The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (ft. Overly Sarcastic Productions) | Animated History

Hi, I'm Griffin Johnson, the Armchair Historian. Today's video, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, France's worst defeat in Vietnam. Today's video was made possible by Bespoke Post. Bespoke Post is a subscription club for men, made to help you mix drinks, travel in style, decorate your home, and more. Each monthly box is packed with more than $70 worth of high-quality, unique goods. But if you have a membership, all boxes are just $45. I received the Concentrate box, which includes a Cold Brew Iced Coffee Maker, Concrete Desk Set, and Bittercube Bolivar Bitters Drops. I also picked up the Weekender's box in Thick Capable Canvas, with a reinforced frame and leather handles. Their lineup changes every month with new boxes. Whether you want a Carpenter's Hatchet or a watch, a Meat Cleaver, or a Cocktail Aging Kit, there are plenty of awesome options for you to choose from. What's more, each box from Bespoke Post can be customized with add-on products from their online shop, and comes with free shipping and handling. If you're not satisfied, returning or swapping out your items is extremely convenient. New subscribers can get 20% off of their first box with promo code ARMCHAIR20 at checkout. Get started and join the club with the link in the description below. The French Indochina War was a flashpoint of the Cold War, pitting the resurgent French against the Viet Minh independence fighters. With the Viet Minh closing in on final victory in late 1953, the French established a base at Dien Bien Phu in a last-ditch attempt to lure the Viet Minh into a climactic battle. Yet their strategy backfired, and the Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Zap, known as the Red Napoleon, inflicted a crushing defeat on the French. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu shifted the balance of power in Indochina, and laid the groundwork for America's full-scale entry into the Vietnam War ten years later. Here to give you some speedy context to French colonialism in Southeast Asia is Friend of the Channel Blue from Overly Sarcastic Productions. Hi Griffin. French colonialism in Indochina dates back to 1858, during the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, and colonial Indochina grew to encompass modern Vietnam and Cambodia by 1887. French colonists used Indochina as an export base for tea, rice, and even rubber, and forced much of the local population into poverty and crushing work to meet that demand. Clamor for self-rule really started to gain momentum in 1930 with the foundation of the Indochinese Communist Party by Ho Chi Minh. A decade later, forces under Imperial Japan invaded all of Indochina and occupied it throughout the Second World War. In response to these foreign occupiers, Ho Chi Minh founded the Viet Minh, an independence movement whose forces successfully harassed the Japanese with guerrilla actions. After Japan's surrender and withdrawal, Ho Chi Minh declared independence from France and formed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2nd, 1945. Thanks so much for letting me stop by. Thanks Blue. Be sure to check out his video on the history of the French Empire after this video. Despite Ho Chi Minh's proclamation of independence, French troops returned to Cochin China the next month. To decide the future of Indochina, French and Vietnamese delegations convened in Fontainebleau a year later, but negotiations reached a stalemate. November 23rd, 1946, the situation escalated when the Hai Phong incident took place, in which a French cruiser bombarded the city of Hai Phong, killing approximately 6,000 civilians. This clash paved the way for the Battle of Hanoi, which marked the beginning of the eight-year-long First Indochina War. By late 1953, the situation for the French was becoming increasingly dire. The Viet Minh had seized most of the countryside, as well as the northern part of Vietnam, and were poised to threaten Laos next. To regain the initiative, General Henri Navarre, the supreme commander of French forces in Indochina, decided to construct a fortress at Dien Bien Phu, a remote village in northwest Vietnam with a strategic airfield from which the French could lure the Viet Minh into a decisive battle and annihilate them using superior airpower and artillery. However, the more aggressive General Kho Nhi, head of the Northern Theater, was skeptical of the idea, since he wanted to use Dien Bien Phu as a launching pad for raids into enemy territory. In the end, Navarre overruled him and proceeded with Operation Castor, an airborne landing at Dien Bien Phu. On the morning of November 20th, 1953, French paratroopers hit the ground. Despite encountering some resistance, they secured the valley center by mid-afternoon, and engineers soon arrived to repair the airstrip. A week later, two high-ranking French officers landed, the commander of the entire operation, Colonel Christian Ducastre, and the commander of the paratroopers, Colonel Pierre Langlais. Over the next three months, the garrison launched a number of reconnaissance missions into the jungle at the express order of Kho Nhi, which accomplished little and sapped its strength. Preoccupied with forays, the garrison was too exhausted to properly fortify Dien Bien Phu. Meanwhile, the Viet Minh had occupied the hills surrounding Dien Bien Phu by early February and started shelling the valley with artillery that they had disassembled and laboriously moved up 500 miles through the jungle. The guns were reassembled in the hills and camouflaged to protect them from French patrols, air power, and counter-battery fire. Some of the Viet Minh batteries were even placed in underground positions so that only the barrel of the gun was visible. In contrast, the French artillery was set up in the open, making them easy targets. Despite repeated attempts, the French eventually lost the battle for the hills, along with any hope of victory. By mid-March 1954, the makeshift French defenses were complete. Interestingly, the strong points were supposedly named after Ducastre's former mistresses, and three of them, Gabrielle, Beatrice, and Isabelle, were outside the main perimeter. You know how they say not to bring up your ex-girlfriends on the first date? I think the same rule applies in warfare. Beatrice was at the heart of the defense, as its function was to counter Viet Minh bombardment. It would not be long before its effectiveness was put to the test. The French garrison numbered 13,500 men in total. These included paratroopers, foreign legionaries, and colonial troops from the Maghreb, and members of the Vietnamese Thai minority. Zap marshalled an army 49,500 strong, with 15,000 to 30,000 support personnel. Additionally, he had greater than a 3-to-1 advantage in artillery. Both combatants benefited from the support of powerful allies. The Chinese provided Zap with artillery pieces and military advisers, while the US, at one point, paid up to 80% of the French war effort. The Eisenhower administration had also been secretly supplying the garrison with military aircraft disguised as civilian planes. Indeed, American pilots flew many of the Dien Bien Phu supply lines. On the afternoon of March 13th, the Viet Minh began bombarding Beatrice, scoring a direct hit on the command bunker, and killing several key officers. This was followed by an infantry attack, which the defenders resisted fiercely. All was in vain, however. After midnight, the stronghold had fallen, and hundreds of French soldiers lay dead, along with even more dead Viet Minh. Colonel Ducastri decided not to mount a counterattack to retake the vital Beatrice, preferring instead to reinforce Gabrielle, which he believed was the next most likely target. This prediction was correct, and the next evening, Gabrielle was hit by heavy fire, followed by yet another massed infantry attack. The French resisted tenaciously for the whole night, but the next morning, the survivors were forced to withdraw to Annemarie and Huguet. It was during the defense of Gabrielle that Lieutenant Colonel Charles Pirot committed suicide. A colleague who saw him shortly before recalled him saying, During the last week of March, Ducastri became increasingly withdrawn in his quarters, and was effectively replaced as commander by Langley. The situation deteriorated even further when Viet Minh anti-aircraft guns shot down two C-47 transport planes on the 26th. Nonetheless, the French refused to withdraw from the five main strongholds, as they continued to receive some reinforcements and supplies via parachute drops. Zapp's attacks continued until April 10th, concentrated on Huguet. These frontal attacks were costly, both for the defenders and the attackers. The Viet Minh had lost over 10,000 men. Consequently, Zapp changed his strategy. Instead of committing men to frontal attacks, the Viet Minh would begin digging trenches and tunnels around the perimeter of Dien Bien Phu to grind down their enemies from afar and slowly constrict them. On April 14th, Zapp's men finally captured the airstrip. Since it had already been out of commission, the French simply continued to be resupplied through airdrops. But these too were made increasingly difficult by the amount of Viet Minh anti-aircraft weapons, and as a result, supplies and reinforcements often landed behind enemy lines. During April, the U.S. had been contemplating a direct intervention in support of the French. It was called Operation Vulture. It would have involved sending 98 B-29 bombers and 450 jet fighters to attack the Viet Minh, although different versions of the plan existed. Secretary of State John Dules even proposed using tactical nukes. However, President Eisenhower vetoed the operation. On May 1st, Zapp unleashed his final attack under heavy rainfall and captured four minor strongholds in four days. Nonetheless, the situation for the French began to look less desperate about five days later when the rain ceased. Friendly planes flew more sorties than ever before, and transports dropped almost 200 tons worth of supplies on May 6th. This good fortune would halt the same day when the attackers deployed their new weapon, Soviet-made Katyusha rocket launchers supplied to them by the Chinese. The rockets tore through the French trenches and bunkers, severely damaging their morale. Before the French had a chance to recover, Zapp ordered an infantry assault on El Yon, which had already withstood repeated attacks since April. Initially, the French repelled the Viet Minh, but ultimately the hill was lost after about 10 hours of intense combat. At this point, stronghold Isabelle had been completely cut off and had lost almost all of its howitzers to a heavy bombardment. The siege finally ended on May 7th. Due to the loss of El Yon, Ducastri decided to negotiate a ceasefire. However, Cogni, who had been listening to the garrison's death throes, broadcasted his final orders over the radio from Hanoi. You will fight to the end. There is no question about raising the white flag over Dien Bien Phu after your heroic resistance. At the end of 6.30pm, the Viet Minh entered the bunker and captured Ducastri. 10 minutes later, the red flag replaced the tricolor outside. Around this time, Dien Bien Phu sent its last radio message. We're blowing up everything. Adieu. Dien Bien Phu represented the end of France's ambitions in Indochina. Zapp's victory proved inspirational to independence movements elsewhere, most notably in French Algeria. The French suffered 9,000 losses, of whom 7,000 were captured, while the Viet Minh lost 8,000 killed and 15,000 wounded. A day after the battle ended, the French, Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians began discussing the future of Indochina at what would become known as the Geneva Conference. Under public pressure, the new government of Prime Minister Mondès France pulled out of the region. Laos and Cambodia gained their independence, and Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel into a northern communist state and a southern democratic state. At Dien Bien Phu, the French made the mistake of underestimating the Vietnamese, one that the Americans would be doomed to repeat a decade later. Vietnamese liberation is near. The French are on their last legs. Finish them off. Attack. Sir, we are almost out of ammunition and we are terribly outnumbered. We better surrender before we are all slaughtered. Well, if there isn't any aid coming. Wait, do you hear that? Is that? Oh no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Tactical nuke!