... At 3 p.m sharp, the army got the order: “Launch the general offensive on Muong Thanh, without waiting for nightfall. The units in the East will make a direct thrust at the central sector, the units in the West will launch their assaults, and both will march on the enemy command headquarters. Strike hard and tighten the encirclement that neither De Castries nor any of the enemy troops can escape.”

On the battlefield, Company 360 of Battalion 130, together with Tran Quai, Battalion Political Commissar, were all present at the fortified stronghold 508. Ngo Trong Bao, Deputy Battalion Commander, sent the forces of Battalion 154 to stronghold 509, which was the last entrenched fortification to defend the Muong Thanh Bridge, then he held a lightning pow-wow with the Battalion Political Commissar Tran Quai before giving the order to Company 360 to march on the central sector, just when the flames of the blasts were rising up higher and higher. In next to no time, Company Commander Ta Quoc Luat took Company 360 dashing across the Muong Thanh Bridge under the intense fire of the 4-barrel heavy machine-guns.nbsp;

Seeing that the enemy offered little resistance, Luat ordered his men to leave the trenches, at the time teeming with enemy troops and jump up to the ground, and rush along a shortcut to Gen. De Castries’ headquarters, using a puppet armyman as a guide. The watch-towers sent in their reports: Our armymen were fighting from three directions, launching assaults on the central sector, Battalion 312 from the East crossing the Muong Thanh Bridge, Battalion 308 from the West opening a breakthrough in the airfield, and from the Southwest to Lili, in the direction of De Castries’ headquarters. The enemy offered merely sporadic resistance. Quite a few enemy groups came out to surrender and white flags were popping up in the area of Muong Thanh in ever larger numbers. Mr. Thai (i.e. Gen. Hoang Van Thai) repeatedly reminded the units: “Tighten the encirclement and don’t allow any single enemy soldier to escape!”

At 5.30 p.m, Battalion 312 reported: “All the enemy troops at the central sector have surrendered. Gen. De Castries has been captured alive!”

The jungle where the Front Command was based had been very secret, strict and stringent, but all of a sudden, it became alive with bustling atmosphere, like the roaring surge of sea waves. All officers and men were cheering and shouting, dancing and waving their hands in the air, hugging and jumping for immense joy just like little kids.

The joy had not yet come to me, though. Was it a certainty that the adversary general had been captured? One thousand five hundred enemy troops remained there, in Hong Cum sector.

From Muong Thanh, the units reported: “The enemy troops are coming out to surrender. Some walk along the roads, singing aloud. Our armymen are also running off theirnbsp; defence works, dancing and jumping on the banks of the communication trenches. Many of them fire in the air, sending up blue and red flares to celebrate the victory.”

The Campaign Command gave its order to the units: “The fight is far from over. All must be in their combat positions. Don’t allow any single enemy soldier to escape. Use the public-address network for enemy agitation to make an appeal to them and guide them to surrender. This is the message: ‘Surrender! You’ll be well treated! Hold white flags and walk in orderly files. It is strictly prohibited to destroy arms and ammunitions. Anyone who still holds his gun must keep its muzzle down to the ground!’ ”

Right after that, I asked Mr. Le Trong Tan:
- Is it true that De Castries has been captured?
-nbsp; Commander-in-Chief, it’s reported that he’s been captured.
- How could they know he’s De Castries?

Mr. Tan kept mum.nbsp;nbsp;
- It’s of great necessity to capture De Castries alive. Don’t allow the enemy to fraudulently swap their commander. You should compare him with his identity, checking his army rank and badge. You’ll be held fully responsible for this. Have you got a photo of De Castries?

The unit answered no. A cadre at the battlefront used a jeep to take a photo of De Castries to the unit.

Mr. Le Chuong and Mr. Nam Long reported in from Hong Cum that the enemy forces seemed to be planning to thrust out for their escape to Laos. The Campaign Command ordered Battalion 308 to send a unit for swift reinforcement of Hong Cum, closely coordinating with Battalion 304 in hot pursuit of the enemy troops, wiping them out and not allowing any of them to escape.

Roaring and rumbling was all around. It was impossible to restrict and restrain the noise and the joy of all people. The guards had to lower the bamboo plaits of the windows of the headquarters office to keep it quiet.

The order for Battalion 312 to send in its immediate report on the capture of De Castries was reiterated, each minute of waiting then seeming to last very long.

Some moments later, Mr. Le Trong Tan phoned back to the headquarters, reporting: “It’s true that De Castries and all the general staff of the complex of fortified strongholds have been captured. De Castries still wears his army badge and that we have checked his personal documents and signature with great care.”

I asked him again:
- Have you seen De Castries with your own eyes?

Mr. Tan answered joyfully: “Commander-in-Chief, De Castries and the French command in Dien Bien Phu are standing in front of me here. He’s still holding his ‘stick’ and wearing his red cap.”

I immediately reported to the Party Central Committee and Government that our army in Dien Bien Phu had won total triumph.

… At midnight, Mr. Le Chuong phoned me, reporting all the enemy troops in Hong Cum sector, including Lalan, deputy commander of the complex of entrenched fortifications, in charge of Hong Cum sector had surrendered.

And so, after 55 days and nights of grim fighting, the historic campaign won total victory.

nbsp;I lay down on the grass mattress, unable to sleep. “By now, Uncle Ho and the Party Central Committee must have got the news. Tomorrow, perhaps the army will receive a letter of commendation from Uncle Ho. Comrade Pham Van Dong, now in Geneva, will be in a new position at the bargaining table. Our comrades and the Soviet and Chinese comrades have been looking forward to this information every hour … The national flag has been hoisted high by our people on the historic battlefield. Our army has grown up so fast. The Navarre Plan has thus gone up in smoke. The complexion will change. Now that Dien Bien Phu is finished, where will we fight on tomorrow?” The joy made me almost sleepless that night.

Photos: Filesnbsp;