how long was the battle of dien bien phu

The game covers the critical period of Viet Minh assaults and French counterattacks of March to May, 1954. During the fighting at Eliane 1, on the other side of camp, the Viet Minh entrenchments had almost entirely surrounded Huguette 1 and 6. [68], French aerial resupply took heavy losses from Viet Minh machine guns near the landing strip. Battle of Dien Bien Phu 1954-Dien Bien Phu Colonial Parachute Battalion n. 6 is thrown first into Dien Bien Phu on 20th November 1953. [110] According to the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, the United States provided the French with material aid during the battle – aircraft (supplied by the USS Saipan), weapons, mechanics, 24 CIA/CAT pilots, and U.S. Air Force maintenance crews. .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, De Castries: "The Viets are everywhere. Found insideHere, author Martin Windrow describes how from their first assaults on 13 March 1954, the battle quickly developed into a dramatic 56-day 'Stalingrad in the jungle' that drew the attention of the world. The Viet Minh victory at Dien Bien Phu signaled the end of French colonial influence in Indochina and cleared the way for the division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel at the conference of Geneva. The Vietnam War started in the 1950s, according to most historians, though the conflict in Southeast Asia had its roots in the French colonial period of the 1800s. Close to 10,000 captured troops were to begin the grim death march to the Viet Minh prison camps 300 miles to the east. From the acclaimed scholar and reporter, a thorough and revealing account of the historic turning point in Vietnam's long struggle--the 1954 battle for Dien Bien Phu Like Gettysburg, Stalingrad,. [125] 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. As Peking had hoped, the French commander in chief in Indochina, General Henri Navarre, came out to defend his allies because he believed the T’ai “maquis” formed a significant threat in the Viet Minh “rear” (the T’ai supplied the French with opium that was sold to finance French special operations) and wanted to prevent a Viet Minh sweep into Laos. At 08:00 the next day, the Algerian battalion fell back, abandoning Gabrielle to the Viet Minh. About 100 managed to escape and rejoin the French lines. While some of the main body managed to break out, none succeeded in escaping the valley. [49], The fall of Dien Bien 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. It was a bloody and gruesome battle with trench warfare like WW1. Dien Bien Phu & the Fall of French Indochina, 1954 In the late 1940s, the French struggled to control its colonies in Indochina - Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. 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. [24] The French had beaten back Giáp's forces repeatedly, inflicting very heavy losses on them. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu is seen as the decisive battle of the First Indochina War between French troops and the Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam), a nationalist, pro-Soviet Union movement of Ho Chi Minh.This major confrontation occurred at Dien Bien Phu, a large heart-shaped valley located in northwestern part of Vietnam, near the border with Laos. The battle of Dien Bien Phu, which saw the defeat of France at the hands of the Vietnamese, is a milestone in the decolonisation struggle worldwide. Because he considered Lai Chau impossible to defend, on November 20, Navarre launched Operation Castor with a paratroop drop on the broad valley of Dien Bien Phu, which was rapidly transformed into a defensive perimeter of eight strong points organized around an airstrip. [15] Max Hastings stated that "In 2018 Hanoi has still not credibly enumerated its Dien Bien Phu losses, surely a reflection of their immensity. However, it is now widely accepted that the Vietnam War started on November 1, 1955 and lasted until April 30, 1975 , which is roughly 20 years, or 19 years, 180 days to be precise. 55 Terms. 17 The Cold War Reckoning 114. Two regiments from the crack 308th Division attacked starting at 20:00. [61], De Castries ordered a counterattack to relieve Gabrielle. Dien Bien is well-known because of the Dien Bien Phu Battle in 1954 between Viet Minh Forces (commanded by General Vo Nguyen Giap) and French Forces (commanded by Christian de Castries). 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. 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. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (French: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu pronounced [bataj də djɛ̃ bjɛ̃ fy]; Vietnamese: Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ, IPA: [t͡ɕjěn zîk̚ ɗîənˀ ɓīən fû]) was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. [29] Second, Giáp made a mistake at Nà Sản by committing his forces to reckless frontal attacks before being fully prepared. She remained on the ground providing medical services in the field hospital until the surrender. Despite financial assistance from the United States, nationalist uprisings against French colonial rule began to take their toll. It is among the most historically eminent cities in Vietnam. [60] Any further French supplies would have to be delivered by parachute. [76], 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. 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. The Geneva Conference opened on 8 May 1954,[102] the day after the surrender of the garrison. In my last letter I remember that I mentioned Dien Bien Phu. Equally surprising, Dien Bien Phu is a large, rather untidy town (population circa 100,000), with houses patched together haphazardly, overlooking several long avenues. A succession of commanders – Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Jean Étienne Valluy, Roger Blaizot, Marcel Carpentier, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, and Raoul Salan – had proven incapable of suppressing the insurrection of the Viet Minh fighting for independence. The battle, which saw an early use of the deadly longbow by the English, ...read more. Research Report. 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. 14,000 troops were inserted in March, and almost immediately surrounded by superior numbers of Vietnamese soldiers. "[75] The night of 31 March, the 316th Division attacked Eliane 2. Dien Bien Phu resulted in severe political consequences." (6:35) The French defeat was indeed an utter disaster for both France and America who, by 1954, was underwriting 80% of French . A total of 15 women served on flights to Điện Biên Phủ. As part of a doc on military blunders, there is a long segment (starting at ~30:30) on the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Those two areas were held by five understrength battalions, composed of Frenchmen, Legionnaires, Vietnamese, North Africans, and Tais. [98] Of 10,863 prisoners (including Vietnamese fighting for the French), only 3,290 were repatriated four months later;[99] however, the losses figure may include the 3,013 prisoners of Vietnamese origin whose fate is unknown.[100]. [128], 1954 battle of the First Indochina War; decisive Viet Minh victory over the French, War reports (Picture galleries and captions). [45] Eden, however, doubted that intervention could have saved Dien Bien Phu, and felt "it might have far reaching consequences". Historians disagree regarding the moniker, with Martin Windrow maintaining that de Galard was referred to by the name by the garrison itself, but Michael Kenney and Bernard Fall maintained it was added by outside press agencies. The radio operator in his last words stated: "The enemy has overrun us. Former French fortified positions such as Beatrice, Gabrielle, Eliane, the Bailey bridge and de Castries' headquarters bunker have been preserved, all in relatively-good condition. By ousting a colonial power from within its borders, the communist forces of Ho Chi Minh returned some of the country's pride, as well as some of its land, to the Vietnamese people. 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. Artillery pieces were sited within well-constructed and camouflaged casemates. Viet Minh forces overran the base in early May, prompting the French government to seek an end to the fighting with the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954. [20], Navarre began searching for a way to stop the Viet Minh threat to 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. I feel the end is approaching, but we will fight to the finish." With Donald Pleasence, Patrick Catalifo, Jean-François Balmer, Ludmila Mikaël. [81][82] The Viet Minh repeated the isolation and probing attacks against Huguette 1, and overran the fort on the morning of 22 April. Béatrice comprised three separate strong points forming a triangle with the point facing north. In July, the Viet Minh and France sign an armistice. [59], Following a five-hour ceasefire on the morning of 14 March, Viet Minh artillery resumed pounding French positions. [62], The northwestern outpost Anne-Marie was defended by Tai troops, members of an ethnic minority loyal to the French. This is a case -study examination of operations characterized as small separated unit operations with great strategic significance without the benefit of secure ground lines of communication linked to secure support bases. [115] Moreover, Dulles reportedly mentioned the possibility of lending atomic bombs to the French for use at Điện Biên Phủ in April,[116] Dulles tried to put more pressure on the British, and asked Eden for British support for American air action to save Dien Bien Phu. He said that this change of plan was the hardest decision of his military career.[54]. Dien Bien Phu is 474km from Hanoi via highways 279 and 6 or by plane (one hour flight). The loss posed a significant threat to Eliane 4, and the French wanted to eliminate that threat. Few would survive. For the Viet Minh, the result . 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