Remembering the battle of Savannakhet

This story marks the Laos-Vietnam Solidarity and Friendship Year 2022 and celebrates the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Laos-Vietnam Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.

A tank at the Lao-Viet Commemorative War Museum. (File photo)

National Road No. 9 in Savannakhet province’s Xepon district was once a battlefield to fight the heavily armed American aggressors day and night. The enemy troops were fully equipped with modern tanks, airplanes, and artillery.
According to Lao soldiers, the Vietnamese soldiers and the Lao revolutionary movement fought at the battle of Lam Son 719 in Savannakhet which took place around 1970 and ended the same year.
The Lao-Viet Commemorative War Museum in Dong village of Xepon district was built to commemorate the efforts of Lao and Vietnamese soldiers in the Lam Son 719 battle and along Road No. 9 in Laos during the Indochina war.
The Lam Son 719 battle in Xepon district of the province was one of many places in Laos that witnessed heavy conflict during the struggle against foreign aggressors. Both our countries’ soldiers fought bravely and sacrificed their lives to protect their lands from American aggressors, the soldiers recalled.
The Vietnamese voluntary fighters who sacrificed their lives together with the Lao people during the war symbolises the profound and special solidarity between the Lao and Vietnamese people. Today, the museum also serves as a research centre in the field of war history and the Lao revolutionary movement.
In Quanq Tri of Vietnam, the Vietnamese government has built a victory memorial for the Vietnamese soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Vietnam and in the Lam Son 719 battle and along Road No. 9 in Laos.
According to Vietnam News, 50 years on, the heroic Second Battle of Quang Trị is much remembered. The battle, sometimes named Operation Lam Son 72, raged for 81 days from June 28 to September 16, 1972.
The sacrifices made by the Vietnam People’s Army against the American-backed Sai Gon troops remain a source of overwhelming pride for locals to this day.
On June 28, US-backed Sai Gon troops moved to Lam Son, passing My Chanh River, advancing along National Highway 1A to Quang Trị Town.
The two most powerful divisions, the Marine Division and Airborne Division, supported by the Rangers Corps of the Sai Gon regime were mobilised for this battle.
The troops were fully equipped with modern tanks, airplanes, and heavy artillery.
On July 3, the enemy marched to Long Hung Junction, in today’s Hai Phu Commune, Hai Lang district, bordering Quang Trị Town. In the first battle, 100 Sai Gon soldiers were killed, and five tanks were destroyed.
In the following days, the Sai Gon troops continued to attack with heavy firepower.
Veteran Nguyen Van Binh, now 68, recalls the horror: “To be honest, we – the new recruits – were terrified the first few days. Then we got used to that and patiently fought back, trying to take back each house, each metre of land without fearing death.”
Acting as a local scout, Binh continuously travelled around the area to get information about the enemy and report it to the command. He understood the severity of the situation.
In the first days, he said the enemy shot some 500 artillery shells at Quang Trị Town, without mentioning hundreds of bombs from the aircraft. When under counterattacks from the North Vietnam army, the enemy doubled their firepower.
“Though we suffered seriously, we were determined to fight without any fear,” Bình said.
Cao Xuan Y, another veteran who is now residing in Quang Trị Town, was a soldier of Battalion 808 of the Quang Trị provincial army.
Y remembered how the night sky at the Quang Trị Citadel was lit up as if it were daytime by artillery and bomb explosions. At other times the whole sky would turn a fiery red.
After crossing Thạch Han River, he and his comrades quickly dug a shelter in the night, to be ready to fight the next morning. “Each shelter hosted three men, we shot whenever we saw enemy,” Y said. “We barely had a single minute’s break.”
“At night, the team on the ground looked for bomb craters to find some water. We soaked dried rice in water to eat. We had no choice. It didn’t matter if the water was not clean. We just ate the rice.
“Sometimes, the enemy launched attacks even when we were eating. So we had to cancel our meal to fight. Even bathing was a luxury back then.”
Vietnam was able to reunite the country in April 1975 and Laos gained independence in December 1975.
Savannakhet province is situated on the Mekong riverbank and the province shares borders with Vietnam and Thailand.
 The province is a growing hub for trade and services in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, as it is located along the East-West Corridor linking Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam on Road No. 9.
Road No. 9 links Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand and is heavily used by companies involved in investment, trade, and tourism. The road links the Lao-Thai border with the Lao-Vietnamese border over a distance of 241.6 km.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update June 24, 2022)