Nghe - Tinh in the Dien Bien Phu campaign

On December 6, 1953, the Central Party Politburo approved the decision to launch the Dien Bien Phu campaign and also began mobilizing forces to focus on Dien Bien Phu.

On the first day of the Giap Ngo New Year (1954), 32,000 laborers and thousands of new soldiers from Nghe An eagerly volunteered to go to the front line. The people of Nghe Tinh contributed tens of thousands of working days to repair and open new routes such as Highway 38 from Yen Thanh to Bung Bridge; Highway 34 from Bao Nham to Quan Hanh, the road from Ha Tinh town to Cam Xuyen - Cua Nhuong; Linh Cam - Huong Khe road...

Internal waterways were reinforced, the Le Dynasty canal system from Ha Tinh to Thanh Hoa was dredged. In 1953, Nghe An people contributed 5 million working days to serve the transportation work for the battlefield. Ha Tinh, on the one hand, mobilized laborers, food and provisions for the campaign; on the other hand, concentrated forces to renew and repair Road No. 8, Road No. 18, Road No. 74, the road through Truong Men, Linh Cam, Tan Ap, contributing to perfecting the transportation system to meet the requirements of the campaign.

The people of Ha Tinh, in the Central Laos campaign (November 1953), mobilized 56,000 frontline laborers, each serving an average of 2.5 months on the battlefield. 28,300 Ha Tinh laborers served the troops in Laos, contributing greatly to the victory in Central Laos, destroying and capturing 5,000 enemies, effectively coordinating with the Dien Bien Phu campaign and other battlefields, bringing the 1953-1954 Winter-Spring strategic general offensive to victory.

In the Dien Bien Phu campaign in particular, the resistance war against the French in general, the patriotism and revolutionary heroism of the army and people of Nghe Tinh were highlighted. Pha Din Pass, a place that has gone down in history, in the Dien Bien Phu campaign was in charge of the Youth Volunteer Company 293 (Team 34 Nghe An).

The officers and soldiers of Nghe An have increased productivity by 40% (2,336 working days), excellently completing the task of transporting and destroying bombs, in fierce bomb and bullet conditions, in muddy rain. Soldier Dang Dinh Ho (from Thanh Chuong), directly participated in the 56-day battle in Dien Bien, is famous for his fighting style of being as agile as a squirrel, as strong as a tiger and penetrating deeply to divide and terrify the enemy. During the 9 years of resistance, the two provinces added 105,935 troops to the fronts (equivalent to 10 divisions), mobilized 1.179 million laborers, and contributed 31 million working days to the resistance.

On the battlefields, the soldiers of the Soviet homeland overcame countless difficulties and hardships, fighting bravely; many sons of Nghe An became symbols of heroism: Cu Chinh Lan, Phan Dinh Giot, Tran Can, Nguyen Quoc Tri, Nguyen Do Luong, Phan Tu, Dang Dinh Ho... During the 9 years of resistance, more than ten thousand sons of Nghe Tinh fell on the battlefields.

With its strategic location and patriotic tradition, in every time the Fatherland was in danger, Nghe An made outstanding and great contributions to the common victory of the entire nation. In the resistance war against the French, which ended with the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the sacrifices and contributions of the Nghe Tinh army and people were enormous. The laborers of Thanh - Nghe - Tinh and the image of the bicycle have become legendary: “…Contributing to the victory of Dien Bien Phu was the great contribution of the civilian labor force - a product of our Party's people's war policy - with the role of not only transporting, supplying, and carrying the wounded, but also escorting prisoners of war, building roads, and directly participating in combat.”. “…Not only did they "carry on the shoulder and carry" to provide food, provisions, weapons and ammunition to the battlefield, but also with the "sweat, tears and blood" of thousands of soldiers who directly fought on the battlefield, contributing to the glorious victory of the nation.

Recognizing the strategic position of Inter-zone 4 in general and the Thanh - Nghe - Tinh rear in particular, in June 1951, General Vo Nguyen Giap and a number of leaders of the Central Military Commission inspected the situation in the Thanh - Nghe - Tinh rear, and at the same time assigned tasks to Inter-zone 4, in which they especially emphasized: Inter-zone must concentrate all efforts to build and firmly protect the Thanh - Nghe - Tinh rear, be ready to support human and material resources for the main battlefield in the North, step up operations in the Binh - Tri - Thien battlefield, and be ready to support human and material resources for the upcoming campaigns in the Northwest and Upper Laos.

Based on its special military and geopolitical position, the Thanh - Nghe - Tinh rear simultaneously assumed the role of base and rear for three battlefield directions, in which it played an extremely important role in the campaigns and coordinated military operations opened in the Central Laos and Upper Laos directions.

Since February 1953, Nghe An province has mobilized 72,940 laborers to repair Highway 7 to Laos. The road from Do Luong to Muong Xen is 170km long, laborers have built more than 100 pontoon bridges, temporary bridges, dug and built thousands of cubic meters of earth and rock, repaired the roadbed, reinforced the safety of Cao Pass, Cho Pass... In addition, the province also mobilized 1,486 bicycles and 1,066 boats and canoes to continuously transport goods to the West to Laos. By March 9, 1953, Nghe An laborers had transferred 740 tons of rice to designated locations in the border area, not including the amount of rice provided to laborers and private boats for use on the way back and forth. On March 20, 1953, Nghe An mobilized another batch of porters including 12,700 people and Battalion 195, Companies 121, 123 of the province's local army to go to Xieng Khouang to serve and directly participate in combat on Lao soil.

Thanh - Nghe - Tinh provinces and Laos have had a close relationship for a long time. During the resistance war against France, they worked together, shared hardships, and fought shoulder to shoulder against the common enemy. According to the teachings of President Ho Chi Minh: "Helping friends means helping yourself". During the resistance war against France, the Thanh - Nghe - Tinh rear fulfilled its noble international duty. With its continuous and comprehensive contribution to the Lao battlefield during the resistance war against France, the Inter-Zone IV free zone was truly a solid base - a strategic international rear for the Lao army and people, an important factor influencing the victory of the Lao revolution, contributing to the common victory of the people of the three Indochinese countries...

Seventy years have passed, the Dien Bien Phu victory is a typical victory in the history of the resistance war against French colonialism by our army and people, defeating the French expeditionary army with strong military potential and modern weapons and equipment. The Dien Bien Phu campaign ended with a complete victory belonging to the Vietnamese people. The great victory at Dien Bien Phu has been recorded in the history of the Vietnamese nation as the brightest milestone in the 20th century. In that great victory, the great contributions of the army and people of Nghe An - Ha Tinh will forever be engraved in history.