis. The wooden deck floors, and iron beams are very tightly linked. After 64 years, Muong Thanh bridge still retains its original status as newly built and is always a "historical bridge of the attack ". Photo: Xuan Tien-VNA

To make Dien Bien become one of the attractive tourist centers of the Northwest region and the whole country, the preservation, embellishment and promotion of the cultural values of the heritage by the Dien Bien province needs to be paid more attention. At the same time, all levels need to continue promoting the relics to attract more tourists and contribute to tourism development in Dien Bien.

Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum was built in October 2012. This is the largest, most magnificent and modern project in Dien Bien Province. Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum has an extremely important meaning of history, culture as well as architecture and display contents. It ensures the requirements of quality and technology as it represents for the global victory. There are many important items by models, statues and nearly 1,000 documents, artifacts, photos, which represent the war against the French of the Vietnamese in 56 days and nights of "digging mountains and tunnel in rain and hunger” in the Dien Bien Phu campaign. Photo: Xuan Tien-VNA

Vo Nguyen Giap street by night

The art of using forces in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign

In the 1953-1954 Winter Spring, the French Colonialists implemented the Navarre Plan and launched a series of operations in a bid to annihilate our main forces to take the initiative in the battlefield. Notably, thanks to the Operation Mouette in Southwest Ninh Binh, the French won “the first-round victory” over the Viet Minh. The French Army’s High Command in the Indochina optimistically believed that they basically destroyed the Division 320, “detained” the Division 304 in Thanh Hoa, and delayed the Viet Minh’s Autumn Winter Offensive in the Red River Delta. However, after discovering that our main forces has moved up to the Northwest and Upper of Laos, Navarre knew that the main direction of the 1953-1954 battle launched by the Viet Minh was the Northwest, not the Red River Delta as he had guessed. Navarre was affraid of being overwhelmed and losing control of this important region, he hurriedly deployed paratroopers to Dien Bien Phu with an effort to make it become an indestructible fortress and a hub to attract, detain and annihilate the Viet Minh’s main forces. Hence, the French mobilized a large number of forces, including 12 battalions, 7 infantry companies, two 105mm howitzer battalions, two 120mm mortar battalions, one 155mm heavy gun company, 1 engineer battalion, 1 tank company, 1 transportation company, 1 air force squadron, deployed in 3 subregions and 8 resistance centres, equipped with modern weapons and equipment, with about 11,800 troops.

Vietnamese artillery in the battle of Dien Bien Phu (file photo)

The Politburo and the General Military Commission based on the force, situation of the battle, the terrain and the weather have decided to launch a campaign against the enemy’s group of fortresses in Dien Bien Phu and mobilize a large number of our main forces in the Campaign. Following the idea of “fighting for victory” by the Party Central Committee and Uncle Ho and the battlefield of the two sides, the Campaign Command decided to “fight firmly and win firmly”. That was a hard but extremely right, scientific choice by the Campaign Command, the Party Committee, and General Vo Nguyen Giap. To implement the plan, the Campaign Command flexibly organized and used forces in accordance with each period and phase of the Campaign as well as the developments of the battlefield. After 55 days and nights of fighting resiliently, bravely, creatively, we annihilated, captured and seized all the enemy’s troops and materiel in Dien Bien Phu. That victory was created by the art of organizing and using forces.

1. Concentrating strength and firepower to completely destroy each group of targets in the outer circle. After deploying troops to Dien Bien Phu, the French attempted to consolidate the system of fortifications and battleground and make Dien Bien Phu into a strong fortress with a high density of subregions and resistance centres from the outside to the inside. To ensure victory in each phase and battle, the Campaign Command concentrated the absolute advantage in force over the enemy in all their resistance centres. In the Phase 1 (from March 13th to March 17th, 1954), we deployed 5 regiments to attack and destroy the enemy’s 3 attacking battalions and restrain their 2 mobile battalions. In the first battle against Him Lam resistance centre, we fully awared that Him Lam was a strong group of fortifications, and that victory of the first battle would facilitate the development of the Campaign. The Campaign Command mobilized a much larger force than the enemy. More specifically, our infantry troops were 6 times more than the enemy’s while our artillery and mortar were 10 times more than the enemy’s. In this phase, the Campaign mobilized 234 guns and mortars of all types and disposed them in mountain ranges around Dien Bien basin to support the infantry units. In the first assault called “Thunder”, we used 11 artillery and mortar companies (accounting for 70% of our firepower in the Campaign) to attack the targets, namely Him Lam, Central Subregion, airport, artillery battlefields and depots of the enemy. It is worth noting that our artillery forces were secretly deployed on mountain slopes in order to surprisingly and strongly attack the stated targets and suppress the enemy’s artillery and mortars. Thanks to timely, effective support of artillery forces, our 2 infantry regiments attacked and destroyed the enemy’s resistance centre of Doc Lap, 1 Foreign Legion battalion and 483 enemy troops, captured 200 enemy troops, defeated their counterattack and tool control of this position.

It should be noted that we not only precisely evaluated the enemy’s situation to focus our force with a view to rapidly destroy and completely surprise the enemy, but also closely, cleverly and effectively combined the infantry with the artillery, impulse with fire, and attack to occupy the battlefield with operations to defeat the enemy’s counterattacks. Consequently, we destroyed outer fortifications to pave the way for the forces to attack the heart of the enemy’s group of fortresses. However, in the Phase 2 (from March 30th to April 30th, 1954), the principle of focusing force were not employed strictly.

2. Using forces for key positions and encirclement properly. After realizing limitations in the early Phase 2, the Campaign determined to organize small-scale forces to encircle, besiege, divide and isolate each fortress and group of fortresses, which gradually laid siege to the central area. The Campaign Command directed units in each direction to reorganize their force; to actively build the battlefield for encirclement and offensive. They closely combined encirclement with attack to break through the enemy’s defensive line to create favourable conditions for other forces to lay siege, prevent the enemy, and defeat their counterattacks. Then we gradually attacked to occupy each fortress of the enemy and narrow their defensive battlefield. At the same time, we overcame all difficulties to dig hundreds of kilometres of trenches for combat, movement and daily activities, and thousands of fortifications and gun emplacement only in a short time. The system of trenches increasingly reached deep into the enemy’s fortifications as a noose around the enemy’s “neck”. Basing on that posture, the Campaign Command organized forces to attack the enemy widespread, and completely lay siege to attack and annihilate the enemy. At the same time, we prevented their fire and destroyed each resistance position as well as the enemy’s strength and morale.

Thanks to the flexible, creative method of organizing and using forces, in the mid-April, our troops step by step changed the complexion of the battlefield. Muong Thanh airport was broken off by our trenches. Our artillery from the E hill repeatedly fired on the enemy’s gun batteries in the centre of Muong Thanh while our anti-aircraft guns were moved to Muong Thanh paddy field to control the sky. We forced the enemy to parachute at great height and more than half of the enemy’s ammo and food supply fall into our battlefield. Until late of April 1954, although over 10,000 French troops remained in Dien Bien Phu, only 42% of them were capable to fight.

3. Concentrating forces on general offensive to win decisive victory. The Campaign Command realized the rapid developments of the battlefield and the opportunity to completely destroy the enemy’s group of fortresses in Dien Bien Phu. They decided to mobilize all available forces in the general offensive for the final victory. Since 14.00 on May 7th, 1954, in all directions and flanks, our entire forces were shifted from encirclement to general offensive. Our forces closely cooperated with one another to create the combined strength and rapidly attack to occupy the targets at the centre of Muong Thanh. The Campaign Command bravely ordered the Regiment 209 under the Division 312 to cross Muong Thanh bridge, penetrate deep into the enemy’s headquarters at the right moment. General De Castries and the entire command of the enemy’s group of fortresses were arrested alive, thereby forcing all enemy troops to surrender unconditionally. That was also a brilliant decision to prevent 2,000 enemy troops from fleeing to Laos in the enemy’s “seabird” plan. All the forces closely cooperated with one another to attack the enemy, contain, isolate and prevent the enemy from support their forces stationed in Dien Bien Phu.

The Command of Dien Bien Phu Campaign organized and used the forces properly to promote the capability of each unit engaged in the Campaign, which contributing to the victory of the strategic battle and leading to the final victory. The art of using forces in this Campaign should be continuously studied and applied to defend the Homeland.

Directions

Others

Điện Biên Phủ Martyrs' Cemetery

Đien Bien Phu Martyr's Cemetery is located at the bottom of the A1 Hill, opposite the Đien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum. Peoples and visitors often come here to honour heroic martyrs as the Vietnamese tradition "When drinking water, think of its source."