The story of the man who interrogated General De Castries

(Baonghean.vn) -During the days when the whole country is looking forward to the 59th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory (May 7, 1954 - May 7, 2013), we went to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh's house (Trung Do Ward - Vinh City) to hear the story of the interrogation of General De Castries. Because Mr. Tinh participated in the Dien Bien Phu campaign from the first shot to the last moment of the campaign and was one of the people who participated in the interrogation of the defeated French generals on the Dien Bien battlefield.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh (born in 1930) is from Dong Son (Thanh Hoa). As a child, his family taught him French and Chinese and he was quite fluent in these two languages. At the age of 20, Nguyen Xuan Tinh joined the army and was assigned to the 312th Division, participating in the Northwest campaign and the Dien Bien Phu campaign. When peace was restored in the North, he was sent to study at Hanoi National University of Education. After graduating, he returned to serve in the army, working in the Propaganda Department, then the Military Science Department, the Command Office and the Political School of Military Region 4.

Up to now, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh has turned 83 years old, but his memories of the Dien Bien Phu campaign are still almost intact, even though nearly 6 decades have passed. In a small house nestled at the foot of Dung Quyet mountain, every day Mr. Tinh still diligently writes down memories to pass on to future generations. According to Mr. Tinh, right from the beginning of the Dien Bien Phu campaign, many people identified this as a confrontation of historical and epochal significance. Because at that time, France was an invading empire with quite modern weapons and equipment for war. Meanwhile, the Vietnam People's ArmyMaleAt that time, they were also equipped with anti-aircraft guns, rockets, and an indomitable fighting spirit and the desire to liberate the nation that was boiling in their veins. Therefore, the Vietnamese soldiers were willing to endure hardships, eat rice balls, soak in deep trenches, cross barbed wire fences and enemy bullets to win.

Participating in the Dien Bien Phu campaign, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh was assigned as a squad leader, in the same company as hero Phan Dinh Giot - who used his body to fill the loophole. He said: “The whole company charged through the barbed wire fence to capture the enemy's fortifications. But the enemy's fortifications were solidly arranged, with loopholes to stand inside and point guns outside. Therefore, it was very difficult to approach, every time our troops charged, they were repelled by the enemy's submachine guns and heavy machine guns from the loopholes. Mr. Phan Dinh Giot passed through the bullets to the side of the loopholes and aimed his gun inside. He was hit by a bullet from the inside and rushed in to cover the loopholes, taking that opportunity the whole company simultaneously charged to destroy the enemy's bunker...”.

And Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh could not forget the moment of victory celebration, when he heard that the entire military force in the Dien Bien Phu stronghold had raised the white flag to surrender. After a moment of cheering, the whole unit was given a meal of canned meat - the spoils of war just captured in the enemy's lair. Afterwards, each person was given a beautiful new khaki uniform, received a letter of praise from Uncle Ho and each soldier was given a mug with the words "Resolutely fulfill the mission".

For Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh, the most memorable moment in his military career was being present in the victorious army on the Dien Bien Phu battlefield, witnessing General De Castries and the General Staff of the French expeditionary army at the Dien Bien Phu stronghold being captured as prisoners of war. And more honorably, because he knew how to use French, Mr. Tinh was chosen to join the team that interrogated French prisoners. He still clearly remembers the evening of May 7, 1954, when General De Castries and his General Staff were taken to the Command Headquarters of the 312th Division. With his neat uniform, languid posture, and pale face, De Castries thought he had been taken to our General Command Headquarters, so he bowed: “Greetings, gentlemen! General Command Headquarters”.

Mr. Le Trong Tan, who was then the Commander of the 312th Division, a man who was very good at French, asked De Castries and his subordinate officers to sit down, but only De Castries sat down. Seeing this, Mr. Le Trong Tan repeated: “I allow all of you to sit down”. An officer immediately said: “Sir! Our Major General has not allowed you to sit down”. The Commander of the 312th Division said: “There are no more generals here. All of you are prisoners of war, so you must obey all of our orders”. At that time, everyone sat down.

At the same time, the Ministry of Defense continuously called the division to ask about the situation and verify whether the captured person was really General De Castries or not and instructed to investigate thoroughly to avoid cases of prisoner swapping. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh recalled some situations in which our cadres interrogated General De Castries: “You and the French Expeditionary Command in Indochina declared that “Dien Bien Phu is an impregnable fortress” and you yourself distributed leaflets inviting us to play in your trap in Dien Bien Phu. What do you think now?” De Castries bitterly replied: “Yes! Today we have met you.”

Our cadres continued to ask: “How do you evaluate your artillery force in Dien Bien Phu, which your artillery commander Pi-rot declared that if he counter-fired for 10 minutes, the Viet Minh artillery would be silenced and after 2 days they would crush us?” De-Cast replied: “We did not expect you to bring heavy artillery to Dien Bien Phu and use it effectively, thus suppressing our artillery.” Our cadres asked sarcastically: “Could it be that because you could not crush us, Colonel Pi-rot “crushed” himself with a grenade?”, “Yes! Pi-rot bravely ended his life,” De-Cast replied.

Our cadre asked again: “You received orders from General Navarre to break out of the siege and flee to Laos, why didn’t you do it?” De Castries bitterly replied: “You have tightened the siege and arranged your forces to intercept us, so we cannot take any risks.” Our cadre asked: “If you don’t break out of the siege, you will have to accept defeat. When did you know that?” De Castries replied: “When you detonated the large explosives on Hill A1 and when you played the Xtalin orchestra, we knew the time of defeat had come.” (The Xtalin orchestra is a phrase used by the French to refer to the Soviet-made Kachiusa rocket launchers with a thousand-degree heat and great destructive power that our troops used at the end of the campaign.)

Before classifying and separating the subjects to be taken to the designated place, our cadres asked: “In order to avoid being known as a general of a powerful country who was captured alive, your General Command sent a telegram asking you to commit suicide, France will show gratitude and honor you as a hero in the Vietnam War. You promised to obey orders and send farewells, why didn’t you do it?” De Castries explained: “Because I felt I had the responsibility to stay with thousands of wounded soldiers and tens of thousands of soldiers under my command to share and suffer the same fate with them.”

The evening light had covered Dung Quyet mountain, the first summer rain was about to come, we said goodbye to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh. Seeing our guests out, he promised to tell more stories about Dien Bien memories another time...

Cong Kien