Northwest region as both the rear and the front

PANO – People and armed forces in the Northwest region made considerable contributions to the Dien Bien Phu Victory.

After deciding to launch the campaign, the Politburo realized that the most difficult matter we were facing was logistics. Thus, the Northwest Logistics Council was established to mobilize and instruct local people to support the front line.

All over the region, ethnic minority people flocked to support the campaign, in the spirit of “All for the battlefield and for the victory”. Even many families tightened their belts to set aside rice for troops. Thousands of women, often housewives, and other men volunteered to engage in building roads, carrying rice and transporting wounded soldiers.

During the campaign, the region’s people provided the troops with about 7,300 tons of rice, 389kg of meat and 800 tons of greens for troops. Particularly, the amount of rice from locals accounted for 27 per cent mobilized for the campaign and 47 per cent used on the battlefield, not including the amount donated from hamlets. These figures improved the important role of local logistics sector and also showed the patriotism of the Northwest ethnic minority groups.

Transporting foodstuff to the Dien Dien Phu battle. File photo

Many generals and researchers of the both sides affirmed that the main reason making the Dien Bien Phu campaign a victory was to effectively mobilize huge human resources to ensure supplies, which could not be solved overnight in the French’s opinion.

In addition, the Northwest region also became a real front line where many fierce battles took place. The local armed forces actively overcame difficulties to counter-attack the enemy, liberate the French-occupied localities, and defend revolutionary achievements.

As for the region, during 1953-1954, a wide area of 28,500sq.km with 250,000 residents was freed. The enemy only occupied Lai Chau town and Na San (Mai Son district) in Son La province, where they consolidated their positions and intensified raids.

From August 1953, General Henri Navarre, Commander-in-Chief of the French forces in Indochina, sent commandos, mostly native lackeys, to back bandits. In only several months, they gathered up to 4,000 men and seized some major places in the region.

At the end of 1953, though nearly all localities in the region were liberated, social order was something needed to be dealt with.

In order to stop our operations of regular troops and supplies, the French bombarded heavily the transport routes and teamed up with bandits to sabotage our rear. To prepare for the Dien Bien Phu campaign, local armed forces launched small-scale battles to grind down the enemy’s strength and eliminate bandits; and built and protected roads for transporting artillery batteries and supplies.

In Yen Bai province, Battalion 281 and five companies of local armed forces bravely fought the enemy to protect traffic routes and create favorable conditions for moving more than 22,370 tons of weapons, equipment and foodstuff for the campaign.

Company 956 of the Lao Cai provincial armed forces contributed to liberating some localities in the province, broke through a siege of bandits from Lao Cai to Lai Chau provinces. They decimated 150 enemy troops, captured 443 others, shot down an aircraft, and seized 231 guns and dozens of ammunition.

In Lai Chau province, armed forces in newly-liberated areas focused on stabilizing local people’s lives and disseminating the Party and State’s guidelines and policies, strengthening grassroots political organizations and crushing the enemy’s schemes. Moreover, they conducted over 100 battles to kill 760 enemy troops, arrested 3,000 others and seized many weapons and ammunition.

On March 13th 1954, Vietnamese troops kicked off the Dien Bien Phu campaign. Through the 56 days and nights of battle, local armed forces in the Northwest region contributed considerably to the final victory.

Translated by Van Hieu