The new recruits were students from some universities that were evacuated to the left bank of the Red River (such as Economic Planning, Agriculture, Polytechnic, etc.) and officers and employees of some agencies in Ha Bac (such as Garment Factory 10, Ha Bac Fertilizer Factory, etc.) were gathered to form a battalion with the code name D495, belonging to E568, Left Bank Military Region. The training place for new recruits of this battalion was Doi Ngo, Mai Siu, Luc Nam district, Ha Bac province (now Bac Giang). We often called our unit "Student Battalion", "Comprehensive Company", "Polytechnic Company", "Agricultural Company", etc., and called the training place "Maisiugrat".
“Comprehensive Company” (C2) has about 150 officers and soldiers, including students from the Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Literature, and Mathematics departments, assigned to Platoons 1, 2, and 3. Of the 8 students from the History Department, 5 belong to Platoon 4 (B4), including Dang Cong Nga and Nguyen Dinh Le in Squad 10, Ngo Dang Tri in Squad 11, and Ngo Ngoc Thang and Le Tat Vinh in Squad 12. Platoon 4 has more than 40 soldiers, most of whom are students in military uniforms, originally from the History and Physics departments of Hanoi National University, or from the Pricing Department of the University of Economics and Planning, a few are workers from Garment Factory 10, Ha Bac Fertilizer Factory, etc.
After 3 months of training in the basic operations that infantry soldiers need to fight, at the end of December 1972, we set off for the battlefield, collectively called B (South). Except for one person, Nguyen Chieu, who was assigned to stay behind to study squad leader class, the remaining 7 people were all given military uniforms, new tulle curtains, Suzhou clothes, pith helmets, belts, and rubber sandals and quickly left the training base to march to the front.
The entire battalion marched on foot from Luc Nam, crossed Yen Tu, went to Hai Duong, and arrived at Thuong Tin. Here, Battalion 495 joined the B line of the large rear base in the North, with a new designation of Group 2004. Group 2004, along with many other groups (battalions) from the North, marched in the formation of units to supplement the southern battlefield, under the command of military stations under the Ministry of National Defense.
Group 2004 boarded the train at Thuong Tin station to Nam Dinh, then took a car to Thanh Hoa, Nghe An. We had to travel at night to avoid the bombing and interception of American aircraft, but we were almost killed by B52s several times. Arriving in Ha Tinh, we were ordered to urgently go to the South before the Paris Agreement. The car took us across Deo Ngang Pass to Quang Binh, onto a barge pulled by a canoe up the Gianh River, to Phong Nha - Ke Bang, then marched overland to Laos, to follow the Western Truong Son road to the South of the 17th parallel...
From left to right: Ngo Ngoc Thang (K15, later Associate Professor, PhD, Director of HVCT Region 1), Nguyen Dinh Le (K14, later Associate Professor, PhD, Head of the Department of Modern Vietnamese History, Faculty of History), Le Tat Vinh (K16, later Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hai Phong City), Ngo Dang Tri (K15, later Associate Professor, PhD, Deputy Head of the Faculty of History), Dang Cong Nga (K13, later Director of Ninh Binh Provincial Museum)
On January 27, 1973, while in Laos, along the Truong Son Tay route, the Paris Agreement was signed. The core cadres of D495, mostly leaders, from platoon to battalion, were ordered to return to the North to train another batch of new recruits, and the deputy commander took over, commanding the unit to continue marching.
Since February 1973, after the Paris Agreement, just like the song says, “The road to the battlefield this season is very beautiful; East Truong Son connects West Truong Son”, “We will go wherever we can; we will not return until the Fatherland is at peace”, not only the 2004 group but also dozens of other groups, with tens of thousands of young, healthy cadres and soldiers, enthusiastic spirit, light weapons (heavy weapons and food were mainly transported by cars) bustlingly joined each other to the front. Along with the army, many youth volunteer groups, frontline workers and civil officials, art troupes, war correspondents, etc. also flocked to the South.
When we were in the Eastern Truong Son Mountains, it was drizzly, humid, and windy, while when we were in the Western Truong Son Mountains, it was the dry season, hot and sunny, without any rain. Not only did we feel the weather, but more interestingly, we gained a lot of new knowledge about the landscape and people of the "Land of a Million Elephants", which we had learned when we were students of the History Department, and learned about the nomadic life and burial sites of the Lao people. Mr. Dang Cong Nga, who was an archaeology student, also picked up a few stone axes while traveling in Laos...
Along the Truong Son Tay Road, the marching section followed the route of the military stations, named in order from the North to the end of Laos such as: T1, T2, ... T79, T90, ... directly operated by Group 559, ensuring logistics. Every day, the forces traveled from the outer station to the inner station, about 20-30 kilometers, through high mountains, deep ravines, dangerous rocks and were still destroyed and blocked by enemy aircraft and commandos. In many sections, the engineers of Group 559 had to build wooden ladders for the troops to go up and down the steep mountain peaks, make handrails to follow the steep cliffs, or build suspension bridges with rattan to cross rivers and streams. Sometimes the troops had to run continuously to avoid aircraft or enemy interceptions such as when crossing Route 9, crossing the Xe Bang Hieng River, Xe Cong River, ...
After a march, when arriving at a new military station, the troops stopped, spread out on both sides of the liaison road, looked for water, dug shelters, hung hammocks to rest, cooked for themselves with Hoang Cam stoves, with rice brought along, food was salt, wild vegetables, and MSG. About 7 days of marching, the unit was allowed to stop for 2-3 days to replenish rice, salt and maybe green vegetables or meat, produced and distributed by the military stations. Anyone who was sick (mainly malaria) was sent to the medical station of the military station, when cured, they were sent back to the unit.
Wounded soldiers, cadres and students from the South who went to the North to recuperate, receive treatment or study also followed the military stations in the North-South direction. In early 1973, the delegation of Prince Norodom Sihanouk and his wife to visit the liberated areas of Cambodia also followed the Western Truong Son road and was guaranteed safety both when entering and leaving.
Because the army marched along the path the crow flies, while the cars traveled winding roads along the terrain of forests, mountains, rivers and streams, the army's stopping places were often far from the car's transport routes, so the army often had to take turns to get rice from warehouses that were quite far away, quite dangerous. The warehouses of the military stations were guarded by only a few soldiers, while there were many rows of warehouses containing dozens of tons of rice, salt, and weapons, so it was easy for the army to take more rice than the standard, and the warehouse guards could not stop them (we called it "slaughtering soldiers"). Food was so scarce, bamboo shoots, sour trees, etc. were all taken by the preceding unit, so sometimes the army arbitrarily used grenades, explosives or fish-shooting guns to "improve".
As student soldiers, we had some special characteristics, such as still carrying Russian and English dictionaries to learn foreign languages, or carrying guitars to sing when we had the chance. The whole company only had one radio of the political commissar, no cameras or newspapers.
Diary is a form of keeping the past used by some people, although sometimes it is interrupted and very sketchy. In platoon 4, there was Hoang Van Due (A12, student of the University of Economics and Planning), who kept the most careful and complete diary and Ngo Dang Tri (the first person to be admitted to the Party of the "General Company") also paid quite a lot of attention to this. Currently, Ngo Dang Tri still keeps 2 volumes of war diaries named "Days of Gun Ban (1973-1974)" and "The Southern Road (1974-1975)", recording quite completely the days in the army, especially the period in the battlefields of Cambodia, Tay Ninh, Quang Duc, My Tho, ...
As students of the Faculty of History, a faculty that often organizes "Faculty Meetings", with a tradition of close ties between teachers and students, between classes, and marching together on route B, we soldiers and reporters (who went to the South to supplement the branches of the Liberation News Agency) often met, consulted, and encouraged each other.
On the Western Truong Son Road, when reaching the "Indochina Junction" area (the border area between Kon Tum province of Vietnam, Attapeu province of Laos and Kratie province of Cambodia), all groups had to stop for a while so that the superiors could decide which units would be sent to the Central Highlands battlefield (B3) or to the Southeast, Southwest (B2), or to stay in Laos (battlefield C), or to Cambodia (battlefield K), so both the main force troops and the civilian groups had quite a long break, to be able to meet fellow countrymen, colleagues, classmates, etc. for reunions.
In mid-March 1973, at Military Station 79 (Atopeo, the end of the Bo Lo Ven Plateau) in the "Border Junction" area, we had a "History Faculty Meeting on the Truong Son Mountain Range", recalling the stories of our time as students of the Faculty. Stories of teachers, students, friends, and school were told to each other with good and proud memories, when we were in the Me Tri dormitory or during the evacuation, when we went to build the dike,... and wished for the day we would return. The Faculty Meeting took place in a warm and joyful atmosphere, with a pinch of tea brewed in an antler, rolled tobacco, and a meal with some fish caught, bamboo shoots, wild vegetables...
The photo of “5 soldiers”, or “5 students of the Faculty of History” posted with this memoir of ours was taken by Cao Phong (student of K13, Faculty of History, graduated from university in 1971) in the group of reporters who went to supplement the Liberation News Agency, at that Faculty Meeting. Luckily for us, a rare moment of the soldier-student life was recorded and after the war, both the photographer and the person in the photo were still alive.
It should be added that the group of civil servants who marched together that time, at times, were allowed to travel by car, and several people were sacrificed in Laos due to car accidents, including two reporters who were students of the History Department. The soldiers and students of our “General Company” also sacrificed nearly ten people. The “Polytechnic Company” alone, in just one bombing raid by enemy aircraft (in Ca Tum, Tay Ninh) at noon on October 3, 1973, had 12 soldiers sacrificed at the same time….
The people in the photo “5 History Faculty students” at the Indochina Junction, March 1973, from left to right are: Ngo Ngoc Thang (Class 15, from Ha Nam); Nguyen Dinh Le (Class 14, from Ha Tinh); Le Tat Vinh (Class 16, from Hai Phong); Ngo Dang Tri (Class 15, from Ha Tinh); Dang Cong Nga (Class 13, from Nghe An). The photographer is Cao Phong (Class 13, just graduated, in the Vietnam News Agency reporter group, going to the battlefield to reinforce the Liberation News Agency). The student soldiers are all carrying guns and ammunition, while Cao Phong is lugging around a backpack of film and 4-5 cameras of various types around his neck. They are all in their 20s, young, optimistic, and always proud to be students of the History Faculty, Hanoi National University.
After that Faculty Meeting, we, the “5 students of the Faculty of History”, and our unit boarded a canoe, following the Xe Xan River to the province of Crache in the Northeast of Cambodia, then following the Mekong River to the province of Cong Phong Cham. The most interesting thing for us when we were in Cambodia was to explore more about the country and the lives of the people who follow Theravada Buddhism, the palm trees, the mango gardens… of the “Pagoda Tower” land that we had heard about when we were in the Faculty of History. We also understood more clearly the “two-faced” attitude of the Khmer Rouge towards Vietnam.
From Cambodia, the military stations were operated by the 470th Division of the South Vietnam Liberation Army Command, providing logistics. The Liberation military stations were designated A1, A2, A3… or K1, K2, K3… from North to South. The troops were provided with rice and braised fish more frequently, and had allowances in Ria money to buy gold-rolled cigarettes, tea bags, toothpaste, etc. (company cadres also pooled their money to buy radios, etc.). But unlike in Laos, we had to endure many American B52 bombings and always had to be on guard against harassment by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
About three months in Cambodia, the longest stop was in So 3 area, Xi Can Dan district, Cong Phong Cham province (with many rubber and banana forests), on July 6, 1973, in the rainy season, the road was slippery, "5 students of the Faculty of History" and the whole Group 2004 passed through Mi Mot border gate, arriving in Ca Tum area, Tan Bien district, Tay Ninh province, where the Central Bureau and the Command of the Southern Liberation Army (codenamed R) were stationed.
Our march to B basically ended in victory. From here, we moved on to the phase of building bases, protecting liberated areas, and preparing to add combat units to the B2 battlefield.
In fact, from the end of November 1973, our unit, including “5 students of the Faculty of History” was transferred by car to the Northwest, through Dong Xoai, Bu Gia Map. to Quang Duc province, adjacent to Dak Lak province of B3. to supplement C22, belonging to E271, Group 95, the main force of the Southeast (cadres from the company level and above returned to the North to lead other groups to the battlefield). We participated in the fight to liberate and protect the Bu Bong and Tuy Duc areas, opening up Highway 14, Duc Lap, Tuy Duc, Nhan Co sections…
From then on, the route of transporting human and material resources from the great rear of the North to the Southern battlefield mainly turned to the Eastern Truong Son route (on Vietnamese soil), signaling a new period of development in the resistance war against the US to save the country. At the end of 1974, Group 95 (E271) was supplemented with troops from the North, divided into 2 regiments, E271 and E172. Accordingly, C22 was also divided into two parts belonging to 2 different main regiments. Therefore, "5 students of the Faculty of History" were no longer in the same company.
During the 1975 Spring General Offensive and Uprising, soldiers Nguyen Dinh Le and Le Tat Vinh of E271, in the formation of the 4th Corps, participated in the battle to liberate Phuong Long Town, then Tay Ninh, Hau Nghia,... Soldiers Ngo Dang Tri, Dang Cong Nga, and Ngo Ngoc Thang of E172 participated in the battle to liberate Gia Nghia Town (Quang Duc), then My Tho, Long An,...
Although we belonged to two different regiments, because we were in the same old unit, the two regiments in general and our students in particular often tried to contact each other. The most memorable reunion was when both regiments participated in fighting the enemy in the Nguyen Van Tiep Canal area (Long An), April 1975. It was just a pity that we could not organize a "Faculty Meeting" with all of us, because the enemy artillery was heavily shelling and the battlefield was developing too quickly, so we had to rush in two different directions….
The modern Vietnamese war of national defense and liberation was long and glorious, but also had many sacrifices and losses. During the resistance war against the US to save the country, nearly 50 teachers and students of the Faculty of History went to war, some of whom sacrificed, such as Heroic Martyr Ca Le Hien (poet Le Anh Xuan), Martyr Ngo Van So, etc. In Class 15 alone, 14 people joined the army, 5 of whom sacrificed on the front line, including martyrs Tran Anh Tuan (Hanoi), Le Van Doan (Thanh Hoa), Pham Van Tai (Nghe An), Nguyen Van Toan (Phu Tho), Nguyen Van Tam (Quang Binh), etc.
According to the general policy, after the war ended, the "5 students of the Faculty of History" were all allowed to return to the Faculty of History to continue their studies. The efforts and growth of the "5 students of the Faculty of History" in the past in the new journey were quite successful and worthy of respect. Ngo Ngoc Thang became Associate Professor, Doctor, Director of the Academy of Politics Region 1, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics; Nguyen Dinh Le is Associate Professor, Doctor, Head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Vietnamese History, Faculty of History, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU; Le Tat Vinh is Director of the Department of Culture of Hai Phong city; Ngo Dang Tri is Associate Professor, Doctor, Meritorious Artist, Deputy Head of the Faculty of History; Dang Cong Nga is Director of the Ninh Binh Provincial Museum. The photographer Nguyen Cao Phong later became a propaganda officer of the Ministry of Light Industry.
There are many memories of war and resistance documents, but the forgetting, loss and misplacement are also very great. The photo “5 HISTORY STUDENTS” on the top of Attapeu, Indochina intersection, March 1973 was taken and preserved by a war reporter who was also a former student of the History Faculty.
45 years have passed (March 1973-March 2018), although there is nothing special, the photo has recorded a real event: "The History Faculty Meeting on Truong Son Road", a rare historical document, cherished by those involved, recalled as a memorable moment in the youthful fighting life of the soldiers - students of the History Faculty, Hanoi National University in the past. "From school to the battlefield and then back to school", for them are unforgettable years. The History Faculty, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU (formerly Hanoi National University) has many valuable documents, of which the photo of "5 soldiers" mentioned above can be considered one of such documents.
Author:Ngo Dang Tri, Nguyen Dinh Le
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