The glorious past guides our steps

(Baonghean) - Over the past 60 years, the Dien Bien Phu Victory has been a source of immense pride for the Vietnamese people in general and for each person who participated in the campaign, and the succeeding generations in particular. Looking back at the Dien Bien Phu Victory, we can clearly see that this is a "museum" containing many valuable lessons for today and tomorrow...

Museum of Memory

In the mind of old soldier Nguyen Xuan Tinh (84 years old, residing in Trung Do ward, Vinh city), participating and contributing to the Dien Bien Phu victory that shook the world was an honor and a source of great pride. For him, the museum of memories needs to be preserved and constantly opened up and shared. Among his countless "personal" stories, the most touching are still "the interrogation of General De Castries" and "the legionnaire with the surname Uncle Ho".

Officers and soldiers of Military Region 4 Museum prepare for the exhibition "Dien Bien Phu - A golden history".

At 5:30 p.m. on May 7, 1954, Captain Ta Quoc Luat and a number of soldiers stormed the Command bunker, captured General De Castries alive, and brought him to the 312th Division Headquarters. With his French ability, Nguyen Xuan Tinh was assigned to interpret the interrogation of this general. Mr. Tinh said: De Castries wore a beret, a flat summer uniform, a pale face, but spoke very stylishly. At first, Mr. Le Trong Tan - Commander of the 312th Division sat directly with the prisoners in French, but when De Castries was interrogated, the officers in the Division Command asked questions in Vietnamese, Mr. Tinh and a number of other comrades took responsibility for interpreting.

The content of the interrogation is:

- You and the French Expeditionary Force Command in Indochina declared “Dien Bien Phu is an impregnable fortress” and you yourself sent planes to drop leaflets inviting us to play in your trap set in Dien Bien Phu. What do you think about that place now?

Sour De-cat:

- Yes, we have met you today. - How do you evaluate your artillery force in Dien Bien Phu and Pi-rot - your artillery commander declared: Just counter-battery for 10 minutes will silence the Viet Minh artillery and after 2 days your artillery will crush us? De-cast replied: We did not expect you to bring heavy artillery to Dien Bien Phu and use it effectively, thus suppressing our artillery.

- You received a telegram from General Nava allowing you to carry out the Albatross plan, breaking the siege and fleeing to Laos, why didn't you do it?

De Castries: You have tightened the siege and deployed forces to intercept us, so we cannot take any risks.

- If you don't break the siege, it means you will have to lose and surrender. Since when did you know that?

De Castries: When you detonated the large explosives on hill A1 and when you played the Stalin orchestra, we knew the moment of defeat had come.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh will never forget his comrades who fought side by side, "sleeping in tunnels, in the rain, eating rice balls". There was a comrade that Mr. Tinh always remembered, the legionnaire Stefan Kubiak - Ho Chi Toan. Stefan Kubiak - a Polish citizen, was forced into the French colonial legionnaires and then brought to Vietnam. Realizing the just war of the Vietnamese people, Stefan Kubiak left the legionnaires to join the Viet Minh, fighting as a communist.

“In Dien Bien Phu, Stefan Kubiak was assigned to be in charge of an artillery unit. With precise calculations, he and his unit achieved many feats. With the appearance of a Western soldier, Stefan Kubiak put on a French officer's uniform and broke into the enemy's most difficult bunker, opening a path for other soldiers to attack and capture the bunker,” veteran Nguyen Xuan Tinh recalled.

“The meeting on the battlefield opened a friendship between me and Stefan. I promised to teach him Vietnamese. In return, Stefan would teach me Mathematics and French. The war was getting fiercer so we didn't have many opportunities to meet. After the Dien Bien Phu campaign was victorious, we kept in touch for a while longer. But then due to work as well as the fierce war against the US to save the country, our letters were interrupted and we lost contact.” The Dien Bien Phu victory had a great contribution from Stefan Kubiak. After the campaign, President Ho Chi Minh adopted Stefan Kubiak and allowed him to take his last name. The very Vietnamese name - Ho Chi Toan - has been with him ever since. As for Mr. Tinh: Stefan Kubiak - Ho Chi Toan has become a symbol of peace, justice, and independence for a peace-loving nation.

Echoes of Dien Bien

The stories of living witnesses like Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tinh always cause strong emotions, they are part of history, making history. Those stories will always remain in memory but are rekindled and retold so that future generations will know about the heroic past of their ancestors….

On the afternoon of April 28, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory, many more emotional life stories and campaign stories were opened. That was the thematic exhibition "Dien Bien Phu - A golden history" organized by the Political Department, Military Region 4 at the Military Region 4 Museum.

Colonel Nguyen Cong Thanh - Director of Military Zone 4 Museum said: The exhibition starts from April 28 and lasts until May 9, 2014. The exhibition displays 3 main topics, including the Winter-Spring campaign 1953 - 1954 and Dien Bien Phu campaign (40%); Inter-zone 4 with Dien Bien Phu Victory (40%) and Echoes of Dien Bien (20%). The exhibition aims to use images, documents and artifacts to focus on highlighting the glorious feats and great historical values ​​of Dien Bien Phu Victory, ending 9 years of resistance against French colonialism. Highlighting the role and great contributions of the army and people of Military Zone 4 in the victory 60 years ago. From there, it contributes to propagating, introducing and educating the officers, soldiers of the armed forces and all people to be more proud of the heroic fighting tradition of previous generations and strive to contribute to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland today.

280 images and artifacts displayed in this exhibition are 280 stories about historical periods, about famous heroes and farmers who silently devoted and sacrificed for the future of the nation. These are: The table of the Politburo Resolution deciding on the military policy for the Winter - Spring period of 1953 - 1954; A series of images such as: The Central Military Commission and the General Command deciding on the operational plan for the Winter - Spring period of 1953 - 1954; Khanh Thien - Ninh Binh guerrillas shooting down French planes in the Southwest Ninh Binh Campaign, October 1953; The Vietnam - Laos coalition launched the Lower Laos campaign, attacking Atopop, January 1954; General Navarre, General Co Nhi and De Castries meeting to discuss the plan to build the Dien Bien Phu stronghold; The feats of arms of the army and people of Inter-zone 4 in this historic campaign: Are the artifacts of the heroic sons of Nghe An, such as: the bamboo hat of Martyr Tran Can, the submachine gun of Martyr Phan Dinh Giot...

This exhibition once again affirms that the Dien Bien Phu Victory was the highest direct result of the Winter-Spring campaign of 1953-1954 and the pinnacle of our nation's 9-year sacred resistance war. This historic victory created the fundamental conditions for the successful diplomatic struggle.

From the legendary Dien Bien Phu spirit, there have been many more victories, the pinnacle of which was the victorious Ho Chi Minh Campaign, unifying the country. The heroic Dien Bien Phu and the Ho Chi Minh Campaign have led the whole country to socialism, achieving great and historic achievements in the renovation process over the past nearly 40 years...

Article and photos:Thanh Son