The entrenched ‘air-land’ camp of Dien Bien Phu was established by parachute drop in November 1953. As General Giap wrote about Navarre: ” . On 10 April, the French tried to retake Eliane 1. These were placed in various locations to harass French resupply transports. Each gun crew did its own spotting. A massed assault against the exhausted defenders overran Eliane 1, Dominique 3, and Hugette 5. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. The Chinese provided 70 advisors, the “South China Sea Action Group.” They suggested using one massive “Human Wave” attack to take Dien Bien Phu quickly. Finally, they moved the artillery pieces up the steep jungle roads, and set them into concealed bunkers, that had to be cut into the sides of the hills. Not, as in 1954, to Viet-Minh attacks, but rather to the bulldozers of progress. The contradictions were in Giaps words:  “. They were concentrated 640 km away from major battlefronts of the Red River Delta, and Dien Bien Phu. Viet Minh  resumed a pounding artillery fire, which permanently disabled the landing strip. Hundreds died along the way. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. 5,” Bernard Fall, Major J.W. Fighting back and forth continued for several nights. On 6 May, the Viet Minh blew up a tunnel under Eliane 2, and within a few hours overran that outpost. The French army would establish a fortified airhead by air-lifting soldiers adjacent to a key Vie… In addition, the French did not think that the Viet Minh could supply a force large enough to capture Dien Bien Phu. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Although some reinforcements arrived, they did not replace the growing casualties. Bigeard refused, saying “As long as I have one man alive I won’t let go of Eliane 4. The 312th Division launched a massive infantry assault, using sappers to clear obstacles. These strongpoints were: Anne-Marie, (Ban Keo;) Beatrice, (Him  Lam;) Claudine; Dominique; Eliane; Francoise; Gabrielle, (Doc Lap;) Huguette; and Isabelle, (Hong Cum. On November 20, 1953 operation Castor along with 9000 French troops went to Dien Bien Phu for an initial 3 days. But, the Viet Minh renewed their assault, forcing the French back. Five of the strong points – Anne-Marie, Huguette, Dominique, Eliane and Claudine – are clustered around Dien Bien Phu and the main airstrip. Two Viet Minh infantry regiments attacked the elite Algerian defenders. The 101st and 66th Regiments drove across the Annamite moun Thain chain. The Hugette 1 garrison attacked to cut through to supply water to Hugette 6. Propaganda leaflets had been distributed to them for weeks, telling them it was “not their fight.” Thus on 17 March, the first phase of Viet Minh attacks was succesfully completed. A morning counterattack was stalled by Viet Minh artillery. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was fought from March 13 to May 7, 1954, and was the decisive engagement of the First Indochina War (1946-1954), the precursor to the Vietnam War. Operation Castor was never conceived as a “large-scale airborne raid.” From the start, the mission was to become a “meat-grinder,” using “base aero-terrestre” tactic that worked at Na San. The Navarre plan called for strategic defensive in the north, offensive in the south. This is a list of units and commands that took part in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu during the First Indochina War, with the major commands that took part in operations. Today my friend Piotr and I will be closing out our Dien Bien Phu series with a look at the final Viet Minh assaults on the beleaguered French position. The Viet Minh counted 11721 prisoners, but 4436 were wounded. The museums in the area also offer snapshots and glimpses into the past. Just better. As we can see, the valley is an exceptionally strategic place. But the Vietnamese battalion, that had just jumped in the day before, was exhausted and ineffective. Eliane 2 was under heavy attack. For the Dien Bien Phu campaign, Giap selected the following forces: 304th, 308th, 312th, and 316th Infantry Divisions, plus the 148th Independent Infantry Regiment. Further supplies had to be parachuted in. If you rent a modern 4-wheel-drive for your journey it may take a few hours less and be more comfortable, but I am happily carried through the mountains in Mr. Ta's rugged, but trustworthy, Russian jeep. The attack, planned by Marcel Bigeard, came after a massive artillery barrage. Much of the travel took place at night, to avoid airstrikes. Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the decisive engagement in the First Indochina War (1946–54). It borders Lai Chau Province and Yunnan Province of China to the north, Son La Province to the east and Phongsali Province of Laos to the south and west. The French, it seemed, were confident and daring the Viet Minh to attack. Giap thus had succeeded in forcing Navarre to throw his painfully gathered mobile reserve into the four corners of Indochina in pursuit of a “single-battle decision,” that was definitely not the goals of the Navarre Plan. The French strong-points at Dien Bien Phu in northwest Vietnam are falling again. r . Equally surprising, Dien Bien Phu is a large, rather untidy town (population circa 100,000), with houses patched together haphazardly, overlooking several long avenues. Dien Bien Phu now bears few scars except for the occasional scattered tank to bear witness to its horrendous past, though it is still one of the remotest areas you could visit. Langlais and Marcel Bigeard, (our dear Bruno,) maintained good terms with de Castries. Total Viet Minh combat troops were 49500. At dark on 31 March, Langlais ordered Major Marcel Bigeard, who was leading the defense at Eliane, to fall back across the river. Nhà xuất bản Quân đội Nhân dân, 1982, This page was last edited on 19 May 2019, at 21:41. The 1954 siege of Dien Bien Phu is one of the epics of 20th century military history, featuring dramatic assaults, daring sorties, desperate counterattacks, and doomed last stands spread over 56 gruelling days. Combat support was comprised of an engineer battalion, truck company, ten light tanks, two 75-mm and 105-mm artillery groups, and four 155-mm howitzers. On 17 March, he flew to Dien Bien Phu, but his plane was driven off by anti-aircraft fire. The Algerian battalion abandoned Gabrielle. The Viet Minh continued isolation attacks against Hugette 1, and it fell 22 April. The battle of Dien Bien Phu takes place between March and May of 1954 and is the climax of the French Indochi-na war, pitting the communist Viet Minh forces against the colonial French. Two others, Gabrielle to the north and Beatrice to the northeast, are positioned to keep Viet Minh forces out of mortar range of the main airstrip. Langlais ordered a counterattack on Dominque 2 and Eliane 1, by “anyone left trustworthy to fight.” They were successful at retaking those on 31 March. . After Anne-Marie fell, de Castries isolated himself in his bunker, essentially abdicating command. Indirect fire requires experienced well-trained crews, which the Viet Minh lacked. The Japanese had built a good airfield there. The objective was to seek out Viet Minh forces in the highlands. Gabrielle was next. On 25 December 1953, the Communists reached the Thai border at Thakhek on the Mekong, the overland lifeline to northern Laos was severed,  and Indochina cut in two. 2014 is the 60th year since the defeat of French forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. This area was picked because of its strategic location along routes to Laos, and it seemed, to the French at least, to be a good defensive position. Dien Bien Phu lies in northwestern Vietnam, Southeast Asia. French resistance collapsed shortly after midnight. The French artillery commander, Colonel Charles Piroth was so distraught at ineffective  counter-battery fire, that he committed suicide. The valley was 16 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide, and surrounded a ring of low, but rugged hills. . Veterans of that battle are in their dotage, their famous commander Grand … This attack was accompanied for the first time with Katyusha rockets. Directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer. Reconnaissance planes and fighters of the permanent squadron constantly flew over the entire region strafing and bombing. .The contradiction between concentration of forces and occupation of territory; the contradiction between the buildup of a large-scale mobile force, and the scattering of his forces to various regions; between the strategic offensive and strategic defensive.”. Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The Navarre plan called for strategic defensive in the north, offensive in the south. Another stalemate period from 15 April to 1 May occurred due to lowered Viet Minh morale. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. The Command Bunker in Dien Bien of De Castries: lies at the heart of the entrenched camp of Dien Bien Phu in the middle of the Muong Thanh Field. In his own words, “we strictly followed this fundamental principle of the conduct of a revolutionary war: strike to win, strike only when success is certain; if it is not, then don’t strike.”, The attack approach would not be one single human wave, but would be a siege campaign. General de Castries ordered a counterattack to relieve Gabrielle. The Viet Minh victory in this battle effectively ended the eight-year-old war. The strongpoint changed hands several times, but by morning was in French control. Attempting to scatter French forces, the Viet Minh made diversionary thrusts into Laos. The cemeteries in A1 Hill (644 tombs) and Doc Lap Hill (2432 tombs), A1 Hill, where bitter fighting took place. A French “crisis-of-command” emerged, as senior officers realized that de Castries was incompetent to conduct the defense. At the same time, the 148th Independent Regiment moved toward Luang Prabang, and advanced within a few kilometres, before French forces stabilised the defensive line. Hugette 1 and 6 had been almost entirely surrounded by entrenchments. Artillery fire decimated them. During this time, the Viet Minh made trenching and sapping approaches to get their assault troops closer to the strongpoints. Although Dien Bien Phu is only 260 miles northwest of Hanoi, the drive takes two long, bumpy days to complete. Operation Castor would proceed. Dien Bien Phu based F8F Bearcat from Fighter Group 1/22 Saintonge Mortar and… M24 Chaffee (1944) The Chaffee was the last American light tank of WW2, designed to replace the Stuart and had a long career postwar, in Indochina, Korea and elsewhere. Simultaneously, Navarre had been searching for a way to stop the Viet Minh threat to Laos. Dit misluk en Gabrielle val. And, French never thought these guns could be brought to the battle in large numbers, and sited in the hills surrounding Dien Bien Phu. This was an adaptation of a World War II Soviet organization and was comprised of one engineer, one heavy mortar, two artillery, one anti-aircraft artillery, and one Katyusha rocket regiments. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Viet Minh available artillery was estimated by French intelligence to be 40 to 60 medium howitzers. There were two key challenges. Colonel Louis Berteil, commander of Mobile Group 7 and Navarre's main planner, formulated the hérisson ("hedgehog") concept. An estimated 15000 personnel were involved in an effort that became the prototype for the Ho Chi Minh trail in later years. On 30 March, the 312th Division captured Dominique 1 and 2. I hope it provides several interesting “points of departure,” that you might later encounter, or want to read about further. This article is a primer on the battle of Dien Bien Phu. For just under two months Dien Bien Phu was cut off. The fighting was brutal and the positions changed hands more than once. On May 7, 1954, the struggle for Indochina was almost over for France. But, his extraordinary physical condition and mental toughness enabled him to survive the four months of captivity. But despite the logistics problem, Navarre asserted that with such powerful forces, and so strong a defence system, Dien Bien Phu was “an impregnable fortress…”. This loss was a severe blow to French prestige, and resulted in France agreeing to withdraw from Indochina, by the Geneva agreement. Concrete fortifications and strongpoints were constructed. Find out what happened prior the US involvement in Vietnam and how you can experience it while playing a range of upcoming CS Vietnam scenarios. Gun Porters moving artillery into place at Dien Bien Phu. Battle of Dien Bien Phu. “No, I’m not going to shoot anymore,” replied the colonel. Otherwise, Dien Bien Phu is done for.”. As a French colonel surveyed the battlefield from a slit trench near his command post, a small white flag, probably a handkerchief, appeared on top of a rifle hardly 30 meters away from him, followed by the pith-helmeted head of a Viet Minh soldier. He considered parachuting in, but was talked out of it. And all around them, as on some gruesome Judgment Day, soldiers, French and Viet Minh alike, began to crawl out of their trenches, and stand erect for the first time in 54 days, as firing ceased everywhere. Woodmansee, ‘Indochina The Last Year of the War,”  Bernard Fall. They pressed against French Groupe Mobile 2, (GM-2) which had been hurriedly sent out of Hue to meet the new threat. These crews sometimes disassembled the cannons, hauled them in place in pieces, and then reassembled them in the final positions. When France occupied the important valley of Dien Bien Phu with a large force, the leadership of the Viet Minh knew that they had to retake the valley. They based this on their successes in Korea. East Front III: Marshall Budyonny's Dacha. Die Slag van Dien Bien Phu ... Gelyktydige aanvalle op Claudine, Dominique en Isabelle verwar die Franse bevelvoerders oor die Viët-Minh se doel. Tens of thousands of pack-bicycles and wheelbarrows, thousands of craft, convoys of donkeys and horses were employed to transport supplies to the front, using roads and tracks, deep rivers and swift streams. ... Gabrielle, Dominique, Elaine, and Claudine. The able bodied ones were marched over 600 km into prison camps. Intercepted radio messages revealed to the French that whole Viet Minh units refused to attack. In November 1953 the French army began building a base in the mountains around Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam, hoping that it would lure the Viet Minh guerrilla fighters into an open battle. Eliane 1, defended by Mooccans, was captured at midnight. They built two roads, one from Phu Tho is 225 km away, and the other to Thanh Hoa is 340 km away. But this time they had to do it right because they were about to commit half of their entire battle force in the whole of Vietnam and therefore, failure was not an option. An American reporter finds himself in the middle of the 57-day battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam between the French army and the Vietminh, which finally resulted in the defeat and surrender of the French forces and France's eventual withdrawal from Vietnam. Smaller attacks on Eliane 4 were also pushed back. Viet Minh losses were 600 dead and 1200 wounded. Did you know what Chinese advice General Giap rejected? General Giap ordered a general attack on all remaining units. Colonel Louis Berteil, commander of Mobile Group 7 and Navarre's main planner,[19] formulated the hérisson ("hedgehog") concept. The French hoped the main Communist battle force would venture far from the vital Red River Delta, while the French Command could concentrate remaining forces on mop-up operations in the delta. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Quite the same Wikipedia. It disrupted the Navarre Plan for 1953-54. These actions forced the French to deploy Groupe Mobiles in reaction, and scattering their forces.