Le Thi Bach Cat - The indomitable female warrior

(Baonghean.vn) -Martyr Le Thi Bach Cat has passed away, but the pain remains with her family, comrades, and friends because the 45-year wish to welcome her back to her motherland has not yet come true.

Ms. Le Thi Bach Cat was born on October 10, 1940, the youngest child in a family of 7 Confucian scholars in Nghi Thuy commune, Nghi Loc district, Nghe An province (now Nghi Thuy ward, Cua Lo town). Growing up, she became an intelligent, beautiful, gentle, strong-willed and determined girl. Therefore, her family gave her a thorough education. In 1958, she passed the entrance exam to the Central College of Sports Education. After finishing her studies, the school retained her as a lecturer.

The resistance war against America to save the country was becoming more and more fierce, promoting the tradition of her homeland, she put everything aside and volunteered to go to the South to fight.
In April 1964, she was selected by the organization to study at the B cadre school in Phu Tho. On December 22, 1964, she and the cadre group set off across Truong Son to the South to kill the enemy and save the country. Some of her comrades who are still alive on the same trip recounted: In July 1965, Ms. Bach Cat and the working group gathered at the base of the Saigon - Gia Dinh Regional Group in Ben Cat, Binh Duong. Here, she found a way to visit her legal relatives in Da Lat, contacted her nephew Le Thanh Dung and campaigned for the revolution. She was then assigned to work at the Saigon City Youth Union, participating in the special forces in the inner city under the alias Sau Xuan.

In May 1966, she was transferred to the armed forces of the Saigon - Gia Dinh Regional Division. During this time, Ms. Bach Cat tried to contact her brother Le Van Nghinh - Le Thanh Dung's father. He introduced her to live at Mr. To Thanh's house in District 4. In addition, Mr. Nghinh helped her contact some revolutionary sympathizers in District 2 (now District 1). With a fake ID card in the name of Dinh Thi Lan, born in 1944, Mr. To Thanh introduced her to everyone as his niece who had just arrived from Nghe An.

To create a legal cover for herself, Ms. Bach Cat had to go through many jobs: tailor, hat maker, vegetable seller, lemon and chili seller... both to earn a living and to collect information to build a revolutionary base. From To Thanh's family, she got to know another Nghe An native, he worked as a driver in alley 83, which became her base of operations. Here, she built revolutionary bases like the families of Mr. Tran Quo Hue, Tran Van Quy... as places to store weapons, gather forces to launch attacks during the Tet Offensive of 1968.

According to Mr. Nguyen Chi Nhan (Hai Nhan), Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, in charge of Military: "The reason why Ms. Bach Cat chose this location as the launch site was to attack the national police station at 72 Yersin (now the headquarters of District 1 Police)".

During the general uprising in the spring of Mau Than 1968, Ms. Bach Cat commanded the armed propaganda team of District 4, inciting the masses to rise up and attack Hiep Thanh alley at Van Don wharf. The suicide squad members To Lien, Phan Giao Duc, Le Hoa... hoisted the revolutionary flag from 11pm on the first day to 3am on the second day of Mau Than Tet.

In March 1968, Ms. Bach Cat moved to District 2 to hold the position of District Party Committee member, District Youth Union Secretary, preparing to arm Districts 2 and 4 (now District 1) with about 40 people under her command, along with our troop clusters and hiding points, to advance according to plan, simultaneously attacking the headquarters of the Saigon puppet government.

In gratitude to her, Ho Chi Minh City named a street and an elementary school in District 1 after Le Thi Bach Cat.

In the 5 a.m. battle on May 5, 1968, at the De Tham - Co Bac - Co Giang front, Ms. Le Thi Bach Cat and the armed propaganda team including Le Thi Hong Quan, Tran Thi Vien, Phan Van Phe, Nguyen Huu Phuoc, Vo Thi Thu (Chin Thu), Ha Van Tiet (worker at Ba Son port), Quang - liaison (15 years old, overseas Vietnamese returning from Laos)... from alley 83 De Tham called on the people to rise up, distribute leaflets, and propagate the policies of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.

As soon as the uprising order was issued, the field police and the old District 2 police surrounded the entire De Tham - Co Bac - Co Giang area. A field police battalion on the Co Giang apartment building fired heavily, another group fired from outside. Ms. Bach Cat calmly commanded her teammates to fight and hold out against the enemy for many hours. Because the terrain was difficult to maneuver, the alley was only about 2m wide, so the soldiers fought in a very difficult situation. An M79 rocket from a high floor crashed straight into the battle formation. Ms. Bach Cat was seriously injured, her teammates, some died, some were seriously injured. Realizing the dangerous situation, Ms. Bach Cat ordered her teammates to retreat to preserve her forces. She stayed behind to attract enemy fire, supporting her teammates to retreat. Before retreating, Ms. Chin Thu handed over 2 grenades to Chi Bach Cat and Hong Quan. As soon as Ms. Chin Thu retreated, she suddenly heard a loud explosion. Ms. Bach Cat shared the grenade with the enemy and heroically sacrificed herself...

In this battle, Chi Hong Quan and Quang were captured, then Chi Hong Quan was exiled to Con Dao until the day she was returned to Loc Ninh. As for Quang, the enemy tried to bribe and persuade him but failed, so they beat him and poked a needle into his chest wound. That brave soldier sang a broken song before falling at the age of 15.

Later, the people in the area recounted: The enemy heard all the gunfire, rushed forward, saw Ms. Bach Cat was injured, called for surrender, and intended to capture her alive. However, she shouted loudly many times: "Down with American imperialism, long live Ho Chi Minh", and at the same time threw a grenade at the enemy, she was hit by a bullet and heroically sacrificed. Angry, the field police took cowardly revenge by tying up Ms. Sau Xuan's limbs and dragging her along the road from alley 83 De Tham to the 5-way intersection and then transported the body to Chi Hoa to intimidate the people, but the people still could not forget the image of the Nghe An girl who sacrificed her life for the Fatherland.

In memory of Le Thi Bach Cat, local people set up an altar for her at An Nhon Temple, District 1. After the liberation and reunification of the country, Ho Chi Minh City named a street and an elementary school in District 11 after Le Thi Bach Cat. In 1985, the State Council of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam posthumously awarded martyr Le Thi Bach Cat the First Class Resistance Medal. In Cua Lo Town, her hometown, Nghi Thu and Thu Thuy Inter-ward Secondary Schools were named after Le Thi Bach Cat.

Ho Chi Minh City also launched the Le Thi Bach Cat award for young, talented officials and civil servants with many creative products, technical innovations, and anti-corruption efforts.

To properly evaluate the heroic and resilient contributions, sacrifices of martyr Le Thi Bach Cat, the martyr's family, clan, hometown, comrades and the places where she worked (Tu Son Sports University - Bac Ninh, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) all have the earnest wish to request the State to consider posthumously awarding the title "Hero of the People's Armed Forces" to martyr Le Thi Bach Cat, to set a shining example for the revolutionary struggle tradition of today's and future generations.

Although she has passed away, the image of the female teacher and special forces martyr Thanh still lives forever in the hearts of each of us.

Phan Cong Luu - Standing Deputy Secretary of Cua Lo City Party Committee