For Nguyen Tien Ha, Head of the Liaison Committee for Revolutionary Soldiers Imprisoned and Detained at Hoa Lo Prison (1930–1954), the memories of that winter of 1946 remain vivid, even after nearly 80 years.
Heroic moments
Having joined the revolution in 1944 as a youth member of the self-defence team of the Hoang Dieu Youth Union for National Salvation, Ha volunteered to join the army as soon as the nationwide resistance began. To this day, he recalls the heroic moments of his first battle as a soldier - the “O Cau Den” battle in Bach Mai, part of Zone 2 (now Hai Ba Trung District).
“I was directly involved in defending the barricade at 'O Cau Den'. Due to limited weapons, we built earthen mounds, piled logs and planks, and created barricades to stall the enemy while ensuring the safe evacuation of civilians. The Bach Mai self-defence team took turns fortifying the barricades, supported by food supplies from the women’s union,” Ha recounted.
The enemy sought to destroy the barricades to execute their “quick attack, quick victory” strategy, launching relentless bombings and ferocious attacks. However, bolstered by revolutionary zeal, our troops stood their ground. Without artillery, they used “bom ba cang” (the Shitotsubakurai or lunge mine) to destroy enemy tanks. This was a suicidal tactic, requiring soldiers to sacrifice themselves, but they showed no hesitation, taking turns to complete the mission. Their bravery struck fear into the enemy. Through sheer resilience, Hanoi’s soldiers, symbolised by the “O Cau Den” barricade, managed to stall the enemy for 21 days (from December 25, 1946, to January 15, 1947), thwarting the French colonialists’ “quick attack, quick victory” strategy and contributing to the overall success of the 60-day resistance to protect Hanoi.
Le Duc Van, one of the five founders of the Hoang Dieu Youth Union for national salvation, grew emotional recalling those days when Hanoi’s youth, both men and women, alongside the national guard, police forces, and self-defence units, stood up to fight the French.
At that time, Van was assigned to work in Zone 2 (now Hai Ba Trung District) at the Resistance Committee. The people of Hanoi had been mobilised to evacuate, leaving behind only the youth and volunteers, who, alongside police, soldiers, and young cadets, stayed to fight. Van oversaw a team of young cadets tasked with maintaining communication.
“I was tasked with handling communications, transmitting encoded orders from the Command to the combat units. Communication relied on a rotation of specific books, with predetermined codes linked to page numbers and line numbers in the books to represent the alphabet,” Van recalled.
Everyone felt honoured to take on their tasks, even though danger and sacrifice were ever-present. The image of the young national guard and cadets - brave and agile, darting through alleyways and between houses while delivering messages, supplying food and ammunition, treating the wounded, and even directly engaging in combat - remains unforgettable to Van.
A promise to return victorious
Slightly younger but equally courageous were the “little guards” (known as “ve ut”) - teenagers who played vital roles. “We were known as little guards, the younger of the national guard,” said Dang Van Tich, a former “ve ut”.
Tich recalled that before December 19, 1946, our forces had secretly created tunnels through walls to connect houses. The “little guards” were the ones who knew these routes by heart. When the resistance began, household items, trees, electric poles, and train cars were thrown into the streets to block the French forces. Since the national guard and militia could not move freely in the streets, the “little guards” acted as messengers, darting through enemy fire to deliver news. They also relayed orders from commanders to combat units and guided reinforcements when needed. Many of them died heroically.
The battle that haunted Dang Van Tich the most was at Truong Ke (now Tran Nhat Duat Primary School), where our forces were pushed to the second floor after the French occupied the ground floor. In a desperate situation, a young messenger, Tran Ngoc Lai, climbed down a drainpipe to request reinforcements but was shot and killed while climbing back up. Enraged, our forces attacked and forced the enemy to retreat.
Thirteen-year-old Phung De, curious about the aftermath of the fighting, sneaked out to see the destruction in the streets. He encountered self-defence forces building barricades and trenches on Ta Hien Street near Cau Go. Eager to help, he joined them and eventually became part of Company 15, Battalion 103, in the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc area.
Reflecting on those days, Phung De said: “My main task was reconnaissance. In the absence of electricity, water, or markets and under siege, our goal was to hold the enemy at bay. Despite the hardships, I scouted enemy positions, reported back to our troops, and guided them in attacks to disrupt the enemy.”
In response to the need for unified command, the Party Committee of Zone 1 decided to merge its armed forces into a formal regiment, named “Zone 1 Regiment”, and later renamed “Capital Regiment,” with a force of approximately 2,500 soldiers on January 12, 1947.
After 60 days of fierce fighting to stall the French, the Capital Regiment was ordered to retreat to Viet Bac to preserve its strength for long-term resistance. Before leaving, many soldiers, with tears in their eyes, wrote on the walls: “Hanoi, we vow to return victorious”. Eight years later, they fulfilled that promise, liberating the capital and writing another glorious chapter in Vietnam’s history.
