Girls driving on Truong Son road
From the information of the staff officer of the 9th station, belonging to the General Department of Forward Logistics during the resistance war against the US, I went to Cat Van commune, Thanh Chuong district to meet retired senior lieutenant Nguyen Ba Tien. He was a soldier of Dien Bien Phu, who fought in the first motor transport regiment of the Army. In the years (1966-1967), when the US imperialists expanded the local war, he was soon present in the motor transport formation, bringing goods from the Northern rear to the Southern front.
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CCB Nguyen Ba Tien, Platoon Commander |
After considering the capabilities and circumstances of the battlefield at that time, Mr. Tien presented an 8-month training plan, then shortened it to 4 months to quickly supplement the driver team for the front line. All the military logistics, warehouse, and engineering departments were mobilized but there was still a shortage of students. Mr. Tien boldly proposed choosing female soldiers to train drivers.
So nearly thirty girls who were serving in logistics, catering, and loading goods were organized into a platoon. The young girls from Ha Tay, Nam Ha, and Thanh Hoa eagerly accepted their new tasks. Sergeant Phan Thi Kien was appointed as platoon leader and Sergeant Tran Thi Van as political commissar. Taking charge of the training class, Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Ba Tien led the company of students to drive nearly 700km of forest roads to the North.
Along the march, only half a day away from home, he could not visit his wife and young children. Arriving in Nghe An at the end of July 1968, Mr. Tien and the training class command chose Nghia Khanh commune (Nghia Dan) to build camps, training grounds and vehicle shelters. The situation at the front changed rapidly, the class was shortened to two months. Officers and soldiers studied at night, taking advantage of breaks to test each subject. The battlefield urged, the training class raced against time, trying to quickly grasp basic knowledge and lessons on handling damage, camouflage, and avoiding enemies in the air and on the ground. At the end of the course, the female soldier platoon was assigned to drive Gat 51 vehicles, a single-axle vehicle equipped by the Soviet army.
The key names are associated with death, vehicle fires, and goods out of stock along Route 15, Route 12, and Route 20 (Quyet Thang). They have persevered through bombs, floods, and mud on every route, contributing to the transfer of tens of thousands of tons of goods to the front line. During the fierce years, Mr. Nguyen Ba Tien closely followed the female driver platoon from (1968-1971). Later, Mr. Tien and a number of female drivers returned to Driving School 255 to become teachers, training hundreds of drivers, preparing for the victorious 1975 Spring General Offensive...
Mr. Nguyen Ba Tien wishes to meet again one of the female drivers of Truong Son. This short article will serve as a bridge of affection between teacher Nguyen Ba Tien and his fellow drivers during the war.
Van Hien