Battle of Dien Bien Phu

Dien Bien Phu is a valley and small town in North Vietnam, 260 miles northwest of Hanoi and the place of the decisive battle that defeated France in keeping control of colonial Indochina. In military discussion, Dien Bien Phu has also become a synonym for extremely unwise decisions to hold a seemingly strong defensive position, against which the enemy will, cooperating with the defender's plans, destroy himself against the impregnable fortifications. Unfortunately, the Viet Minh, commanded by Vo Nguyen Giap, did not play the part the French commander, Henri Navarre, had written for them.

The place
That the correct Vietnamese name for the area is not even Dien Bien Phu characterizes the misunderstandings that went into the battle. Properly, the area centers on a village called Muong Thanh by the T'ai tribesmen of the area.

The opponents

 * Vo Nguyen Giap
 * Van Tien Dung
 * Chu Huy Man
 * Nguyen Huu An


 * Henri Navarre
 * Christian de Castries

Establishing the base
"Mission creep" was among the many French military sins. Originally, Navarre had planned to block Viet Minh access to Laos, and interfere with Giap's supply lines and his drug trade. As the Geneva conference of 1954 approached, however, he felt under pressure to produce a decisive victory.

Lessons learned
When North Vietnamese and American troops faced one another at another remote valley, both sides had Dien Bien Phu in mind at the Battle of Khe Sanh.