During the last months of the First Indochina War in 1954, French General Henri Navarre believed that he could get rid of the Viet Minh Communist guerrilla if he concentrated his forces at the valley of Dien Bien Phu, an isolated location deep into enemy territory.
Navarre believed that strict French training and artillery superiority would be more than enough to destroy the enemy, but he was quickly proven wrong.
When the Viet Minh finally attacked, Navarre was surprised by the 50,000-strong army and countless artillery pieces that his counterpart, General Võ Nguyên Giap, was able to put together and transport through the jungle.
Navarre had cornered himself into a zone where retreat was impossible, so it would either be France’s defining victory, or the beginning of the end of French Indochina…
VIDEO HERE (14 minutes)
Yeah, because what was wrong in putting your forces (including artillery) in the bottom of a deep valley with limited roads?
ReplyDeleteI only see the massive death toll that took place after france was allowed to keep Vietnam after WW2. A country that couldn't even defend itself should never have had her little colonies returned. Uncle Ho was even on our side during WW2.
ReplyDeleteI think our geniuses were trying to get de Gaulle to join NATO, even after it became obvious he had no interest in doing so.
DeleteBut, the US still followed their advice, because they were the ex-spurts.
at one of the Conferences, FDR made it very clear the French could not enter Indochina without a date of Independence for the Viet Namese. FDR died and the French moved in.
DeleteNever get involved in a land war in Asia. How many times has the US. government ignored that axiom?
ReplyDeleteInconceivable! (Sorry. I'll see myself out)
DeleteDin Din Poo, as LBJ so quaintly put it, was the most famous of a large number of similar missteps by the French, the ambush of Groupement Mobil 100 being another. See Street Without Joy by Bernard Fall for more about all this in general and his famous Hell In A Very Small Place for Dien Bien Phu specifically. Even 60 years after he got killed, Fall is still a serious source for information on French involvement and the beginning of ours.
ReplyDelete+1000 If those books are not in your personal library you should rectify that situation.
DeleteThe first being never get involved in a land war in Asia but only slightly lesser known: never go in against a cicelean when DEATH is on the line!
ReplyDeleteThe first being never get involved in a land war in Asia but only slightly lesser known: never go in against a cicelean when DEATH is on the line!
ReplyDeleteWolff, let me modify your statement. Never get in a war unless you intend to win. If your Army doesn't intend to drink the enemies blood from their skull, join the girl scouts. btays
ReplyDeleteAnd yet there followed in 1968 the battle of Khe Sanh. Do Generals ever learn?
ReplyDeleteYes, they do. Khe Sanh was in easy air range of several bases, supported by other positions, was close enough to be relieved by ground forces. None of that was true of Dien Bien Phu. Plus, Khe Sanh wasn't established as bait like Dien Phu Phu was. It started in late 1966, with it being used as a base for offensive operations through 1967. The siege Bagan in January, 1968 and ran for a bit over two months with the NVA retreating after taking heavy losses, unable to ever mount the kind of attacks they'd wanted to make. Khe Sanh was what the French hoped Dien Bien Phu would be, and the NVA failed utterly to recreate their earlier victory over the French.
DeleteIf France's military was a good as their propaganda they would have won WWll without allied help in one week. And crushed the Vietminh in one day.
ReplyDeleteCharles de Gaulle requested the U.S. come to the Frogs aid. In 1950 President Harry S. Truman authorized direct financial and military assistance to the French.
ReplyDeleteInteresting read:
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/remembering-vietnam-online-exhibit-episodes-1-4
after 1950, 80% of all French war costs were paid by the USA. We in fact, paid the French to fight the Commies. France wanted out of Indochina but we paid them off.
DeleteTowards the end, they asked for us to use nukes on the Viet Minh to break the siege. We refused.
DeleteFrance losing that battle is what sucked us in to that huge mistake.
ReplyDelete