(Two different videos covering the battle. They are each less than ten minutes long.)
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, although faded from memory, should never be forgotten as it is the battle that kicked the French out of Vietnam and drew America into it. The French had been fighting the Viet Minh (trained, armed, and supplied by the Chinese) for years. They sought to draw out the enemy into a battle where they could crush the Viet Minh with their artillery and air power, thinking they were just jungle fighting guerrillas.
In a strategic blunder worthy of the Maginot Line, the French generals (who were told by the government not to win but to create conditions for a "favorable political solution", sound familiar?), choose a valley, Dien Bien Phu, that is 180 miles from the nearest air base. The valley is surrounded by jungle-covered mountains and is reached only by air. The French drop 18,000 airborne troops (their best soldiers) into the valley, build an airstrip, and create what they think is a heavily fortified base that is untakeable. While the subordinate officers protest, the generals completely dismiss the mere idea of the Viet Minh having artillery, much less bringing them to the mountains above. The French generals salivate at the thought of finally meeting the Viet Minh on their terms, where they can finally get their victory.
The Viet Minh show up, with more than 63,000 soldiers. They move their heavy artillery, most of it broken down and carried by hand, up into the mountains where it is reassembled and placed in well-camouflaged positions that are impossible for the French artillery and bombers to reach as they are dug in deeply into the mountains. The Viet Minh, unknown to the French, are a modern, trained fighting force able to give battle on the French terms.
The French ignore common sense, committing more operational blunders. The battle plan heavily depends on air power but there are no trained bomber crews in all of Vietnam. They count on artillery to destroy the enemy but there are no adequate ordnance maps for the artillery to use, thus making it virtually impossible for the artillery to operate in any effective manner against the Viet Minh. The battle is fought during the monsoon season, thus limiting the French Air Force. The French occupy the valley, leaving the mountains to the Viet Minh. They plan on chasing the Viet Minh, never thinking that the Viet Minh will attack them.
The 55 day battle starts with the Viet Minh totally surprising the French with a ferocious bombardment from the mountains down into the valley where nothing is safe. Over 3000 shells are fired on the French in the first night. The airstrip is destroyed in a few days, cutting off Dien Bien Phu from the outside world. Dien Bien Phu is now totally surrounded and outnumbered, unable to mount major sorties or break out. The French receive supplies by parachute drops but the French once again underestimate the Viet Minh, whose anti-aircraft guns can hit the French planes at ranges up to 10,000 feet. As they are forced to drop supplies from higher altitudes, the French see their supplies drift over into Viet Minh territory. The Viet Minh attack mostly at night, thus preventing the French from using their air power against them during battle.
Artillery bombardments give way to World War I-style trench warfare as the Viet Minh mount assaults on the French, who are dug in. The fighting is brutal, face to face, hand to hand, all possible weapons are used. When they run out of sandbags, the French use corpses. The French are forced back. At the end, they have no electricity, sewage, water, little ammunition, and are taken prisoner. Of the nearly 10,000 troops taken prisoner, less than 4,000 return a few months later.
Even though the two sides are still equal in numbers (in Vietnam), morale at home collapses as a public outcry against the disaster and the politicians responsible for it leads to a stampede to get out of Vietnam at any cost. The French sign the treaty ending its presence on the Viet Minh's terms. The French abandon all allies and supporters in Vietnam, who are brutally killed and tortured by the Viet Minh in a precursor of what will happen after 1975. Thousands of French prisoners are left behind as France decides not to press for their return. The Viet Minh, having eliminated and killed all competing nationalist or pro-independence groups, is completely communist and runs its territory in pure Stalinist fashion. The French expect only 30,000 refugees. They are shocked when hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese flee to the South. The French troops feel, with justification, that they have been backstabbed, after being sacrificed by the generals who were not trying to win the war.
More Youtube links:
footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Ggih20lpc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HdHrZSEPf4&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L3EXLfgIYw&mode=related&search=
Two excellent books are: The Last Valley by Martin Winthrow and Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu by Bernard Fall.
wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dien_Bien_Phu
1 comment:
Warfare is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.
Your article is very well done, a good read.
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