Location of the first historic Dien Bien Phu campaign headquarters

(Baonghean.vn) -Tham Pua Cave is located at the foot of Pu Hong Cay limestone mountain, in Ban Po commune, Chieng Sinh commune, Tuan Giao district - Dien Bien province. The cave surface is 10m higher than the valley surface, the cave entrance faces North-West, about 100m in front of Tham Pua cave is Nam Hua stream, flowing horizontally into Ma River. From Dien Bien city, follow National Highway 41 to Tuan Giao to km 62, turn right along Nam Hua stream for about 2km and we will reach Tham Pua cave.

Tham Pua Cave is the location of the forward command post of the General Military Commission and the first stop of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign Command from December 7, 1953 to January 17, 1954.

During the resistance war against the French colonialists, Tham Pua cave was chosen as the location for the first command post of the Tran Dinh campaign (code name of the Dien Bien Phu campaign) with General Vo Nguyen Giap as commander-in-chief. Here, from the beginning of January 1954, many important events took place, especially on January 14, 1954, the battle orders were disseminated on the largest sand table. Attending were senior and mid-ranking officers of the participating divisions, military commanders: Vuong Thua Vu, Le Trong Tan, Le Quang Ba, Dao Van Truong, Nam Long and political commissars Tran Do, Chu Huy Man, Pham Ngoc Mau, many regimental and battalion officers... Also at Tham Pua cave, General Vo Nguyen Giap assigned the task to the units: Division 308 attacked the stronghold group to the West, through the positions on the field and straight to De Cattri's command post. The 312th and 316th divisions were tasked with attacking from the East, where the enemy's key high points were located. The battle was expected to last 2-3 days and nights.

The location of Tham Pua cave chosen as the command post has a safe terrain, next to the cave is a flat land, more than 10 hectares wide, convenient for directing the campaign in the mountains. There are many caves here, and the scenery is beautiful. The beautiful scenery of Tham Pua cave was recorded by the General Commander-in-Chief in his memories of Dien Bien Phu before saying goodbye to the writers and journalists as follows: “I also find the scenery here very beautiful, I rarely write poetry, but I feel this beautiful scenery is quite poetic. We are about to fight again so that every night of the country is as beautiful as tonight…”.

Near the opening day of the attack on the Dien Bien Phu stronghold, the command post was moved from Tham Pua cave to Huoi He cave at km 62 near Ban Na Tau. The opening day was decided at 5:00 p.m. on January 25, 1954, but near that day, a soldier of the 312th division was unfortunately captured by the enemy, and there was news that the enemy had informed each other about our attack time. Faced with that situation, General, Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap analyzed the situation, the balance of forces between us and the enemy, and decided to postpone the opening day for 24 hours. This was an extremely wise and timely decision, ensuring that our army would gain complete victory, as the General, Commander-in-Chief, pointed out: "Since the mission was announced at Tham Pua cave, half a month has passed, the enemy situation has changed a lot, the number of troops has increased, the defensive position has been built into a solid stronghold, with maximum support from the air force and artillery."

On our side, there are also difficulties: “First, our main force has so far only destroyed at most one reinforced enemy battalion with strong fortifications in Nghia Lo. When we attacked the Na San stronghold, we only fought each enemy battalion in field fortifications and fought very poorly. Second, in this battle we did not have tanks or aircraft, but it was the first time we had coordinated infantry and artillery on a large scale, and our troops had not yet practiced. Recently, a regimental commander asked to return some of his guns because he did not know how to coordinate; Third, our troops have only ever been used to fighting at night in places that are easy to hide. Our main force has no experience in fighting during the day on flat terrain against an enemy with superiority in aircraft, artillery and tanks, and the battle took place on an open field 13 km long and 6 km wide… We have not discussed how to solve all of these difficulties.

On the morning of January 26, 1954, a meeting of the Party Committee of the Front was convened. The comrades in the Party Committee who had gone down to their units to grasp the situation had not yet returned. While waiting for the meeting, General Vo Nguyen Giap met with the head of the military advisory delegation of his friend to analyze the difficulties and then concluded that "if we attack, we will fail" and the General proposed to postpone the attack until an appropriate time. On the afternoon of January 26, 1954, we withdrew our troops to the assembly position to prepare again according to the motto "fight firmly, advance firmly". The head of the military delegation agreed with the conclusion of General Vo Nguyen Giap and worked with the delegation's experts.

The Party Committee meeting of the front took place in a frank atmosphere: there were many opinions that did not agree on the motto of "fighting fast, winning fast" and the motto of "fighting steadily, advancing steadily". Before going to the front, General Vo Nguyen Giap was assigned by Uncle Ho the task of "this battle is very important, we must fight to win, only fight if we are sure of winning, and not fight if we are not sure of winning". With a sense of responsibility before Uncle Ho and the Politburo, the General changed the motto of destroying the enemy in Dien Bien Phu from "fighting fast, winning fast" to "fighting steadily, advancing steadily" and decided to postpone the advance, at the same time ordering troops on the entire front to retreat to the assembly point and pull out the artillery. Political work ensured strict compliance with the retreat order as a combat order, and logistics prepared according to the new motto.

After concluding the meeting, General Vo Nguyen Giap assigned Chief of Staff Hoang Van Thai to give orders to the infantry units - the General directly gave orders to the artillery and assigned new tasks to the 308th Division. Everything happened quickly and all units thoroughly followed the orders.

It must be said that the decision to change the strategy from “fight fast, win fast” to “fight steadily, advance steadily” was the most difficult decision in General Vo Nguyen Giap’s command career. At that time, it was not possible to use the radio, so the General wrote an urgent letter to report to the Politburo. A few days later, the General received a letter from General Secretary Truong Chinh informing him that Uncle Ho and his comrades at home agreed that the decision to change the strategy was completely correct, and that the Party Central Committee and the Government would mobilize the entire army to devote all their efforts to supporting the frontline until the troops won victory at Dien Bien Phu.

At the Dien Bien Phu front, although each person still had different concerns and thoughts, all officers and soldiers thoroughly followed the order to retreat, demonstrating the belief and excellent discipline of the revolutionary army. The great rear of the whole country with the slogan "All for the front", "All for victory", our army and people spared no sweat and blood to ensure the supply of ammunition and food for the soldiers at the Dien Bien Phu front. From the wise battles of the front command, from the efforts and determination of the entire Party, army and people, the Dien Bien Phu campaign achieved complete victory.

Tham Pua Cave - the location of the first historical Dien Bien Phu campaign headquarters in Chieng Sinh - Tuan Giao and Huoi He Cave in Na Tau, Dien Bien district, which witnessed the important moment of the decision to change the motto of "fighting fast, winning fast" to the motto of "fighting steadily, advancing steadily" of the Dien Bien Phu campaign command headed by General - Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap. This place has become one of the relics of the Dien Bien Phu historical relic complex.

Tran Duy Ngoan

(Sourced from Dien Bien Phu Historical Site)