"Pha Din Slope, you carry the load, I carry the load"

From Tuan Giao town (Tuan Giao district, Dien Bien province), follow National Highway 6 to Pha Din Pass. After traveling more than 8 km to the turnoff to Co village (Quai To commune), if you pay close attention, you will see the memorial area for the young volunteers who sacrificed their lives in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign (1954)...

To achieve the great Dien Bien Phu victory, in addition to the wise policy of the Party Central Committee and President Ho; the commanding talent of the Campaign Command, the heroic spirit and sacrifice of our troops... there was also a significant contribution from the logistics factor. In the work "Ho Chi Minh Complete Works" (National Political Publishing House, Hanoi), Uncle Ho concluded: "In the past, we only fought on one military front, but today we fight on all military, economic, political and ideological fronts, so people call it a comprehensive war... Today's war is complicated and extremely difficult. Without using the full strength of the people in all aspects to respond, it is impossible to win". In order for the entire population to enthusiastically participate in the long-term resistance war, Ho Chi Minh advocated taking care of the material and spiritual life of the people.

The biggest difficulty of logistics in this campaign was that the local supply was very poor, far from the rear, the roads were few, bad and narrow, mainly single roads, because the Northwest was a rugged mountainous area, the population was sparse and there was no ability to mobilize local logistics... Therefore, it was mainly necessary to transport from afar, while the transport route was very long, through many complex terrains, and the enemy attacked very fiercely. The route from Cao Bang, Lang Son to Son La was more than 600 km long; the route from Nho Quan (Ninh Binh) and Thanh Hoa to Son La was more than 300 km long; the route from Son La to the front was more than 150 km long. On those routes, the enemy identified 40 points that could be effectively cut off, so they sent planes to attack 1,186 times on the traffic routes, with the highest number of planes used 250 times a day (including B26s)... Lung Lo and Pha Din passes, important traffic hubs such as Co Noi, Tuan Giao... were the enemy's main targets of attack (some days they dropped 160 - 300 bombs of various types on Co Noi and Pha Din passes).

To protect the transportation routes, we dispatched 2 37mm anti-aircraft battalions, 12.7mm machine gun battalions to fight against aircraft, and 4 engineering battalions along with tens of thousands of laborers to the roads to ensure traffic, so during the entire campaign, there were only 37 nights when the roads were blocked in some sections.

As everyone knows: To make the great Dien Bien Phu victory, the first credit belongs to the Vietnam People's Army. However, besides that, we must also mention the contribution of sweat and blood of tens of thousands of youth volunteers. Uncle Ho himself once wrote: "We will never forget the great sacrifices of the army, and never forget the dedication and sacrifice of the youth volunteers". On the "iron shoulders" of the youth volunteers, tens of thousands of tons of weapons, food, military uniforms, military equipment... from the rear were transported to the Dien Bien battlefield via waterways and roads; in which, National Highway 6 played a vital role, contributing the most important part to the campaign's logistics.

In early 1954, when the army units were hurriedly marching to the Northwest, 14,000 youth volunteers, under the command of the Dien Bien Phu Front Supply Council, were also present to be ready to serve the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. After that, based on the requirements of the battlefield, more than 6,000 youth volunteers switched to directly holding guns (soldiers) to face the enemy, the remaining more than 8,000 people spread along Highway 41 (now National Highway 6A) from Cho Bo - Suoi Rut (Hoa Binh), through Co Noi intersection (Son La), over Pha Din pass to Muong Thanh basin (Dien Bien district, old Lai Chau province, now Dien Bien province).

During the time we opened fire on the Dien Bien Phu stronghold, at De Castries' request, the French colonialists had their planes bomb Route 6 for 48 consecutive days and nights, in an attempt to prevent support from the Northern rear. Up to now, there are no specific statistics on the amount of bombs and bullets that the French army dropped on Route 6. It is only known that more than 300 cadres and soldiers of the youth volunteer force heroically fell (not counting the wounded), mainly at two main locations: Co Noi junction (Mai Son district, Son La province) and Pha Din pass (Tuan Giao district, Dien Bien province).

Exactly 20 years ago, Son La province invested in building a magnificent memorial in Co Noi. And on May 19, 2004 - the 114th anniversary of Uncle Ho's birthday, the People's Committee of Son La province solemnly held a ceremony to receive the national historical relic certificate from the Ministry of Culture and Information for this project.

... 70 years have passed, but the "earth-shaking" Dien Bien Phu Victory will forever be the pride of our nation. Inheriting and developing the experience of ensuring logistics for troops to continuously fight in mountainous areas far from the rear in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, under the leadership of the Party, directly the Central Military Commission (Ministry of National Defense), with courage and intelligence, the military logistics sector will certainly fulfill its tasks well, together with the entire Party and the entire people, build the logistics posture and potential of the all-people national defense and be ready to transform into the logistics posture of people's war, contributing to firmly protecting the Fatherland in all situations...