IV - PROMOTING RESISTANCE AND NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION (1950 - 1952)

Entering 1950, our troops had a resounding victory at Luong Mai, Pho Trach. The Party Central Committee commented: "The Battle of Pho Trach - Luong Mai can be considered as a model campaign throughout the country during the development of our army's campaign in the delta."

Before the development of the resistance movement, the enemy increased the number of soldiers, bringing the total number of Vietnamese army and expeditionary troops to 5.721; the number of aircraft, heavy guns and amphibious vehicles also increased. They built a system of bunkers, Delatour garrison along Road I to prevent the operation of our troops.

Along with the enemy invading, our people since the mid of 1950s have also suffered from many natural disasters, floods that cause crop failure, and hunger.

Difficulties piled up but could not stop the cadres, soldiers and people go along with the resistance. In 1950, the local army fought 50 battles, killing 92 enemies. Each district has a local army company with a total of 6 districts of 931 soldiers. The commune guerrillas have 16,224 people. In 1950, these two forces conducted 468 ambushes, killed 600 enemies, and disbanded 35 guilds. More than 2.000 young people joined the team.

In early 1951, Binh Tri Thien battlefield was one of the focal points of the enemy. In January 1951, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee issued a policy of fighting small battles to advance to the big battle. a series of military operations took place throughout the province. On February 12, 1951, the An Gia bunker was destroyed; on March 9, 1951, we defeated the Pho Lai garrison. The victory over An Gia - Pho Lai broke the enemy's line of defense. The area bordering Thua Thien Hue and Quang Tri is cleared. The most important victories of 1951 were the 101 and 95 Regiments' defeat of the large-scale enemy sweep at Thanh Huong - My Xuyen and the defeat of the enemy plot against the 101st Regiment at Thanh Lam Bo.

Two resounding victories of Tri Thien in 1951, caused the French colonialists to fall into a state of hesitation. In order to maintain this war, they had no choice but to continue to apply the policy of "using the Vietnamese to fight the Vietnamese, taking the war to feed the war". They organized many rounds of capture, including in the three provinces of Binh - Tri - Thien, the number of enemy troops amounted to 31.459 of which half were Vietnamese soldiers. To build and consolidate many garrisons and intensify sweeping throughout the province.

Also in this year, our military force has grown significantly, the 101 Regiment has 2.994 soldiers, and the 95 Regiment has 2.976 soldiers, in addition to local troops and guerrilla militias.

On February 6, 1952, Provincial Party Standing Committee issued a directive to enlist and promote guerrilla warfare. On the way to victory, our troops continued to attack and destroy a series of enemy positions in Quang Dien, Huong Tra, Phu Vang, Huong Thuy, Phu Loc districts. The free zone of the three provinces of Binh - Tri - Thien is connected into a strip along Truong Son and along Road I, from Phu Loc in the south to Phong Dien in the north of the province, connecting Hue gateway.

In order to prevent the resistance forces, the Central Vietnamese puppet government established a "Central Vietnamese Brigade", in each province with a courageous cell, to do the task of "traveling in villages and villages to find out and timely disrupt the enemy's organizations and activities". They launched three major operations in July, 8, and 9, 1952, focusing on Phu Vang and Phong Dien districts with the aim of pacifying guerrilla bases and destroying the 101 Regiment. This series of operations has caused us significant damage.

In general, 1952 was a difficult and challenging year for the fight of Thua Thien Hue army and people.

V - COORDINATE WITH THE MAIN BATTLEFIELD OF THE NORTH, ENDING THE RESISTANCE WAR SUCCESSFULLY (1953 – 1954)

The Thua Thien Hue Party Committee in 1953, and 1954 firmly grasped the local situation, outlined the right policy, and coordinated with the main battlefield effectively. Although in 1953, the main units went on duty on other battlefields, under the leadership of the Party committees, local Party committees, and guerrilla militias and the people of Thua Thien Hue held the ground, constantly attacking the enemy "sharing fire" with the battlefields in the country.

In 1953, the enemy continuously launched large operations only in the first 4 months of the year there were 55 large and small raids. In particular, after General Navarre became commander-in-chief of the French expeditionary army in Indochina, Binh - Tri - Thien was considered by Navarre to be a safe place behind them. So they strengthened the garrison, constantly captured soldiers, maintained raids, and scavenged for materials to provide for the main battlefield of the North. On July 28, 1953, Navarre mobilized a huge force to launch a massive raid called Operation Camargue consisting of 13 infantry battalions, 2 parachute battalions, 2 artillery regiments, 400 motor vehicles, 48 aircraft, 160 amphibious vehicles, 4 ships and 14 canoes. The objective of the operation was to hit our resistance base in Northern Thua Thien, Southern Quang Tri. After September 1953, the enemy repeatedly opened raids into the four districts of Phong - Quang - Trieu - Hai. The enemy has caused us difficulties and losses, but our military has bravely fought, organized effective struggle, actively attacked and destroyed the enemy, coordinated political struggle and enemy activities.

At the end of September 1953, the Politburo of the Party Central Committee met to discuss military duties in the Winter-Spring 1953 - 1954. The meeting determined that the task of the enemy's rear region such as Binh - Tri - Thien was to promote guerrilla warfare to actively coordinate with the main battlefield of the North. Inter-zone IV Binh - Tri - Thien in general, Thua Thien Hue in particular embarked on the preparation of all aspects to successfully carry out the strategic offensive in the East Spring 1953 - 1954 history.

On November 8, 1953, the Conference of Binh - Tri - Thien cadres defined the task of the three provinces as "Promoting the struggle in all aspects, especially the armed struggle to coordinate with the national battlefield and sabotage the new plot of the enemy in Binh - Tri - Thien. The immediate task is to maintain and promote guerrilla warfare, actively fighting against the raids. ”

Militarily, the army and guerrillas are both focusing on fighting the enemy while organizing raids against the enemy, hitting the bunker and hitting the traffic road. In the first three months of 1954, the army and people of Thua Thien Hue fought 302 battles, of which 32 were against the enemy raids. In addition to destroying the enemy's life force, we also destroyed 25 motor vehicles and 15 locomotives, 80 wagons, destroyed 14 bridges, collected over 400 guns of all kinds, destroyed 6 locations and 12 enemy bunkers.

Coordinating with the military offensive is the political struggle of the masses, the people conduct a direct struggle with the enemy, against the capture of soldiers, demanding the return of relatives.

In April and May 4 Thua Thien Hue continued to organize military attacks and political struggles to implement the policy of the Provincial Party Committee to restore the base of two districts Phong - Quang, expand the guerrilla zone, and together with the whole country win the last battle, when the gunfire of our troops exploded in Dien Bien Phu.

On July 21, 1954, the Agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam was signed in Geneva. On August 1, 1954, the enemy was forced to cease fire in Thua Thien Hue. The resistance war against the French colonial invasion of the army and Thua Thien Hue people ended in victory. History moves to a new page.