The preparations for the defence of the capital city were made with urgency from November, when the situation in Haiphong became explosive. The Party decided to set up the Hanoi Front Party Committee, with Nguyen Van Tran as its secretary, and Dao, Tien... as members. Tran Quoc Hoan was appointed especial envoy with a leading capacity and also sat on the Committee. Zone XI, covering the Hanoi area, was established. Vuong Thua Vu was appointed Commander in Chief, with Tran Do as Political Commissar.
The French forces here consisted of the Foreign Legion units which had arrived in Hanoi from France after the signing of the March 6 Agreement and Legionaries who had been imprisoned by the Japanese and then freed by the Allied Forces. They were equipped with new American automatic weapons, besides heavy artillery, tanks, armoured vehicles and aircraft.
The greater part of the French forces was stationed in the citadel area. The rest was in Don Thuy hospital, the former Governor General’s palace, Buoi school (now Chu Van An School) and Gia Lam airport. According to our investigations, there was also a detachment in the Metropole Hotel (now the Reunification Hotel). This building was almost in front of the Bac Bo Palace and the French soldiers here were disguised as civilians. By mutual arrangement there were, besides, small French units, sharing sentry duty as a take-over force with our army on such important spots as Long Bien bridge, the railway station, power plant, water works, Bank of Indochina. The families of French residents totalling about 8,000 and a few other places of the city had all been armed by the French forces.
The French troop disposition was not as densely concentrated as the Chiang forces formerly. But if we didn’t keep a close watch, they would be able to deal a surprise attack on our leading organs, which would cause us heavy losses. With the mobility of tanks and armoured vehicles, they could swiftly block every access to the capital and divide up the city in order to annihilate the resistance forces piecemeal.
Our strength in Hanoi, then, was made up of the army units, the detachments of the combat self-defence force, the city self-defence force and the guard squads which had been freshly formed in various city quarters.
Our army was stationed partly within and partly outside the city. Within the city, their number was not very large; but these were all crack units. As their core there were the units which had fought the Japanese in the base area. The battalion commanders were all battle tested. However, most of the rank and file were young new recruits.
Our army was concentrated in Bac Bo Palace, the National Defence Guard camp and some other key places. Besides, smaller units protected the State organs, the factories and shared sentry duty with the French forces.
We had, till then, worked hard to equip our army better. But due to numerous difficulties, we were still very short of weapons and ammunition. We formed our first artillery companies with a number of heavy guns captured from the French and the Japanese, some 75-mm A.A. guns converted into field guns. Before the war started, the munitions service had supplied the army with 80 anti-tank bombs.
Our self-defence forces in Hanoi were quite strong. They were the combat self-defence force and the city self defence force and numbered about 8,500. They were present everywhere in the city and knew thoroughly every by-road and back alley. Prompted by their ardent patriotism, these young people, who came from all strata of the urban population, earnestly trained day and night. Their discipline and morale were superb. They were eager to learn how best to fight the enemy. They were mostly armed with weapons acquired or made by themselves. For a long time, these fighters wearing square badges with a gold star in the middle were the enemy soldiers’ most redoubtable adversaries.
The building of fortifications in Hanoi was chiefly done by the self-defence forces and the city population.
The armed forces and people of Hanoi were given the duty, in the event of a war started by the enemy, of decimating an important part of the enemy forces, besieging them and seeking every way to detain them as long as possible, to pave the way for the rear to complete the preparation and organization of forces for the state of war. To attain this objective, it was necessary to wipe out the enemy forces piecemeal and take full advantage of the city-terrain to check their advance, so inflicting losses on them while at the same time saving and enhancing our own strength and safeguarding the key areas and positions. It was also an indispensable necessity to have a successful combination between the forces inside the city and those striking from outside so as to drive the enemy into a state of confusion as a result of having to face attacks from both sides, thus keeping the enemy pinned down for a long time.
A detailed combat plan for the defence of Hanoi was made.
The City Hoang Dieu organization of the Viet Minh called on its members and the entire people to further strengthen their unity and step up their preparation so as to be ready to fight when the order was given. The people in various city quarters and in the suburbs held meetings and passed resolutions demanding the French troops’ withdrawal to the positions they held prior to November 20, urging the government to deal firmly with the invasion by the French reactionaries’ and reporting to the government and President Ho their readiness to defend every street corner and every house of the capital city.
The Viet Minh National Committee’s appeals and calls to prepare for resistance, published daily in Cuu Quoc, met with a warm response from the entire population of Hanoi. Slogans appeared on the walls and doors of every house: “Better death than slavery!”, “Better to die gloriously than live in humiliation!”... Those who had firearms tried to get more ammunition. Those who had nothing, tried to acquire grenades, swords, spears, machetes... Every day, crowds of people thronged the city district committees, asking to be enlisted into guard squads, first-aid teams and logistic services. Women put away their graceful long robes, cut their hair short, wore military uniforms, carried firearms, swords and shared in patrol and sentry duty. The Evacuation Committee had ordered old people and children to leave the city. But many old men insisted on staying and formed groups to go and encourage the young to prepare for the resistance war. Old and young women collected voluntary contributions of cotton, cloth, wool, yarn,... to make blankets and knit warm jerseys for the fighters who were getting ready to destroy the enemy. People vied with each other to contribute rice and medicines to the resistance stores.
The war preparations in sector I, lying adjacent to the French garrison, were particularly feverish. Day and night, the sounds of hammers and crowbars resounded everywhere. The houses now communicated with each other through openings made in the partition walls. Roof terraces, balconies and windows became firing vantage points. Apertures were broached in the walls for loopholes. House floors were dug up for combat trenches and shelters. People got the furniture in their houses ready to be thrown out on the streets as barricades to check the enemy’s advance. Dwellers in Sector I laid in a stock of foodstuffs to last them for three months. Sector I was given half of all the weapons in the Hanoi arsenal.
Early in December, the suicide squads held their oath-taking ceremony and received arms to be ready for their assignments. These fighters, carrying anti-tank bombs, would throw themselves at the enemy’s tanks and armoured cars.
Government offices, store houses and public works such as the post-office, the banknotes printing press, the central pharmaceutical enterprise, the army engineering works... were, one by one, moved out of the city. Hospitals and army clinics were also moved further away.
In the meantime, we decided to refrain from such actions as might be used by the enemy as pretexts to challenge us. The erection of barricades was done only when the situation became critical. And even then, we blocked only the street quarters the French forces didn’t have to go through. However, the French army command reacted strongly when they saw earth works, strengthened with wooden pillars and iron bars, growing up in many places of the city. They dispatched several protest notes. Once, Morlière met the chairman of the Hanoi Administrative Committee. He asked, with tongue in cheek:
“Mayor, are you stepping up the repair of the city streets?”
The mayor replied:
“That’s right. It’s because your tanks and armoured cars are driving around so wildly.”
The big trees lining the streets had holes drilled in them for dynamite.
The workers got the railway carriages and tramcars ready to be overturned when necessary to complete the blocking of the streets still left open for French force movements.