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THE
12 DECISIVE BATTLESOF THETHREE INDO-CHINA WARS
presented byDAVE SABBEN MG
01 - Dien Bien Phu
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BACKGROUND
The French ruled Indo-China since late 1800s,
always against nationalist movements.
1920s: The Vietnamese Nationalist Party.
1930: Ho Chi Minh & Communist Party.Then WW2: When France fell to Germany,
Indo-China part of Vichy govtthus pro-Japan.
Japan was at war with China (since 1937)
so they entered Viet Nam to flank China.
1941: VN Independence Movement = Viet Minh,
who opposed both French & Japanesethus were pro-British & pro-USA.
1945Potsdam Conf: after the war:
NorthVN was to be administered by China;
SouthVN was to be administered by the British.
1945: Ho Chi Minh with US support
declared Democratic Republic of Vietnam.1946: French troops arrived back in Viet Nam.
Viet Minh & French drove Chinese forces out.
Then Viet Minh opposed French for power:
Start of 1stIndo-China War. 2a
The VIET MINH
can be thought of
as the Viet Congof the 40s & 50s.
Their official name
was the League
for the
Independence of
Vietnam.
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2b
CONDUCT
1) The French immediately seized the
major ports, towns and infrastructure;
2) The Viet Minh seized control of the
countryside and rural communities;
3) The French established chains of forts
and garrisons along major routes;
4) By 1949, 300,000 Viet Minh under Gen,
Giap, with huge China & Soviet support;
5) Viet Minh hit outposts, ambushing reliefforce French onto defence;
6) 1950-1953wins and losses to each
sidebattle honours very even
(losses never admitted by Vietnamese);
7)
8)
FACTORS
Frenchnational prestige, economics
USAstop global communism, strategic
Chinadeny Soviet access to Indian Ocean
Sovietkeep China hemmed in
Vietnamesenationalism, self-determination.
THE NATURE OF THE WAR
For the Vietnamese:
Political, with military support;
For all non-Vietnamese:
Military, with political support. 1953Giap invades Laos (part of
French Indo-China)focus on support;France wants to interdict Giapssupply
linesso they set up
Dien Bien Phu
General Vo Nguyen Giap
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Heres a simplified conventional map
(vertical view),
and an oblique-view map-diagram
3a
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3b
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20 Nov 1953Operation Castor
Six Battalions of French Paratroopers from
1stand 2ndAirborne Battle Groups (3500 men)
parachute into the valley around the village of
Dien Bien Phu.Nam Yum River
N
Dien
Bien
Phu
0
0
1 mile
1km
HIGH
GROUND
4Commander of the French forces,
Colonel Christian De Castries.
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Nam Yum River
N
Dien
Bien
Phu
0
0
1 mile
1km
HIGH
GROUND
20 Nov 1953Operation Castor
Six Battalions of French Paratroopers from
1stand 2ndAirborne Battle Groups (3500 men)
parachute into the valley around the village of
Dien Bien Phu.
Within 10 days, the force built to 10,800 men.
Aninterlocking network of strong-pointswas
establishedreputedly named after the former
mistresses of the French Commander,
Colonel de Castries, but in fact, just 9 namesstarting alphabetically from A to I.
Anne-Marie
Huguette
Francoise
Beatrice
Dominique
Eliane
HQ
Claudine
Gabriel le
1kmIsabelle
5
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Nam Yum River
N
Dien
Bien
Phu
0
0
1 mile
1km
HIGH
GROUND
20 Nov 1953Operation Castor
Six Battalions of French Paratroopers from
1stand 2ndAirborne Battle Groups (3500 men)
parachute into the valley around the village of
Dien Bien Phu.
Within 10 days, the force built to 10,800 men.
An interlocking network of strong-points was
establishedreputedly named after the former
mistresses of the French Commander,
Colonel de Castries, but in fact, just 9 namesstarting alphabetically from A to I.
Air
strip
Anne-Marie
Huguette
Francoise
Beatrice
Dominique
Eliane
HQ
Claudine
Gabriel le
Once operational, they then flew in more troops,artillery, transport, supplies, concrete, wire etc
Artillery was dug in. Tanks and fighter aircraft
arrived, and the defences were hardened up.
1kmIsabelle
6
The first priority, after securing their ground
was to re-commission an old Japanese airstrip
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The Viet Minh reaction was to gather
all available forces to the valley.
In three months General Giap had gathered
3 Divisions onto the high ground overlooking
Dien Bien Phu, building that to 5 Divisions
(55,000 men) plus a 15,000-strong supply line.
He had a new supply roadbuilt and brought in a
newly-formed Heavy Weapons Division - the 371st
He stockpiled artillery and Anti-Aircraft ammunition
in the hills East of DBP. By the time he was ready,his artillery outnumbered the French 4 to 1.THE REALITY
By the end of January, 1954, Giap was in a
position to isolate DBP except from the air.
All he needed was to get the supplies in...
The propaganda machine was put to work:
Huge guns manhandled up steep slopes? The
reality was less spectacular, but just as deadly.
Nam Yum River
N
Dien
Bien
Phu
0
0
1 mile
1km
HIGH
GROUND
Air
strip
Anne-Marie
Huguette
Francoise
Beatrice
Dominique
Eliane
HQ
Claudine
Gabriel le
Viet Minh
312nd
Division
Viet Minh
308th
Division
Viet Minh
316th
Division
Viet Minh
308th
Division
1kmIsabelle
7VM 304th
Div opposes
Isabelle
HUGE GUNS
UP STEEP SLOPES
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Nam Yum River
N
Dien
Bien
Phu
0
0
1 mile
1km
HIGH
GROUND
1700 hrs, 13 March 1954
The siege of Dien Bien Phu began with a massive
Viet Minh barrage followed by human wave
assaults on the three northern outlying
positions: Gabrielle, Anne-Marie and Beatrice.
Air
strip
Anne-Marie
Huguette
Francoise
Beatrice
Dominique
Eliane
HQ
Claudine
Gabriel le
Viet Minh
312nd
Division
Viet Minh
308th
Division
Viet Minh
316th
Division
Beatrice fell quickly with 550 French KIA or
POW and 600 Viet Minh KIA and 1200 WIA.
Gabrielle fell 2 days later on the 15th, with
1000 French and up to 2000 Viet Minh dead.
Anne-Marie 3 days after that, on the 18thwhen
most of the defenders (Tai- an ethnic Vietnameseminority loyal to France) deserted.
Viet Minh
308th
Division 312
Div
312
Div
308
Div
308
Div
308
Div
316
Div
1kmIsabelle
8VM 304th
Div opposes
Isabelle
The airstrip was now exposed and unusable.
The French could not evacuate their wounded or
land supplies, which now had to be parachuted in.
Anti-aircraft fire made the drops inaccurate, and
30% of drops fell outside the perimeter.
Ammo, food and water was rationed.
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Nam Yum River
N
Dien
Bien
Phu
0
0
1 mile
1km
HIGH
GROUND
The period 18 to 30 March was a lull.
Viet Minh forces in the north were exhausted.
While they were rested, those in the south
closed in on Isabelle, isolating its 1800 men.
Air
strip
Huguette
Francoise
Dominique
Eliane
HQ
Claudine
Viet Minh
308th
Division
Viet Minh
316th
Division
While he awaited the arrival of his reinforcements,
Giap changed his strategy from direct assault to
a slow encirclement of encroaching trenches.
(Propagandaagain came to the fore!)
The monsoon broke on 22 April.
From 31 March to 5 April, not yet fully resupplied
& rested, Giap ordered his forces to attack again,
now targeting Huguette, Dominique and Elaine.
312
Div
308
Div
308
Div
308
Div
316
Div
312
Div
312
Div308
Div
308
Div
316Div
316
Div
1kmIsabelle
9VM 304th
Div opposes
Isabelle
By the end of the first week of April, all three
strong-points had been breached but were held.
Once again, the Viet Minh were exhausted.
In mid-April several Viet Minh units mutinied.
Theyd been fighting for a month and had suffered
6000 killed, about 9000 wounded and 2500 POW.
33%. Giap called in fresh reserves from Laos.
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Nam Yum River
N
Dien
Bien
Phu
0
0
1 mile
1km
HIGH
GROUND
After intense fighting on 2, 3 and 4 May,
the remainder of Dominique and Elaine fell and the
Viet Minh were crossing the river to attack Claudine
On 7 May, despite heavy bombing of the hills,
the final assaults began.
25,000 Viet Minh against 3000 French
Air
strip
Huguette
Francoise
Dominique
Eliane
HQ
Claudine
The French hastily set up two more strong-points:
Sparrowhawk and Juno, to help protect the
HQ Command Post.
The position was just over one mile in diameter.
312
Div308
Div
308
Div
316Div
316
Div
312
Div
312
Div
308
Div
316
Div
316
Div
308
Div
Juno
Sparrowhawk
By 1 May, after more fighting, much of the area in
strong-points Dominique and Elaine were in
Viet Minh hands and Huguette had fallen.
The northern half of the airstrip was lost.
Resupply was stopped.
Isabelle was out of water and low on ammo.
1kmIsabelle
10
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Nam Yum River
N
Dien
Bien
Phu
0
0
1 mile
1km
HIGH
GROUND
In total, some 9500 French and Colonial troops
were marched off into captivityto join over 2000 from other battles.
In the space of just 4 months,
Over 8000 of these POWs died
at the hands of the Viet Minh.
Air
strip
Francoise HQ
Claudine
Isabelle survived for less than 24 hours.
1700 men attempted a breakout to Laos.
About 70 arrived.
312
Div
312
Div
308
Div
316
Div
316
Div
308
Div
Juno
Sparrowhawk
By 1730hrs on 7 May it was over.
The French Command Bunkers were captured.
1kmIsabelle
11
Giap lost over 20,000 men.
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Dien Bien Phu was decisive in that
it brought to an end the
First Indo-China War.
The French empire in Indo-China ended.
The loss of French prestige as a colonial
power triggered conflict in its other
colonies and protectorates.
Six months later, the Algerian War started.
By 1956, the Morocco and Tunisia gained
their independence. Others followed.
The Geneva Accords subsequently
dividedthe former French colony
at the 17thParallel (the DMZ).
However, within 5 years, the Northwas infiltrating, subverting and
destabilising the South so much
that a Second Indo-China War
became inevitablein 1959.Victory Monument on Hill D1 at
Dien Bien Phu. 16.2m high on 3.6m base.
The largest cast bronze statue in Viet Nam. 12
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THE
12 DECISIVE BATTLESOF THETHREE INDO-CHINA WARS
presented byDAVE SABBEN MG
01 - Dien Bien PhuQuestions?
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THE FINE PRINTThis Powerpoint show is copyright to Dave Sabben but is freely
available for any non-profit use. It may be downloaded free from
Daves website: www.sabben.com
It was prepared for presentation to those who join his Decisive
Battlefields and Long Tan Trek Tours of Viet Nam (see green
panel for the commercial) as introductions for the various battles.
Because the shows are live presentations, much more is in the
narrative than is included in the text on the slides.
The shows are intended to be introductions and overviews
not detailed expositions or analyses. Views and conclusions
are the authors and are not offered as the only possible
or even as fully comprehensive views.
Where possible, permissions have been obtained to use maps or
photos but some have been used without specific permission.
Copyright holders who want their material either not used or
credited, please contact Dave Sabben at
http://www.sabben.com/contact%20us.html
Anyone wishing to make an anonymous donation towards the cost andtime of putting this show together is invited to make a donation of any
amount to (Australian) Westpac bank account BSB# 733 000, Account#853 546 (branch = 360 Collins St, Melbourne), or (Australian) CBA bank
account BSB# 063 550, Account# 1024 7640 (branch = Hampton,Victoria), either account in the name of David Sabben.
If passing this slide show to others,
please dont remove this slide .
THE COMMERCIALAs at 2011, Dave Sabben leads one tour per year (second half of
October) to visit some of the areas of Australian/ANZAC
operations of 1966-1971. The highlight of these tours is to walk
the Long Tan battlefield with Dave (a platoon Commander in that
battle). The walk takes about 4 hoursabout the time of the
battleso the group goes to all the key locations of the battle and
hears about what happened pretty much in real time.
For further enquiry into these tours, please visit:
http://www.sabben.com/longtantrek/
and select VN%20Long%20Tan%20Trek%20Tours.htmlor
VN%20Decisive%20Battlefields%20Tours.html
An optional extension to the Long Tan Trek Tour takes in the mainUS battles of northern South Viet Nam including Da Nang, Hue,
the DMZ (including Khe Sanh) and the A Shau Valley (Hamburger
Hill), then visits both Hanoi (Hanoi Hilton, War Museum) and the
Dien Bien Phu valley (both Viet Minh and French positions).
As well as the oncea-year-in-October tours, Dave can arrange a
similar tour at any time of year for a group of 20 or more. Dates,
durations, standards of accommodation, inclusions etc will be all
your call. Please contact Dave (with numbers and preferences) at
http://www.sabben.com/contact%20us.html
Note that these are battlefield-oriented tours they do NOT go to thepopular tourist sites. Tourist tours can be added before or after.
If passing this slide show to others,
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PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS SLIDE
http://www.sabben.com/longtantrek/VN%20Long%20Tan%20Trek%20Tours.htmlhttp://www.sabben.com/http://www.sabben.com/longtantrek/VN%20Long%20Tan%20Trek%20Tours.htmlhttp://www.sabben.com/longtantrek/VN%20Long%20Tan%20Trek%20Tours.htmlhttp://www.sabben.com/longtantrek/VN%20Long%20Tan%20Trek%20Tours.htmlhttp://www.sabben.com/longtantrek/VN%20Long%20Tan%20Trek%20Tours.htmlhttp://www.sabben.com/longtantrek/VN%20Long%20Tan%20Trek%20Tours.htmlhttp://www.sabben.com/8/12/2019 Dien Bien Phu Main
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VICTORYMONUMENTNote all the elements of
victory at Dien Bien Phu.
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