Description

Hon Thi   is the largest island in the middle of Nha Phu lagoon; with a peak of 220m[1]. “Hon Thi has a circumference of 6,750m and is about 3km from the mainland, on the island there are many dangerous rocks and fresh water sources, convenient for living. Therefore, this place for a long time has always been an important naval base of the Tay Son movement, Trinh Phong uprising, as well as in the resistance war against the French colonialists from 1945 to 1954 of the people of the province. Khanh Hoa” [2].
Hon Thi topography is a combination of many rocky mountains, the length from East to West is more than 1,200m. During the early years of the resistance war against the French, the armed forces and civil-political organizations of Khanh Hoa province were stationed at Hon Heo base; in Hon Thi is a production part of the 80-83rd Regiment and a garment sewing team of Khanh Hoa Province [3].
History of the formation of the relic: Hon Thi is also known as Cu Son. Hon Thi has a natural advantage with many large rocks forming caves, niches, continuous caves that can move underground from the beginning to the end of the island, observing a large area on the sea, good for defense. ; there is a part of the population living on the island, it is convenient to send cadres to the urban area (temporarily occupied by the enemy) or to send grassroots cadres from inside the city to the base.
In early 1947, after the French colonialists consolidated Nha Trang as a Military Zone for the South Central Coast (secteur militaire), the revolutionary resistance forces had to disperse to establish bases, unable to concentrate close to Nha Trang. Mr. Nguyen Chanh (ie Chanh Thoo), former Commander of the Special Forces, Head of Khanh Hoa Military Intelligence Agency, sent the advance unit to Hon Thi in March 1947 and in mid-1947 moved the entire unit. from Hon Tre to Hon Thi. The Intelligence Branch at that time was about 25 people, including commanders, researchers, mobile officers, logistics, security, liaison officers...
Some activities of Khanh Hoa Intelligence Branch in Hon Thi: The scope of activities of Khanh Hoa Intelligence Branch and Inter-regional Intelligence Division V extends from Ho Chi Minh City, Da Lat, Buon Me Thuot, Nha Trang out to Quang Nam… After stabilizing food, lodging and organizational work, Khanh Hoa Intelligence Branch strengthened Khanh Hoa Provincial Party to build and strengthen the Military Intelligence organization of the Province.
During the seven years of resistance war (from 1947 to 1954), although there were sweeping operations on Hon Thi base with the scale of coordinated battalion, regiment... of the enemy, we still preserved the base and destroyed the enemy. For example, at the end of 1948, the enemy surrounded and our troops persistently hid under the rocks for 21 days and nights, forcing the enemy to withdraw.

In early 1949, according to the mission requirements, requiring concentration in directing intelligence activities on the battlefields, the Intelligence Department, General Command directed the consolidation of the Intelligence Department of Zone 5, Area 6, Area 15 becomes the Inter-regional Intelligence Department 5 [4]. After that, a special division of Inter-regional Intelligence 5, led by comrades Nguyen Van Hoi and Le Van Hoang, moved from Vung Dinh Hon Heo to be stationed at Hon Thi, next to Khanh Hoa Intelligence Branch. Building the Hon Thi base is an important task that the Inter-zone 5 Command has assigned to Khanh Hoa Intelligence.
From 1950 to 1954, Inter-regional Intelligence 5 built and developed a "deep-rooted" base system, collecting a lot of information about the situation of the French garrison, defenses, operations and puppet troops on the battlefields. from time to time, valuable information such as: news about the development of puppet troops in the North and Central and Lower Laos; large transport of the enemy on the battlefield; news about sweeping, terrorizing, and sending troops to capture enemy soldiers. In particular, news of the formation of small cavalry rescue units and news of the Atlanta operation were highly appreciated by the superiors.
In the winter-spring campaign of 1953 - 1954, according to the Nava plan, the French concentrated large forces in the Central region to launch the Atlanta operation with the intention of thinly dispersing our forces, destroying the main force of Inter-region 5, in order to share for the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the Northern Delta. Inter-area Intelligence 5 (Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Intelligence[5]) exploited information through enemy codes and organized to obtain the Atlanta Plan, promptly reported it to Inter-Zone 5 Command to help superiors deploy. force to crush the large-scale French operation [6].
Along with the two battlefields of the South and North, Inter-regional Intelligence 5 (including Khanh Hoa Defense Intelligence) has contributed to completing the direction of the Party and the High Command to destroy war strategies. of the enemy, bringing the resistance war against the French colonialists to the final victory, culminating in the victory of Dien Bien Phu that shook the world. The relic site of Khanh Hoa Intelligence Branch at Hon Thi has been classified as a provincial relic by the Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 2598/QD-CT.UBND dated September 18, 2015.

[1] Khanh Hoa Geography (2003), National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, pp. 20.
[2] Nguyen Cong Bang (2008), Brief history of Hon Thi island, Khanh Hoa Science, Technology and Environment Journal, No. 2, p. 24.
[3] Story of Mr. Tran Khanh Lan, born in 1930, address: 27 Trinh Phong, city. Nha Trang.
[4] Department 11 (General Department II) (2012), 30 years of Silent Epic, Printing Workshop V78 – General Department II, pp. 16.
[5] The story of Mr. Kieu Xuan Cu, born in 1925, address: 7 Ngo Thoi Nhiem, city. Nha Trang.
[6] Phone number, page 17.