Under the U.S. bombing attacks against North Viet Nam, the warning system played an important role in preventing bombers and protecting the local people’s safety.
Through the article entitled “The warning system for preventing bombers during the U.S. war of destruction on North Viet Nam,” the War Remnants Museum aims to introduce memories of the eight years of battle against the U.S. war of destruction (1964-1972), especially in the so-called Điện Biên Phủ in the air battle in which the Hà Nội Broadcasting Enterprise provided the locals with sufficient information.
From August 1964, the Democratic Repubilic of Viet Nam had to deal with the air war by the U.S. Air Force and Navy. In 1965, the air war intensified across the North, and American aircraft systematically bombed roads, bridges, military and industrial targets and densely crowded streets, etc. From December 18 to 29, 1972, the U.S. conducted Operation Linebacker II, mobilizing 193 B-52 strategic bombers and nearly 1,000 tactical aircraft of various types for continuous bombardments against Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Thái Nguyên and other targets during 12 days and nights. Only the so-called “flying fortress” B-52s launched carpet bombing raids with more than 20,000 tons of bombs.
The article entifled “NORTH VIET NAM UNDER SIEGE” on the LIFE Magazine's April 7, 1967 issue. The sub-headline reads “Scarred countryside on the alert for máy-bay-mỹ.”
From the very early days of the U.S. war of destruction, the North Vietnamese soldiers and civilians took the initiative in preparing for the air counter-attack. The civilians were quickly evacuated to the rural areas. Besides, a warning system and trenches were hurriedly built up for people who still hung on. The network of road, railway and water transport was maintained, upgraded, reinforced and expanded. Many pontoon bridges and ferry terminals were newly built to ensure smooth traffic. The communication network, radio and air defense speaker systems were created all at once, timely serving the propaganda mission and encouraging people of all classes to prevent and overcome the consequences of the U.S. war of destruction, and absolutely protecting the lives and properties of the local people.
In order to timely guide combat missions and provide information about U.S. aircraft for timely civilian prevention, the General Staff Department of the Viet Nam People's Army Headquarters built the War Command Bunker T1 inside the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. The bunker was covered with rubble and dust in order to avoid the detection of surveillance aircraft. In fact, the bunker had three layers of protection to avoid bullets, bombs from B-52 bombers and chemical weapons. This was a particularly important construction of the supreme military agency, designed to ensure absolute safety for commanders and ensure thorough direction to all units, provinces and regions.
Operation briefing room in War Command Bunker T1.
The bunker covering the total area of 64 Square meftres was divided into three rooms, and was cast in monolithic reinforced concrete in volume of about 1,000 cubic metres. The operation briefing room of about 20 square metres was the workplace of deputy watch officers. Also, this was the place where senior Party, government and military leaders worked and gave command during the two U.S. air interdiction campaigns against North Viet Nam. The Politburo and Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and the High Command of the Peoples Army of Viet Nam worked at the bunker in more than 1,000 crucial meetings that took place over 7,000 days and nights. Additionally, the first air-raid warnings from the bunker sounded throughout the whole city. Combat instructions were also sent from the bunker to the missile and air defence units, with determination to hit the targets and defeat the strategic raids by the U.S. Air Force. The entrance to the bunker was about three metres deep. The operations watch officers worked all day long in a room which measured more than 40 square metres. The Bureau of Operations under the General Staff Department was charged with this task.
Deputy chief of the General Staff Department and members of the High Command of the Air Defense Branch propose the plan to protect Hà Nội's airspace to General Võ Nguyên Giáp
To avoid disrupted communications as U.S. aircraft constantly bombarded, there was a map used to trace the U.S. aircraftfs movements at the command bunker of the Hà Nội’s High Command. The circles were drawn directly on the map and Hà Nội was in the centre. Each circle represented a proportional distance of the rival aircraft entering the capital city in a specific direction. If a rival aircraft reached a certain circle, the warnings would sound all over the city.
ln many rural areas, the militia also set up mobile sentry boxes above, taking turns in guarding to promptly warn of the U.S. aircraft in sight.
A simulation model of the map attendant wearing headphones and determining the exact coordinates of B-52 aircraft during duty hours.
The tasks of setting up the information system and transmission of warning messages were mainly assigned to the Hà Nội. Broadcasting Enterprise. The enterprise established close contact with the headquarters of the Hà Nội's High Command, assigned watch officers to the War Command Bunker T1 and placed two underground lines connecting the bunker to the enterprise. A device was also set up, and only a press on the button on that device could start the broadcast. When the on-duty officers of the headquarters located the U.S. aircraft on the map, the staff of the broadcasting enterprise would send a warning message via the loudspeakers throughout the urban and outlying areas of Hà Nội.
The militia in many communes in Đông Anh District (Hà Nội) were on guard in mobile sentry boxes above to promptly warn of the U.S. aircraft in sight. Photo courtesy of VNA.
A warning device made of bomb canister released from U.S. aircraft in North Viet Nam.
From 1960 to 1965, the Hà Nội Broadcasting Enterprise completed the broadcast network across the city. At the peak time, there were up to 1,730 kilometres of transmission lines throughout the city, and each district had ifs own station whose transmission line system went to all communes and 60,000 loudspeakers passed on the information to every neighbourhood and even family. Whenever there was a warning from the Hà Nộis High Command, the Hà Nội Broadcasting Enfterprise pressed the button once and then everyone was aware of the warning and they immediately issued it. Therefore, the system circulated the information very promptly.
People listening to the information about the so-called “Điện Biên Phủ in the air” battle from a loudspeaker on Bà Triệu Street, Hà Nội, 1972.
Layout plan of the loudspeaker system of the Hà Nội Broadcasting Enterprise, 1972.
Each station in the broadcast network was placed in two different places to ensure that when one main station was bombed, there were the backup ones. Also, there was a mobile broadcast station network of cars equipped with radios. Once a station or any of its parts was lost, the car would go there and the wire was connected to that station and the information was circulated.
This loudspeaker system was very convenient for localities. When the city programmes was broadcast, district programmes would be paused, and then each district could make its own radio programmes. The loudspeakers even made information available in every agricultural cooperative. lf the manager wanted to assign tasks in the cooperative, he/she had the right to pause the ongoing programme, and gave orders via the loudspeakers to every production team in the Cooperative to work in a certain field on a certain day...
Vũ Văn Viễn, former director of the Hà Nội Broadcasting Enterprise recounted:
“At first, we installed loudspeakers on the street and small speakers in each house. But people near the loudspeakers had to withstand the deafening roar; while those who were far away could not hear clearly. So after a while, l decided to gradually remove all the loudspeakers, and place the small speakers in each house. There was a farmer who listened to the radio and said he felt like there was an official of the central government in my house. An audience complimented: “I am happy to have this speaker in my house. It is like there is a businessman in the house. I know what I can buy on a certain day, which stamps i should use, where i should buy, when a stamp expires and so on. It is as if i knew everything. At first, the speaker had two wires. Because there were not enough wires, we took shortcuts. We used one wire, and the other was the ground. The ground was the common wire. At the station, we plugged one wire with the ground, while the other was used for broadcasting.”
Vũ Văn Viễn, born in 1927, was the former director of the Hà Broadcasting Enterprise
In the past, there was a siren of Hà Nội especially used for warnings, but it sounded only loud enough to hear in inner the city. The Hà Nội Broadcasting Enterprise recorded that siren, and then recorded the notices. Whenever an aircraft was about to fly into the airspace of Hà Nội, after the siren had sounded, the loudspeakers gave the notice: “Attention please! Attention please! The rival aircraft is/are... kilometres from Hà Nội. All the armed forces must be ready to fight. Everyone needs to calm down and stay inside the shelters ...
Newscaster Nguyễn Thị Thìn reads a notice about a B-52 raid on Hà Nội in 1972.
From 1964 to 1972, there were 924 warnings in total. “Not all the notices were read immediately,” said Viễn, “We recorded the notices on the tape. Whenever a rival aircraft was coming, the siren in the city would sound, and we would play the tapes of the sound of the siren and loudspeakers...”
Under the fierce attacks, Hà Nội was hit by tons of bombs. Factories, enterprises, hospitals, churches, residential areas were badly destroyed. To ensure smooth broadcast, the staff repaired the system failures despite the constant bombings of the U.S. aircraft. At the broadcast station, no one left the position, and every operation was precise in every detail to ensure the citys anti-aircraft commands were issued to all the battlefields, and the warnings promptly came to the locals so that they would safely stay in shelters.
The shelters in the article entitled “North Viet Nam under Siege” on the LIFE magazine's April 7, 1967 issue.
Only in 12 days and nights of U.S. bombings in December 1972, hundreds of kilometres of lines were damaged, while thousands of speakers in inner and outlying Hà Nội could not run properly. The Hà Nội Broadcasting Enterprise made timely repairs, ensuring smooth information transmission. The enterprise issued 64 safety warnings and hundreds of nofices about the coming rival aircraft. Only during the day and night of December 21, the times of warnings and notices reached their peak (10 times). There were nine times on December 20 and eight times on December 19. The longest warning was from 11:10 PM of December 19 to 2:00 AM of December 20. The radio broadcast system at that time played the major role in the anti-aircraft warning, because before the “Điện Biên Phủ in the air" battle, the siren at the Hà Nội Opera House was damaged on eight days, but the broadcasr system stilloperated normally.
Let's experience the sound of an American anti-aircraft warning in Hà Nội in 1972 through the voice of the newscaster Nguyễn Thị Thìn in the documentary video and the article below!
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Bùi Văn Thắng - Đào Thị Quê