Dien Bien Phu Victory shows strength of intelligence, public consensus: Officer

The Dien Bien Phu Victory (May 7, 1954) was not only a victory of the strength of intelligence and public consensus but also contributed to the end of the resistance war against the French colonialists of the Vietnamese army and people, according to an officer.

Lieutenant General Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hung Oanh, Principal of the Political Officer Training School under the Ministry of National Defence, said that the reality of the Dien Bien Phu campaign showed that the tradition and strength of great national unity, which was upheld and combined with the determination to fight and to win and the desire for peace, truly became an invincible source of spiritual strength transformed into material strength to triumph.

During the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the people's war posture was planned early and organised proactively by the general command of the campaign, with many creative measures used, suitable for each battlefield and each stage. The war posture was the combination of measures to organise, arrange, and deploy forces and means to create an advantageous position and maximise strength to win.

It was implemented widely in all the three Indochinese countries, dividing more than 80% of the French mobile force and creating a favourable position for Vietnam to destroy the enemy at the Dien Bien Phu battlefield, said Oanh.

During the campaign, the Vietnamese people contributed 25,560 tonnes of rice, 226 tonnes of salt, 1,909 tonnes of food, 20,991 bicycles, 1,800 bamboo rafts, 756 rudimentary vehicles, 914 pack horses and 3,130 boats. Up to 26,453 individuals joined the campaign as frontline workers.

The figures demonstrated the extraordinary efforts and the mettle of Vietnam - a poor and backward country that was waging a long resistance war full of hardships and sacrifices.

In addition, the great help from the international community, first of all from the people of Laos, Cambodia and socialist countries, was both a material source and a source of political and spiritual strength, thus contributing to the victory of the Dien Bien Phu campaign.

Exactly 70 years after that historic day, the Dien Bien Phu Victory still leaves valuable lessons and invaluable experiences, including those on promoting the political and spiritual strength of the entire Party, army and people, combining the material with political and spiritual strength, and maximising the spiritual strength at difficult or turning point times to realise goals and bring the revolution to victory.