Battle of Dien Bien Phu
. Artillery, as well as ten M-24 light tanks and numerous aircraft were committed to the garrison as well. The garrison comprised French regular troops (notably elite paratroop units plus artillery), Foreign Legionaires, Algerian and Moroccan tirailleurs, and locally recruited Indochinese infantry.
All told, the Viet Minh had moved 50,000 regular troops (Davidson 223) into the hills surrounding the valley, totaling five divisions including the 351
st Heavy Division made up entirely of heavy artillery. Artillery and AA guns, which outnumbered the French artillery by about four to one (Davidson 223-224), were moved into camouflaged positions overlooking the valley. The French came under sporadic Viet Minh artillery fire for the first time on
January 31,
1954 and patrols encountered the Viet Minh in all directions. The battle had been joined, and the French were now surrounded.
 |
The French disposition at Dien Bien Phu, as of March 1954. The French took up positions on a series of fortified hills (shown in green). The southermost, Isabelle, was dangerously isolated. The Viet Minh positioned their 5 divisions (the 304th, 308th, 312th, 316th, and 351st) in the surrounding areas to the north and east. From these areas, the Viet Minh had a clear line of sight on the French fortifications and were able to accurately rain down artillery on the French positions. |
Things changed in early March, 1954, when it became clear that an increasing number of Viet Minh (Vietnamese Allied) troops were moving into the area. The battle proper opened on
March 13 when, much to the surprise of the French, the Viet Minh unleashed a massive
artillery barrage. By the end of the first night 9,000 shells had fallen on the area, and the Beatrice and Gabrielle positions had both fallen, albeit at huge cost to the attackers of over 2,500 men. In a major logistical feat, the Viet Minh had dragged scores of artillery pieces up steeply forested hillsides that the French had written off as impassable. The French artillery commander, Colonel Piroth, distraught at his inability to bring counterfire on the well-camouflaged Viet Minh batteries, went into his dugout and killed himself with a
hand grenade. He was buried there in great secrecy to prevent loss of morale among the French troops.
The French responded by
parachuting in reinforcements, but they were fired on by
anti-aircraft guns, another surprise on the part of the Viet Minh. Considering the vital need for air supply, this was a troubling development for the defenders of the base. The French also started using their
ground attack aircraft against the artillery, but there were not enough to have any real effect, as the guns were well hidden.
Realizing the importance of the air supply, Giap switched from the costly massed attacks, which were starting to bring his men to a point of mutiny, to a steady encroachment, conducting a web of trenches and artillery bombardments. In addition, the Viet Minh started the process of digging long trenches towards the middle of the camp, covering their movements from direct fire, and allowing for a buildup and assault under cover. The first runway fell after a five-day advance from the
18th to the
23rd. The last aircraft landed on the
28th on the second runway, but was destroyed in the process. The French responded with an offensive of their own on the 28th, attacking anti-aircraft positions. On the
31st the French recaptured two of the hilltop fortifications, Dominique and Eliane, but later had to evacuate them due to lack of reinforcements.(Fall,204)
With resupply now entirely by parachute, supply flow started to dwindle. A good portion of the
airdropped supplies landed in Viet Minh-controlled areas, giving them much needed
matériel. The Vietnamese had essentially won the battle at this point, and they referred to the remainder of the battle as "slowly bleeding the dying elephant". During the last week of April the yearly
monsoon arrived, further reducing the effectiveness of any air support that could be given. Trenches became hazards, and bunkers collapsed. The last replacements—4,306 soldiers under Major
Marcel Bigeard, parachuted in between
March 14 and
May 6—did not even make up for the losses suffered between those dates, 5,500. The French launched "Operation Condor" in April to relieve the garrison by sending a relief force from the Laotian capital to the valley. But the force became stalled in the featureless Laotian jungle and the garrison was isolated.
The French saw that defeat was imminent, but they sought to hold on till the
Geneva peace meeting, which took place on
April 26. The last French offensive took place on
May 4, but it was ineffective. The Viet Minh then began to hammer the fort with newly acquired Russian rocket artillery. Giap mounted his final assault on
May 1. From all sides the Viet Minh troops attacked the French positions and despite fierce resistance from the French garrison (by now consisting primarily of
paratroopers and
Foreign Legionnaires), Dominique, Eliane and Huguette were overrun over the next three days. By then, the French food rations were down to only five days and many of the troops were low on ammunition. Their hospital, short on medical supplies, was overcrowding with dead and wounded and the French morale was beginning to crack.
The final fall took two days,
May 6th and
7th, during which the French fought on but were eventually overrun by a huge frontal assault. The final assault was on May 7, where after another massive Viet Minh artillery barrage, 25,000 of Giap's remaining men attacked the fewer than 3,000 French troops in the shrinking perimeter. The Viet Minh poured into the remaining French defenses and despite determined resistance from the French, the equally determined Viet Minh reached the French headquarters by 17:30 hours and d'Castries surrendered.
Strongpoint Isabelle held out another 24 hours. On the night of
May 7, the garrison at Isabelle made a break out attempt. The main body never got out of the valley, however, about seventy men did escape to join up with the french forces in Laos. (Davidson, 269)
At least 2,200 members of the 16,000-strong French forces died during the battle. Of the 50,000-100,000 or so Viet Minh involved, there were estimates of nearly 8,000 killed and another 15,000 wounded. (Fall,484 & 487)
Prisoners
The 11,000 or more prisoners taken at Dien Bien Phu were the greatest number the Viet Minh had ever captured: one-third of the total captured during the entire war. The prisoners were divided into groups. The fit and walking wounded were force-marched over 250 miles to prison camps to the north and east. Hundreds died of disease on the way. The wounded, counted at 4,436, were given basic
triage until the
Red Cross arrived, removing 838 and giving better aid to the remainder. The remainder was then also sent into detention.
Prison camp was even worse. The survivors of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu (many of them Legionnaires of German origin) were constantly starved, beaten, and heaped with abuse. Many died. The Viet Minh used the presence of veteran
World War II Wehrmacht and
Waffen-SS soldiers serving under the
Foreign Legion as
propaganda against the French cause. About 3,300 malnourished prisoners were released in 1958. North African prisoners were treated somewhat better than their French counterparts in an effort to win them over to the cause of anti-colonialism.
Political ramifications
The victory by the Viet Minh led to the
1954 Geneva accords, which partitioned Vietnam into
communist North Vietnamese and French
South Vietnamese administered zones. This partition was supposed to be temporary, and the two zones were supposed to be reunited by national elections in 1956. After the French withdrawal, the
U.S. supported the southern government under Emperor
Bao Dai as chief of state and his Prime Minister
Ngo Dinh Diem, which opposed the agreement, arguing that
Ho Chi Minh from the North had been killing Northern patriots and terrorising people both in the North and the South. This dispute would eventually escalate into the Viet Nam War (Second Indochina War).
The defeat in Indochina seriously damaged French prestige elsewhere in their colonial empire, notably the North African territories from where many of the troops who fought at Dien Bien Phu had been recruited. By 1956 both Morocco and Tunisia had gained independence and a major war for independence had taken hold in
Algeria.
In 1992, French director
Pierre Schoendoerffer made a documentary film,
Diên Biên Phu, which depicts the battle.
*
Davidson, Phillip B.
Vietnam at War. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 0195067924
*
Charles Maisonneuve.
Dien Bien Phu. edition Lariviere , Paris.
*
Fall, Bernard B.
Hell in a Very Small Place. The Siege of Dien Bien Phu. De Capo Press, New York. ISBN 0306802317
*
DienBienPhu.org in English*
Memorial-Indochine.org in English*
An interview with Vo Nguyen Giap*
Indochina - History links for French involvement in Indochina, casahistoria.net
