General Hai Manh

(Baonghean)“Uncle Ho named comrade Chu Huy Man Hai Manh (Politically strong - Military strong). That shows that the Party and State recognize and highly appreciate his virtue, talent, and dedication to the revolutionary cause of our people...” (General Vo Nguyen Giap, guestbook in the condolence book of General Chu Huy Man's family).

Lesson I. Fire tests gold



General Chu Huy Man

General Chu Huy Man, real name Chu Van Dieu, was born on March 17, 1913 in Yen Luu commune, Yen Truong canton, Hung Nguyen district (now Hung Hoa commune, Vinh city). In the late 20s and the second half of the last century, his hometown was a salty and sour land area, with terrain divided by fields, canals, and difficult roads. Three-quarters of the land was in the hands of landlords, the people mainly worked for hire, life was miserable because of heavy corvée labor, high taxes, and most of the young men in the village were illiterate. Hundreds of people had to work for hire in factories in Vinh, avoiding the melon rind to find the coconut rind, in the village they were oppressed and exploited by landlords with no way to survive, in the factories they were cut off from their wages, and tortured in all kinds of ways. Their hatred and will to resist grew stronger and stronger. Therefore, the previous generation of communists in Tan Viet and the Revolutionary Youth Association chose Yen Luu as the place to start and build their base. It is no coincidence that the "Indochinese Communist Party in the Northeast Vinh - Ben Thuy rural area" abbreviated as the Loc Da, Yen Dung, Duc Thinh Party Cell - one of the first five communist cells in Nghe An and also the only first communist cell in Hung Nguyen, was born from here. The young man Chu Huy Man and the group of village boys who worked as porters in factories in Vinh, Ben Thuy felt more and more excited, eager to contribute their strength to overthrow feudal colonialism along the Russian - Soviet path.

When assigned by Party Secretary Hoang Trong Tri to mobilize the people to organize a rally and march, Chu Huy Man chose the night when the earthworms would come up (mid-month and end-month, people would go out to catch earthworms in large numbers) to blind the enemy. On the night of October 29th to the morning of October 30th, 1929 (lunar calendar), before noon, the villagers of Yen Luu village "went out to catch earthworms". The only difference from the previous earthworm catching trips was that this time, following Chu Huy Man's instructions, the villagers gathered at Phu pagoda to listen to the speech. Then the villagers divided into two groups, one group led by Chu Huy Man to Yen Ap village (Moc village), the other group led by Chu Van Muoi to Yen Lac (Gieng hamlet). As they walked, the group shouted slogans such as "Expel the French imperialists and the feudal Southern Dynasty", "Practice land revolution", "Support Russia - Soviet Union", "Workers and peasants unite to gain rights" ...

Led by comrade Hoang Trong Tri, Chu Huy Man gathered a number of friends of the same age into the village boys' association. The village boys' association went to Vinh and Ben Thuy to work as hired laborers to connect, carry documents and leaflets to distribute to neighboring communes and secretly prepared sticks, clubs, spears and halberds to protect the masses in their struggle with local landlords. The victory of the Yen Luu night rally and march to catch earthworms encouraged the mass movement in Hung Nguyen. After that night, many communes in Hung Nguyen broke out in rallies and marches. The Hung Nguyen district chief was extremely panicked, and local landlords had to make concessions. On April 19, 1930, more than 400 workers of the Match Factory (Ben Thuy) stood up to demand higher wages, shorter working hours, and no beatings or insults against workers. In the role of porters, Chu Huy Man and his friends in the Yen Luu village boys' association were present in the ranks.

Under the direction of the Party organization, Chu Huy Man and his friends in the village's association mobilized the people of Yen Luu to participate in the rally on International Labor Day of Vinh - Ben Thuy workers. At 4:00 a.m. on May 1, 1930, hundreds of Yen Luu people were present at Km4 of Vinh - Cua Hoi road, to march to Vinh. The Hung Nguyen district chief and Yen Truong commune chief directly commanded soldiers to shoot wildly at the unarmed protesters, dozens of people fell. Taking care of the wounded, burying the dead, for the first time in his revolutionary life, the blood of the people, of his comrades, and of his teammates stained Chu Huy Man's body.

On September 10, 1930, the Yen Luu Party Cell admitted comrade Chu Huy Man. Later, he confided: When looking at the red flag, he remembered the blood that his hometown people shed on May 1, 1930. How should he repay this debt?!

The first task assigned to Chu Huy Man by the Party cell was to organize the people of Yen Luu to participate in the rally of the people of the entire Hung Nguyen district on September 12, 1930. Although he was still very young (less than 18 years old), through many challenges, Chu Huy Man was trusted by the people of Yen Luu. He and his friends in the Village Boys Association such as Tran Huy Tri, Tran Huyen, Tran Lu, Duong Cu, Dinh Chu... came to mobilize, everyone enthusiastically participated. At 4:00 a.m. on September 12, 1930, the sound of drums, gongs, and horns resounded in Yen Luu. More than 500 people, old and young, men and women, were present at Dam Mu Nuoi (Yen Dung) to march to Ben Thuy. The enemy used both planes to bomb and shoot to brutally suppress this demonstration. Dozens of people fell. To stabilize the ideological situation, that same afternoon, according to the assignment of the Party cell, Chu Huy Man gathered the masses in the commune to Quan Thanh temple to incite hatred, encouraging everyone to go to De Ca to hold a memorial service for comrades and compatriots of Hung Nguyen who sacrificed that morning.

From the blood and fire, the Soviets of workers and peasants were born. The Yen Luu Red Peasant Association elected Mr. Tran Tich as the commune secretary, Chu Huy Man and Tran Vuong as the commanders of the Red Guards (Red Self-Defense). To strengthen the trust of the masses, the Yen Luu Red Self-Defense led by Chu Huy Man organized a siege on the houses of deputy Dinh Toan and village chief Dinh Tuyen, forcing them to resign from their positions, hand over books and copper seals to the Peasant Association...

Faced with the enemy's relentless pursuit, in July 1931, Chu Huy Man was assigned to welcome two leaders of the Central Region Party Committee, Nguyen Loi (Quyet), Chu Van Bien, and the Party Committee's printing agency to Yen Luu. By cleverly changing locations, sometimes at Chua Moc, sometimes at Long Trieu, sometimes at Quan Thanh Temple... using the people as a wall to protect and supply, in the heart of the enemy, the leaders of the Party Committee were still safe. A series of Party documents and leaflets were still printed from here to send to localities to strengthen the Party and the people's trust. As a party member who had not been exposed and remained in his homeland, at the end of 1932, Chu Huy Man was able to restore the Yen Luu Party Cell. At the Party Cell Congress in November 1932, he was elected as Secretary and Commander of the Red Self-Defense Force. Faced with the enemy's fierce revenge, with the policy of "single line, united", Yen Luu Party Secretary Chu Huy Man was able to preserve his forces, develop new party members, control the people, and maintain contact with Hung Nguyen Party Committee. The movement in Yen Luu was temporarily quiet outside, but boiling inside...

In 1933, the situation had many favorable changes, many comrades after three years of imprisonment were released. Seizing the opportunity, Secretary Chu Huy Man proposed a policy: changing the method of struggle from secret to semi-public, semi-legal, fighting to reclaim the tu ly land (land of the local people temporarily confiscated due to lack of tax collection), reducing unreasonable taxes.

In October 1935, Chu Huy Man was invited by the Provincial Party Committee to report on his experience in mobilizing the masses to fight legally at the expanded Provincial Party Committee conference in Ky Tran (Nghi Loc). The lessons of sticking to the people and sticking to the core of the youth to build the Party of Yen Luu Party Cell were widely replicated by the Provincial Party Committee throughout the province.

After the Popular Front won in France, on September 29, 1936, the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee held the Indochina Congress in Quang Tri (Vinh). Chu Huy Man was an official delegate. After the Congress, he was assigned by the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee two tasks: organizing and mobilizing a large number of people from Yen Luu, Yen Dung, and Loc Da to welcome Goda (a delegate of the French Popular Front to inspect the situation in Vietnam), and at the same time establishing contacts for the Provincial Party Committee to restore the Party cells in the Truong Thi Railway Factory and the Match Factory (Vinh).

With his ingenuity and trust, the Yen Luu Party Cell mobilized thousands of people from Yen Luu, Yen Dung, and Loc Da to come to Vinh to welcome Goda. Thanks to this overwhelming force, the factory owners had to open their doors for workers to contact Goda, exposing the true face of the feudal colonialists who oppressed, exploited, and humiliated workers. Also through the rally to welcome Goda, Chu Huy Man was able to connect with a number of key workers in the two factories, transfer documents, party newspapers, leaflets, and resolutions of the Provincial Party Committee, and develop new party members. Thanks to that, in early 1937, the party cells at the Truong Thi Railway Factory and the Match Factory were restored.

Taking advantage of the influence of the French Popular Front, Yen Luu Party Secretary Chu Huy Man publicly launched guilds, each guild usually had 1-2 party members. The most prominent was the Tru Market Folk Association, which attracted a large number of female traders from Vinh, Ben Thuy, Nghi Loc, and Nghi Xuan. Despite his cleverness in disguising himself secretly, Chu Huy Man was still targeted by French secret agents. In February 1937, while he was organizing a group of Yen Luu youth to play soccer in Nghi Xuan (Ha Tinh), the village inspectors sent soldiers to arrest him and take him to Hung Nguyen district. Due to his cleverness in fighting, after only one week of detention and beating, they had to release Chu Huy Man.

In July 1937, in the face of the increasingly fierce white terror of the enemy, in order to preserve the core, under the direction of the Hung Nguyen District Committee, Chu Huy Man temporarily took refuge in Nghi Xuan under the guise of teaching the two children of the progressive landlord Duong Thong. The fishermen on both sides of the Lam River became traffic soldiers to convey news from Yen Luu to him and his instructions to his comrades. Although his stay at the landlord Duong Thong's family was not long, Chu Huy Man enlightened many progressive youths in Nghi Xuan. One of those red seeds was Professor Vu Ngoc Khanh (Vice Chairman of the Nghi Xuan Resistance Committee, 1945 - 1946). After less than a few months, the Hung Nguyen District Committee sent soldiers to Nghi Xuan to arrest and bring Chu Huy Man back to the district committee and then brought him back to Yen Luu for house arrest...

In September 1939, World War II broke out. The French Popular Front government collapsed, and De-le-di-ê came to power and brutally suppressed the Indochina revolution. At the Red Point of Hung Nguyen, they ignored the law, suspected anyone, arrested them, interrogated them, and secretly killed them. On September 10, 1939, Chu Huy Man was arrested and taken to Vinh Prison, where he was repeatedly beaten, but he still gritted his teeth and endured, arguing with the prison guards that he was wrongly arrested. After 20 days of detention, beatings, and interrogation, they released him back to Yen Luu. Knowing that they were using him as bait to "take advantage of him", Chu Huy Man was more careful in his work, so the Party organization in Yen Luu was still preserved. Although secret agents surrounded him, they still could not find any loopholes in Chu Huy Man. On March 5, 1940 (lunar calendar), they secretly arrested Chu Huy Man and brought him to Vinh Prison, then secretly transferred him to Kon Tum Prison...

In prison, Chu Huy Man and his comrades turned the prison into a school. The enemy's whips could not subdue their will, but on the contrary, they trained them to become steadfast revolutionary cadres. In the spring of 1943, with the organization's arrangement, Chu Huy Man and some comrades in Quang Nam successfully organized a prison break. Unable to return to their homeland, Chu Huy Man joined his comrades in Quang Nam to build up forces and mobilize the masses. He was elected to the Standing Committee of the Quang Nam Provincial Party Committee and was one of the four key cadres of Quang Nam leading the masses to rise up and regain power for the people on August 24, 1945.

After the success of the August Revolution, the Quang Nam Provincial Party Congress elected comrade Chu Huy Man as Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Political Committee member of the Quang Nam Provincial Military Command.

In mid-September 1945, comrade Chu Huy Man was assigned by the Party to be the Chairman of the Resistance Committee of Zone C (4 provinces of North Central Vietnam: Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Tri, Quang Binh), and concurrently a Political Commissioner of the Road 9 - Xavanakhet Front. On October 15, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh signed a Decree to establish war zones throughout the country, disband the Resistance Committees of war zones, Chu Huy Man was transferred to the Command of War Zone IV...

(continued)

Nguyen Khac Thuan