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THE
12 DECISIVE BATTLES
OF THE
THREE INDO-CHINA WARS

presented by
DAVE 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 govt thus 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 & Japanese
thus were pro-British & pro-USA.
1945 Potsdam 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 1
st
Indo-China War. 2a
The VIET MINH
can be thought of
as the Viet Cong
of 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 relief
force French onto defence;
6) 1950-1953 wins and losses to each
side battle honours very even
(losses never admitted by Vietnamese);
7)

8)



FACTORS

French national prestige, economics
USA stop global communism, strategic
China deny Soviet access to Indian Ocean
Soviet keep China hemmed in
Vietnamese nationalism, self-determination.


THE NATURE OF THE WAR

For the Vietnamese:
Political, with military support;

For all non-Vietnamese:
Military, with political support.


1953 Giap invades Laos (part of
French Indo-China) focus on support;
France wants to interdict Giaps supply
lines so 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 1953 Operation Castor

Six Battalions of French Paratroopers from
1
st
and 2
nd
Airborne 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
4
Commander 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 1953 Operation Castor

Six Battalions of French Paratroopers from
1
st
and 2
nd
Airborne 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
established reputedly named after the former
mistresses of the French Commander,
Colonel de Castries, but in fact, just 9 names
starting alphabetically from A to I.
Anne-Marie
Huguette
Francoise
Beatrice
Dominique
Eliane
HQ
Claudine
Gabrielle
1km
Isabelle
5
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Nam Yum River
N
Dien
Bien
Phu
0
0
1 mile
1km
HIGH
GROUND
20 Nov 1953 Operation Castor

Six Battalions of French Paratroopers from
1
st
and 2
nd
Airborne 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
established reputedly named after the former
mistresses of the French Commander,
Colonel de Castries, but in fact, just 9 names
starting alphabetically from A to I.

Air
strip
Anne-Marie
Huguette
Francoise
Beatrice
Dominique
Eliane
HQ
Claudine
Gabrielle
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.

1km
Isabelle
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 road built and brought in a
newly-formed Heavy Weapons Division - the 371
st
.
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
Gabrielle
Viet Minh
312
nd

Division
Viet Minh
308
th

Division
Viet Minh
316
th

Division
Viet Minh
308
th

Division
1km
Isabelle
7
VM 304
th

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
Gabrielle
Viet Minh
312
nd
Division
Viet Minh
308
th

Division
Viet Minh
316
th

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 15
th
, with
1000 French and up to 2000 Viet Minh dead.
Anne-Marie 3 days after that, on the 18
th
when
most of the defenders (Tai- an ethnic Vietnamese
minority loyal to France) deserted.

Viet Minh
308
th

Division 312
Div
312
Div
308
Div
308
Div
308
Div
316
Div
1km
Isabelle
8
VM 304
th

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
308
th

Division
Viet Minh
316
th

Division
While he awaited the arrival of his reinforcements,
Giap changed his strategy from direct assault to
a slow encirclement of encroaching trenches.
(Propaganda again 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
Div
308
Div
308
Div
316
Div
316
Div
1km
Isabelle
9
VM 304
th

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
Div
308
Div
308
Div
316
Div
316
Div
312
Div
312
Div
308
Div
316
Div
316
Div
308
Div
J uno
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.

1km
Isabelle
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 captivity
to 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
J uno
Sparrowhawk
By 1730hrs on 7 May it was over.
The French Command Bunkers were captured.

1km
Isabelle
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
divided the former French colony
at the 17
th
Parallel (the DMZ).

However, within 5 years, the North
was infiltrating, subverting and
destabilising the South so much
that a Second Indo-China War
became inevitable in 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 BATTLES
OF THE
THREE INDO-CHINA WARS

presented by
DAVE SABBEN MG
01 - Dien Bien Phu
Questions?
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THE FINE PRINT
This 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 and
time 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 COMMERCIAL
As 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 hours about the time of the
battle so 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.html or
VN%20Decisive%20Battlefields%20Tours.html

An optional extension to the Long Tan Trek Tour takes in the main
US 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 once a-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 the
popular tourist sites. Tourist tours can be added before or after.

If passing this slide show to others,
please dont remove this slide .
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VICTORY MONUMENT
Note all the elements of
victory at Dien Bien Phu.
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