The starting point of the "Train without number"

(Baonghean) - "The train without a number" - as its name suggests, from the first trip until the end of the resistance war, that train and all those on board, at the docks, had to face countless hardships, dangers, losses... They are an immortal song about intelligence, sacrifice, courage and indomitable fighting spirit...

On a sunny April day, we visited the National Monument of Ben K15 - the starting point of the Ho Chi Minh Trail at sea, in Van Huong Ward, Do Son District, Hai Phong City. Ben K15 was the code name during the 14 years of resistance against the US, now it has become familiar and is a "red address" attracting many visitors because it is also a relic associated with the great and unique achievements and contributions to the military art of our army and people.

K15 Wharf Relic - Starting point of the Ho Chi Minh Sea Trail.

Regarding the name of Ben K15, “K” is the military symbol for the port, “15” is the number taken from the number of the Resolution of the Party Central Committee on the revolutionary line and method for the South at the 15th Central Party Conference. Resolution 15 outlined a basic and important content on the strategic line for the liberation of the South: For the cause of liberating the South to be victorious, we must use the method of armed struggle, military struggle combined with political struggle, diplomatic struggle, and unite the entire people in a long and arduous revolution. Resolution 15 of the Central Committee was likened to a guiding light for the revolution to liberate the South right from the time it was issued. In order to transport supplies to the South, mainly weapons, to realize the method of military struggle, armed struggle in the spirit of Resolution 15 of the Party, the name Ben K15 was born to refer to the wharf of the “unnumbered train” in Do Son, Hai Phong.

At K15 Wharf, on October 11, 1962, a wooden ship made its first "shipment", carrying 30 tons of weapons, and after 5 days at sea, it safely arrived at Vam Lung base (Rach Goc - Ca Mau). This event was of great significance because it marked the possibility of establishing a strategic sea transport route to connect the North and South. K15 Wharf thus became the first and main departure point of the "Unnumbered Train". From then on, along with the Ho Chi Minh trail on land, our army and people had the Ho Chi Minh trail on sea to carry out the mission of "All for the front line", "All for the South to defeat the American invaders". If transporting by the Ho Chi Minh trail on land took an average of two months, each shipment by the Ho Chi Minh trail on sea only took about a week.

“The train without numbers” or “The train without numbers unit” is actually just a way of calling to emphasize the secret, even top secret, nature of the cargo transport unit that supports from the North to the South (by sea). Because in reality, all trains have their own numbers in the unit’s records.

Coming to Ben K15 during the historic days of April, we heard many anecdotes and stories, which could actually be considered legends of the 20th century. That was during the period when Ben K15 became a place for goods to be gathered, everyone who set foot here had to keep it a secret until the day the war ended. Similarly, everyone who set foot on the "unnumbered ships" and entered the unnumbered ports had to strictly follow the measures and forms of "iron discipline". To ensure absolute secrecy, when assigned to a task, soldiers were only told that they were sent to participate in an unexpected mission, and had to carry out the commander's special "camp ban" order at the ships and ports until the day the war ended.

There were also countless times when our soldiers faced death, testing their courage with the enemy, such as the case of the wooden ship carrying 35 tons of weapons of Captain Le Van Mot, Chief Engineer Nam Sao and Political Officer Dang Van Thanh that ran aground in Phuoc Hai (Ba Ria), only about 300 meters from Phuoc Hai Station. Although the regulation was to destroy the ship in case of being exposed, comrades Dang Van Thanh and Nam Sao voluntarily stayed on the ship all day to deal with two situations: If discovered, they would blow up the ship and die with the ship, and if they were lucky enough not to be discovered, they would wait until the tide came in and risk their lives to find a way to escape.

Threatened by enemy planes many times, the two comrades still disguised themselves as fishermen sitting calmly on the ship, sometimes bringing out wine to drink, sometimes bringing out nets to mend, sometimes bringing out flags to fight... The whole day of bravery made the enemy no longer suspicious and the ship escaped. Those unparalleled heroes, in the most difficult moments, because they valued every gun and bullet, because they valued every drop of sweat and blood that had been shed on the extremely difficult transportation route, because of the resistance of the people of the South ahead, disobeyed orders, regardless of sacrifice, squeezed through the "narrow door" between life and death to cling to the ship to keep the goods... were among the countless actions that our army went through to maintain the lifeline of sea traffic.

For the soldiers on board, each time they receive a cargo transport mission is truly a life-or-death situation. The “unnumbered ships” must maneuver and camouflage themselves to pass through many enemy-controlled areas, always at risk of being discovered, having to fight and sacrifice. On each “unnumbered ship” there is always a block of explosives from 500 kg to 1,000 kg ready. If discovered and unable to escape, the ship commander must definitely detonate explosives to destroy the ship, so that the ship and weapons do not fall into the hands of the enemy, more importantly, to destroy all traces and not reveal secrets.

It is called the "numberless train" because most of the records, itineraries, information, etc. must be completely destroyed after each trip to avoid any risk of data leakage or disclosure.

Because of maintaining “iron discipline” and a steel spirit, we have achieved a heroic feat of maintaining the “sea traffic artery” until the day of complete victory. During 14 years (1961-1975), the “Unnumbered Ships” made 1,879 transport trips, transporting 152,876 tons of weapons and ammunition, 80,026 people, and traveling 3,758,000 nautical miles on the Ho Chi Minh Trail across the East Sea. The “Unnumbered Ships” had to fight 300 enemy ships, 1,200 aircraft, sinking and damaging 10 ships, shooting down 5 aircraft and damaging many others, destroying hundreds of enemy troops, overcoming more than 20 storms to transport weapons and support the southern battlefield.

Article and photos:Ngo Kien