The secret bunker

• September 1, 2010 10:56

80 years have passed but the story of the days of the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement has never ceased in the small house of the former Party Secretary of Ben Thuy Match Factory - martyr Le Viet Cuong. Also for those 80 years, in this house there has always existed a secret bunker - the bunker that

Little house...

Located in an alley and hidden under the green canopy of trees is the over 100-year-old wooden house of the family of martyr Le Viet Cuong - one of the first martyrs to die in the Con Mo area, an excellent party member, Party Secretary of Ben Thuy Match Factory.

In the past, this house was often the place where Soviet soldiers held meetings and discussed political issues. More sacredly, this was the place that witnessed many important moments of communist soldiers - the moment of officially joining the Party's ranks.

There are not many old documents about martyr Le Viet Cuong left because war and time have almost erased them all. However, in the stories of his relatives, they always mention him with deep affection and pride.

This year, he is over 60 years old, but Mr. Le Luu Tinh - Mr. Cuong's grandson still has not forgotten the story his father told him one day: Originally a worker at Ben Thuy match factory, my grandfather was enlightened about the revolution early and was soon trusted and admitted into the Party by the Indochinese Communist Party.

From a party member and later Party cell Secretary, he directly called on his brothers to join the Party and participate in the demonstration movement of workers at Truong Thi - Ben Thuy "at that time all activities had to be secret". Although my grandfather held the position of Party cell Secretary, no one in the family knew.

The strangers that the whole family suspected at that time were none other than the key figures of the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement. From those secret meetings, many demonstrations of workers took place. Particularly in Ben Thuy, the demonstration to celebrate International Labor Day on May 1, 1930 by workers of Truong Thi factory, Ben Thuy match factory and farmers of Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc and Thanh Chuong districts created a great resonance.

Unfortunately, when the revolutionary movement was at its most vibrant stage, the Soviet government had been established in many localities, on the night of April 30, 1931, during a secret meeting to prepare for the demonstration on International Labor Day, the Secretary of the Party cell of Ben Thuy Match Factory was shot dead by the French along with 5 other soldiers. When he died, martyr Le Viet Cuong was just over 30 years old, the youngest child was less than 1 year old. The place where they fell was Con Mo, now a memorial has been erected.

And the secret bunker

The answer lies in the 3-room house, where for the past 80 years, despite bombs, natural disasters, storms and floods and many repairs, generations of descendants of martyr Le Viet Cuong's family have tried to preserve and maintain. With a width of 80cm, a depth of 1.2m, and a length of 80cm, the bunker is a secret that few people know about. From the outside, it is difficult to distinguish between the bunker and the floor because the bunker is solidly built and plastered extremely carefully.

Mr. Tinh and his family's secret cellar

However, with just a slight lift of the arm and a push of an iron rod, the hatch was opened wide enough for a person to crawl through. Pointing to the hatch, Mr. Tinh continued: Every time he was chased by the enemy during his revolutionary activities, my grandfather would quickly run back and crawl into this hatch. Whenever my grandmother saw him hiding there, she would quickly fan a pot of coal placed on the hatch and stand with her legs spread on it. The French, who were wary of women who had just given birth, thought she was standing there burning coal and turned back. My grandfather and others escaped many times thanks to that very "Vietnamese woman" trick.

After the martyr Le Viet Cuong died, the secret bunker continued to be effective in the wars against the French and the Americans. His descendants followed in their father's footsteps and the family tradition by enthusiastically volunteering to join the army, including his only son, Le Viet Hoang, who died while participating in the local revolution at the Ben Thuy Ward Committee headquarters in 1967. Although the bunker is no longer effective, we try to preserve it. That is also a way to educate our children and grandchildren about revolutionary traditions and family traditions," Mr. Linh said emotionally.

My Ha