Centre-ville, Tran Hung Dao

Tran Hung Dao statue, Me linh square, HCMC. Tran Hung Dao points to the Bach Dang quay, Saigon river, to remember the Battle of Bạch Đằng (1288) The Mongol fleet, however, had no idea of an unconventional trap already set by General Trần Hưng Đạo on Bạch Đằng River. Trần Hưng Đạo, for months before that, had his soldiers and peasants place huge steel-tipped wooden stakes in some waters of Bạch Đằng River. During the retreat of Omar, the Vietnamese used small craft to aggravate and lure the Mongol vessels to those waters, in what first appeared to be a victorious pursuit of the Mongols. As the tide on Bạch Đằng River receded, the Mongol vessels got stuck and sunk by those embedded steel-tipped stakes. The Vietnamese led by Trần Hưng Đạo burned off approximately 400 Mongol vessels and attacked ships on this river. The entire Mongol fleet was destroyed, and Omar, the Mongol fleet admiral was captured and executed. The ground force of Prince Toghan was more fortunate. They were ambushed along the road through Nội Bàng, but managed to escape back to China by dividing their forces into smaller retreating groups but some were killed by soldiers standing on dry land shooting arrows.