Within Instruction No. 44/CAB dated March 23, 1954, Cogny ordered de Castries to quickly prepare for a battle in the trenches and suggested expanding the eastern defence area, shifting the focus of the central battlefield to the eastern bank of Nam Rom River before the flooding season.
To strengthen the forces of the North West Operation Group (GONO), during this time, in addition to two complete parachute battalions, the French Expeditionary Corps Command in the North sent a number of officers and soldiers to Dien Bien Phu to supplement the lost units. The enemy’s artillery pieces that were damaged by our forces were also replaced and had their ammunition fully replenished. Supplies to the encamped troops were enhanced.
On the coordinated battlefields, after a series of military feats by the people and military in the Red River Delta, especially the people and military along Road No. 5, General Vo Nguyen Giap sent a complimentary message to the Road No. 5 regular army units, local army units, and guerrilla paramilitary.
The message recited the accomplishments of the Road No. 5 people and military in January and February 1954, especially some strong attacks the enemy’s defence system on Road No. 5 in March at that destroyed many positions, watch towers and reinforcements as well as many bridges and railway sections, thus cutting off the enemy’s most important strategic roads in the northern battlefield several times.
General Vo Nguyen Giap expressed his hope that the units and soldiers fighting on the Road No. 5 front would continue striving to consolidate and expand victories, step up guerrilla warfare, and actively help the people fight against the enemy, take precautions against underestimating the enemy, and continue to coordinate closely with our army’s siege of the enemy at Dien Bien Phu.
