I answered, “Yes, I’ll do it.”
Thus the Vietnam Liberation Unit came into being. Uncle thought it over and the next day proposed to add the word “propaganda” to its name in view of its present task. The Vietnam Liberation Unit then became the Vietnam Propaganda and Liberation Unit. It had the task of using armed struggle to mobilize and arouse the population, but our guiding principle was to consist in attaching more importance to political activities, to propaganda than to armed attack. From the depth of the forest, he wrote instructions for the formation of regular units, the backbone of the military forces. These instructions became the main line of our army not only during that period but also during the hard and protracted war of resistance waged by our army and people.
We stayed on another day to assess the situation and draw up an all-sided plan for the formation of the future army. We reviewed the situation of the enemy, our own situation, the strength of our cadres, the problem of food supply, the regions in which our guerrilla bases were to be expanded first, and so on. In the cold and lightless hut, we rested our heads on wooden pillows and talked until far into the night. After listening to Uncle we impatiently looked to the forthcoming activities of the units. He insisted again and again, “There must be military activity within a month, the unit must launch a sudden attack and the first battle must be successful. This first military success will provide us with the best content for our propaganda work.”
The next day, just before we left, he again said, “Be secret, rapid, active, now in the East now in the West, arriving unexpectedly and leaving unnoticed.” On my way back, I thought out and wrote the ten-clause oath for the Propaganda Unit.
When we came to the Cao-Bac-Lang Inter-Provincial Committee to report Uncle’s decision, all were overjoyed. The Propaganda Unit immediately came into being. Cadres and arms were called for. The thirty-four comrades who originally composed the first unit were chosen from section leaders, platoon commanders, or from outstanding members of local armed groups. In addition, there were also a number of cadres who had just returned to the country after their military training in China. Thus, in the Cao-Bac-Lang area, there took shape three kinds of armed groups: the Vietnam Propaganda and Liberation Unit which was the main armed force, the district armed groups, and the village self-defense semiarmed units. These three forces closely coordinated their activities. I had asked Uncle previously, “Now that the Propaganda Unit operates according to the plan of the Inter-Provincial Committee, what will be its obligations and rights as regards the local armed groups in the localities where it will be carrying out its activities?” His answer was, “There must be unified command.” This was put into execution right away. During the hard and drawn-out war of resistance carried out by our people as a whole, this combat watchword was thoroughly applied and its effect remained extremely powerful.
By mid-December 1944, on the eve of the founding of the Propaganda and Liberation Unit, I received Uncle’s instructions written on a small piece of paper inserted into a packet of cigarettes. The instructions read as follows: “The Vietnam Propaganda Unit for National Liberation is the first one born. I hope many others will soon come into being. Its size is small, but its prospects are brilliant. It is the embryo of the Liberation Army, and may have to move throughout the country from north to south.”
Two days after the founding of the unit, we started our activities and won the first victories at Phai Khat and Na Ngan.
These two sudden attacks against the Phai Khat and Na Ngan posts, which resulted in their being annihilated, were swift and victorious operations. As they took place in a border region between Cao Bang, Bac Can, and Lang Son provinces, the news of victory spread rapidly and stirred the three provinces.
After the victory, we went to the Thien Thuat base to expand the unit into a company. Reinforcements came from various localities. To see our new company standing in neat rows and armed with new rifles and shining bayonets filled us with jubilance and confidence. After our first victories at Phai Khat and Na Ngan, we had seized a large amount of ammunition. At that time, ammunition was much more valued than guns.
Later we marched northward to Bao Lac district close to the Vietnam-China border. Our troops went through the villages situated high on the mountains and inhabited by the Man people. Everywhere we went, we were welcomed and cheered by the local people, especially by Man mothers who showed high esteem for the revolutionary troops, greeting us most affectionately and feasting us. At Bao Lac, we launched a sudden attack against the Dong Mu post. Our troops sang joyfully while fighting. I was injured in the leg.
With our presence at Bao Lac, the imperialists might think that all of us were there. To put them off the scent, we moved rapidly and most secretly back to Hoang Hoa Tham district, on the eve of the Lunar New Year’s Day. In Hoang Hoa Tham forest, houses had been built and supplies stored for us by the local people, many of whom, old as they were, left their families to enjoy the New Year’s Day festival with us in the forest.
Vu Anh, Pham Van Dong, and others of the Cao-Bac-Lang Inter-Provincial Committee also came to visit our troops. We discussed the continuation of the Southward March. Immediately after their departure, we learned that the Japanese coup d’état had just taken place on March 9, 1945.
The Vietnam Propaganda and Liberation Unit moved out from the jungle to the Kim Ma Plain in broad daylight, unfurling their golden-starred red flag. The population was overjoyed.
We marched southward, toward the delta. In every locality we passed through, we set up revolutionary power, disarmed the enemy, and called on the French remnant troops to cooperate with us in fighting the Japanese. New units of the revolutionary army were organized. The Cao-Bac-Lang Inter-Provincial Committee ordered the setting-up of people’s power and launched a vast guerrilla movement against the Japanese. Companies of the Liberation Army were formed in the districts of Soc Giang, Cao Bang, Bao Lac, Nguyen Binh, That Khe. Soc Giang and a number of other district towns were attacked by local armed units. At Nuoc Hai, during a drive to enroll the youth into the Liberation Army, more than three thousand volunteered.
This was an unprecedented, historic scene.
Continuing our march southward, we reached Cho Chu and then Tan Trao.
At Tan Trao, we were heartened to find that the Bac Son bases had already been expanded to there. Guerrilla warfare had already been started and revolutionary power established in all the districts of Thai Nguyen province. The Tan Trao region was under Song Hao’s guidance. The Liberation forces and the National Salvation forces had thus joined.
This time we met each other in a situation different from that of earlier days. The revolution had taken a step forward. The door-die battle against the Japanese had been waged. In their attempts to destroy the revolution, the Japanese from Thai Nguyen and Bac Giang cities launched attack after attack against the liberated area but in vain. The movement in the Cao-Bac-Lang area was not as it had been when the French imperialists unleashed their terror campaign. The population in the liberated area now had revolutionary power and the people throughout the country had heroically risen against the Japanese.
The Southward March reached Tan Trao, thus enabling the Cao Bang and Bac Son centers to link up, and the door was wide open for us to advance toward the delta.
On April 15, 1945, the Central Committee convened the Revolutionary Military Conference of North Vietnam at Hiep Hoa district, Bac Giang province. On our way back to Cho Chu after the conference, we stopped to attend a meeting on May Day. At that time the German fascists had already surrendered to the Allies in Europe. It was also reported that Uncle had crossed the border from China and was coming to us, by the road he had himself planned for the Propaganda Unit.
We hurriedly set out to meet him, our horses galloping, and not thinking of taking a rest. We reached Deo Re, passed Nghia Ta, and met him at Ha Kien where he had just arrived.
This was the first time I had met him since the day he entrusted me with organizing the Propaganda Unit. How many hardships we had undergone, how many successes won since then! I hastened to report to him, “The liberated area has been expanded….” I told him what had been going on since he ordered the founding