Uncle Ho and the newspaper used for enemy propaganda work.
(Baonghean.vn) - President Ho Chi Minh paid great attention to enemy propaganda work. In 1948, he said: "Winning against the enemy is skillful. Winning without fighting against the enemy is even more skillful. Winning without fighting is thanks to enemy propaganda." Therefore, he paid great attention to the newspaper "Waffenbrüder" (Fighting Friend) - a newspaper written in German and French, commissioned by the Party and State of Vietnam and produced by Erwin Borchers (a German, a French Foreign Legion soldier who deserted and joined our side), to call on Foreign Legion soldiers to abandon their service to French colonialism.
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President Ho Chi Minh. Photo: Historical archives. |
Why was there a newspaper called "Fighting Friend"?
After World War II (1939-1945), France made no secret of its ambition to return to Indochina. However, due to the destruction of France's military potential by Nazi Germany during the occupation (1941-1944), it resorted to using Foreign Legion troops alongside the French army and soldiers from its North African colonies.
The Foreign Legion were foreign mercenaries who fought for France. This army was established in 1831 and continues to this day. According to statistics, from 1946 to 1954, 72,833 officers and soldiers of the Foreign Legion fought in the Indochina War.
However, upon witnessing the brutality of the French colonialists, many Foreign Legion soldiers deserted to join the Viet Minh. In 1947, French War Minister Paul Coste Floret requested President Ho Chi Minh to return the deserting Foreign Legion soldiers who had joined the Viet Minh, but he refused despite all threats.
Among them was Erwin Borchers (a German), a French Foreign Legion soldier who joined the Viet Minh earliest, in 1945. After joining the Viet Minh, he worked at the French-language newspaper "Le Peuple" (The People), whose content served the purpose of propaganda against the enemy.
Later, when the nationwide resistance war broke out (December 19, 1946), he was in charge of enemy propaganda work, primarily targeting German and European Foreign Legion soldiers. Because the number of Germans in the French Foreign Legion reached tens of thousands, the Party and State directed him and his colleagues to write articles and publish the newspaper "Comrades in Arms" (Waffenbrüder) in German and French.
Following orders from his superiors, he wrote many articles for the newspaper under the pseudonym "Soldier". The printed newspaper was immediately distributed to guerrillas to spread around enemy outposts, urging German-born Foreign Legion soldiers, and even those of European origin, to abandon their service to the French colonialists.
Letter from President Ho Chi Minh to the newspaper "Comrades in Arms"
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The newspaper "Waffenbrüder" (Fighting Friend). Photo: Historical archives. |
President Ho Chi Minh once shared: “My experience is this: Every time I write an article, I ask myself: Who am I writing for? What is the purpose of writing? How can I write in a way that is common, easy to understand, concise and easy to read? When I finish writing, I ask my colleagues to review and correct it for me”[1] and he emphasized “The task of journalism is to serve the people, to serve the revolution”[2].
To offer suggestions on the form and content to help the newspaper "Comrades in Arms" win the favor of its Foreign Legion readers, President Ho Chi Minh wrote a letter to the newspaper (February 10, 1948). In the letter, he wrote:
Dear friends,
Thank you very much for the issues of "Comrades in Arms." Here are a few small suggestions for you: this newspaper is for legionnaires, cheerful, easily irritated, and emotional guys, not for deeply political people.
Therefore, there was a need for humorous pictures and drawings, things that would make them laugh, short news items about Germany and France – especially news related to people's lives (such as food shortages, strikes, harassment from government agencies...).
In short, we need to move them, make them feel comfortable, make them laugh and cry in order to draw them to our side.
Avoid writing long articles.
One should not write about major contemporary political issues.
What do you think?
A few months later, a reporter from the newspaper "Comrades in Arms" interviewed President Ho Chi Minh. The newspaper "Cuu Quoc" (National Salvation), issue 938, dated May 25, 1948, branch number 6, printed in Zone X, reprinted his response.
- Ask:Mr. Chairman, what do you hate the most?
- Reply:Evil.
- Ask:What is the Chairman's greatest wish?
- Reply:The independence of my country and of all countries around the world.
- Ask:Mr. Chairman, what do you fear most?
- Reply:Fear nothing. A true patriot fears nothing and absolutely must not fear anything.
In 1950, the newspaper "Comrades in Arms" changed its name to "Returning Home" to intensify calls for Foreign Legion soldiers to abandon their service to French colonialism. In 1951, the Conference on Enemy Mobilization disseminated the motto for mobilizing European and African soldiers to fight for "home and peace in Vietnam," considering it the central slogan.
Therefore, according to statistics, during the resistance war against French colonialism (1946-1954), 1,373 Foreign Legion soldiers and 288 French soldiers deserted and joined the Viet Minh. Many of them made significant contributions to the command, staff, technical, training, medical, ordnance, and propaganda sectors of our revolution.
In late February 1954, Erwin Borchers arrived at Dien Bien Phu with his propaganda team. They dropped leaflets and used loudspeakers to call on the Foreign Legion soldiers and North African troops to lay down their arms.
With the victory at Dien Bien Phu (May 7, 1954), the resistance war against French colonialism ended in triumph. The world's largest newspapers simultaneously reported on this victory, which "reverberated across five continents and shook the earth." Among them, Time magazine of the United States, in its November 22, 1954 issue, wrote that this was "a triumph of an Asian army defeating those who were once their 'masters' from Europe."
"Under Ho Chi Minh's leadership, the Viet Minh had the most effective jungle fighting army in Southeast Asia, the most brilliant general in Southeast Asia, Vo Nguyen Giap, the most solid political organization headed by Ho Chi Minh, and seasoned leadership skills," Time magazine further stated.
Comrade William Foster, Chairman of the American Communist Party, wrote in the "Workers' Daily" on May 10, 1954, as follows: "The victory of Ho Chi Minh's army in destroying the Dien Bien Phu stronghold is an event of immense significance. This defeat is not only a disastrous failure for the French colonialists, who risked their lives to invade the rich and beautiful country of Indochina, but first and foremost, a great failure of the aggressive war plan of the American imperialists… The victory at Dien Bien Phu is an enormous encouragement for the forces fighting against imperialism in colonial and semi-colonial countries, and the recent developments in Indochina have spurred and intensified resistance against the brutal control policies of the United States in other capitalist countries…"
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Erwin Borchers (a German), a French Foreign Legion soldier, joined the Viet Minh as early as 1945. He and his comrades published the newspaper "Fighting Friend" (Waffenbrüder) to persuade French Foreign Legion soldiers to join the Viet Minh ranks during the resistance against the French. |
The French Foreign Legion soldiers became "New Vietnam" fighters.
"New Vietnamese" fighters were foreigners who volunteered to join the ranks of the Vietnam People's Army in the struggle for national independence. Among them were French Foreign Legion soldiers who deserted to join the revolution. Below are two exemplary "New Vietnamese" fighters.
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Mr. Kostas Sarantidis, also known as Nguyen Van Lap - Hero of the People's Armed Forces (wearing a white shirt), and his former comrades from Military Region V pose for a commemorative photo with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam. Photo: Historical archives. |
Mr. Kostas Sarantidis (Hero of the People's Armed Forces):
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Mr. Kostas Sarantidis (on the right) with his comrades in the ranks of "Uncle Ho's soldiers". Photo: Historical archives. |
From a legionnaire who once believed the deceptive promises of the French colonialists that they were going to Indochina to "liberate" the countries there from the Japanese fascists, in June 1946, Kostas Sarantidis (born in 1927 in Greece) joined the ranks of "Uncle Ho's Army".
He later recalled: “Only when we arrived did we realize we had been deceived. We didn't see any Japanese. Instead, we were ordered to fight the Viet Minh! We were people who had been under foreign rule for nearly 400 years; from young to old, no one wanted to fight or invade anyone.”
During the resistance war against the French (1946-1954), under the Vietnamese name Nguyen Van Lap, he was assigned many tasks by the Party and the State in regular army units of Military Region 5, and participated in many fierce battles in Central Vietnam.
When he was assigned to be the chief warden of the European-African prisoner-of-war camp No. 3 in Quang Ngai, he did an excellent job of educating the prisoners, making them understand the just cause of Vietnam against aggression and the humane policies of the resistance government.
Three years after joining the resistance against the French, he was admitted to the Indochinese Communist Party. After the Geneva Accords in 1954, he moved to North Vietnam and served as a platoon leader in the supply platoon at Gia Lap airport, worked as a truck driver in the Na Duong coal mine and the Cao Bang tin mine, and served as an interpreter for experts from the German Democratic Republic at the Tien Bo Printing Factory.
In 1965, he and his family returned to Greece, where his elderly mother lived. He joined the Greek Communist Party and worked to foster Greek-Vietnamese relations. In 2013, he was awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces by the Vietnamese Party and State.
Mr. Stefan Kubiak (who has the honor of bearing President Ho Chi Minh's surname):
Stefan Kubiak (Polish), Captain Ho Chi Toan of the Vietnam People's Army. He was previously a French Foreign Legion soldier who deserted and joined the Viet Minh. Photo: Historical archives. |
