Muong Thanh Bridge

Muong Thanh Bridge

Muong Thanh Bridge, also known as "Prenley" bridge by the French military, is a bridge across the Nam Rom River, built by the French. The bridge is a military project located in the central subdivision of the Dien Bien Phu base group. On November 20, 1953, the French Colonialists chose Dien Bien Phu to build the strongest stronghold group in Indochina at that time with 49 strongholds divided into 3 subdivisions: Northern Division, Southern Division, also known as is the Hong Cum subdivision and the Central subdivision is the most important subdivision. Because the terrain of Dien Bien Phu is a wide basin, surrounded by high mountains, in the central battlefield there is the Nam Rom river flowing through dividing the central area into left and right banks, so the Communication from the central command post with the base groups on the eastern and northeastern hills encountered many difficulties. To solve those difficulties, the French army built Muong Thanh bridge across Nam Rom river. Muong Thanh iron bridge is a pre-made bridge that was shipped from France and assembled in Dien Bien. The entire bridge is 40 m long and 5 m wide. On both sides of the bridge are simple supporting iron bars, without a middle shaft. The bridge floor is paved with wood, and underneath are iron beams that are very firmly linked together to ensure a load of 8-15 tons. To protect this vital bridge, the French arranged bases 509, 508 and 507 on the eastern bridgehead, while on the western bridgehead they arranged a 4-barrel machine gun nest to prevent the enemy from attacking beyond. Cross the bridge to attack the central command post. With such a force arrangement, General De Cat hoped to maintain the bridge and maintain the gateway for reinforcements to the eastern and northeastern peak clusters of the Dien Bien Phu stronghold group. When war has not yet occurred, Muong Thanh bridge is a transport route for raw materials, ammunition, and barbed wire to serve the construction of defensive bases in the East and the Northern subdivision. During the general attack to destroy all the eastern heights at 4:00 a.m. on May 7, 1954, our troops destroyed the entire A1 base. At 2:00 p.m., Regiment 209, Division 312 launched an attack. Base 597 at the beginning of Muong Thanh bridge. The enemy at base 507 raised the white flag to surrender, took advantage of the victory, and rushed forward. Group 312 attacked and destroyed two bases 508 and 509 on the left bank of the Nam Rom river. At these two bases, the enemy resisted weakly and was quickly defeated. extermination. From the east, Regiment 209 advanced straight into the central area of ​​Muong Thanh with Regiment 98 and Regiment 174 close to the central area. In the west, the 36th Regiment entered the last strongholds covering the enemy's headquarters. The 88th Regiment opened the way through the airport and straight into Gono's last lair. Wherever our troops fought, the enemy's white flag appeared, many enemy groups from bases and trenches flocked out to surrender their weapons. At exactly 5:30 p.m. on May 7, 1954, our army's Decisive War - Determined Victory flag fluttered on the roof of General De Cat's bunker, successfully ending the historic Dien Bien Phu campaign. This was the biggest victory in the long resistance war against the French colonialists and American interventionists, and also the most famous victory in the history of the Vietnamese people against foreign invaders. Initially, Muong Thanh bridge was built by the French after parachuting to occupy Dien Bien Phu. In the end, the bridge became a means of guiding the way for our soldiers to attack, planting the Decisive Victory flag on the roof of the bunker of defeated General De Cat. Source: Compiled by Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dien Bien province

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