Lieutenant General Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Hung Oanh, Principal of the Political Officer Candidate School under the Ministry of National Defense, said that the reality of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign showed that the tradition and strength of great national unity, which was upheld and combined with the determination to fight and to win and the desire for peace, truly became an invincible source of spiritual strength transformed into material strength to triumph.
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The “Determined-to-fight, Determined-to-win" flag on the roof of General De Castries’ bunker on the afternoon of May 7, 1954 (A filed photo) |
During the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, the people's warfare posture was planned early and organized pro-actively by the commander of the campaign, with many creative measures used, suitable for each battlefield and each stage. The warfare posture was the combination of measures to organize, arrange, and deploy forces and means to create an advantageous position and maximize strength to win.
It was implemented widely in all the three Indochinese countries, dividing more than 80% of the French mobile force and creating a favorable position for Vietnam to destroy the enemy at the Dien Bien Phu battlefield, said Oanh.
During the campaign, the Vietnamese people contributed 25,560 tons of rice, 226 tons of salt, 1,909 tons of food, 20,991 bicycles, 1,800 bamboo rafts, 756 rudimentary vehicles, 914 pack horses and 3,130 boats. Up to 26,453 individuals joined the campaign as frontline workers.
The figures demonstrated the extraordinary efforts and the mettle of Vietnam - a poor and backward country that was waging a long resistance war full of hardships and sacrifices.
In addition, the great help from the international community, first of all from the people of Laos, Cambodia and socialist countries, was both a material source and a source of political and spiritual strength, thus contributing to the victory of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.
Exactly 70 years after that historic day, the Dien Bien Phu Victory still leaves valuable lessons and invaluable experiences, including those on promoting the political and spiritual strength of the entire Party, military and people, combining the material with political and spiritual strength, and maximizing the spiritual strength at difficult or turning point times to realize goals and bring the revolution to victory.
Source: VNA