The Outbreak of War
Vũ Ngự Chiêu, Ph.D, J.D.
On the evening of December 21, 1946, the Bach Mai radio resumed its operations somewhere in the province of Ha Dong after a day of silence. One of its broadcasts was Ho Chi Minh’s appeal to the Viets for a war of resistance. He reportedly said:
The gang of French colonialists is aiming to reconquer our country. The hour is grave. Let us stand up and unify ourselves, regardless of ideologies, ethnicities [or] religions. You should fight by all means at your disposal. You have to fight with your guns, your pickaxes, your shovels [or] your sticks.
You have to save the independence and territorial integrity of our country. The final victory will be ours. Long live independent and indivisible Viet Nam. Long live democracy.1
Vo Nguyen Giap’s order for a war of national resistance was also broadcast, in which he reportedly instructed the Viet Minh forces to “fight as long as possible [and] by all means available.”2 These declarations, accompanied by violent anti-French slogans and emotional mottoes, were aired two days after what was later labeled as “the Viet Minh coup” in Hanoi. At any rate, the Viet Minh attack on French garrisons north of the 16th parallel on the evening of December 19, 1946 was one of the most crucial events in Vietnamese history. It marked not only the end of Ho’s fledging diplomatic career, but also the beginning of one of the bloodiest phases of the Vietnamese struggle for independence, during which Viet Nam was torn apart by war and ideological conflict.
Phụ Bản: I – A (Road To War – The Hai Phong Massacre)
