CAVE SYSTEM IN LE THUY, QUANG BINH, DO YOU KNOW?

In Ngan Thuy commune, Le Thuy district (Quang Binh), there is a beautiful cave complex called “Ong Giap Cave”. That name has been around for a long time, there must be a reason. On my recent trip back to my hometown (December 2018), I decided to go with the survey team of Netin Tourism Company to learn about it.

The Van Kieu people of Ngan Thuy commune (Le Thuy, Quang Binh) proudly say that their village is where General Vo Nguyen Giap once came to inspect for a while to study the terrain and find ways to support the southern battlefield. He stayed in those caves with his soldiers.

“Ong Giap Cave” is a water cave that the locals call Khe Sung Cave. The cave is not large, the outer part is raised like a small stage. The water in the cave does not know where it comes from but is clear, flows continuously, in some places it is waist-deep. Through a small passage is a large cave chamber, about 30 m wide, up to 50 m deep, inside is a world of shimmering, golden stalactites.

If you stand in the middle of Khe Sung village, you will enjoy the refreshing feeling of being in the middle of a green grassland, a clear stream winding through the grassland, flowing between thousands of rocky rapids of various shapes, surrounded by majestic mountains with beautiful caves inside. This is indeed an ideal place for camping, cave exploration, weekend trips for families and groups of friends in Quang Binh because there is a road for cars to get there.

FINDING TRACES OF THE NAME

These days, 46 years ago (December 1972 – December 2018), the day our Nation entered the “Final Battle” was also the day of the humiliating defeat of the US imperialists in the “Dien Bien Phu in the Air” battle in Hanoi.

A few years before December 1972, the Politburo and the Ministry of National Defense reaffirmed Uncle Ho’s assessment – “sooner or later, the US will use B52s to attack Hanoi…”. That year, the Ministry of National Defense held a meeting in Quang Ninh. General Vo Nguyen Giap asked the Air Defense and Air Force Command: “Can you confirm that we can shoot down B52s?”, “how many B52s would have to fall for the US to be afraid?” The Air Defense and Air Force Commander said “we can definitely shoot down”. “More than 20 would make the US afraid”. At that time, the US had 194 B52s. 20 was 12%, but in the Dien Bien Phu in the air campaign, the air defense and air force shot down 34 of them.

Nixon was very confident that Hanoi would surrender, so right after he signed the decision to use B52s to “bring Hanoi back to the Stone Age”, his family went on vacation to Kibiscay, Florida. But when Vietnam had shot down 34 bombers, the White House boss immediately had to sign an urgent order to “stop bombing” because at that rate, not only B52s but also B52 pilots were in danger of “extinction”.

Few people know that the glorious victory of the Air Defense Forces had a very important contribution from the Signal Corps in gathering intelligence through telephone calls between command centers and American pilots whenever B52s went to attack somewhere. That radio intelligence center was located at Hang Khe Son, Ngan Thuy, Le Thuy, Quang Binh.

The US Air Force Communications Research Unit was first established on December 25, 1969 with only 10 soldiers commanded by Colonel Tran Van Tung. Six months later (June 1970), there was a report assessing the US “information leak”. Seeing this as an important result, the Ministry of Defense decided to urgently train 100 soldiers in English within 12 months to supplement. The 75th Communications Regiment was born from that. Their mission was to intercept enemy communications, combined with exploiting captured American pilots to decode information about B52 air strikes.

Shortly after, with their intelligence and creativity, the information soldiers were able to decode and inform the Ministry of National Defense 3 hours in advance about the departure direction, number of planes, and strike coordinates of the B52s. Moreover, they also found out the jamming technique and how to find the B52s in the jamming.

During the campaign to liberate Quang Tri, 4 missile regiments were sent to Quang Binh to “experiment” with B52 attacks, both to support the ground campaign and to gain experience in how to attack B52s. At the same time, coordinates and time of B52 attacks were informed to Group 559 and the Southern battlefield to have plans to prevent and minimize casualties.

So, since the 60s, in Ngan Thuy there was a secret information center, the memorial stele of the Information Command was erected there. The story of the Van Kieu people about the convoy that brought the General to inspect is still there. Surely the documents about it will be declassified by the Ministry of Defense when appropriate. But to me, it is a wonderful cave complex with great potential for Quang Binh tourism, especially Le Thuy tourism.

Dang Ngoc Tuan