Battle Of Dien Bien Phu
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The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (french: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu ; vi, Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ, ) was a climactic confrontation of the
First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the
French Union The French Union () was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial empire system, colloquially known as the " French Empire" (). It was the formal end of the "indigenous" () status of French subje ...
's colonial Far East Expeditionary Corps and
Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
revolutionaries A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...
. The United States was officially not a party to the war, but it was secretly involved by providing financial and material aid to the French Union, which included CIA contracted American personnel participating in the battle. The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union similarly provided vital support to the Viet Minh, including most of their artillery and ammunition. The French began an operation to insert, and support, their soldiers at
Điện Biên Phủ Điện Biên Phủ (, meaning: ''Established Frontier Prefecture''), is a city in the northwestern region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Điện Biên Province. The city is best known for the decisive Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, which occ ...
, deep in the autonomous Tai Federation up in the hills northwest of
Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...
. The operation's purpose was to cut off Viet Minh supply lines into the neighboring
Kingdom of Laos The Kingdom of Laos was a landlocked country in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula. It was bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, North Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
(a French ally), and draw the Viet Minh into a major confrontation in order to cripple them. The plan was to resupply the French position by air, a strategy adopted based on the belief that the Viet Minh had no anti-aircraft capability. The Viet Minh, however, under General
Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp (; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general and communist politician who is regarded as having been one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century. He served as interior minister in President H ...
, surrounded and
besieged Besieged may refer to: * the state of being under siege * ''Besieged'' (film), a 1998 film by Bernardo Bertolucci {{disambiguation ...
the French. They brought in vast amounts of heavy artillery (including
anti-aircraft guns Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
) and managed to move these bulky weapons through difficult terrain by individual men and women up the rear slopes of the mountains. They dug tunnels through the mountains and arranged the guns to target the French position. In March, the Viet Minh began a massive artillery bombardment of the French defenses. The strategic positioning of their artillery made it nearly impervious to French
counter-battery fire Counter-battery fire (sometimes called counter-fire) is a battlefield tactic employed to defeat the enemy's indirect fire elements (multiple rocket launchers, artillery and mortars), including their target acquisition, as well as their command ...
. Tenacious fighting on the ground ensued, reminiscent of the
trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became a ...
of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. At times, the French repulsed Viet Minh assaults on their positions while supplies and reinforcements were delivered by air. As key positions were overrun, the perimeter contracted, and the air resupply on which the French had placed their hopes became impossible. As the Viet Minh anti-aircraft fire took its toll and artillery bombarded the airstrip, effectively preventing takeoffs and landings, fewer and fewer of those supplies reached the French. The garrison was overrun in May after a two-month siege, and most of the French forces surrendered. A few men escaped to
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
. Of the 11,000 French troops captured, only 3,300 survived imprisonment. The French government in Paris resigned. The new Prime Minister, the left-of-centre
Pierre Mendès France Pierre Isaac Isidore Mendès France (; 11 January 190718 October 1982) was a French politician who served as prime minister of France for eight months from 1954 to 1955. As a member of the Radical Party, he headed a government supported by a co ...
, supported French withdrawal from Indochina. The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ was decisive; the war ended shortly afterward and the 1954 Geneva Accords were signed. France agreed to withdraw its forces from all its colonies in
French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
, while stipulating that Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, with control of the north given to the Viet Minh as the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
under
Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Prime ...
, and the south becoming the
State of Vietnam The State of Vietnam ( vi, Quốc gia Việt Nam; Chữ Nôm: 國家越南; french: État du Viêt-Nam) was a governmental entity in Southeast Asia that existed from 1949 until 1955, first as a member of the French Union and later as a country ...
, nominally under
Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...
, preventing Ho Chi Minh from gaining control of the entire country.


Background


Military situation

By 1953, the
First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
was not going well for France. A succession of commanders –
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947) was a Free-French general during the Second World War. He became Marshal of France posthumously in 1952, and is known in France simply as le maréchal ...
,
Jean Étienne Valluy Jean Etienne Valluy (15 May 1899 – 4 January 1970) was a French general. Early life He was born in Rive-de-Gier, Loire, on 15 May 1899 to Claude (Claudius) Valluy and Jeanne, Adrienne Cossanges. Military career World War I In 1917 he en ...
, Roger Blaizot, Marcel Carpentier,
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny (2 February 1889 – 11 January 1952) was a French général d'armée during World War II and the First Indochina War. He was posthumously elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France in 1952. As ...
, and
Raoul Salan Raoul Albin Louis Salan (; 10 June 1899 – 3 July 1984) was a French Army general. He served as the fourth French commanding general during the First Indochina War. He was one of four retired generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch op ...
 – had proven incapable of suppressing the insurrection of the
Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
, who were fighting for independence. During their 1952–1953 campaign, the Viet Minh had overrun vast swathes of
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
, Vietnam's western neighbor, advancing as far as
Luang Prabang Luang Phabang, ( Lao: ຫລວງພະບາງ/ ຫຼວງພະບາງ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling ຫຼວງພຣະບາງ (ຣ = silent r) ...
and the
Plain of Jars The Plain of Jars ( Lao: ທົ່ງໄຫຫິນ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...
. The French were unable to slow the advance of the Viet Minh, who fell back only after outrunning their always-tenuous supply lines. In 1953, the French had begun to strengthen their defenses in the
Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
delta region to prepare for a series of offensives against Viet Minh
staging area A staging area (otherwise staging point, staging base, or staging post) is a location in which organisms, people, vehicles, equipment, or material are assembled before use. It may refer to: * In construction, a designated area in which vehicles, ...
s in northwest Vietnam. They set up fortified towns and outposts in the area, including Lai Châu near the Chinese border to the north, Nà Sản to the west of Hanoi, and the Plain of Jars in northern Laos. In May 1953, French Premier
René Mayer René Mayer (; 4 May 189513 December 1972) was a French Radical politician of the Fourth Republic who served briefly as Prime Minister during 1953. Mayer was born and died in Paris. He led the Mayer Authority from 1955 to 1958. He was Fran ...
appointed
Henri Navarre Henri Eugène Navarre (31 July 189826 September 1983) was a French Army general. He fought during World War I, World War II and was the seventh and final commander of French Far East Expeditionary Corps during the First Indochina War. Navarre w ...
, a trusted colleague, to take command of
French Union The French Union () was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial empire system, colloquially known as the " French Empire" (). It was the formal end of the "indigenous" () status of French subje ...
forces in Indochina. Mayer had given Navarre a single order—to create military conditions that would lead to an "honorable political solution". According to military scholar
Phillip Davidson Phillip Buford Davidson Jr. (November 26, 1915 – February 7, 1996) was an American lieutenant general who served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Biography Davidson was born on November 26, 1915, in Hachita, New Mexico. Dav ...
,
On arrival, Navarre was shocked by what he found. There had been no long-range plan since de Lattre's departure. Everything was conducted on a day-to-day, reactive basis. Combat operations were undertaken only in response to enemy moves or threats. There was no comprehensive plan to develop the organization and build up the equipment of the Expeditionary force. Finally, Navarre, the intellectual, the cold and professional soldier, was shocked by the "school's out" attitude of
Salan ] Salan, Salanus or Zalan ( Bulgarian language, Bulgarian and Serbian Cyrillic: Салан or Залан; hu, Zalán; ro, Salanus) was, according to the Gesta Hungarorum, a local Bulgarianhttp://keptar.niif.hu/000500/000586/magyaro-honf-terke ...
and his senior commanders and staff officers. They were going home, not as victors or heroes, but then, not as clear losers either. To them the important thing was that they were getting out of Indochina with their reputations frayed, but intact. They spared little thought or concern for the problems of their successors.


Nà Sản and the hedgehog concept

Navarre began searching for a way to stop the Viet Minh threat to Laos. Colonel Louis Berteil, commander of Mobile Group 7 and Navarre's main planner, formulated the ''hérisson'' (' hedgehog defence, hedgehog') concept. The French army would establish a fortified
airhead An airhead is a designated area in a hostile or threatened territory which, when seized and held, allows the air landing of further teams and materiel via an airbridge (logistics), airbridge, and provides the maneuver and preparation space necess ...
by airlifting soldiers to positions adjacent to key Viet Minh supply lines to Laos. They would cut off Viet Minh soldiers fighting in Laos and force them to withdraw. "It was an attempt to interdict the enemy's rear area, to stop the flow of supplies and reinforcements, to establish a redoubt in the enemy's rear and disrupt his lines". The hedgehog concept was based on French experiences at the
Battle of Nà Sản The Battle of Nà Sản was fought between French Union forces and the Nationalist forces of the Việt Minh at Nà Sản, Sơn La Province, during the First Indochina War for control of the T’ai region (Northwest territory). Background Mil ...
. In late November and early December 1952, Giáp had attacked the French outpost at Nà Sản, which was essentially an "air-land base", a fortified camp supplied only by air. The French had beaten back Giáp's forces repeatedly, inflicting very heavy losses on them. The French hoped that by repeating the strategy on a much larger scale, they would be able to lure Giáp into committing the bulk of his forces to a massed assault. This would enable superior French artillery, armor, and air support to decimate the exposed Viet Minh forces. The success at Nà Sản convinced Navarre of the viability of the fortified airhead concept. French staff officers failed to treat seriously several crucial differences between Điện Biên Phủ and Nà Sản: First, at Nà Sản, the French commanded most of the high ground with overwhelming artillery support. At Điện Biên Phủ, however, the Viet Minh controlled much of the high ground around the valley, their artillery far exceeded French expectations, and they outnumbered the French troops four to one. Giáp compared Điện Biên Phủ to a "rice bowl", where his troops occupied the edge and the French the bottom. Second, Giáp made a mistake at Nà Sản by committing his forces to reckless frontal attacks before being fully prepared. He learned his lesson: at Điện Biên Phủ, Giáp spent months meticulously stockpiling ammunition and emplacing heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns before making his move. Teams of Viet Minh volunteers were sent into the French camp to scout the disposition of the French artillery. Artillery pieces were sited within well-constructed and camouflaged
casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...
s. As a result, when the battle finally began, the Viet Minh knew exactly where the French artillery pieces were, while the French did not even know how many guns Giáp possessed. Third, the aerial resupply lines at Nà Sản were never severed, despite Viet Minh anti-aircraft fire. At Điện Biên Phủ, Giáp amassed anti-aircraft batteries that quickly shut down the runway, and made it extremely difficult and costly for the French to bring in reinforcements.


Prelude


Lead up to Castor

In June 1953,
Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
René Cogny, the French commander in the
Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...
Delta, proposed
Điện Biên Phủ Điện Biên Phủ (, meaning: ''Established Frontier Prefecture''), is a city in the northwestern region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Điện Biên Province. The city is best known for the decisive Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, which occ ...
, which had an old airstrip built by the Japanese during World War II, as a "mooring point". In another misunderstanding, Cogny envisioned a lightly defended point from which to launch raids; Navarre, however, believed that he intended to build a heavily fortified base capable of withstanding a siege. Navarre selected Điện Biên Phủ for Berteil's "hedgehog" operation. When presented with the plan, every major subordinate officer – Colonel Jean-Louis Nicot (commander of the French Air transport fleet), Cogny, and Generals Jean Gilles and Jean Dechaux (the ground and air commanders for ''Operation Castor'', the initial airborne assault on Điện Biên Phủ) – protested. Cogny pointed out, presciently, that "we are running the risk of a new Nà Sản under worse conditions". Navarre rejected the criticisms of his proposal and concluded a 17 November conference by declaring that the operation would begin three days later, on 20 November 1953. Navarre decided to go ahead with the plan despite serious operational difficulties. These later became painfully obvious, but at the time may have been less apparent. He had been repeatedly assured by his intelligence officers that the operation carried very little risk of involvement by a strong enemy force. Navarre had previously considered three other approaches to defending Laos:
mobile warfare Mobile warfare () is a military strategy of the People’s Republic of China employing conventional forces on fluid fronts with units maneuvering to exploit opportunities for tactical surprise, or where a local superiority of forces can be real ...
, which was impossible given the terrain in Vietnam; a static defense line stretching to Laos, which was not feasible given the number of troops at Navarre's disposal; or placing troops in the Laotian provincial capitals and supplying them by air, which was unworkable due to the distance from
Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
to
Luang Prabang Luang Phabang, ( Lao: ຫລວງພະບາງ/ ຫຼວງພະບາງ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling ຫຼວງພຣະບາງ (ຣ = silent r) ...
and
Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...
. Navarre believed that this left only the hedgehog option, which he characterized as "a mediocre solution". The French National Defense Committee ultimately agreed that Navarre's responsibility did not include defending Laos. However, its decision, which was drawn up on 13 November, was not delivered to him until 4 December, two weeks after the Điện Biên Phủ operation began.


Establishment of air operations

Operations at Điện Biên Phủ began at 10:35 on 20 November 1953. In ''Operation Castor'', the French dropped or flew 9,000 troops into the area over three days, as well as a bulldozer to prepare the airstrip. They were landed at three drop zones: "Natasha" (northwest of Điện Biên Phủ), "Octavie" (to the southwest), and "Simone" (to the southeast). The Viet Minh elite 148th Independent Infantry Regiment, headquartered at Điện Biên Phủ, reacted "instantly and effectively". Three of its four battalions, however, were absent. Initial operations proceeded well for the French. By the end of November, six parachute battalions had been landed, and the French Army consolidated its positions. It was at this time that Giáp began his countermoves. He had expected an attack, but had not foreseen when or where it would occur. Giáp realized that, if pressed, the French would abandon
Lai Châu Province Lai or LAI may refer to: Abbreviations * Austrian Latin America Institute (Österreichisches Lateinamerika-Institut) * ''Latin American Idol'', TV series * La Trobe Institute, Melbourne, Australia * Leaf area index, leaf area of a crop or ve ...
and fight a
pitched battle A pitched battle or set-piece battle is a battle in which opposing forces each anticipate the setting of the battle, and each chooses to commit to it. Either side may have the option to disengage before the battle starts or shortly thereafter. A ...
at Điện Biên Phủ. On 24 November, Giáp ordered the 148th Infantry Regiment and the 316th Division to attack Lai Chau, while the 308th,
312th 31 may refer to: * 31 (number) Years * 31 BC * AD 31 * 1931 CE ('31) * 2031 CE ('31) Music * Thirty One (Jana Kramer album), ''Thirty One'' (Jana Kramer album), 2015 * Thirty One (Jarryd James album), ''Thirty One'' (Jarryd James album), 2015 ...
, and 351st divisions assaulted Điện Biên Phủ from ''
Việt Bắc Việt Bắc (''Northern Vietnam'') is a region of Vietnam north of Hanoi that served as the Việt Minh's base of support during the First Indochina War (1946–1954). Việt Bắc is also called the capital of northernmost Vietnam because this a ...
''. Starting in December, the French, under the command of Colonel
Christian de Castries Christian Marie Ferdinand de la Croix de Castries (11 August 1902 – 29 July 1991) was the French commander at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Biography Christian de Castries was born into a distinguished military family, the House o ...
, began transforming their anchoring point into a fortress by setting up seven satellite positions. (Each was said to be named after a former mistress of de Castries, although the allegation is probably unfounded, as the eight names begin with letters from the first nine of the alphabet.) The fortified headquarters was centrally located, with positions ''Huguette'' to the west, ''Claudine'' to the south, and ''Dominique'' to the northeast. The other positions were ''Anne-Marie'' to the northwest, ''Beatrice'' to the northeast, ''Gabrielle'' to the north, and ''Isabelle'' to the south, covering the reserve airstrip. The choice of de Castries as the local commander at Điện Biên Phủ was, in retrospect, a bad one. Navarre chose de Castries, a
cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
man in the 18th-century tradition, because Navarre envisioned Điện Biên Phủ as a mobile battle. But Điện Biên Phủ would require a commander adept at World War I-style
trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became a ...
, something for which de Castries was not suited. The arrival of the 316th Viet Minh Division prompted Cogny to order the evacuation of the Lai Chau garrison to Điện Biên Phủ, exactly as Giáp had anticipated. En route, they were virtually annihilated by the Viet Minh. "Of the 2,100 men who left Lai Chau on 9 December, only 185 made it to Điện Biên Phủ on 22 December. The rest had been killed, captured, or "deserted". French military forces had committed 10,800 troops, together with yet more reinforcements, totalling nearly 16,000 men, to the defense of a monsoon-affected valley surrounded by heavily-wooded hills and high ground that had not been secured. Artillery as well as ten US
M24 Chaffee The M24 Chaffee (officially Light Tank, M24) was an American light tank used during the later part of World War II; it was also used in post–World War II conflicts including the Korean War, and by the French in the War in Algeria and the Firs ...
light tanks (each broken down into 180 individual parts, flown into the base, and then re-assembled) and numerous aircraft (attack and supply types) were committed to the garrison. A number of quadruple 0.50 calibre machine guns were present and used in the ground role.''Dien Bien Phu: The Epic Battle America Forgot'' by Howard R. Simpson (a US diplomat) This included France's regular troops (notably elite paratrooper units, plus those of the artillery), French Foreign Legionnaires, Algerian and Moroccan
tirailleur A tirailleur (), in the Napoleonic era, was a type of light infantry trained to skirmish ahead of the main columns. Later, the term "''tirailleur''" was used by the French Army as a designation for indigenous infantry recruited in the French c ...
s (colonial troops from North Africa) and locally-recruited Indochinese (Laotian, Vietnamese and Cambodian) infantry. In comparison, altogether the Viet Minh had moved up to 50,000 regular troops into the hills surrounding the French-held valley, totalling five divisions, including the 351st Heavy Division, which was an artillery formation equipped with medium artillery, such as the US M101 105mm howitzer, supplied by the neighbouring People's Republic of China (PRC) from captured stocks obtained from defeated Nationalist China as well as US forces in Korea, together with some heavier field-guns as well as anti-aircraft artillery. Various types of artillery and anti-aircraft guns (mainly of Soviet origin), which outnumbered their French counterparts by about four to one, were moved into strategic positions overlooking the valley and the French forces based there. The French garrison came under sporadic direct artillery fire from the Viet Minh for the first time on 31 January 1954 and patrols encountered the Viet Minh troops in all directions around them. The French were completely surrounded.


Giáp's change of strategy

Originally, the planned Việt Minh attack was based on the Chinese “Fast Strike, Fast Victory” model, which aimed to use all available power to thrust into the command center of the base to secure victory, but this was changed to the “Steady Fight, Steady Advance” model of siege tactics. The battle plan designed on the fast strike model was due to open at 17:00 on 25 January and to finish three nights and two days later. Nevertheless this start date was delayed to 26 January, because on 21 January Việt Minh's intelligence indicated that the French had grasped this plan. After much debate, due to the French knowledge of the battle plan and along with other complications, the assault was canceled on 26 January, and Giáp went away and designed a new plan with a new start time. He said that this change of plan was the hardest decision of his military career.


Battle


Béatrice

The Viet Minh assault began in earnest on 13 March 1954 with an attack on the northeastern outpost, ''Béatrice'', which was held by the 3rd Battalion, 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade. Viet Minh artillery opened a fierce bombardment with two batteries each of 105mm howitzers, 120mm mortars, and 75mm mountain guns (plus seventeen 57mm recoilless rifles and numerous 60mm and 81/82mm mortars). French command was disrupted at 18:30 when a shell hit the French command post, killing the battalion commander, Major Paul Pégot, and most of his staff. A few minutes later, Lieutenant colonel
Jules Gaucher Jules Gaucher (13 September 1905 – 13 March 1954) was a French Army officer noted for his command of Foreign Legion troops in Indochina. Described as a "burly, hard-drinking veteran of years of jungle fighting, with a nose like an axe-blade an ...
, commander of the entire central subsector, was also killed by artillery fire. The Viet Minh 312th Division then launched an assault with its 141st and 209th Infantry Regiments, using
sapper A sapper, also called a pioneer (military), pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefie ...
s to breach the French obstacles. ''Béatrice'' comprised three separate strong points forming a triangle with the point facing north. In the southeast, strong point ''Beatrice''-3, its defenses smashed by 75mm mountain guns firing at point-blank range, was quickly overrun by the 209th Regiment's 130th Battalion. In the north, most of ''Beatrice''-1 was swiftly conquered by the 141st Regiment's 428th Battalion, but the defenders held out in corner of the position for a time because the attackers thought they had captured the entire strong point when they encountered an internal barbed wire barrier in the dark. In the southwest, the assault on ''Beatrice''-2 by the 141st Regiment's 11th Battalion did not fare well because its assault trenches were too shallow and portions of them had been flattened by French artillery. Its efforts to breach ''Beatrice''-2's barbed wire were stalled for hours by flanking fire from ''Beatrice''-1 and several previously-undetected bunkers on ''Beatrice''-2 that had been spared by the bombardment. The holdouts on ''Beatrice''-1 were eliminated by 22:30, and the 141st Regiment's 11th and 16th Battalions finally broke into ''Beatrice''-2 an hour later, though the strong point was not entirely taken until after 01:00 on 14 March. Roughly 350 French legionnaires were killed, wounded, or captured. About 100 managed to escape and rejoin the French lines. The French estimated that Viet Minh losses totaled 600 dead and 1,200 wounded. The victory at ''Beatrice'' "galvanized the morale" of the Viet Minh troops. Much to French disbelief, the Viet Minh had employed direct artillery fire, in which each gun crew does its own artillery spotting (as opposed to indirect fire, in which guns are massed further away from the target, out of direct line of sight, and rely on a forward artillery spotter). Indirect artillery, generally held as being far superior to direct fire, requires experienced, well-trained crews and good communications, which the Viet Minh lacked. Navarre wrote that, "Under the influence of Chinese advisers, the Viet Minh commanders had used processes quite different from the classic methods. The artillery had been dug in by single pieces...They were installed in shellproof dugouts, and fire point-blank from portholes... This way of using artillery and AA guns was possible only with the expansive ant holes at the disposal of the Vietminh and was to make shambles of all the estimates of our own artillerymen." Two days later, the French artillery commander, Colonel
Charles Piroth Charles Jean Clément Piroth (14 August 1906 – 15 March 1954) was a French artillery officer and World War II veteran. He served three tours in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. Piroth commanded the artillery during the Battle of Đ ...
, distraught at his inability to silence the well-camouflaged Viet Minh batteries, went into his dugout and committed suicide with a
hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...
. He was buried there in secret to prevent loss of morale among the French troops.


''Gabrielle''

Following a five-hour ceasefire on the morning of 14 March, Viet Minh artillery resumed pounding French positions. The airstrip, already closed since 16:00 the day before due to a light bombardment, was now put permanently out of commission. Any further French supplies would have to be delivered by parachute. That night, the Viet Minh launched an attack on the northern outpost ''Gabrielle'', held by an elite Algerian battalion. The attack began with a concentrated artillery barrage at 17:00. This was very effective and stunned the defenders. Two regiments from the crack 308th Division attacked starting at 20:00. At 04:00 the following morning, an artillery shell hit the battalion headquarters, severely wounding the battalion commander and most of his staff. De Castries ordered a counterattack to relieve ''Gabrielle''. However, Colonel
Pierre Langlais Pierre Charles Albert Marie Langlais (2 December 190917 July 1986http://www.dienbienphu.org/english/html/annuaire/langlais.htm) was a senior French military officer who fought in World War II and the First Indochina War. Hailing from the Brittany ...
, in forming the counterattack, chose to rely on the 5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion, which had jumped in the day before and was exhausted. Although some elements of the counterattack reached ''Gabrielle'', most were paralyzed by Viet Minh artillery and took heavy losses. At 08:00 the next day, the Algerian battalion fell back, abandoning ''Gabrielle'' to the Viet Minh. The French lost around 1,000 men defending ''Gabrielle'', and the Viet Minh between 1,000 and 2,000 attacking the strongpoint.


''Anne-Marie''

The northwestern outpost ''Anne-Marie'' was defended by
Tai Tai or TAI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain *Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless'' *Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon'' Businesses and organisations ...
troops, members of an ethnic minority loyal to the French. For weeks, Giáp had distributed subversive propaganda leaflets, telling the Tais that this was not their fight. The fall of ''Beatrice'' and ''Gabrielle'' had demoralized them. On the morning of 17 March, under the cover of fog, the bulk of the Tais left or defected. The French and the few remaining Tais on ''Anne-Marie'' were then forced to withdraw.


Lull

A lull in fighting occurred from March 17 to March 30. The Viet Minh further encircled the French central area (formed by the strong points ''Huguette'', ''Dominique'', ''Claudine'', and ''Eliane''), effectively cutting off ''Isabelle'' and its 1,809 personnel to the south. During this lull, the French suffered from a serious crisis of command. Senior officers with the garrison and Cogny in Hanoi began to feel that de Castries was incompetent in defending Dien Bien Phu. After the loss of the northern outposts, he isolated himself in his bunker, ''de facto'' shirking his command of the situation. On 17 March, Cogny attempted to fly into Điện Biên Phủ to take command, but his plane was driven off by anti-aircraft fire. He considered parachuting into the encircled garrison, but his staff talked him out of it. De Castries' seclusion in his bunker, combined with his superiors' inability to replace him, created a leadership vacuum in the French command. On 24 March, an event took place which later became a matter of historical debate. The historian
Bernard Fall Bernard B. Fall (November 19, 1926 – February 21, 1967) was a prominent war correspondent, historian, political scientist, and expert on Indochina during the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Austria, he moved with his family to France as a child after ...
records, based on Langlais' memoirs, that Colonel Langlais and his fellow paratroop commanders, all fully armed, confronted de Castries in his bunker on 24 March. They told him he would retain the appearance of command, but that Langlais would exercise it. De Castries is said by Fall to have accepted the arrangement without protest, although he did exercise some command functions thereafter. Phillip Davidson stated that the "truth would seem to be that Langlais did take over effective command of Dien Bien Phu, and that Castries became 'commander emeritus' who transmitted messages to Hanoi and offered advice about matters in Dien Bien Phu".
Jules Roy Jules Roy (22 October 1907 – 15 June 2000) was a French writer. "Prolific and polemical" Roy, born an Algerian pied noir and sent to a Roman Catholic seminary, used his experiences in the French colony and during his service in the Royal Air For ...
, however, makes no mention of this event, and
Martin Windrow Martin C. Windrow (born 1944) is a British historian, editor and author of several hundredWindrow, Martin ''The Last Valley'', preface books, articles and monographs, particularly those on organizational or physical details of military history, an ...
argues that the "paratrooper putsch" is unlikely to have ever happened. Both historians record that Langlais and
Marcel Bigeard Marcel Bigeard (February 14, 1916 – June 18, 2010), personal radio call-sign "Bruno", was a French military officer and politician who fought in World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. He was one of the commanders in the Ba ...
were known to be on good terms with their commanding officer. French aerial resupply took heavy losses from Viet Minh machine guns near the landing strip. On 27 March, the Hanoi air transport commander, Nicot, ordered that all supply deliveries be made from or higher; losses were expected to remain heavy. The following day, De Castries ordered an attack against the Viet Minh AA machine guns west of Điện Biên Phủ. Remarkably, the attack was a complete success, with 350 Viet Minh soldiers killed and seventeen AA machine guns destroyed (French estimate), while the French lost 20 killed and 97 wounded.


30 March – 5 April assaults

The next phase of the battle saw more massed Viet Minh assaults against French positions in central Điện Biên Phủ – particularly at ''Eliane'' and ''Dominique'', the two remaining outposts east of the Nam Yum River. Those two areas were held by five understrength battalions, composed of Frenchmen, Legionnaires, Vietnamese, North Africans, and Tais. Giáp planned to use the tactics from the ''Beatrice'' and ''Gabrielle'' skirmishes. At 19:00 on 30 March, the Viet Minh 312th Division captured ''Dominique'' 1 and 2, making ''Dominique'' 3 the final outpost between the Viet Minh and the French general headquarters, as well as outflanking all positions east of the river. At this point, the French 4th Colonial Artillery Regiment entered the fight, setting its 105 mm howitzers to zero elevation and firing directly on the Viet Minh attackers, blasting huge holes in their ranks. Another group of French soldiers, near the airfield, opened fire on the Viet Minh with anti-aircraft machine guns, forcing the Viet Minh to retreat. The Viet Minh's simultaneous attacks elsewhere were more successful. The 316th Division captured ''Eliane'' 1 from its Moroccan defenders, and half of ''Eliane'' 2 by midnight. On the west side of Điện Biên Phủ, the 308th attacked ''Huguette'' 7, and nearly succeeded in breaking through, but a French sergeant took charge of the defenders and sealed the breach. Just after midnight on 31 March, the French launched a counterattack against ''Eliane'' 2, and recaptured it. Langlais ordered another counterattack the following afternoon against ''Dominique'' 2 and ''Eliane'' 1, using virtually "everybody left in the garrison who could be trusted to fight". The counterattacks allowed the French to retake ''Dominique'' 2 and ''Eliane'' 1, but the Viet Minh launched their own renewed assault. The French, who were exhausted and without reserves, fell back from both positions late in the afternoon. Reinforcements were sent north from ''Isabelle'', but were attacked en route and fell back to ''Isabelle''. Shortly after dark on 31 March, Langlais told Major
Marcel Bigeard Marcel Bigeard (February 14, 1916 – June 18, 2010), personal radio call-sign "Bruno", was a French military officer and politician who fought in World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. He was one of the commanders in the Ba ...
, who was leading the defense at ''Eliane'' 2, to fall back from ''Eliane'' 4. Bigeard refused, saying "As long as I have one man alive I won't let go of ''Eliane'' 4. Otherwise, Dien Bien Phu is done for." The night of 31 March, the 316th Division attacked ''Eliane'' 2. Just as it appeared the French were about to be overrun, a few French tanks arrived from the central garrison, and helped push the Viet Minh back. Smaller attacks on ''Eliane'' 4 were also pushed back. The Viet Minh briefly captured ''Huguette'' 7, only to be pushed back by a French counterattack at dawn on 1 April. Fighting continued in this manner over the next several nights. The Viet Minh repeatedly attacked ''Eliane'' 2, only to be beaten back. Repeated attempts to reinforce the French garrison by parachute drops were made, but had to be carried out by lone planes at irregular times to avoid excessive casualties from Viet Minh anti-aircraft fire. Some reinforcements did arrive, but not enough to replace French casualties.


Trench warfare

On 5 April, after a long night of battle, French fighter-bombers and artillery inflicted particularly devastating losses on one Viet Minh regiment, which was caught on open ground. At that point, Giáp decided to change tactics. Although Giáp still had the same objective – to overrun French defenses east of the river – he decided to employ entrenchment and sapping to achieve it. On 10 April, the French attempted to retake ''Eliane'' 1, which had been lost eleven days earlier. The loss posed a significant threat to ''Eliane'' 4, and the French wanted to eliminate that threat. The dawn attack, which Bigeard devised, began with a short, massive artillery barrage, followed by small unit infiltration attacks, then mopping-up operations. ''Eliane'' 1 changed hands several times that day, but by the next morning the French had control of the strong point. The Viet Minh attempted to retake it on the evening of 12 April, but were pushed back. At this point, the morale of the Viet Minh soldiers was greatly lowered due to the massive casualties they had received from heavy French gunfire. During a period of stalemate from 15 April to 1 May, the French intercepted enemy radio messages which told of whole units refusing orders to attack, and Viet Minh prisoners in French hands said that they were told to advance or be shot by the officers and non-commissioned officers behind them. Worse still, the Viet Minh lacked advanced medical treatment and care, with one captured fighter stating that, "Nothing strikes at combat-morale like the knowledge that if wounded, the soldier will go uncared for". Concerned about a potential mutiny from his troops, Giáp had to call for fresh reinforcements from neighbouring Laos to bolster his dwindling and dispirited forces. During the fighting at ''Eliane'' 1, on the other side of camp, the Viet Minh entrenchments had almost entirely surrounded ''Huguette'' 1 and 6. On 11 April the garrison of ''Huguette'' 1, supported by artillery from ''Claudine'', launched an attack with the goal of resupplying ''Huguette'' 6 with water and ammunition. The attacks were repeated on the nights of the 14–15 and 16–17 April. While they did succeed in getting some supplies through, the French suffered heavy casualties, which convinced Langlais to abandon ''Huguette'' 6. Following a failed attempt to link up, on 18 April, the defenders at ''Huguette'' 6 made a daring break out, but only a few managed to make it to French lines. The Viet Minh repeated the isolation and probing attacks against ''Huguette'' 1, and overran the fort on the morning of 22 April. After this key advance, the Viet Minh took control of more than 90 percent of the airfield, making accurate French parachute drops impossible. This caused the landing zone to become perilously small, and effectively choked off much needed supplies. A French attack against ''Huguette'' 1 later that day was repulsed.


Isabelle

''Isabelle'' saw only light action until 30 March, when the Viet Minh isolated it and beat back the attempt to send reinforcements north. Following a massive artillery barrage on 30 March, the Viet Minh began employing the same trench warfare tactics that they were using against the central camp. By the end of April, ''Isabelle'' had exhausted its water supply and was nearly out of ammunition.


Final attacks

The Viet Minh launched a massed assault against the exhausted defenders on the night of 1 May, overrunning ''Eliane'' 1, ''Dominique'' 3, and ''Huguette'' 5, although the French managed to beat back attacks on ''Eliane'' 2. On 6 May, the Viet Minh launched another massed attack against ''Eliane'' 2, using, for the first time,
Katyusha rockets The Katyusha ( rus, Катю́ша, p=kɐˈtʲuʂə, a=Ru-Катюша.ogg) is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. Multiple rocket launchers such as these deliver explosives to a target area ...
. The French artillery fired a "TOT" (
time on target Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, ...
) mission, so that artillery rounds fired from different positions would strike on target at the same time. This barrage defeated the first assault wave, but later that night the Viet Minh detonated a mine under ''Eliane'' 2, with devastating effect. The Viet Minh attacked again, and within a few hours the defenders were overrun. On 7 May, Giáp ordered an all-out attack against the remaining French units with over 25,000 Viet Minh against fewer than 3,000 garrison troops. At 17:00, de Castries radioed French headquarters in Hanoi and talked with Cogny. The last radio transmission from the French headquarters reported that enemy troops were directly outside the headquarters bunker and that all the positions had been overrun. The radio operator in his last words stated: "The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. ''Vive la France''!" That night the garrison made a breakout attempt, in the Camarón tradition. While some of the main body managed to break out, none succeeded in escaping the valley. At "Isabelle", a similar attempt later the same night saw about 70 troops, out of 1,700 men in the garrison, escape to Laos. By about 18:20, only one French position, strong point Lily, manned by Moroccan soldiers commanded by a French officer, Major Jean Nicolas, had not been overrun. The position surrendered that night when Nicolas personally waved a small
white flag White flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale. Contemporary use The white flag is an internationally recognized protective sign of truce or ceasefire, and for negotiation. It is also used to symbolize ...
(probably a handkerchief) from his rifle.


Aftermath

Dien Bien Phu was a serious defeat for the French and was the decisive battle of the Indochina war. The garrison constituted roughly one-tenth of the total French Union manpower in Indochina, and the defeat seriously weakened the position and prestige of the French; it produced psychological repercussions both in the armed forces and in the political structure in France. This was apparent with the previously planned negotiations over the future of Indochina, which had just begun. Militarily there was no point in France fighting on, as the Viet Minh could repeat the strategy and tactics of the Dien Bien Phu campaign elsewhere, to which the French had no effective response. News of Dien Bien Phu's fall was announced in France several hours after the surrender, around 16:45, by Prime Minister
Joseph Laniel Joseph Laniel (; 12 October 18898 April 1975) was a French conservative politician of the Fourth Republic, who served as Prime Minister for a year from 1953 to 1954. During the middle of his tenure as Prime Minister Laniel was an unsuccessful ...
. The
Archbishop of Paris The Archdiocese of Paris (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Parisiensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Paris'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is one of twenty-three archdioceses in France ...
ordered a mass, while radio performances were cancelled and replaced by solemn music, notably Berlioz' ''Requiem''. Theatres and restaurants closed and many social engagements were cancelled as a mark of respect. Public opinion in France registered shock that a guerilla army had defeated a major European power.


Prisoners

On 8 May, the Viet Minh counted 11,721 prisoners, of whom 4,436 were wounded. This was the greatest number the Viet Minh had ever captured, amounting to one-third of the total captured during the entire war. The prisoners were divided into groups. Able-bodied soldiers were force-marched over to prison camps to the north and east, where they were intermingled with Viet Minh soldiers to discourage French bombing runs. Hundreds died of disease along the way. The wounded were given basic first aid until the
Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
arrived, extracted 858 prisoners, and provided better aid to the remainder. Those wounded who were not evacuated by the Red Cross were sent into detention. The Viet Minh captured 8,000 French and marched them on foot to prison camps; fewer than half survived the march. Of 10,863 prisoners (including Vietnamese fighting for the French), only 3,290 were repatriated four months later; however, the losses figure may include the 3,013 prisoners of Vietnamese origin whose fate is unknown.


Casualties

The Vietnamese government reported its casualties in the battle as 4,020 dead, 9,118 wounded, and 792 missing. The French estimated Viet Minh casualties at 8,000 dead and 15,000 wounded.Stone, p. 109
Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard' ...
stated that "In 2018 Hanoi has still not credibly enumerated its Dien Bien Phu losses, surely a reflection of their immensity." Mark Moyar's book ''Triumph Forsaken'' lists Viet Minh casualties as 22,900, out of an original force of 50,000.


Political ramifications

The Geneva Conference opened on 8 May 1954, the day after the surrender of the garrison. The resulting agreement in July partitioned Vietnam into two zones:
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
and the
State of Vietnam The State of Vietnam ( vi, Quốc gia Việt Nam; Chữ Nôm: 國家越南; french: État du Viêt-Nam) was a governmental entity in Southeast Asia that existed from 1949 until 1955, first as a member of the French Union and later as a country ...
, which opposed the agreement, to the south. The partition was supposed to be temporary, and the two zones were meant to be reunited through national elections in 1956, which were never held. The last French forces withdrew from Vietnam in 1956. General
Georges Catroux Georges Albert Julien Catroux (29 January 1877 – 21 December 1969) was a French Army general and diplomat who served in both World War I and World War II, and served as Grand Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur from 1954 to 1969. Life Cat ...
presided over a commission of inquiry into the defeat. The commission's final report ("Rapport concernant la conduite des opérations en Indochine sous la direction du général Navarre") concluded:
The fall of Dien Bien Phu, in a strictly military perspective, represented a very serious failure but one that in the immediate, that is to say, spring of 1954, did not upset the balance of forces present in Indochina. It only assumed the aspect of a definitive defeat of our forces by reason of its profound psychological effects on French public opinion, which, tired of a war that was unpopular and seemingly without end, demanded in a way that it be ended.
The event itself was in fact, both in terms of public opinion and of the military conduct of the war and operations, merely the end result of a long process of degradation of a faraway enterprise which, not having the assent of the nation, could not receive from the authorities the energetic impulse, and the size and continuity of efforts required for success.
If, therefore, one wishes to establish objectively the responsibilities incurred in the final phase of the Indochina war one would have to examine its origins and evoke the acts and decisions of the various governments in power, that is to say their war policies, as well as the ways in which these policies were translated by the military commanders into operations.


Women

Many of the flights operated by the French Air force to evacuate casualties had female flight nurses on board. A total of 15 women served on flights to Điện Biên Phủ. One,
Geneviève de Galard Geneviève de Galard (born 13 April 1925) is a French nurse who was dubbed ''l'ange de Dien Bien Phu'' ("the Angel of Dien Bien Phu") during the French war in Indochina by the press in Hanoi, although in the camp she was known simply as Genevièv ...
, was stranded there when her plane was destroyed by shellfire while it was being repaired on the airfield. She remained on the ground providing medical services in the field hospital until the surrender. She was referred to as the "Angel of Điện Biên Phủ". Historians disagree regarding the moniker with
Martin Windrow Martin C. Windrow (born 1944) is a British historian, editor and author of several hundredWindrow, Martin ''The Last Valley'', preface books, articles and monographs, particularly those on organizational or physical details of military history, an ...
maintaining that de Galard was referred to by name only by the garrison;
Michael Kenney Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
and
Bernard Fall Bernard B. Fall (November 19, 1926 – February 21, 1967) was a prominent war correspondent, historian, political scientist, and expert on Indochina during the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Austria, he moved with his family to France as a child after ...
also maintained that the nickname was added by outside press agencies. The French forces came to Điện Biên Phủ accompanied by two ''
bordels mobiles de campagne Bordels Mobiles de Campagne or Bordel Militaire de Campagne (both abbreviated to BMC) were mobile brothels used during World War I, World War II and the First Indochina War to supply prostitution services to France, French soldiers fighting in a ...
'', ('mobile field brothels'), served by Algerian and Vietnamese women. When the siege ended, the Viet Minh sent the surviving Vietnamese women for "re-education".


US participation

Before the battle started both British and American missions visited Diên Biên Phu, to complete an assessment and left. The fall of Diên Biên Phu was a disaster not just for France but also for the United States who, by 1954, were underwriting 80% of French expenditures in Indochina. According to the
Mutual Defense Assistance Act The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949. For US Foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to Eur ...
, the United States provided the French with material aid during the battle – aircraft (supplied by the ), weapons, mechanics, 24
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
/
CAT The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
pilots, and
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
maintenance crews. The United States nevertheless intentionally avoided overt direct intervention. In February 1954, following the French occupation of Điện Biên Phủ, Democratic senator
Michael Mansfield Michael Mansfield (born 12 October 1941) is an English barrister and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers. He was recently described as "The king of human rights work" by The Legal 500 and as a Leading Silk in civil liberties and human rights ( ...
asked the
United States Defense Secretary The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the United States federal executive departments, executive department of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high r ...
,
Charles Erwin Wilson Charles Erwin Wilson (July 18, 1890 – September 26, 1961) was an American engineer and businessman who served as United States Secretary of Defense from 1953 to 1957 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Known as "Engine Charlie", he was prev ...
, whether the United States would send naval or air units if the French were subjected to greater pressure there, but Wilson replied that "for the moment there is no justification for raising United States aid above its present level". On 31 March, following the fall of ''Beatrice'', ''Gabrielle'', and ''Anne-Marie'', a panel of U.S. Senators and Representatives questioned the US
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: app ...
, Admiral Arthur W. Radford, about the possibility of US involvement. Radford concluded it was too late for the U.S. Air Force which had the potential to use its
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
based
B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fly ...
s against the Viet Minh heavy artillery. A proposal for direct intervention was unanimously voted down by the committee three days later, which "concluded that intervention was a positive ''
casus belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one b ...
'' (act of war)". Both Eisenhower and the Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles John Foster Dulles (, ; February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. He served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 and was briefly ...
then pressed the British and other allies in a joint military operation. Prime Minister
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
and Foreign Secretary
Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...
refused, but agreed on a collective security arrangement for the region which could be agreed at the Geneva conference. For the Americans, in particular Dulles, this wasn't enough. Britain, already for some years involved in the
Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...
, was concerned at the American alarmism in the region, but was unaware of the scale of US financial aid and covert involvement in the Indochina war. There were already suggestions at the time, notably from French author
Jules Roy Jules Roy (22 October 1907 – 15 June 2000) was a French writer. "Prolific and polemical" Roy, born an Algerian pied noir and sent to a Roman Catholic seminary, used his experiences in the French colony and during his service in the Royal Air For ...
, that Admiral Radford had discussed with the French the possibility of using
tactical nuclear weapon A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territo ...
s in support of the French garrison. Moreover, Dulles reportedly mentioned the possibility of lending atomic bombs to the French for use at Điện Biên Phủ in April, Dulles tried to put more pressure on the British, and asked Eden for British support for American air action to save Diên Biên Phu. Eden refused, which enraged Dulles; however, Eisenhower relented. The President felt that, along with the political risks, airstrikes alone would not decide the battle, and did not want to escalate U.S. involvement by using American pilots. "Nobody is more opposed to intervention than I am". The United States did covertly participate in the battle. Following a request for help from
Henri Navarre Henri Eugène Navarre (31 July 189826 September 1983) was a French Army general. He fought during World War I, World War II and was the seventh and final commander of French Far East Expeditionary Corps during the First Indochina War. Navarre w ...
, Radford provided two squadrons of
B-26 Invader The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major Col ...
bomber aircraft and crew personnel to support the French. However not the Pentagon but the CIA under the leadership of Secretary Dulles' brother
Allen Dulles Allen Welsh Dulles (, ; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and its longest-serving director to date. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he ov ...
managed the operation. Following this, 37 American transport pilots flew 682 sorties over the course of the battle. Earlier, in order to succeed the pre-Điện Biên Phủ
Operation Castor Opération Castor was a French airborne operation in the First Indochina War. The operation established a fortified airhead in Điện Biên Province, in the north-west corner of Vietnam and was commanded by Brigadier General Jean Gilles. The ...
of November 1953, General Chester McCarty made available twelve additional
C-119 Flying Boxcar The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar (Navy and Marine Corps designation R4Q) was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechani ...
s flown by French crews. Two of the American pilots, James McGovern Jr., and Wallace Buford, were killed in action during the siege of Điện Biên Phủ. On 25 February 2005, the seven still-living American pilots were awarded the French
Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
by
Jean-David Levitte Jean-David Levitte (born 14 June 1946) is a French diplomat who was France's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2000 to 2002 and Ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2007. He was also a diplomatic advisor and sherpa to p ...
, the French Ambassador to the United States. The role of CIA controlled airlines in Indo-China and their role at Dien Bien Phu was little known until they were published by Robbins after the end of the Vietnam War, and not officially acknowledged until the 21st century. A generation later the US historian Erik Kirsinger researched the case for more than a year.Burns, Robert. "Covert U.S. aviators will get French award for heroism in epic Asian battle". ''Associated Press Worldstream''. 16 February 2005 Dulles, on hearing of the news of the fall of the garrison, was furious— placing heavy blame on Eden for his "inaction". Eden, however, doubted that intervention could have saved Diên Biên Phu, and felt "it might have far reaching consequences". Colonel William F. Long stated twelve years after the defeat:
Dien Bien Phu or DBP has become an acronym or shorthand symbol for defeat of the West by the East, for the triumph of primitive.... Dien Bien Phu resulted in severe political consequences.
File:Phao phong khong To Vinh Dien.JPG, A Soviet 37mm automatic air-defense cannon used by the Viet Minh during the battle. File:Captured French artillery at the Dien Bien Phu Museum.jpg, Captured French artillery guns and other military vehicles, including an
M24 Chaffee The M24 Chaffee (officially Light Tank, M24) was an American light tank used during the later part of World War II; it was also used in post–World War II conflicts including the Korean War, and by the French in the War in Algeria and the Firs ...
, displayed at the Dien Bien Phu Museum. File:Điện Biên Phủ2.JPG, The massive explosion crater at the top of Eliane 2, created by Viet Minh sappers who successfully blew up the fortified outpost during the battle. File:French memorial, Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam.jpg, The French memorial of the battle. File:Dien Bien Phu, statue.jpg, The Viet Minh memorial of the battle


Comparison with Khe Sanh

In January 1968, during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, the
North Vietnamese Army The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed win ...
under Võ Nguyên Giáp's command initiated a
siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...
and artillery
bombardment A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire or by dropping bombs from aircraft on fortifications, combatants, or towns and buildings. Prior to World War I, the term was only applied to the bombardment of defenseless or undefended objects, ...
on the U.S. Marine Corps base at
Khe Sanh Khe Sanh is the district capital of Hướng Hoá District, Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam, located 63 km west of Đông Hà. During the Vietnam War, the Khe Sanh Combat Base was located to the north of the city. The Battle of Khe San ...
in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
, as they did at Điện Biên Phủ. A number of factors were significantly different between Khe Sanh and Điện Biên Phủ. Khe Sanh was much closer to a US supply base () compared to a French one at Điện Biên Phủ (). At Khe Sanh, the U.S. Marines held the high ground, and their artillery forced the North Vietnamese to use their own artillery from a much greater distance. By contrast, at Điện Biên Phủ, the French artillery (six 105 mm batteries and one battery of four 155 mm howitzers and mortars) was only sporadically effective. Furthermore, by 1968, the US military presence in Vietnam dwarfed that of the French, and included numerous technological advances such as effective helicopters. Khe Sanh received 18,000 tons of aerial resupplies during the 77-day battle, whereas during the 167 days that the French forces at Điện Biên Phủ held out, they received only 4,000 tons. Also, the
US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
dropped 114,810 tons of bombs on the North Vietnamese at Khe Sanh, roughly as many as on Japan in 1945 during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.


See also

* *


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * Morris, Virginia and Hills, Clive. 2018. ''Ho Chi Minh's Blueprint for Revolution: In the Words of Vietnamese Strategists and Operatives'', McFarland & Co Inc. * * * * * * * * *


External links


Dien Bien Phu
official dedicated website
Memorial-Indochine.org
(in English)





* , an article by Bernard B. Fall
"Dien Bien Phu: A Battle Assessment"
by David Pennington
"Peace" in a Very Small Place: Dien Bien Phu 50 Years Later
an article by Bob Seals
ANAPI's official website
(National Association of Former POWs in Indochina)

Last revised 10 November 2015



*


Media links


Newsreels (video)


The News Magazine of the Screen (May 1954)

U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles on the fall of Dien Bien Phu (May 7th, 1954)
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Retrospectives (video)


English subtitled (Closed Captions) scene from the "Dien Bien Phu" docudrama by Schoendoerffer (1992)
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Archive radio calls between General Cogny & Colonel de Castries (1954) + 2 commented scenes from Schoendoerffer's docudrama (1992)
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Testimonial of General Giáp, 50 years after the battle (May 7th, 2004)
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Testimonial of General Bigeard, 50 years after the battle (May 3rd, 2004)
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Testimonial of Corporal Schoendoerffer, 50 years after the battle (May 5th, 2004)


War reports (Picture galleries and captions)

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The battle of Dien Bien Phu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dien Bien Phu 1954 in French Indochina 1954 in Vietnam Battles and operations of the First Indochina War Battles involving France Battles involving Vietnam Battles involving the French Foreign Legion Battles involving the United States Conflicts in 1954 Dien Bien Phu History of Điện Biên Province Vietnamese independence movement March 1954 events in Asia April 1954 events in Asia May 1954 events in Asia Ho Chi Minh Võ Nguyên Giáp