The Cao Fort relic belongs to the revolutionary relic system of the Fourth War Zone of Dong Trieu - an important base in the pre-insurrection period, contributing to creating a premise for the victory of the August Revolution in 1945.
The relic was ranked as a National Historical Relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on May 24, 2017.
Information from the Culture and Social Department of Dong Trieu ward (Quang Ninh province), the Cao Fort relic is located entirely on a hill with a height of 61m, the highest position in the center of Dong Trieu ward.
Cao Dong Trieu Fort is where the French colonialists built fortifications to station troops and observe all movements of revolutionary guerrilla forces, in order to control the activities of our army and people in a large area around Dong Trieu. This is a historical relic marking a period when our country was dominated and marking the victory of the extremely difficult and arduous resistance war against France.
Accordingly, in 1886, the French colonialists built a military camp here to serve the war of aggression.
In 1945, our people seized power, Cao Dong Trieu Station was under the management of the revolutionary government.
In 1947, after many defeats in occupying Dong Trieu, the French colonialists continuously launched major battles to retake this land. This time, the French army occupied as far as they could build and consolidate the system of posts and guard towers, in order to occupy for a long time and control our forces to fight back from afar.
In 1951, at Cao Dong Trieu Fort, the French colonialists built 2 underground tunnels, 14 bunkers, 2 artillery positions and a system of command houses, motels, entertainment areas, and solitary confinement areas for torturing communist prisoners. These structures were arranged in a continuous and solid manner, surrounded by barbed wire fences to protect the command center.
Also in this year, the French army concentrated the strength of infantry, artillery, air force, and navy to maintain Route 18 when they saw the risk of being strongly attacked on this route. In addition to the forces stationed on the spot, Cao Dong Trieu Station was greatly strengthened with artillery forces.
From 1951 to 1954, Cao Station mainly performed the task of controlling and controlling our activities along Route 18, providing effective support for enemy operations in the area.
On May 7, 1954, the Dien Bien Phu campaign was completely victorious, and Cao Station was under our control.
Currently, many traces are still preserved at the relic site such as French officers' houses, soldier camps, political prisoners' solitary confinement houses, bunker systems, underground tunnels and other military structures.
What remains here has marked an unforgettable heroic historical period of our army and people; it is a place to remind today's generations to always remember and be grateful to previous generations for regaining independence and freedom for the nation.
