70 years ago today (March 13, 1954), at exactly 5:05 p.m., our army attacked Him Lam stronghold, the northern steel gate of Dien Bien Phu stronghold, opening the campaign.

Lieutenant General Tran Linh (former Deputy Commander of the Border Guard, former political commissar of Battalion 11, E141, Division 312 when the unit attacked Him Lam outpost, the person who trained Nguyen Huu Oanh to report on the combat experience of the battle at Him Lam outpost at units in the MT).

In that extremely important battle, there was a Thanh son named Nguyen Huu Oanh, from Yen Trung commune, Yen Dinh district, squad leader of the assault squad of Company 143, Battalion 11, Regiment 141, Division 312, who shone with his intelligent, flexible, and brave command, personally destroying and planting the decisive battle and victory flag on the roof of the command bunker of the stronghold.

After the order to open fire, our troops simultaneously attacked the enemy at all three peaks 1, 2, and 3 of Him Lam stronghold. While the attack on peaks 2 and 3 developed smoothly, the main attack on peak 1, the 11th battalion, had only broken through 7 fences. When reaching the last fence, two enemy fire points fired fiercely across the flanks, blocking our troops. The situation was extremely urgent. If we did not finish them off, the enemy in Him Lam could counterattack, and other enemy strongholds could provide reinforcements to relieve the siege. Faced with that situation, the 243rd company was ordered to use reserve explosives with heavy machine gun support to charge forward and break through the last fence by all means.

As soon as the series of explosions ended, the assault squad leader Tran Oanh (should be Nguyen Huu Oanh) led the knife squad straight into the center like a whirlwind leading the assault formation of the 11th battalion to spread out and capture the targets.

Blocked by the enemy, Nguyen Huu Oanh assigned 5 soldiers to attack the small bunkers, while he, with a grenade in hand, with quick and precise movements, passed it through the loophole, destroyed the enemies in the main bunker, and jumped onto the roof of the bunker, waving the "determined to fight and win" flag, waving the entire unit to attack straight into the center of the stronghold.

By 11:30 p.m. we had complete control of the Him Lam base... opening wide the iron gate blocking the north of the Dien Bien Phu base.

After the campaign, in July 1954, the 312th Division held a congress to celebrate its achievements. The People's Army Newspaper at the front issued on July 20, 1954 reported that the congress had elected 13 emulation soldiers of the Division, Nguyen Huu Oanh was the 4th on the list, the position of A shock group leader (after Tran Can, Phan Dinh Giot, Luong Van Vong) and the article had a passage that acknowledged "Those heroic soldiers, each with their own style, were truly worthy of the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu. Like comrade Nguyen Huu Oanh, the shock group leader, who overcame the net of bullets, quickly jumped to the top of the enemy command post, raising high Uncle Ho's "determined to fight, determined to win" flag in the Him Lam battle...".

From a servant to a Dien Bien warrior

Nguyen Huu Oanh was born into a poor farming family with 8 siblings, so at the age of 16 he had to work for a landlord in Yen Phu commune to reduce the number of mouths to feed his family.

Comrade Nguyen Huu Oanh.

The status and work of a servant were bitter and hard, but helped Oanh become a resourceful young man, good at all kinds of work: plowing, carrying manure, harvesting, and going to the Da Nam forest to chop wood and burn charcoal.

Despite the hardships and difficulties, Oanh was very sad because she could not help her parents, brothers Tro, Chậy, Cù, sisters Lan, Lô, and younger siblings Hong and Tình to reduce poverty. In times of sadness, Oanh confided in her friends who also lived under the landlord's family that she would never be able to end her life as a servant.

Unexpectedly, one morning in early September 1951, he had just herded the buffaloes of his boss to the Cau Chay riverbank to graze when he met Thuc, who was also a servant of another landlord, from Quang village, Yen Hung commune. Thuc whispered to Oanh: "You said that living for the landlord was humiliating and bitter, so do you dare to go fight the French? Someone from the army unit came to our district to recruit people to join the army!"

At that time, Thanh Hoa was a free zone, the districts of Tho Xuan, Yen Dinh, Vinh Loc... often had army units stationed for training and then marching, so Oanh also had a little understanding of the army and wanted to one day be in the army carrying guns...

At Thuc's suggestion, Oanh immediately said: "Join the army, you will escape the life of a servant, there is nothing to be afraid of, just worry about running away, the boss will use the excuse to punish your parents!". Understanding Oanh's worries, Thuc encouraged her: "Don't be afraid, now we are launching a rent reduction campaign, your joining the army is an important matter, everything at home is still under the Resistance Administrative Committee, the boss won't dare to punish your parents!". Listening to the encouragement of his friend in the same situation, Nguyen Huu Oanh left the herd of buffaloes for someone else to look after and sneaked away to the place where the army unit registered for recruitment.

Honored to be a soldier of the victorious Regiment

Entering the army, Nguyen Huu Oanh was assigned to Company 243, Battalion 11, Regiment 141, Division 312. The first honor that came to him was that after completing the intensive training, he was able to join the unit in the Nghia Lo campaign. Not long after, he joined Company 243 in the Hoa Binh campaign, fighting to destroy the enemy in the direction of Che, Ba Vi. Although he was a new recruit, he was soon evaluated as a resourceful, aggressive soldier, always self-consciously completing all assigned tasks well.

When we launched the Northwest, Upper Laos campaign, Nguyen Huu Oanh was assigned as the leader of a 3-person team. He made great achievements in that campaign and was awarded the Third Class Victory Medal.

On November 21, 1953, in northern Phu Tho, right when the unit received orders to march to the Northwest to prepare for the Dien Bien Phu campaign, Nguyen Huu Oanh was honored to be admitted to the Party.

As a reserve party member and in good health, Oanh was always at the forefront of the unit in all tasks. In early spring 1954, at the beginning of the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the unit was assigned the task of coordinating with the 351st Artillery Brigade to pull the artillery into the battlefield. That day, the enemy in the stronghold suddenly came out to attack Hill 674 in order to block our artillery route. Oanh and her platoon defended steadfastly, annihilating 100 enemies, holding 2 hilltops, and protecting the artillery safely. In this battle, Nguyen Huu Oanh was again recommended by the unit to be awarded the Third Class Military Exploit Medal.

Lieutenant General Tran Linh, Nguyen Huu Oanh and his wife, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh, former head of the Northern Children's Camp under the Vietnam Women's Union during the 1960-1970 period.

On the morning of March 13, 1954, an important event happened to Nguyen Huu Oanh's unit and personally: Company 243 was chosen by the regiment to be the main spearhead of Battalion 11, with the mission of capturing Cape 1, Him Lam stronghold, opening the campaign.

For Nguyen Huu Oanh, also on that historic morning of March 13, at the company's starting line of attack, he received a decision from the higher-level Party Committee to become an official member of the Party. Another honor was that he was assigned to be the squad leader of the assault squad, which the unit called the "sharp knife" squad. The mission of the "sharp knife" squad was that after the engineers opened the gate to open the first peak, the squad had the task of attacking straight into the depths and planting the "determined battle, determined victory" flag on the enemy's command post.

At 5:05 p.m., the superiors gave the order to open fire on Him Lam. After 3 hours of fierce fighting, Battalion 428 captured peaks 2 and 3. However, in the direction of peak 1, the enemy in the stronghold resisted fiercely, many trenches were filled with mines by the enemy. After breaking through 7 fences, the 7th explosive platoon of Company 243 was suddenly hit by 2 enemy firing points diagonally in front of the open door. Taking advantage of the moment when the enemy temporarily stopped firing, the reserve explosive officer rushed forward but died before he could fire. Discovering the enemy's underground firing point, the company commander ordered 4 heavy machine guns to suppress it fiercely and the explosive unit quickly broke through the enemy's last fence.

Seizing the opportunity, Assault Squad Leader Nguyen Huu Oanh led the squad to charge into the stronghold. Being blocked by enemy fire, Oanh quickly assigned 5 soldiers to attack the small bunkers, he attacked the main bunker. After deceiving the enemy, with very quick movements, Oanh approached the bunker door and with just one grenade, the enemy in the bunker was completely destroyed by him.

Taking advantage of the victory, Oanh rushed to the top of the bunker, waved the "Determined to fight, determined to win" flag several times, signaling the entire unit to rush into the center, completely taking control of the Him Lam base. It was 22:30 at that time. In the opening battle of the campaign, we killed 300 enemies, captured 200, and seized all the enemy's weapons and equipment.

After contributing to the Him Lam battle, Nguyen Huu Oanh was honored to return to the Campaign Command Headquarters to meet General Vo Nguyen Giap, then reported on combat experiences in several units at the front. In the last days of March, he and his unit again infiltrated deep to destroy the 5th Airborne Battalion and the 6th Euro-African Battalion stationed between Hill D and Hill E, and attacked the enemy on the 210 high point... In every battle, he and his squad resolutely attacked the enemy with the spirit of the Him Lam battle.

But unfortunately, around noon on April 4, 1954, after receiving the mission, on the way from the company to the squad, Nguyen Huu Oanh was hit by an enemy mine. The consequences were severe, both eyes were blinded and one forearm was crushed and had to be amputated, the injury was later determined to be special. So when the campaign reached its fiercest point, he had to leave his comrades to return to the rear for treatment and at the age of 24, losing both eyes and one arm, the mental shock to him was severe.

Although he did not witness the historic victory of the campaign, the achievements and fighting example of the special wounded soldier Nguyen Huu Oanh were respectfully recognized by the leaders, commanders and comrades. At the unit, during the summary meeting to celebrate the end of the campaign, although absent, he was still voted as an Emulation Fighter by all levels from company to regiment. In mid-July 1954, at the congress to celebrate the achievements of the 312th Division, Nguyen Huu Oanh was honored to be identified as an honorary delegate (because he had returned to the rear for treatment) and was voted by the Congress as one of the 13 Emulation Fighters at the Division level along with martyrs Tran Can and Phan Dinh Giot and was awarded the 2nd Class Military Exploit Medal.

His name was misspelled in the division history book, but has since been corrected.

When peace was restored, Nguyen Huu Oanh was transferred to the Central Disabled Eye Camp at 39 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hanoi. In 1959, despite his severe disability, a girl from the same hometown, Nguyen Thi Thanh, fell in love with him and their wedding was held in his hometown. She was then accepted by the Vietnam Women's Union to work as a child-rearing worker at the Northern Children's Camp. Family happiness helped him overcome the pain of loss and the greatest joy was that they had 3 children and they all grew up.

In 1996, he completed the procedures to leave the war invalids camp to live with his family at the Central Women's Cadre School dormitory, No. 35 Phao Dai Lang Street, Lang Thuong Ward, Dong Da District, Hanoi.

Unfortunately, it was not until the end of 2003 that Mr. Nguyen Huu Oanh learned that the incident of him planting the flag in the Him Lam battle was recorded in the division's history book and many summary books and memoirs of some witnesses writing about Dien Bien Phu, but it was written as Tran Oanh.

Photo of People's Army newspaper No. 131, July 20, 1954, with Nguyen Huu Oanh in the list of 13 emulation soldiers at the Congress celebrating the achievements after the Dien Bien Phu campaign of the 312th Victory Division.

Feeling sad, he confided that he was still lucky and could still enjoy happiness, while many other comrades did not get to witness the day of victory.

In January 2006, while I (the author of this article) and my friends and former commanders were doing the procedures to request the unit to correct the name in the history book, due to a relapse of his injury, Mr. Nguyen Huu Oanh, a 53-year-old party member and special war invalid, suddenly passed away at the age of 77.

Fortunately, finding witnesses to confirm the procedure to correct Nguyen Huu Oanh's name in the history books was quite easy. First of all, there was the confirmation of Lieutenant General Tran Linh (former Deputy Commander of the Border Guard). In 1951, he returned to Thanh Hoa to receive new soldiers, including Nguyen Huu Oanh. During the Dien Bien Phu campaign, he was the Political Commissar of Battalion 11, Regiment 141, Division 312, directly training Nguyen Huu Oanh to report on his achievements in the Him Lam battle.

Another lucky thing is that at the archives of the Military Library, I found in the archives of the People's Army Newspaper, issue 131, published on July 20, 1954, an article "Congress to celebrate the victory of Dien Bien Phu", in the section "At Group X", the newspaper published the names and positions of 13 emulation soldiers of Group X (which was the content of the 312th Division), in which Nguyen Huu Oanh was listed in the 4th order with the position of A shock commander (after the names Tran Can, Phan Dinh Giot, Luong Van Vong).

Official dispatch of Division 312, Corps 1 changed the name Tran Oanh to Nguyen Huu Oanh in the History of Division 312.

The article also commented: Each of these heroic soldiers had their own unique style, truly worthy of the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu. Like comrade Nguyen Huu Oanh, the leader of the assault team who overcame the bullets, nimbly jumped to the top of the enemy command post, and raised high Uncle Ho's "Determined to fight, Determined to win" flag in the Him Lam battle...

From the above documents, the Party Committee and Command of Division 312, in coordination with the Institute of Military History, quickly verified and on December 3, 2008, decided to correct the name of the assault squad leader who planted the flag on Him Lam hill on the night of March 13, 1954 to Nguyen Huu Oanh, replacing the misspelled name Tran Oanh. In the March 2009 issue of Military History Magazine, in the section "Correct correction - discuss further for clarity", there was also an article stating that Nguyen Huu Oanh was the one who planted the flag on Him Lam base during the battle on the night of March 13, 1954.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory, with this short article, I would like to light an incense stick in memory of the brave soldier who 70 years ago commanded the assault squad to attack the enemy's deep base, personally destroyed the command bunker, and planted the national flag - the "Determination to fight, determination to win" flag that Uncle Ho gave to the 312th Division on the roof of the enemy bunker in the middle of the Him Lam stronghold.

Trinh Thanh Phi (Contributor)