Battle Of Bien Dien Phu Essay

The Battle of Bien Dien Phu was a decisive battle apart of the first Indochina War that occurred during 1946-1954. This war as a stepping stone for the U.S to help South Vietnam battle communism. Dien Bien Phu was a town in northwest Vietnam 350 kilometers from Hanoi in a remote valley near the Vietnam-Laos border that had an isolated air base that used by the Japanese after World War II. After the French occupied the Dien Bien valley in 1953, Viet Minh forces with Chinese aid were able to destroy the France’s use of an airfield. Viet Minh forces surrounded the area with troops and over ran the French numbers by having at least 30,000 more troops than the French forces. The French commander, Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque was still able

The Viet Minh soldiers then tried to hit the French colony of Laos to slow them down but the French couldn’t hold them back but then the Viet Minh forces ran out of supplies, so they were forced to retreat again. Later into the year, the French strengthened their defenses, so they can prepare for incoming Viet Minh attacks coming from the northwest of Vietnam. The French colonel set up seven outposts Isabelle, Huguette, Dominique, Claudine, Gabrielle, Beatrice, and Anne-Marie up in the northern and western parts of Vietnam and Laos with French colonel Christian de Castries having his headquarters centered in between four of the strong points. With the town of Dien Bien Phu being surrounded by a jungle it gave the Viet Minh forces an advantage. The Viet Minh forces were able to successfully put the French forces under a siege for 57 days starting March 13th to May 7th by outnumbering the French’s 15,000 troops by having over 25,000 more troops and being able to easily to destroy each of the French’s outpost. The guerilla warfare tactics, heavy artillery, and the since the French were running out of supplies due to lack of airfields, the Viet Minh was able to stop the French from advancing and attempting to make a mark on Southeast Asia