Courtyard House: I Rely on Time-Space Trade to Build a Nation

Early March 1954, North Vietnam War Zone.

Vo Nguyen Giap had been standing in front of the map for two whole hours.

On the map, Dien Bien Phu was circled countless times with red and blue pencils.

It was a long, narrow basin surrounded by mountains, where the most elite troops of the French colonial army were stationed. The 21st Battalion, 16,000 men, 49 outposts, two airfields, and nearly 100 aircraft takeoffs and landings every day.

The French call it the "invincible hedgehog".

Vo Yuanjia's fingernails dug deeply into his palm.

Three months ago, following his "teacher's" guidance, he made the most difficult decision of his military career—to stop the offensive, withdraw the artillery, and change the strategy from "quick victory" to "steady advance."

Thousands of soldiers used their own bodies to pull the cannon up the mountain, and then used their own bodies to pull it down. Some cried, some cursed, and some knelt in front of the cannon, refusing to leave.

But he had to do it.

General Navarre once said, "If they come down, they will be dead."

General Connie boasted, "We have enough firepower to wipe out three to five times the number of the enemy."

The French are waiting for them to walk right into their trap.

Vo Nguyen Giap refused to let them have their way.

Over the next two months, the mountains of Dien Bien Phu changed.

During the day, the mountains and forests are quiet, with only birdsong.

At night, tens of thousands of people were digging simultaneously. Trenches stretched forward inch by inch, and communication trenches, as dense as a spider web, surrounded the entire basin. French planes circled overhead, but nothing could be seen.

Artillery positions were hidden on the reverse slope. Anti-aircraft guns were mounted on high ground. Ammunition depots were dug into the mountains. Supplies and provisions were continuously transported from the rear.

Nine thousand tons of rice were transported from Thanh Hoa Province. Lai Chau Province sent more than two thousand pigs, three hundred mules and horses, and more than fifty thousand logs. The laborers of the Fourth District carried stretchers, traversing mountains and valleys, a journey that took seven days and seven nights.

On March 11, Hu's letter was delivered to the front lines:

"Your mission is great, arduous, but glorious... Congratulations on your triumphant return!"

The soldiers copied the letter down and pasted it in the trenches.

At 5:3 PM on March 13, 1954.

North of the Dien Bien Phu Basin lies the Shin Lam Highlands.

More than 300 artillery pieces of the Annamese People's Army roared simultaneously.

The shells tore through the twilight sky and crashed onto the French stronghold.

The reinforced concrete fortifications cracked like paper, the barbed wire was blown to pieces, the landmines were detonated, and the bunkers were overturned.

The officers who were still drinking, the soldiers who were writing letters, and the sentries who had just picked up their dinners—all disappeared into the dust.

The shelling lasted for a full hour.

At six o'clock, the infantry launched an attack.

The first wave of soldiers leaped out of the trenches, rushed across the open ground, and advanced despite machine gun fire.

Some fell, but others kept charging. Grenades were thrown into the firing ports, and explosive charges were placed at the foot of the bunker.

The French machine guns roared, but the gunners in the trenches were being picked off one by one by the snipers.

Three hours later, Xinlan Heights was captured.

Of the more than 300 defenders, half were killed and the other half were taken prisoner.

At 10 p.m. that night, Independence Hill was also engulfed in flames. At 6 a.m., the hill changed hands.

More than 400 men of the North African battalion were killed in action, and nearly 200 were captured.

Lieutenant Colonel Piros, the artillery commander, committed suicide by shooting himself in his command post.

He had assured Navarre that the French artillery could destroy everything. Now, his cannons had been silenced by the Annamese army's artillery.

On March 15, the defenders of Banqiao Heights raised a white flag.

In three days, at three outposts, the northern gateway was wide open.

The French command was in complete chaos.

Colonel de Castelli called Hanoi: "We need reinforcements, we need airdrops, we need everything!"

Hanoi's response was: "Hang in there, it will happen."

One plane after another took off, heading towards Dien Bien Phu.

But the Annamese army's anti-aircraft guns were already waiting.

On March 14, the first plane was shot down. Then came the second, the third. Twenty-five planes were reduced to wreckage within three days.

The airdropped supplies were scattered everywhere, with half of them landing on the Annamese army's positions.

In his telegram, de Castelli wrote: "The loss of Dien Bien Phu in a short time is inevitable."

The second phase of the attack began at 6 p.m. on March 30.

The target is no longer the outer outposts, but the hills to the east.

Those hills overlook the entire basin; take them, and Dien Bien Phu will be completely exposed to cannon fire.

This battle lasted for a full month.

A1 Hill, C1 Hill, D1 Hill, E1 Hill—every name is soaked in blood.

The trenches were dug and then blasted, blasted and then dug again.

During the day, the French covered the area with planes and heavy artillery, and at night the Annamese army would climb back up and continue digging.

The trenches extended forward meter by meter, getting closer and closer to the French positions, with the closest point only twenty meters away.

Both sides fought desperately for every inch of land.

On Hill C1, the Annamese army charged up, but the French counterattacked and brought it back.

The Annamese army charged forward again, and the French army recaptured it. In three days and three nights, the hill changed hands four times.

On Hill A1, the French underground fortifications were as solid as fortresses.

The Annamese army used explosive charges to bombard the area, mortars to blast it, and machine guns to block the exits.

After more than ten days of fighting, I still can't win.

But the other high grounds were conquered one by one.

On April 2, the garrison at stronghold 311 surrendered. Two battalions of Thai puppet troops marched out of their positions, raising white flags.

On April 10, the French airdropped more than 4 paratroopers as reinforcements. The next day, these paratroopers were trapped in the trenches and unable to move.

By the end of April, most of the eastern hills had been taken control by the Annamese army.

Mangqing Airport was completely sealed off. The French army could only be supplied by airdrops, and half of the airdropped supplies landed in Annamite army positions.

French morale began to collapse.

On May 1st, the final offensive began.

This time, there was nothing I held back.

The 308th, 312th, 316th, and 304th Regiments, all four main regiments, were committed to the battle.

The Annamese soldiers in the trenches had been waiting for this day for two months.

The battle at A1 Hill was the most brutal.

The French army planted a ton of explosives here, with the detonation device hidden inside the bunker.

The Annamese army charged forward more than ten times, but was blown back each time.

On the night of May 6, Annamese military engineers dug a tunnel that led all the way to the French bunker.

A ton of explosives was buried inside, and the fuse was lit.

boom--

The entire mountain was lifted into the air. French bunkers, cannons, and soldiers were all flung into the sky.

The soldiers leaped from the trenches and charged into the smoke and dust. By daybreak, Hill A1 had been completely captured.

1954年5月7日下午5时30分。

De Castelli's underground command post was packed with people.

The communications soldier was still sending messages, the officers were slumped in their chairs, and the wounded lay on the ground groaning.

A burst of gunfire erupted outside. It was getting closer and closer.

A staff officer rushed in: "Sir, the Annamese army has broken through the outer defenses and is less than two hundred meters from here!"

De Castelli stood up and straightened his uniform.

"Let them in."

A few minutes later, several Annamese soldiers rushed into the command post with guns in hand.

They were wearing tattered military uniforms, their faces covered in soot, but their eyes shone with an astonishing brightness.

A red flag was unfurled and planted on the roof of the command post.

The flag is embroidered with four golden characters: "Decisive Battle and Victory".

By midnight, all French troops at Dien Bien Phu had ceased resistance.

Of the more than 16,000 men, some died, some were wounded, and the rest walked out of the trenches with their hands raised.

The news reached Hanoi, Paris, and the whole world.

The French government collapsed. The Geneva Conference was convened ahead of schedule.

The eight-year Indochina War came to an end on this day.

The news reached North America, Washington, and Moscow.

He said, "The Dien Bien Phu victory is a glorious golden milestone in history."

Vo Nguyen Giap later wrote in his memoirs: "For fifty-six days and nights, it shone brightly across the five continents and shook the earth."

Of course, Zhao Ping'an, who had just received the news that the agricultural reclamation corps was already organizing photovoltaic power plants in Lanzhou, was also confused. Although he remembered that Annam had indeed won in history, he wondered if they had the fighting power.

Zhao Ping'an then asked Commander Peng and learned that the advisor who had replaced the brigade commander was Commander Wei.

He single-handedly commanded the battle while he was ill!