6. Big Mountain Ancient Artillery Battle Historical Relic

Big Mountain Ancient Artillery Battle is one of the three battlegrounds of the Vung Tau line with a total of 23 guns, bullet size of 140 – 300 mm. These three continuous artillery battles were commenced in 1895 with the aim of strengthening the direct defense and safety capabilities at the Southern gateway. Later, around 1897 – 1905, artillery battles were supplemented; all had new trenches or fortifications built, but mainly all were completed in 1897.

The artillery battles were basically completed in just 2 years, which is really remarkable. At an altitude of 100 meters above sea level, it is not easy to level mountains, dig trenches, transport artilleries to positions as it has been for more than a century. The area has craggy cliffs, many rocky outcrops, and ancient vines, and roads and transportation facilities were completely non-existent and each artillery piece weighed 15 tons on average. Assuming it is individual parts with a weight of 50 kg each so that a strong person can carry it up a mountain, then 15 tons of one gun requires 300 people to transport in a day. For a field of eight cannons, about 800 men were needed to work for a month. That’s just the strength of carriers, not to mention the trench excavation and installation. However, the above fantasy could not happen because each cannon was an inseparable mass of cold steel weighing 15 tons, and according to historical documents, they were transported entirely by human power.

According to the documents, the Big Mountain artillery battle had eight cannons. But now there are only six left. The two cannons above had been blown down by the Vung Tau guerrillas in 1948, after which it was unknown where they had been moved. The remaining six cannons were arranged on an arc at an equal distance of 17.5 m. The cannons are 4,2 meters long, using 240 mm diameter ammunition. The cannons are placed on a circular platform with a serrated shape, so they can rotate on all sides, and are structured according to the lifting system, so they can shoot at any height.

On the hull of each cannon are their records: 24c/m, Mle 1870, N0 15.567, Nevens 1873. That could be the bore symbol and bullet size of 24c/m, Model – designed in 1870, manufactured in 1873 at Nevens factory, weight of 15,567 kg… When the mothers shipped these children, inscribed their names, to learn that more than a hundred years later they were still standing on the high mountains, becoming valuable historical witnesses.