Previously, Chief of the General Staff Van Tien Dung instructed the Air Defense - Air Force Service to reserve missiles for the task of shooting the B-52s, and withdraw some anti-aircraft units on Route 1 (South) to protect the missile battlefield.
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Air defense troops protect the Hanoi sky in December 1972. (File photo) |
The air defense force promptly learned from previous battles, continued to reinforce its fighting determination, reorganized the formation, supplemented ammunition and fuel, and adjusted weapons and fighting methods.
At night of December 20, the enemy conducted 93 sorties of B-52s and sent more than 100 sorties of other attack aircraft of all kinds to raid Hanoi and some targets in Hai Phong city and Thai Nguyen province. The battle began at 7:27 p.m., when the first group of B-52 bombers appeared in the Northwestern sky.
For the first time, the Hanoi militia and self-defense force made an outstanding feat-of-arms. At 9:00 p.m. on December 20, at Van Don battlefield in Hanoi, militiamen of the Self-Defense Company of three factories, Mai Dong Mechanical Factory, Hanoi Wood Factory, and Luong Yen Mechanics, shot down an F-111 of the enemy with 19 14.5×114mm bullets. The 100mm artillery companies of the militia and self-defense forces of the Hanoi capital closely coordinated with each other, contributing to firmly defending the missile battlegrounds and other important places. In addition, the missile troops performed excellently, shooting down seven B-52 bombers. That was one of the key battles of the “12 days and nights” campaign.
With consecutive victories on December 20, Commander-in-Chief General Vo Nguyen Giap made phone calls to the units to praise the feats-of-arms of the Hanoi air defense troops. The general said, ''The whole country is looking to Hanoi. The whole world is looking to Hanoi. Hour by hour, minute by minute, the Politburo and the Central Military Commission closely watch the battle of Hanoi. The fate of the Fatherland is in the hands of the air defense soldiers defending Hanoi.”
Translated by Trung Thanh