Chinese media: “Dien Bien Phu – the Waterloo battle of the French in Vietnam” | Viettimes

VietTimes would like to introduce to readers the translation of the article about the Dien Bien Phu campaign by author Truong Quan Khac.

On March 13, 1954, the Vietnam People’s Army attacked the French army at Dien Bien Phu, the Dien Bien Phu campaign officially broke out. The French army failed one after another before the fierce attacks of the Vietnamese army. On May 7, the French army surrendered. After this campaign, France had to withdraw from Vietnam and end its colonial rule.

After World War II ended, France returned to Vietnam with the intention of continuing to maintain colonial rule here. To fight for independence for the country, the Vietnam People’s Army waged a resistance war against French colonialism, which was the First Indochina War, also known as the “French-Vietnamese War”.

Dien Bien Phu is a key military base controlling the Northwest region of Vietnam and Northern Laos, so the Dien Bien Phu campaign was a key battle in this war.

This battle can be compared to Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. Why did the French army with modern equipment lose the battle at Dien Bien Phu?

From a strategic and tactical perspective, the defeat of the French army was inevitable.

On the one hand, the French army believed that the Vietnamese army basically did not have enough strength to attack Dien Bien Phu. Because Dien Bien Phu is located in a basin with flat terrain in the middle, it is suitable for building an airport; Surrounded by dangerous mountains, easy to defend but difficult to attack.

On the other hand, the French army not only had overwhelming superiority in the air but also deployed more than 10,000 troops in Dien Bien Phu via air transport for a long time. The stationed force also includes artillery battalions and mortar companies. The French army used supplies dropped by parachute planes to establish a power network in Dien Bien Phu, each base had multi-layered firepower arrangements.

During World War I, in 1915, German troops attacked the French city of Verdun. The French army at that time resolutely resisted and quickly mobilized a large number of reinforcements and supplies. They fought bloody battles with the German army for nearly a year. The German army lost more than 400,000 troops and was forced to retreat after the attack failed.

Therefore, the French army called Dien Bien Phu “Verdun in Southeast Asia”.

They believed that the Vietnamese army lacked heavy weapons and anti-aircraft weapons, and if they attacked Dien Bien Phu, it would end in failure like the German army at Verdun in World War I.

The French army wanted to plan to build a fighting fortress based on the terrain of Dien Bien Phu to lure the Vietnamese army to surround it. Under the arrogant eyes of the French army, the Vietnamese army will soon make mistakes.

French artillery commander Piroth said there was no need for aerial fire support, saying: “I have more than enough fire to roast Ho Chi Minh’s troops.” Piroth did not even dig fortifications for the cannons, leading to the French artillery being continuously suppressed by the Vietnamese army in subsequent battles.

The terrain of Dien Bien Phu was easy to defend but difficult to attack, the French army had overwhelming superiority in the air… which was the reason why the French army was subjective in terms of strategy.

In addition, the French army neglected intelligence work and made double tactical mistakes.

On the one hand, the French army did not realize that the combat level of the Vietnamese army had been greatly improved thanks to the help of Soviet and Chinese military advisors. The Vietnamese army, which previously could only fight guerrilla warfare, has now been transformed into a regular army capable of mobile combat and attacking battlefields.

On the other hand, the French army did not notice that the combat equipment of the Vietnamese army had also been upgraded. The French defense lines were only built to deal with 75mm caliber guns, but the Vietnamese army used 105mm caliber guns just received from China for battles. China also provides Vietnam with weapons such as anti-aircraft machine guns, mortars and anti-tank guns.

During the battle, the French army made many tactical mistakes.

The first tactical mistake was over-reliance on airlift and parachute drops from aircraft. After the campaign broke out, the Vietnamese army began attacking bases and high points around Dien Bien Phu and quickly took over successfully. Because the jungle obscured it, the French army could not detect Vietnamese artillery fire and did not launch a counterattack.

It was difficult for French aircraft to detect Vietnamese artillery fire on the ground, on the contrary, they fell into panic. A French bomber was shot down while searching for Vietnamese troops.

Dien Bien Phu Airport was completely exposed to Vietnamese artillery fire. Combined with the intense anti-aircraft firepower of the Vietnamese army, the French army’s fragile air traffic line could no longer help maintain their fighting power at Dien Bien Phu.

Due to their special dependence on the air force, the French army attached great importance to protecting the airport but overlooked the battlefields around Dien Bien Phu.

It was only when the Vietnamese Army destroyed Dien Bien Phu airport and neighboring airports, gradually clearing the surrounding areas; The new French army discovered that they were trapped, like fish in a cage. Not only did they fail to achieve their intended goal of destroying the Vietnamese army, but the final retreat also became a problem.

The second tactical mistake was the use of refueling tactics. Before the campaign began, the French army, out of disdain for the enemy, believed that only about 20,000 troops were enough to deal with the Vietnamese army. However, after more than 40,000 Vietnamese troops began attacking Dien Bien Phu, the French army realized they could not resist. Therefore, in March, April and May, they reinforced Dien Bien Phu three times by parachute.

It was a typical tanker-style tactic, violating the taboo of military strategists. This type of French reinforcement not only failed to improve the war situation at Dien Bien Phu, but also caused more soldiers to be trapped, and air force pilots also suffered heavy losses.

On May 8, 1954, the French army officially surrendered to the Vietnamese army, and a large number of French soldiers were taken prisoner by the Vietnamese army. The Dien Bien Phu campaign ended.

According to Allhistory