Editing Battle of Dien Bien Phu (section)

==Legacy==
=== Comparison with Khe Sanh ===
{{main|Battle of Khe Sanh}}
In January 1968, during the [[Vietnam War]], the [[North Vietnamese Army]] under Võ Nguyên Giáp's command initiated a [[siege]] and artillery [[bombardment]] on the [[US Marine Corps]] base at [[Khe Sanh]] in [[South Vietnam]], as they did at Điện Biên Phủ. A number of factors were significantly different between Khe Sanh and Điện Biên Phủ, however. Khe Sanh was much closer to a US supply base ({{convert|45|km|mi|disp=or|abbr=on}}) compared to Điện Biên Phủ's proximity to the nearest French base ({{convert|200|km|mi|disp=or|abbr=on}}).{{sfn|Rottman|2005|p=8}} At Khe Sanh, the US Marines held the high ground, and their artillery forced the North Vietnamese to use their own artillery from a much greater distance. By contrast, at Điện Biên Phủ, the French artillery (six [[105 mm calibre|105&nbsp;mm]] batteries and one battery of four [[155 mm caliber|155&nbsp;mm howitzers]] and mortars{{sfn|Fall|1967|p=480}}) was only sporadically effective.<ref name="Rottman p9">{{harvnb|Rottman|2005|p=9}}</ref> Furthermore, by 1968, the US military presence in Vietnam dwarfed that of the French in 1954, and included numerous technological advances such as effective helicopters.

Khe Sanh received 18,000 tons of aerial resupplies during the 77-day battle, whereas during the 167 days that the French forces at Điện Biên Phủ held out, they received only 4,000 tons.<ref name="Rottman p9" /> Also, the US Air Force dropped 114,810 tons of bombs on the North Vietnamese at Khe Sanh, roughly as many as dropped on all of Japan in 1945 during [[World War II]].{{sfn|Rottman|2005|p=10}}

It is also possible that Giáp never intended to capture Khe Sanh in the first place, and that Khe Sanh was used as a diversion for the upcoming [[Tet Offensive]].<ref>Palmer, p. 219.</ref>

===Battlefield today===
Điện Biên Phủ today is a popular Vietnam historical tourist attraction. It has a modern museum and much of the battlefield is preserved, including several of the fortified French positions, the bunkered French headquarters, the Viet Minh headquarters complex and a number of memorials.<ref>{{cite web |title=Battle of Dien Bien Phu |url=https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/battle-of-dien-bien-phu |website=History |date=27 September 2021 |access-date=7 April 2024}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="220px" heights="220px">
File:Phao phong khong To Vinh Dien.JPG|A Soviet [[37 mm automatic air defense gun M1939 (61-K)|37mm automatic air-defense cannon]] used by the Viet Minh during the battle.
File:Captured French artillery at the Dien Bien Phu Museum.jpg|Captured French artillery and other military vehicles, including an [[M24 Chaffee]], displayed at the Dien Bien Phu Museum.
File:Điện Biên Phủ2.JPG|The massive explosion crater at the top of Eliane 2, created by Viet Minh sappers who blew up the fortified outpost during the battle.
File:French memorial, Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam.jpg|The French memorial of the battle.
File:Dien Bien Phu, statue.jpg|The Viet Minh memorial of the battle
</gallery>

===In popular culture===
* The battle was a subject in the 1992 French film [[Dien Bien Phu (film)|''Dien Bien Phu'']] written and directed by [[Pierre Schoendoerffer]],  who had been present at the battle as a war cameramen.
* The beginning of the 1966 film ''[[Lost Command]]'' starring [[Anthony Quinn]] showed the battle towards its end. The film was adapted from the French novel [[The Centurions (Lartéguy novel)|''Les Centurions'']] written by French journalist and former soldier [[Jean Lartéguy]].
* The 1989 pop rock song [[We Didn't Start the Fire]] by American artist [[Billy Joel]] mentions the battle ('Dien Bien Phu Falls') in the second verse of the song.