Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Vu Quoc Uy, 1981

Vu Quoc Uy: During the time the battle was raging I had the opportunity to visit the different areas which were resisting the French takeover. I witnessed a very heroic scene with people fighting very courageously. Those people who were not engaged in the actual fighting calmly evacuated from the city. I saw a lot of people wounded and killed, many houses destroyed and burnt and, in our own estimate, the number of people killed was somewhere between 500 and 1,000. Vu Quoc Uy: While the battle was raging on, I had the opportunity to visit the sections of the city where the fighting were taking place, as well as areas where there was no battle going on. I witnessed many heartrending scenes. There were houses burnt down, people injured and killed. Vu Quoc Uy: But at the same time I witnessed scenes of city inhabitants fighting on very confidently and courageously. Young men were firing their guns. For many of them, that was perhaps the first time they ever held a gun. The young women were rescuing the wounded and providing the logistics. And the young kids were acting as couriers. Many times the children were quite creative. Vu Quoc Uy: For example, when they had to cross a street where there was a machine gun firing diagonally in this way, the children would wait until a whole clip had been fired before they would roll themselves across the street in order to pass on information. And the young women who were caring for the wounded had taken short courses of only fifteen to twenty days, but they were very calm while they bandaged up the soldiers and showed no fear at all when they transported the wounded from the fighting areas. Vu Quoc Uy: The government employees were also moving money and documents urgently out of the fighting areas. And although this was the first time the city inhabitants fought at close combat with a very fierce enemy, I realized that they were courageous. This was a resistance by the entire population to protect their precious freedom and independence. When we withdrew from the city we estimated that between 500 to 1,000 persons were killed. This was a great crime committed against our people by the French colonizers. Vu Quoc Uy: When we left the city we had a kind of mixed feeling. We were both outraged and hopeful, hopeful that one day we will be able to come back to the city. We were certain that Hai Phong would not remain for long another French city as it had been. Sooner or later we would come to our beloved city.