May 7th marked our greatest victory ever in the 8 years of resistance war, and at the same time marked a heavy defeat for the invading French colonialists and the American interventionists. May 7th was the day our army annihilated all enemy troops at the Dien Bien Phu stronghold.
After 55 days and nights of arduous and heroic fighting, we have realized the determination of President Ho, the Party Central Committee and the Government, and achieved complete victory for this great campaign. This is the greatest victory ever in the history of our army's fighting. This victory is of special importance and has a great influence on the entire situation of our country, and at the same time has an influence on the current international situation.
I – We have destroyed all enemy troops in Dien Bien Phu. We have sought to destroy a very important part of the enemy's forces, even though the American interventionists have greatly helped the French colonialists.
(See the special announcement of the General Command on the Dien Bien Phu Campaign)
Never before had the enemy suffered such a heavy defeat.
This failure was not only a humiliating defeat for French colonialism but also a heavy defeat for the American interventionists.
In this campaign, the American imperialists did their utmost to help the French colonialists to avoid the above-mentioned failure. But no matter how hard they tried to help the French colonialists, the Dien Bien Phu stronghold was completely destroyed by our army.
II - Our army destroyed one of the most important enemy military bases in the Northwest, completely liberating the Northwest and consolidating our rear.
The enemy plotted to use Dien Bien Phu as a springboard to retake the Northwest region, threaten our country's free zone and use it to protect Upper Laos. The American interventionists also plotted to use the Northwest base as a springboard to invade China and destroy the Dien Bien Phu stronghold. We have foiled that French-American plot, consolidated and expanded our rear, and at the same time created conditions for the Lao people's armed struggle to develop strongly. The enemy's plot to use Dien Bien Phu to dominate the people of Upper Laos and protect Luang Prabang thus failed. The victory of Dien Bien Phu also foiled the plot to re-establish a fake autonomous Thai State to divide our nation. Thanks to the Dien Bien Phu victory, our army avoided the threat from behind, consolidated and maintained the free zone of our country and foiled the enemy's plot to invade the Northwest.
III - Our army has grown to a new level. Our army was trained a lot in this campaign in terms of technical tactics, ideology as well as many other aspects.
This was the first time our army destroyed the enemy's most fortified stronghold and won a complete victory. From a small-scale offensive with a small force, we advanced to a large-scale offensive with many new units and arms participating in the campaign. Many tactical and technical issues that we had never known before, we have learned after this campaign, such as building offensive and defensive positions, such as the tactics of encroachment and sniping, the issue of joint artillery, etc. Many of our troops who were not yet proficient in offensive warfare now know how to attack. Many troops who did not yet know how to defend now know how to defend. Young heavy artillery and anti-aircraft artillery troops have also been tested and advanced.
Through this great campaign, we have also trained the spirit of overcoming difficulties and hardships, and we have strengthened the spirit of solidarity and fighting among the military branches.
We have trained our fighting spirit in fierce battles, giving our troops a rather progressive spirit of perseverance in fighting. Our political work has also advanced to a new level, the work of providing material support for the campaign has also overcome many difficulties, and gained much valuable experience.
The results of last summer's political rectification and military exercises were actually consolidated and developed in this campaign.
This step forward is a great and very important step forward in the history of fighting and building of the Vietnam People's Army from the past to the present. This step forward lays the foundation for us to gain even greater victories in the future.
IV - The victory of this campaign affected the national resistance both militarily and politically, and caused the enemy many difficulties in their defense plans.
The enemy's disastrous defeat at Dien Bien Phu shattered the Navarre military plan of the French and American invaders.
The French and American imperialists plotted to concentrate mobile troops to sweep and pacify the enemy's rear areas and invade our free areas. But at this time, their mobile forces were largely destroyed, so not only did they not have enough forces to pacify the enemy's rear areas, but they now had difficulty attacking our free areas. Thus, the Navarre military plan failed. With the enemy's current shortage of forces, they also encountered many difficulties in coping with our attacks on all battlefields. The stronghold group, their highest form of defense at present, could not withstand our attacks. The enemy's soldiers' morale, which had been low before, had now declined even further. After the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the enemy would certainly fall into a new, more serious crisis. Even the defense in the plains was a major concern for the enemy at present. The situation of the national battlefield due to our army's destruction of Dien Bien Phu would have changes that were beneficial to us.
We destroyed the Dien Bien Phu stronghold complex while the mass movement was in full swing and the land reform had begun. By destroying Dien Bien Phu and destroying the Navarre plan, we protected the peasants' struggle to gain land.
Our great historic campaign achieved complete victory while the Geneva Conference was just beginning to discuss the Indochina issue and the Korean issue was still under discussion. In the face of the current imperialist plots, our Dien Bien Phu victory was a great contribution to the world peace and democracy movement and a heavy blow to the heads of the warmongering French and American imperialists who wanted to prolong the Indochina war and did not want to properly resolve the Korean issue. After the Dien Bien Phu victory, our people and the people of the whole world were even more enthusiastic in fighting against the imperialist war mongers. After the Dien Bien Phu defeat, the more confused and bewildered the enemy was, the more excited our people and the people of the whole world were.
Therefore, the victory of the Dien Bien Phu campaign was not only a military victory, but also a political victory. The Dien Bien Phu campaign was not only a victory of our people but also a common victory of peace-loving people all over the world.
V - Why do we achieve such great victories?
We have such a glorious victory thanks to:
1- Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee and President Ho, the combat motto set forth by the Central Committee was extremely accurate. The combat motto of advancing steadily and fighting steadily was a motto that ensured our campaign's victory. The Central Committee and President Ho not only clearly outlined the combat motto for us to follow, but were also determined to overcome countless difficulties to guide us to complete victory. It was thanks to that determination and motto that our troops won glorious victory.
Based on the Party Central Committee's motto, the Central Military Commission and the Commander-in-Chief have set up correct combat plans and led our troops to overcome many difficulties, which is why we have achieved the victory we have today.
Without such skillful leadership there can be no victory.
2- We won because the people of the whole country helped us with all their might. The people of the Northwest provided us with thousands of tons of food. The people of the localities devoted millions of working days to bring food and weapons to our troops.
The government has mobilized countless staff and officials to ensure supply for us.
Therefore, we must be extremely grateful to the people and know the Government's efforts to ensure the victory of the campaign.
Without the strength of the people and the direction of the Government, we certainly cannot win.
3- We won because the people of the whole world supported us, especially the people of the Soviet Union and the people of China, who strongly supported us, so we could win this campaign. Without the support of the people of such fraternal countries, we could not have won.
Therefore, we must strengthen the spirit of internationalism and unite with the people of fraternal countries to overthrow the war-making imperialists.
4- We have won thanks to the brave fighting spirit, overcoming difficulties, overcoming hardships, and persevering in combat of our cadres and soldiers. Many of our comrades have sacrificed for the benefit of the Fatherland and the people, they have devoted all their bodies and careers to the Fatherland and the people. We must do our best to learn from their fighting spirit. In this campaign, it is because we clearly understood that we were fighting for the benefit of the people and the Fatherland, for the future of our children and grandchildren, and for our peaceful life, that we have defeated the enemy.
Therefore, we must study hard to improve our political awareness and technical and tactical level to gain new victories.
5- We won because our brotherly soldiers in the battlefields of the Northern Delta, Southern Delta, Central Laos, Lower Laos, and Zone 5 cooperated and helped us. If our brotherly soldiers had not helped us, we would not have been able to win.
6- Another fundamental reason is that thanks to the leadership of the Party, we have eliminated many negative thoughts and maintained our determination. Without that victorious ideological struggle, we could not have won this campaign. That is also our great experience in this campaign.
From now on, we must always eliminate negative thoughts and increase our fighting determination to be able to achieve greater victories.
What should we do after victory?
The enemy has suffered the most painful defeat ever and they will face many new difficulties.
But because the belligerent French and American imperialists are extremely aggressive and stubborn, the more they fail, the more they struggle madly. They are trying to increase their forces to prolong the Indochina war and sabotage world peace. They are trying to sabotage the Geneva Conference, continuing to expand their plot to invade Indochina. They are trying to build and develop puppet troops, sending more reinforcements and weapons to Indochina, so we must be extremely vigilant against the enemy's new plot.
We absolutely must not have the mindset of waiting for peace, thinking that we can achieve unification and independence only through negotiations and neglecting our will to fight the enemy. We must remember that to have true independence and unification, to have true peace, we must have strength. Therefore, we must consolidate our recent victories and gain new victories, which means we must win more battles. The more we win, the more enemy forces we destroy and the more land we liberate, the more likely it is that a peaceful solution to the Indochina problem will be possible.
We must properly implement President Ho's teachings: "Whether it is a military or diplomatic struggle, it must be a long and arduous struggle to achieve complete victory."
We have made progress in the past, but our tasks are still heavy, so we absolutely must not be complacent. If we are blinded by victory, that complacency will greatly hinder our progress in all aspects. We must always eliminate negative thoughts and raise our determination to fight to a new level.
After this historic victory, we cannot allow those erroneous thoughts to run rampant in our army and in the minds of every individual. We must actively fight against those evil thoughts, and must seriously find out the remaining shortcomings and actively correct them, only then can we consolidate and expand the great victories of the campaign.
(Excerpt from People's Army Newspaper No. 147, published at the front, May 11, 1954)
