Dien Bien Phu: 55 days of hell
-Battle that ended the Indochina war.
-10 000 French Union soldiers attempting to hold an armed camp
VS 50 000 Viet Minh forces
-Worst disasters of in French Military history
French Plan:
-Trap and destroy the best Viet Minh units by offering one French armed camp as bait
- French commander in chief thought that the French would have enough machine guns, heavy artillery and tanks to hold off an attacking force of up to 20 000 Viet Minh
- The heavily fortified army base was surrounded by an inner ring of strong points codenamed Huguette, Francoise, Claudine, Elaine, Dominique, Anne-Marie, Gabrielle and Beatrice
Location:
-A village surrounded by mountains and thick jungle
-Only link to French main supply base in Hanoi
-French commander in chief relied on air travel to bring in supplies and troops as the road to Dien Bien Phu was by a very dangerous and mountainous route
Viet Minh Strategy:
-Viet Minh soldiers watched the skies for French planes flying into Dien Bien Phu
-Soldiers walked 120 kilometres to Diem Bian Phu, enlisting supporters as porters of heavy artillery and weapons along the way.
Geneva conference:
-Conference in Geneva in April of 1954 to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire in Indochina.
-Was a gathering of countries which agreed to end the war and restore peace in Indochina.
-The agreement was between Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, France, Laos, the People's Republic of China, the State of Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. The United States refused to participate in the conference or recognize the accords.
The Last Battle:
-As Viet Minh artillery pounded down onto the French camp and defeat was obvious by the end of the first day
-However, it took until 7 May when Vietminh soldiers finally broke through the three inner rings of strongpoints (Domonique, Claudine and Francoise) and fought more than 20 hours of ceaseless combat did the Last Battle end.