Dien Bien Phu; Readings for History 463
Colorado Springs, CO: United States Air Force Academy, n.d. [c1970]. Reprint edition {Pirated?]. Wraps. Starts with Chapter 1, page 17, The Military Situation in summer 1953. Ends at page 254. Ends with an interview on the revolutions in French colonial Africa. Fold-out maps, Illustrations. Rear cover is lose at bottom staple. Cover has some wear and soiling. Võ Nguyên Giáp (25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) nicknamed "Red Napoleon" was a Vietnamese general who is regarded as having been one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century. He served as the military commander of the Vi t Minh, the commander of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), minister of defense, and deputy prime minister. Giáp served as the military leader of the Viet Minh resistance against the Japanese occupation of Vietnam. Giáp was a crucial military commander in two wars: the First Indochina War of 1946–1954, fighting against the French, and the Vietnam War of 1955–1975, fighting against South Vietnam and its American backers. He participated in several historically significant battles, including Cao B ng in 1950, Hòa Bình in 1951–1952, i n Biên Ph in 1954, the Tet Offensive in 1968, the Easter Offensive in 1972, and the final Ho Chi Minh Campaign of 1975. Giáp was a mastermind military builder; he had transformed the rebels to a 'fine light-infantry army' fielding cryptography, artillery and advanced logistics and capable of challenging a larger, modernized French Far East Expeditionary Corps and the Vietnamese National Army. He was a very effective logistician, laying the foundation of the Ho Chi Minh trail, recognized as one of the great feats of military engineering. It appears to be an undated pirate edition printed by the US Air Force Academy of Vo Nguyen Giap's account of the Vietnamese's stunning and historic victory over the French in 1954. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the French Union's colonial Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The United States was officially not a party to the war, but it was secretly involved by providing financial and material aid to the French Union, which included CIA contracted American personnel participating in the battle. The Peoples Republic of China and the Soviet Union similarly provided vital support to the Viet Minh, including most of their artillery and ammunition. The French began an operation to insert, then support, their soldiers at i n Biên Ph , deep in the west of Tonkin, up in the hills of northwestern Vietnam. The operation's purpose was to cut off Viet Minh supply lines into the neighboring Kingdom of Laos, and draw the Viet Minh into a major confrontation in order to cripple them. The plan was to resupply the French position by air - based on the belief that the Viet Minh had no anti-aircraft capability. The Viet Minh, however, under General Võ Nguyên Giáp, surrounded and besieged the French. They brought in vast amounts of heavy artillery (including anti-aircraft guns) and managed to move these bulky weapons through difficult terrain up the rear slopes of the mountains. They then dug tunnels through the mountains and arranged the guns to target the French position. In March, a massive artillery bombardment by the Viet Minh ensued. The strategic positioning of their artillery made it nearly impervious to French counter-battery fire. Tenacious fighting on the ground ensued, reminiscent of the trench warfare of World War I. At times, the French repulsed Viet Minh assaults on their positions while supplies and reinforcements were delivered by air. As key positions were overrun, the perimeter contracted, and the air resupply on which the French had placed their hopes became impossible. As the Viet Minh anti-aircraft fire took its toll, fewer and fewer of those supplies reached the French. The garrison was overrun in May after a two-month siege, and most of the French forces surrendered. A few of them escaped to Laos. The French government in Paris then resigned, and the new Prime Minister, the left-of-centre Pierre Mendès France, supported French withdrawal from Indochina. Of the 11,000 French troops captured, only 3,300 survived imprisonment. The Battle of i n Biên Ph was decisive; the war ended shortly afterward and the 1954 Geneva Accords were signed. France agreed to withdraw its forces from all its colonies in French Indochina, while stipulating that Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, with control of the north given to the Viet Minh as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, and the south becoming the State of Vietnam, nominally under Emperor B o i, preventing Ho Chi Minh from gaining control of the entire country. Condition: Good.
Keywords: French Indochina, Vietnam War, Dien Bien Phu, Battle, Siege, Revolutionary Movement, Anti-colonialism. War of National Liberation, Guerrilla War, French Far East Expeditionary Corps, Military Training, Military Strategy, Military Tactics
[Book #83602]
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