Centre-ville, Tran Hung Dao statue

Tran Hung Dao points to Bach Dang quay to remember the battle Bach Dang. He commanded the Đại Việt armies that repelled two major Mongol invasions in the 13th century. 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.