Dien Bien Phu is the provincial capital city of Dien Bien Province in Northwest Vietnam, where there are many beauty imposing natural landscapes mixed with different hill tribe’s cultures. Being nice and quiet city is located in the Muong Thanh Valley with a length of about 20 km and 6 km in width. Here also being known as “Dien Bien Basin". Dien Bien Phu is considered as one of the cities lies on the border, only about 35 km from city center to the border of Laos.
Dien Bien Phu is 474 km far away from Hanoi, accessible along the National road 279 and road number 6. Dien Bien Phu has high tourism potential, especially in culture – history aspect. Most prominent is the system of resistance war historical site which related to victory of Dien Bien Phu, such as war revolutionary headquarters of Dien Bien Phu base in Muong Phang village; the bases Him Lam, Ban Keo, Independence hills A1, C1, D1, E1 and the central base of the French Colony.
Dien Bien Phu Monument is a valuable resource for tourism development not only of Dien Bien Province, for entire of Northwest region and also the whole country. Dien Bien has non-material culture within 21 ethnic minority groups who have been living together for a long time; each of them has its own culture, speaking difference dialect. Besides, Dien Bien has many caves, mineral water and lakes formed rich natural tourism resource as Muong Nhe Forest, the caves in Pa Thom (Dien Bien), Tham Pua (Tuan Giao); the hot mineral spring of Hua Pe, U Va; the lake Pa Khoang, Pe Luong, Huoi Pha ...
Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory
Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory is in the opposite of the cemetery of Vietnamese martyrs in Hill A1, the center of Dien Bien Phu City. Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory was built in 1984 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory. By the end of 2003, the museum and its exhibition sections were upgraded. Nowadays, the museum has five exhibition sections, featuring 274 items and 122 pictures, many of which are newly added, about the 8-year resistance against the French colonialists. The five sections have the following contents:
- The strategic location of Dien Bien Phu.
- The enemy's scheme at Dien Bien Phu.
- The Party's guideline regarding preparations for the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.
- Impacts of Dien Bien Phu domestically and internationally.
- Present-day Dien Bien Phu.
Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory opens for domestic and oversea tourists. The outdoor sections of the museum were finished in service of the Year for Tourism in Dien Bien - 2004.
A1 Hill
A1 Hill had three defense lines. The first one, stretching from the Cay Da blockhouse, protected the way to the hilltop. Currently this is the main road leading to the top of A1 Hill. The second line was for counter-offensive assaults and the last one was a kind of underground bunker at the top of the hill. There were trenches connecting these three lines. Unaware of the underground bunker atop the hill, Vietnamese troops assaulted from the dried stream. To occupy one third of the hill, Vietnamese troops lost 2516 troops and discovered the bunker thanks to enemy flare.
Tactical method was changed. Despite numerous difficulties, Vietnamese troops dug a tunnel to destroy the bunker with explosive. After 16 days and nights, Vietnamese troops found a brick foundation, which was left from some construction built by French troops in 1940. Considering that was the bunker wall, Vietnamese troops brought 970kg of explosive there and detonated them at 08:30 PM on May 6th, 1954. The pressure of the explosion made the ears of the French captain in charge of the bunker bleed. He thought that was a new kind of weapon used by Vietnamese troops and surrendered. The explosion left an enormous hole like a crater, which is rather afar from the top of A1 Hill.
The headquarter of Dien Bien Phu Campaign
The headquarter of Dien Bien Phu Campaign - Located in Muong Phang Commune, Dien Bien District, about 35km from the centre of Dien Bien Phu City. Here visitors will find the hut where General Vo Nguyen Giap worked and other huts for information and military operation discussion.
Major General, Deputy Chief of Staff Hoang Van Thai, deputy head of the Chinese consultants’ group and chief of staff Mei Jiasheng and other officers left Viet Bac for Tay Bac on December 6th 1953 to make preparations for the Tay Bac Campaign in winter – spring 1953 - 1954.
On 5 January 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Commander – in - Chief of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign and head of the Chinese consultants’ group Wei Quojing left for Tay Bac. The General’s first stop was at Tham Pua Cave. This command post had been set up as early as 7 December 1953. In this cave, on January 14th, 1954, Vo Nguyen Giap assigned the tactical tasks for different divisions, following the guideline of “sweep attack, sweep victory” under which the battle would last 2 days and 3 nights with the D-Day set on 20 January 1954. On 17 January 1954, the Command post was moved to the area beside Huoi He Stream in Na Tau Commune. Due to some reasons, the D-Day was changed to the 25th then the 26th of January 1954. At 11.00 AM, 26 January 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap decided to swift from the strategy to “strike swiftly, win swiftly” to “strike surely, win surely”. This military order was sent to all units in Dien Bien. The Command post was situated in Na Tau from 18 January 1954 to 30 January 1954.
At night of the 30th and early of the 31st of January 1954, the Command post was moved again to Muong Phang Commune. It stayed there until 15 May 1954. This was the third and the last command post of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Atop the Phu Ca Mountain, General Vo Nguyen Giap had a watchtower built to get a panoramic view of Muong Thanh Field through binoculars. In this Command post one can visit:
- Sentry box No. 1
- Information Center
- Hut of Reconnaissance Operation
- Hut of General Vo Nguyen Giap, Commander-in-Chief of the Dien Bien Phu
- The 96m tunnel through the mountain, connecting General Giap’s hut with that of Chief of Staff Hoang Van Thai
- Area for Chinese consultants
- Hut of Chief of Staff Hoang Van Thai
- Meeting hall
- Political sector
The Muong Phang Command post successfully bore the historical task of liberating Dien Bien entrusted by the Party Central Committee and Uncle Ho.
Pa Khoang Lake
Pa Khoang Lake is located in Muong Phang Commune, Dien Bien District. The position of this lake is very convenient for a visit, near the road 279, about 20 km from Dien Bien Phu City, linking Dien Bien Phu City with Muong Phang historical and cultural forest.
The Pa Khoang Tourist Complex covers an area of 2,400 ha, in which 1,320 ha of forest area, 300 ha of farming land, 150 ha of basic construction, and 600 ha of water surface area (the lake contains about 37.2 million m3 of water). This area possesses several favorable conditions for tourist activities such as diverse plants, various topography, good weather and etc. There are a number of animals and various kinds of orchids in the forest around the lake. There are also many species of fish and floating plants in the lake (about 65 kinds of floating plants, 14 species of floating animals and 6 species living at the bottom of the lake).
Pa Khoang Lake is lying in the centre of ranges of mountains and in the place of beautiful natural sceneries. In spring, mist covers ranges of mountains and small houses which create a mysterious picture. In summer, the weather is quite nice with blows of cool wind. Visitors coming here can enjoy the natural beauty in the distance or row a boat for sight-seeing. All makes a peaceful and romantic picture attractive to visitors.
In the lake region, there are the villages of Thai and Kho Mu ethnic groups who still follow traditional customs and habits of ethnic groups in the North West of Vietnam. This is also an interesting human tourist potential, waiting for tourists to explore.
Bunker of De Castries
Fifty years ago, one could see the top of the bunker from a high hill. To reach there, however, Vietnamese troops had to fight heroically during 55 days and nights, amidst numerous hardships and difficulties. Around the bunker were situated dense systems of defense lines, including many layers of barbed wires and four tanks. The bunker is 20m long and 8m wide. It consists of 4 compartments, which serves as both working offices and resident places.
One now can still find the iron vaults and sandbags atop the bunker. There used to be a roofed trench connecting the bunker of De Castries with the blockhouse at Cay Da in Hill A1. French troops piled up wooden planks and sandbags to make trenches. They took the wooden planks from the houses of the Vietnamese ethnic minority groups.
Inside this bunker, De Castries received such high-ranking officers as French Prime Minister Joseph Laniel, US President Dwight Eisenhower, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, as well as well-known journalists. At 5:30 PM on May 7th, 1954, Ta Quoc Luat, head of Company 360, Regiment 209, Division 312 captured alive General De Castries who was sitting at his desk in the corner of the bunker.
The tunnel had four sections as follows:
Section 1:
This is the office of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Piroth, who was in charge of French artillery in Dien Bien Phu. Prior to his departure to Indochina, Piroth submitted a tactical plan to Henri Navarre, in which he affirmed that no artillery gun of Viet Minh could fire three times without being destroyed in Dien Bien Phu. However, after experiencing the fierce attacks of Vietnamese artillery, Piroth committed suicide with a grenade in a tunnel at the end of Muong Thanh Bridge on March 15th, 1954. De Castries worried that his troops would lose their morale if they knew this. So he had Piroth buried in the one end of Muong Thanh Bridge. Then he cabled to inform Navarre that Piroth had disappeared together with his jeep.
Section 2:
This is the office of Seguin who was in charge of the French air force in Dien Bien Phu. He was tasked with the protection of the Muong Thanh and Hong Cum Airfields. He himself faced shameful defeat. Before attack of Vietnamese troops, the French troops carried out around 100-150 sorties each day, transporting some 100 - 300 tons of goods to Dien Bien Phu. After assaults of Vietnamese troops, especially when the runways of Muong Thanh Airfield were cut off, French troops had to parachute goods to Dien Bien Phu, many of which came to hands of Vietnamese troops.
Section 3:
This is the office of De Castries Secretary. Upon being promoted to the Commander of the Dien Bien Phu entrenched camp, he required to have this secretary, who was both a nurse and a journalist. When the Vietnamese troops attacked Dien Bien Phu on March 13th, 1954, De Castries asked her to come back to Hanoi by airway.
Section 4:
This is the information and radio transmission center of the French troops in Dien Bien Phu. When the Dien Bien Phu campaign ended, Vietnamese troops captured only one female French nurse, De Galard. She was among one of the first to be released under Vietnam policy.
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