Editing Battle of Dien Bien Phu (section)

==Battle==
{{further|Dien Bien Phu order of battle}}
===Béatrice===
[[File:Dien Bein Phu map.png|thumb|250px|French dispositions at Điện Biên Phủ, as of March 1954. The French took up positions on a series of fortified hills. The southernmost, Isabelle, was dangerously isolated. The Viet Minh positioned their five divisions (the 304th, 308th, 312th, 316th, and 351st) in the surrounding areas to the north and east. From these areas, the Viet Minh artillery had a clear line of sight to the French fortifications and were able to accurately target the French positions.]]

The Viet Minh assault began in earnest on 13 March 1954 with an attack on the northeastern outpost, ''Béatrice'', which was held by the 3rd Battalion, 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade. Viet Minh artillery opened a fierce bombardment with two batteries each of 105{{nbsp}}mm howitzers, 120{{nbsp}}mm mortars, and 75{{nbsp}}mm mountain guns (plus seventeen 57{{nbsp}}mm recoilless rifles and numerous 60{{nbsp}}mm and 81/82{{nbsp}}mm mortars). French command was disrupted at 18:30 when a shell hit the French command post, killing the battalion commander, Major Paul Pégot, and most of his staff. A few minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel [[Jules Gaucher]], commander of the entire central subsector, was also killed by artillery fire. The Viet Minh 312th Division then launched an assault with its 141st and 209th Infantry Regiments, using [[sapper]]s to breach the French obstacles.

''Béatrice'' comprised three separate strong points forming a triangle with the point facing north. In the southeast, strong point ''Beatrice''-3, its defenses smashed by 75{{nbsp}}mm mountain guns firing at point-blank range, was quickly overrun by the 209th Regiment's 130th Battalion. In the north, most of ''Beatrice''-1 was swiftly conquered by the 141st Regiment's 428th Battalion, but the defenders held out in corner of the position for a time because the attackers thought they had captured the entire strong point when they encountered an internal barbed wire barrier in the dark. In the southwest, the assault on ''Beatrice''-2 by the 141st Regiment's 11th Battalion did not fare well because its assault trenches were too shallow and portions of them had been flattened by French artillery. Its efforts to breach ''Beatrice''-2's barbed wire were stalled for hours by flanking fire from ''Beatrice''-1 and several previously-undetected bunkers on ''Beatrice''-2 that had been spared by the bombardment. The holdouts on ''Beatrice''-1 were eliminated by 22:30, and the 141st Regiment's 11th and 16th Battalions finally broke into ''Beatrice''-2 an hour later, though the strong point was not entirely taken until after 01:00 on 14 March.{{sfn|Boylan|Olivier|2018|pp=78–83}} Roughly 350 French legionnaires were killed, wounded, or captured. About 100 managed to escape and rejoin the French lines. The French estimated that Viet Minh losses totaled 600 dead and 1,200 wounded.<ref name="d236">{{harvnb|Davidson|1988|p=236}}</ref> According to the Viet Minh, they lost 193 killed and 137 wounded<ref>Một số trận đánh trong kháng chiến chống Pháp và chống Mỹ 1945-1975. Viện lịch sử quân sự Việt Nam, 1992. Tập 2. Trang 71</ref> The victory at ''Beatrice'' "galvanized the morale" of the Viet Minh troops.<ref name="d236" />

Much to French disbelief, the Viet Minh had employed direct artillery fire, in which each gun crew does its own [[artillery spotting]] (as opposed to indirect fire, in which guns are massed further away from the target, out of direct line of sight, and rely on a forward artillery spotter). Indirect artillery, generally held as being far superior to direct fire, requires experienced, well-trained crews and good communications, which the Viet Minh lacked.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=227}} Navarre wrote that, "Under the influence of Chinese advisers, the Viet Minh commanders had used processes quite different from the classic methods. The artillery had been dug in by single pieces...They were installed in shellproof dugouts, and fire point-blank from portholes... This way of using artillery and AA guns was possible only with the expansive ant holes at the disposal of the Viet Minh and was to make shambles of all the estimates of our own artillerymen."<ref>Navarre, p. 225</ref> Two days later, the French artillery commander, Colonel [[Charles Piroth]], distraught at his inability to silence the well-camouflaged Viet Minh batteries, went into his dugout and committed suicide with a [[grenade]].<ref name="Windrow, p. 412">{{harvnb|Windrow|2004|p=412}}</ref> He was buried there in secret to prevent loss of morale among the French troops.<ref name="Windrow, p. 412"/>

=== ''Gabrielle'' ===
[[File:Dân công dân tộc vận chuyển hàng ra mặt trận.jpg|thumb|300px|Viet Minh [[Hmong people|Hmong]] porters on their way to the battle; thousands were used to handle supplies, food, weapons and ammunition to the besiegers]]

Following a five-hour ceasefire on the morning of 14 March, Viet Minh artillery resumed pounding French positions. The airstrip, already closed since 16:00 the day before due to a light bombardment, was now put permanently out of commission.<ref>{{cite book |last=Simpson |first=Howard R. |title=Dien Bien Phu: the epic battle America forgot |date=May 1994 |isbn=0-02-881047-3 |publisher=Brassey's (US) |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780028810478}}</ref> Any further French supplies would have to be delivered by parachute.<ref name="d237">{{harvnb|Davidson|1988|p=237}}</ref> That night, the Viet Minh launched an attack on the northern outpost  ''Gabrielle'', held by an elite Algerian battalion. The attack began with a concentrated artillery barrage at 17:00. This was very effective and stunned the defenders. Two regiments from the crack 308th Division attacked starting at 20:00. At 04:00 the following morning, an artillery shell hit the battalion headquarters, severely wounding the battalion commander and most of his staff.<ref name="d237" />

De Castries ordered a counterattack to relieve ''Gabrielle''. However, Colonel [[Pierre Langlais]], in forming the counterattack, chose to rely on the 5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion, which had jumped in the day before and was exhausted.<ref name="d238">{{harvnb|Davidson|1988|p=238}}</ref> Although some elements of the counterattack reached ''Gabrielle'', most were paralyzed by Viet Minh artillery and took heavy losses. At 08:00 the next day, the Algerian battalion fell back, abandoning ''Gabrielle'' to the Viet Minh. The French lost around 1,000 men defending ''Gabrielle'', and the Viet Minh between 1,000 and 2,000 attacking the strongpoint.<ref name="d238" />

=== ''Anne-Marie'' ===
The northwestern outpost ''Anne-Marie'' was defended by [[Tai Don people|Tai]] troops, members of an ethnic minority loyal to the French. For weeks, Giáp had distributed subversive propaganda leaflets, telling the Tais that this was not their fight. The fall of ''Beatrice'' and ''Gabrielle'' had demoralized them. On the morning of 17 March, under the cover of fog, the bulk of the Tais left or defected. The French and the few remaining Tais on ''Anne-Marie'' were then forced to withdraw.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=239}}

=== Lull ===
A lull in fighting occurred from March 17 to March 30. The Viet Minh further encircled the French central area (formed by the strong points ''Huguette'', ''Dominique'', ''Claudine'', and ''Eliane''), effectively cutting off ''Isabelle'' and its 1,809 personnel to the south.{{sfn|Fall|1967|p=279}} During this lull, the French suffered from a serious crisis of command. Senior officers with the garrison and Cogny in Hanoi began to feel that de Castries was incompetent in defending Dien Bien Phu. After the loss of the northern outposts, he isolated himself in his bunker, ''de facto'' shirking his command of the situation.<ref name="d241">{{harvnb|Davidson|1988|pp=240–241}}</ref> On 17 March, Cogny attempted to fly into Điện Biên Phủ to take command, but his plane was driven off by anti-aircraft fire. He considered parachuting into the encircled garrison, but his staff talked him out of it.<ref name="d241" />

[[File:Xung phong.jpg|thumb|280px|Viet Minh soldiers launching an assault during the battle]]
De Castries' seclusion in his bunker, combined with his superiors' inability to replace him, created a leadership vacuum in the French command. On 24 March, an event took place which later became a matter of historical debate. The historian [[Bernard Fall]] records, based on Langlais' memoirs, that Langlais and his fellow paratroop commanders, all fully armed, confronted de Castries in his bunker on 24 March. They told him he would retain the appearance of command, but that Langlais would exercise it.{{sfn|Fall|1967|p=177}} De Castries is said by Fall to have accepted the arrangement without protest, although he did exercise some command functions thereafter. Phillip Davidson stated that the "truth would seem to be that Langlais did take over effective command of Dien Bien Phu, and that Castries became 'commander emeritus' who transmitted messages to Hanoi and offered advice about matters in Dien Bien Phu".{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=243}} [[Jules Roy]], however, makes no mention of this event, and [[Martin Windrow]] argues that the "paratrooper putsch" is unlikely to have ever happened. Both historians record that Langlais and [[Marcel Bigeard]] were known to be on good terms with their commanding officer.{{sfn|Windrow|2004|pp=441–44}}

French aerial resupply took heavy losses from Viet Minh machine guns near the landing strip. On 27 March, the Hanoi air transport commander, Nicot, ordered that all supply deliveries be made from {{cvt|2000|m}} or higher; losses were expected to remain heavy.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=244}} The following day, De Castries ordered an attack against the Viet Minh AA machine guns {{cvt|3|km}} west of Điện Biên Phủ. Remarkably, the attack was a complete success, with 350 Viet Minh's casualties and seventeen [[DShK|12.7mm AA machine guns]] destroyed (French estimate), while the French lost 20 killed and 97 wounded.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|pp=244–45}}

=== 30 March – 5 April assaults ===
{{Further|Operation Condor (1954)}}
[[File:Dien Bien Phu zoom.svg|350px|thumbnail|Central French positions at Điện Biên Phủ, late March 1954. The positions in Eliane saw some of the most intense combat of the entire battle.]]

The next phase of the battle saw more massed Viet Minh assaults against French positions in central Điện Biên Phủ – particularly at ''Eliane'' and ''Dominique'', the two remaining outposts east of the Nam Yum River. Those two areas were held by five understrength battalions, composed of Frenchmen, Legionnaires, Vietnamese, North Africans, and Tais.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=245}} Giáp planned to use the tactics from the ''Beatrice'' and ''Gabrielle'' skirmishes.{{cn|date=March 2022}}

At 19:00 on 30 March, the Viet Minh 312th Division captured ''Dominique'' 1 and 2, making ''Dominique'' 3 the final outpost between the Viet Minh and the French general headquarters, as well as outflanking all positions east of the river.<ref name="d246">{{harvnb|Davidson|1988|p=246}}</ref> At this point, the French 4th Colonial Artillery Regiment entered the fight, setting its 105&nbsp;mm howitzers to zero elevation and firing directly on the Viet Minh attackers, blasting huge holes in their ranks. Another group of French soldiers, near the airfield, opened fire on the Viet Minh with anti-aircraft machine guns, forcing the Viet Minh to retreat.<ref name="d246" />

The Viet Minh's simultaneous attacks elsewhere were more successful. The 316th Division captured ''Eliane'' 1 from its Moroccan defenders, and half of ''Eliane'' 2 by midnight.<ref name="d247">{{harvnb|Davidson|1988|p=247}}</ref> On the west side of Điện Biên Phủ, the 308th attacked ''Huguette'' 7, and nearly succeeded in breaking through, but a French sergeant took charge of the defenders and sealed the breach.<ref name="d247" />

Just after midnight on 31 March, the French launched a counterattack against ''Eliane'' 2, and recaptured it. Langlais ordered another counterattack the following afternoon against ''Dominique'' 2 and ''Eliane'' 1, using virtually "everybody left in the garrison who could be trusted to fight".<ref name="d247" /> The counterattacks allowed the French to retake ''Dominique'' 2 and ''Eliane'' 1, but the Viet Minh launched their own renewed assault. The French, who were exhausted and without reserves, fell back from both positions late in the afternoon.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=248}} Reinforcements were sent north from ''Isabelle'', but were attacked en route and fell back to ''Isabelle''.

[[File:French M24s atr Dien Bien Phu.jpg|thumb|350px|The French deployed a small number of [[M24 Chaffee]] light tanks (US supplied) during the battle which they nicknamed "[[Bison]]s". The Viet Minh countered these with heavy artillery and rocket-propelled grenade launchers (RPGs).]]

Shortly after dark on 31 March, Langlais told Bigeard, who was leading the defense at ''Eliane'' 2, to fall back from ''Eliane'' 4. Bigeard refused, saying "As long as I have one man alive I won't let go of ''Eliane'' 4. Otherwise, Dien Bien Phu is done for."<ref name="roy210">{{harvnb|Roy|2002|p=210}}</ref> The night of 31 March, the 316th Division attacked ''Eliane'' 2. Just as it appeared the French were about to be overrun, a few French tanks arrived from the central garrison, and helped push the Viet Minh back. Smaller attacks on ''Eliane'' 4 were also pushed back. The Viet Minh briefly captured ''Huguette'' 7, only to be pushed back by a French counterattack at dawn on 1 April.<ref name="d253">{{harvnb|Davidson|1988|p=253}}</ref>

Fighting continued in this manner over the next several nights. The Viet Minh repeatedly attacked ''Eliane'' 2, only to be beaten back. Repeated attempts to reinforce the French garrison by parachute drops were made, but had to be carried out by lone planes at irregular times to avoid excessive casualties from Viet Minh anti-aircraft fire. Some reinforcements did arrive, but not enough to replace French casualties.<ref name="d253" />

=== Trench warfare ===
[[File:Dien Bien Phu002.jpg|thumb|French troops seeking cover in trenches.]]

On 5 April, after a long night of battle, French fighter-bombers and artillery inflicted particularly devastating losses on one Viet Minh regiment<!-- which one?? -->, which was caught on open ground. At that point, Giáp decided to change tactics. Although Giáp still had the same objective – to overrun French defenses east of the river – he decided to employ [[trench warfare|entrenchment and sapping]] to achieve it.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|pp=254–55}}

On 10 April, the French attempted to retake ''Eliane'' 1, which had been lost eleven days earlier. The loss posed a significant threat to ''Eliane'' 4, and the French wanted to eliminate that threat. The dawn attack, which Bigeard devised, began with a short, massive artillery barrage, followed by small unit [[infiltration tactics|infiltration attacks]], then mopping-up operations. ''Eliane'' 1 changed hands several times that day, but by the next morning the French had control of the strong point. The Viet Minh attempted to retake it on the evening of 12 April, but were pushed back.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=265}}

At this point, the morale of the Viet Minh soldiers was greatly lowered due to the massive casualties they had received from heavy French gunfire. During a period of stalemate from 15 April to 1 May, the French intercepted enemy radio messages which told of whole units refusing orders to attack, and Viet Minh prisoners in French hands said that they were told to advance or be shot by the officers and non-commissioned officers behind them.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=256}} Worse still, the Viet Minh lacked advanced medical treatment and care, leading a US general commenting on the war to observe that "Nothing strikes at combat-morale like the knowledge that if wounded, the soldier will go uncared for".{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=257}}

During the fighting at ''Eliane'' 1, on the other side of camp, the Viet Minh entrenchments had almost entirely surrounded ''Huguette'' 1 and 6. On 11 April the garrison of ''Huguette'' 1, supported by artillery from ''Claudine'', launched an attack with the goal of resupplying ''Huguette'' 6 with water and ammunition. <!-- Confusing to start this paragraph by describing Viet Minh actions and suddenly shift to describing French actions&nbsp;– but without naming the forces in question. --> The attacks were repeated on the nights of the 14–15 and 16–17 April. While they did succeed in getting some supplies through, the French suffered heavy casualties, which convinced Langlais to abandon ''Huguette'' 6. Following a failed attempt to link up, on 18 April, the defenders at ''Huguette'' 6 made a daring break out, but only a few managed to make it to French lines.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=258}}{{sfn|Fall|1967|p=260}} The Viet Minh repeated the isolation and probing attacks against ''Huguette'' 1, and overran the fort on the morning of 22 April. After this key advance, the Viet Minh took control of more than 90 percent of the airfield, making accurate French parachute drops impossible.{{sfn|Fall|1967|p=270}} This caused the landing zone to become perilously small, and effectively choked off much needed supplies.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=259}} A French attack against ''Huguette'' 1 later that day was repulsed.{{sfn|Windrow|2004|pp=532–533}}

=== Isabelle ===
[[File:Contemporary Photo of Vietnminh Storming across Muong Thanh Bridge (1954) - Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum - Dien Bien Phu - Vietnam (48159225792).jpg|thumb|Viet Minh storming across Muong Thanh Bridge]]
''Isabelle'' saw only light action until 30 March, when the Viet Minh isolated it and beat back the attempt to send reinforcements north. Following a massive artillery barrage on 30 March, the Viet Minh began employing the same trench warfare tactics that they were using against the central camp. By the end of April, ''Isabelle'' had exhausted its water supply and was nearly out of ammunition.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=260}}

=== Final attacks ===
The Viet Minh launched a massed assault against the exhausted defenders on the night of 1 May, overrunning ''Eliane'' 1, ''Dominique'' 3, and ''Huguette'' 5, although the French managed to beat back attacks on ''Eliane'' 2. On 6 May, the Viet Minh launched another massed attack against ''Eliane'' 2, using, for the first time, [[Katyusha rockets]].<ref name="d236" /> The French artillery fired a "TOT" ([[time on target]]) mission, so that artillery rounds fired from different positions would strike on target at the same time.<ref>Davidson, p. 261</ref> This barrage defeated the first assault wave, but later that night the Viet Minh detonated a mine under ''Eliane'' 2, with devastating effect. The Viet Minh attacked again, and within a few hours the defenders were overrun.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=262}}

On 7 May, Giáp ordered an all-out attack against the remaining French units with over 25,000 Viet Minh against fewer than 3,000 garrison troops. At 17:00, de Castries radioed French headquarters in Hanoi and talked with Cogny: {{quote|De Castries: "The Viets are everywhere. The situation is very grave. The combat is confused and goes on all about. I feel the end is approaching, but we will fight to the finish." <br /> Cogny: "Of course you will fight to the end. It is out of the question to run up the white flag after your heroic resistance."<ref name="time">{{cite magazine|date=17 May 1954|title=INDO-CHINA: The Fall of Dienbienphu{{sic}}<!--DON'T change it! That's the title of the work-->|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref>}}

The last radio transmission from the French headquarters reported that enemy troops were directly outside the headquarters bunker and that all the positions had been overrun. The radio operator in his last words stated: "The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. ''Vive la France''!" That night the garrison made a breakout attempt, in the [[Battle of Camarón|Camarón tradition]]. While some of the main body managed to break out, none succeeded in escaping the valley. At "Isabelle", a similar attempt later the same night saw about 70 troops, out of 1,700 men in the garrison, escape to Laos.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|p=269}} By about 18:20, only one French position, strong point Lily, manned by Moroccan soldiers commanded by a French officer, Major Jean Nicolas, had not been overrun. The position surrendered that night when Nicolas personally waved a small [[white flag]] (probably a handkerchief) from his rifle.<ref>{{cite news |title=A battle for 'the fate of the world' |first=Mark |last=Schreiber |date=2 May 2004 |journal=[[The Japan Times]] |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2004/05/02/general/a-battle-for-the-fate-of-the-world/#.WrmcKohubIU}}</ref>