Destruction of French Rule in Vietnam - Battle of Điện Biên Phủ

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  • Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
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    In early 1954, a decisive battle took place at Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam. It was the climax to a seven year long conflict between France and the communist Viet Minh for the future of south east asia. The fighting would last for months, and end in a catastrophic defeat that ended French rule in Indochina and pushed the United States one step closer to intervening in Vietnam.
    0:00 - The Situation in 1954
    5:14 - The Battle Begins
    9:32 - Battle of the Five Hills
    12:30 - Collapse
    Credits:
    Artwork by:
    / chrisbyflanker
    Lead animation by CKD Productions
    Written, Supporting Animation, Directed and Produced by:
    / addaway23
    ► Twitch: / historigraph
    ► Second Channel: / @historigraphextra5461
    ► Twitter: / historigraph
    ►Facebook: / historigraph
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    ►Patreon: / historigraph
    Sources:
    Max Hastings, Vietnam
    John Springhall, "Kicking out the Vietminh: How Britain Allowed France to Reoccupy South Indochina", Journal of Contemporary History, Jan 2005 www.jstor.org/stable/30036312
    George C. Herring, "The Truman Administration and the Restoration of French Sovereignty in Indochina", Diplomatic History, Spring 1977 www.jstor.org/stable/24909909
    Ralph B. Smith, "The Japanese Period in Indochina and the Coup of 9 March 1945", Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Sep. 1978
    www.jstor.org/stable/i20062721
    Stein Tønnesson, Vietnam 1946: How the War Began
    Christopher Goscha, The Road to Dien Bien Phu
    Bernard Fall, Street without Joy: the French debacle in Indochina,
    Martin Windrow, The French Indochina War 1946-54
    Lucien Bodard, The Quicksand War: Prelude to Vietnam
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 640

  • @scottjuhnke6825
    @scottjuhnke6825 2 місяці тому +249

    What you fail to mention is that the French artillery commander had guaranteed that the Vietnamese couldn't get artillery into the surrounding hills. In giving up the surrounding high ground, the French were going to lose.
    This is why he committed suicide.

    • @Mika-ph6ku
      @Mika-ph6ku 2 місяці тому +14

      Didn't learn from ww2 I guess...

    • @felixsantosa3815
      @felixsantosa3815 2 місяці тому +118

      ​@@Mika-ph6kuIf I had a nickel for every time French officers thought a specific terrain was impassable for heavy equipment...

    • @talkingtree8166
      @talkingtree8166 2 місяці тому +12

      So he lost the high ground?

    • @scottjuhnke6825
      @scottjuhnke6825 2 місяці тому +49

      @@talkingtree8166 No. They never occupied it. The French artillery commander was certain the Vietnamese couldn't get heavy artillery onto the hills, and that any artillery they could get there, his guns would easily eliminate them.
      Had the French fortified the surrounding hills, they still would have lost in Vietnam, just as the US did, but, Dien Bien Phu would not have been the catastrophic defeat it was.

    • @parkertitle1923
      @parkertitle1923 2 місяці тому +1

      @@felixsantosa3815I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

  • @sergeantdarthraptorthewise702
    @sergeantdarthraptorthewise702 2 місяці тому +334

    I believe, though i might not remember correctly, that after the battle general De Castries said: "we were told to hold 10 days, we held 57 days. That's it."

    • @MyHentaiGirl
      @MyHentaiGirl 2 місяці тому +17

      We merely fail to win

    • @Rokaize
      @Rokaize 2 місяці тому +48

      @@MyHentaiGirlSounds like they lost

    • @MyHentaiGirl
      @MyHentaiGirl 2 місяці тому +20

      @@Rokaize Nah, merely fail to win
      - Oversimplified reference

    • @Rokaize
      @Rokaize 2 місяці тому

      @@MyHentaiGirl I guess I’m not understanding the reference. If you are making a reference. Are you implying that the French just didn’t win? And that the viet Minh didn’t earn their victory?

    • @MyHentaiGirl
      @MyHentaiGirl 2 місяці тому +12

      @@Rokaize Watch Oversimplified History video about the US Civil War
      part 2
      When one of the guy lost the election to Abraham Lincoln, he said that he didn't lose, he merely fail to win

  • @Jameskn1
    @Jameskn1 2 місяці тому +475

    The French seemed to get very over confident and believed that entrenched troops couldn’t get beaten and paid the price for it

    • @Bandog23
      @Bandog23 2 місяці тому +16

      *leadership

    • @Bullet-Tooth-Tony-
      @Bullet-Tooth-Tony- 2 місяці тому +40

      It looks like the lessons of Bill Slims 1944 Burma campaign were applied here. With the French soldiers relying on air supplies flown in whilst expecting to hold their positions. It worked for Slim at Kohima and Imphal against the Japanese but for some reason it didn't work at Dien Bien Phu. 🤔

    • @SkalliDE
      @SkalliDE 2 місяці тому +17

      Again xD they learned nothing Out ww2 😂

    • @MyHentaiGirl
      @MyHentaiGirl 2 місяці тому +33

      ​@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-didn't work due to effective AA making drop impossible

    • @mcfragger2605
      @mcfragger2605 2 місяці тому +7

      they will relearn that lesson again if they enter Ukraine lol.

  • @Fredrikschou
    @Fredrikschou 2 місяці тому +217

    General Giap is one of the most overlooked great commanders in the 20th century. In my mind he ranks up their together with Chukov, Manstein and Marshall. In 1968 he came quite close to repeating the Dien Bien Phu battle with the americans at Khe Sanh, but the american airforce was just an order of magnitude more effective in close up ground support, so the NVA had to give up after a six month siege.

    • @About37Hobos
      @About37Hobos 2 місяці тому +80

      He organized the defeat of two western powers that on paper far outstripped his own forces. Frankly he might be the greatest commander of the 20th century.

    • @789know
      @789know 2 місяці тому +30

      tho he still somewhat achieved his goal in the end. US withdraw from Khe Sanh later after knowing the position is untenable there.
      Khe Sanh is also overall a better built bases and less isolated firebase in outer parameters that allow the Vietnamese to cut them off aside from way more effective US airforce

    • @djeto2525
      @djeto2525 2 місяці тому

      Agreed.

    • @torenico
      @torenico 2 місяці тому +1

      Manstein? Lmao

    • @Fredrikschou
      @Fredrikschou 2 місяці тому

      @@torenico poor ass

  • @victortisme
    @victortisme 2 місяці тому +259

    I appreciate that you made this one in spite of the previous ones' numbers. This series is one of your best (at least it's my very own favorite) and I could't wait for the next installment, so thank you so much!

  • @AndrewTranBaseball
    @AndrewTranBaseball 2 місяці тому +57

    My grandpa fought in it for the Viet Minh. He is 92 and still very busy telling me stories about the battle😊

    • @gaspardlesort6781
      @gaspardlesort6781 2 місяці тому +7

      Cool! my great grandpa fought on the french side for the FFL. Because he was injured, the vietnamese released him. He eventually served in Algeria, and later on was a military attaché during the Vietnam War.

    • @FrenchIssue
      @FrenchIssue 2 місяці тому +1

      Wrong side who kill injuried of the other side the south vietnam helped the injuried of both side

    • @JesusisLord_7
      @JesusisLord_7 2 місяці тому

      @@FrenchIssue no lmao, south vietnam killed everyone who didnt support their illegitimate government, killed buddhists, murdered freedom fighters who fought the french colonizers, they also rigged the election, so you should stop spreading propaganda. We chose communism cuz u guys forced us to fight, we didnt want this stupid game between big guys, we only need independence but americans refused to do so. Even men from OSS said we were not communists like Mao and Stalin but freedom fighters

  • @larryalvares1369
    @larryalvares1369 2 місяці тому +137

    I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the French colonial artillery lieutenant who ordered his guns to be cranked at 0 degrees and fired directly into the Viet Minh

    • @saulocpp
      @saulocpp 2 місяці тому +38

      There is too much to be mentioned in only 15 minutes. Many acts from both sides: the Vietminh/NVA, despite the "supply chains", fought days without eating anything, and 155mm artillery were often pushed by hand kilometers to high ground without vehicle aid; French Foreign Legion from Morocco were often called in to reinforce, refused to surrender and died fighting while french officers responsible for calling them in fled.

    • @adelaidesngan604
      @adelaidesngan604 2 місяці тому +1

      ​@sa😂😂ulocpp You are a myth who hates the French 😂

    • @quoccuongtran724
      @quoccuongtran724 Місяць тому +1

      @@saulocpp the biggest artillery the Việt Minh side had in Điện Biên Phủ was the 105mm howitzer
      also they were still only named Việt Minh back then, the name NVA (North VN Army) was only coined in the later conflict with South VN & USA

  • @johnbox271
    @johnbox271 2 місяці тому +79

    The US wasn't dragged in... it leaped, and onto the wrong side.
    "In 1945, members of the American "Deer Team," part of the OSS, worked with Vietnamese guerrilla fighters to throw Japanese troops out of Indochina. As the war ended, the people of Vietnam looked to the United States to support their dreams of independence." Photo - Members of the Deer Team and Viet Minh at training camp. Allison Thomas stands in the center and is flanked on his left by Vo Nguyen Giap and on his right by Ho Chi Minh. “Welcome to Our American Friends.”

    • @trentvlak
      @trentvlak 2 місяці тому +1

      lots of communists had infiltrated the State Department and aided Mao, sabotaged Chiang Kai Shek, and aided other communists.

    • @superspies32
      @superspies32 2 місяці тому +1

      The second copy of the letter Ho Chi Minh sent to Truman asking for establishment of allied be sent to Donald Trump during his trip to negotiate with Kim Jong Ul at Ha Noi (the OG still in White House). The problem at that time was France threatened to ally with USSR if Truman did that (and if Truman accept the letter, USSR may be collapsed 2 years later by carry the useless of French Army across Africa)

    • @simongeard4824
      @simongeard4824 2 місяці тому +14

      A common theme from that time, yes. The fear of the spread of communism meant that communist-leaning groups were automatically regarded as enemies and pushed into the Soviet sphere of influence... foolish, since a more pragmatic US could have maintained greater influence over them by staying friendly. Hostility only cemented the Soviet position as the influential leaders of communism across the world...

    • @johnbox271
      @johnbox271 2 місяці тому +1

      @@simongeard4824 "It’s a Wonderful Life" (1946) came under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a subversive film that supposedly displayed evidence of Communist Party infiltration of the film industry.
      Commies everywhere. Paranoia.

    • @richardgoed8101
      @richardgoed8101 2 місяці тому

      ​@@simongeard4824they did intend to make half of Vietnam their ally by making a puppet state in South Vietnam. I wouldn't say it is foolish of them to see everything communism related is bad because they already have the idea of controlling Indochina in mind so that they could overthrow communism in Asia, that's why they have always been supporting France in colonizing Indochina. The Vietnamese at that time saw anyone with similar goal and helped them would be potential ally since the US helped NVA kicking Imperial Japan out of the country. But it is very very dumb and weird of them to make a country resort to communism and then fight them because they established communism.

  • @khuongnguyenchau920
    @khuongnguyenchau920 2 місяці тому +146

    The US was NOT dragged into Vietnam. They made a choice to be there

    • @torenico
      @torenico 2 місяці тому +59

      Yeah, he makes it sound like the US went into Vietnam completely against it's will. They went in to continue the colonial project the french had started.

    • @tartzmir7934
      @tartzmir7934 2 місяці тому +1

      They came there to fight and help an Ideological ally against an sworm Ideological enemy, it's really simple, people back then dread about communism a lot, not to mention the US adherence to the Truman Doctrine, depend on how you look at it, the US was both dragged into Vietnam by congress' pressure as well as the president's obligation to respond towards aggression which let's not get there because Gulf of Tonkin incident is a complete hoax fabricated by the US that is still debated

    • @blaze6084
      @blaze6084 2 місяці тому +8

      @@torenico True

    • @baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714
      @baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 2 місяці тому +1

      @@torenico They didnt care about colonies. They cared about stopping communism.

    • @cumpanions8105
      @cumpanions8105 2 місяці тому +1

      @@torenico Not really, they just wanted curb the communism from taking roots in the region.

  • @matthewwalkemar8726
    @matthewwalkemar8726 2 місяці тому +107

    I was aware of ww2 German aircraft being used by France after the war but i didn’t realize they made their way to Vietnam. A surprise seeing the footage of the ju-52 ( or perhaps it French made reproduction but still)

    • @ingohendrik
      @ingohendrik 2 місяці тому +4

      Well German aircrafts were just very useful and despite this also effective and relativly new
      For example the Arado Ar 232, a plane designed by the Nazis was still trend-setting for NATO planes in 1956

    • @qanniqtuq
      @qanniqtuq 2 місяці тому

      My father was a passenger in one of those Ju-52 that soft crashed in a rice paddy just before the Ventiane runway in 1954. It was "fun" he told me.
      One of the only stories he told me from his time in Indochina

    • @baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714
      @baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 2 місяці тому +1

      French tanks where almost entirely of german origin.

    • @hedgehog3180
      @hedgehog3180 2 місяці тому +2

      @@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 No, France refurbished about 50 Panther tanks and put them into service after the war but they were mostly a stop gap meassure intended to counter the IS tanks until France could produce its own tanks and develop a proper counter. However they never actually saw active service as they were deemed too unreliable and heavy to operate anywhere outside of Metropolitan France. The French mostly used American lend-lease tanks, such as the M24 Chaffee, which you can often see in footage from both Vietnamese Wars. They also made use of Shermans and M10s but I don't think they were deployed to Indochina.

  • @lehoang3532
    @lehoang3532 2 місяці тому +166

    Some minor (but still interesting) details about this battle:
    * The French arrogance is not without reasons. The supply/logistic support for Viet Minh is extremely troublesome, so much that a blitz was considered. However, after "his longest night", General Giap changed it into a siege and delayed the battle by ~2 months. The rest is history
    * The fight for Eliane 2 is the toughest fight in Dien Bien Phu. And it was held thanks to a hidden French supply route from the center to the west side of the hill
    * Commander of the Vietnamese 5th Para batallion, under French command, was said to lead his troops while singing the French national anthem... while fighting other Vietnamese. The man later became a general of South Viet Nam.
    * MLRS was deployed for the Vietnamese during the last days of the battle. Shame that it was not the Soviet Katyusha

    • @igorbuckel8060
      @igorbuckel8060 2 місяці тому +9

      the artillerie, mortar and anti-aircraft of the vietnamese were us made. captured by the chinese during korean war.

    • @tartzmir7934
      @tartzmir7934 2 місяці тому +5

      furthermore previous french employment of hedgehog tactics have proven to be succesful in providing interconnected fields of fire by entrenched troops against superior foes, however this could easily be countered by methodical and overwhelming fire by the attacker, slowly chipping down the defenses bit by bit, strongpoint by strongpoints

    • @JustinAndrews74
      @JustinAndrews74 2 місяці тому +11

      "Commander of the Vietnamese 5th Para batallion, under French command, was said to lead his troops while singing the French national anthem... while fighting other Vietnamese."
      Treason!!

    • @lehoang3532
      @lehoang3532 2 місяці тому

      @@tartzmir7934 True on all account

    • @tartzmir7934
      @tartzmir7934 2 місяці тому

      @@JustinAndrews74 That's in hindsight, don't be so short sighted, people back then are uncertain who will win, these vietnamese root for the french, so they're loyal to them, how is that treason, not to mention the vietminh back then was seen as a radical rebel group more than anything else, not a legitimately recognised sovereign government of Vietnam since back then there are a lot of rebels groups like the vietminh doing the same thing in a bid to take control of the country under their own authority, and then there's the state of vietnam, a french vassal state recognised by the United States, no wonder these vietnamese would be so loyal because they're so sure they would win

  • @novemberdawn8145
    @novemberdawn8145 2 місяці тому +42

    Love this series! Took a Vietnam War class last semester, I think it can't be understated how much of an insurgent genius Giap was.

    • @andrearel3703
      @andrearel3703 2 місяці тому

      Commies are good at subversion. Look at the democrat party.

  • @Paladin0005
    @Paladin0005 2 місяці тому +6

    I really appreciate content like this that delves into lesser known conflicts.

  • @bachtruongson9408
    @bachtruongson9408 2 місяці тому +22

    Fun fact: Võ Nguyên Giáp was actually a history teacher, so he kinda changed history himself

  • @HistoryHaty
    @HistoryHaty 2 місяці тому +14

    So Happy you are back to your Vietnam War series. Historigraph always make there videos easy to understand and exciting. You show the Importance of what weapons and tactics are used. Love the animation. How do you do it. Never forget history. One battle leads to another and thats why we say never forget. How a battle between France 🇫🇷 and Vietnam 🇻🇳 made the US start there own war in Vietnam. If we don’t value the study of history, we blindly look in to the future.

  • @sprintcog
    @sprintcog 2 місяці тому +1

    Great video, really well researched and executed!

  • @DV1287
    @DV1287 2 місяці тому +5

    Hey Historigraph. Nice Video. Just one thing I wanted to point out that was missed: The strongpoint of Isabelle, to the South of the Main base of Dien Bien Phu, was essentially cut off from the beginning of the battle. yet the French defenders resiliently held on to Isabelle until the end of the battle.

  • @user-kn4fy9cy3d
    @user-kn4fy9cy3d 2 місяці тому +4

    i've been waiting for this for months

  • @m136dalie
    @m136dalie 2 місяці тому

    Brilliant video, so glad i discovered this channel

  • @quanganh3251
    @quanganh3251 2 місяці тому +18

    Historigraph #70, also mark the 70 yrs of this battle

  • @projectforce3727
    @projectforce3727 2 місяці тому +3

    Your maps are getting better

  • @extrabytes7191
    @extrabytes7191 Місяць тому +2

    The 50s might be the least covered decade of modern military history, videos on the suez crisis or the korean war would be so cool. Loved this series!

  • @diallod357
    @diallod357 2 місяці тому +5

    Great Improvements on the map 👍

  • @micahistory
    @micahistory 2 місяці тому +9

    Great video. Your content is always so good

  • @pc86914
    @pc86914 2 місяці тому

    Great video. Your next will be the channel’s 100th!

  • @SmokeJam
    @SmokeJam 2 місяці тому +4

    My favourite historian is back with another gem!

  • @abrahammorrison6374
    @abrahammorrison6374 2 місяці тому +5

    This battle is mentioned in We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel.

  • @py8554
    @py8554 Місяць тому +3

    On 8 May, the Viet Minh counted 11,721 prisoners, of whom 4,436 were wounded. The prisoners were divided into groups. Able-bodied soldiers were force-marched over 600 km (370 mi) to prison camps to the north and east, where they were intermingled with Viet Minh soldiers to discourage French bombing runs. Hundreds died of disease along the way. The wounded were given basic first aid until the Red Cross arrived, extracted 858 prisoners, and provided better aid to the remainder. Those wounded who were not evacuated by the Red Cross were sent into detention.
    Only around 200 French soldiers managed to escape, going through the Viet Minh line towards Luang Prabang in Laos on the famous "Pavie Trail". Of 10,863 prisoners (including Vietnamese fighting for the French), only 3,290 were repatriated four months later; however, the losses figure may include the 3,013 prisoners of Vietnamese origin whose fate is unknown.
    - Wikipedia

    • @vinguyenvan6924
      @vinguyenvan6924 Місяць тому +1

      In Vietnam, there is still a Moroccan village where Africans lived after they surrendered at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. These people have returned home but the name of the village where they live remains the same. Many young people in French colonial countries were forced to serve as French soldiers. After France surrendered at Dien Bien Phu, they volunteered to join the Viet Minh army.
      You can search for a Greek whose Vietnamese name is Nguyen Van Lap, a French soldier who surrendered to the Viet Minh.
      Nguyen Van Lap (1927 - June 25, 2021), born Kostas Sarantidis (Greek: Κώστας Σαραντίδης), was a Greek-Vietnamese soldier. He is the only foreigner ever to be awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces of Vietnam. He is the "new Vietnamese" soldier, the only Greek who served in the Viet Minh forces during the Indochina war.
      After 1954, he was expelled from the Vietnam Labor Party because he did not accept remarriage with his ex-wife.[1] In 1965, he returned to Greece and lived there until his death. After returning home, he actively mobilized Greeks to support Vietnam. He visited Vietnam several times and made many contributions to the relationship between the two countries. On November 9, 2010, the President of Vietnam recognized him as a Vietnamese citizen. In May 2013, the President awarded him the title of Hero of the Vietnamese People's Armed Forces.

    • @chucdoan.0110
      @chucdoan.0110 27 днів тому

      đông như thế không đi bộ thì đi bằng gì. Bộ đội, dân công hỏa tuyến chúng tôi cũng đi bộ tiếp tế hậu cần. Chả nhẽ lại chúng tôi đi bộ đồng thời thuê xe chở tù binh. Tù binh lại sướng hơn vua.

    • @chucdoan.0110
      @chucdoan.0110 27 днів тому

      Pháp thời đó coi việt nam như nô lệ. Như mấy con mối tạo mật cây cho lũ kiến thu về chính quốc kiến chúa. Bản chất nó coi việt nam mình không phải con người.

  • @samarkand1585
    @samarkand1585 2 місяці тому +1

    One important point you forgot to mention, was the constant shelling the camp faced besides the strongpoint assaults

  • @liambell708
    @liambell708 2 місяці тому

    This was a great video, as are the others I have watched! Could you do a video about the Second Battle of Ypres? I think it would be interesting.

  • @NoManClatuer-pd8ck
    @NoManClatuer-pd8ck 2 місяці тому +13

    Many of those Frenchmen weren't French at all. They were Legionnaires.

  • @slaughterchainsaw
    @slaughterchainsaw 2 місяці тому

    Great video!

  • @rotecly
    @rotecly Місяць тому

    Please keep making videos about this war. The amrican-vietnam war is well known, but there is not much about the french one before it.

  • @WushuMR2
    @WushuMR2 2 місяці тому +5

    A VERY well-made, detailed account of the battle! I've never seen a video which actually showed the tactical evolution of the battle before, so kudos to you!

  • @zealover
    @zealover 2 місяці тому +2

    What a bloody battle

  • @haibuihoang
    @haibuihoang 2 місяці тому +2

    Vietminh: It's over France, I have the high ground!
    France: You underestimate my power,
    Vietminh: Don't try it
    France: Ueahhh....

  • @taison5
    @taison5 2 місяці тому +2

    wake up babe new historigraph just dropped

  • @eliane2743
    @eliane2743 Місяць тому +1

    Na-San, though a victory, left quite a lot of French officers ill at ease because they thought it had been a very close call.
    Right from the beginning various members of the French military leadership weren’t enthusiastic about the Dien-Bien-Phu plan, notably because the place was too far away from the airfields used by the planes providing CAS. When it was discovered the enemy had brought AAA, the mood further dropped down in Hanoi. The latter part echoes the situation and feelings described by John Masters about his war in Burma when he overhears the characteristic sound of antiaircraft guns manned by the Japanese assaulting his Blackpool stronghold and immediately understands the British troops are doomed.

  • @antoniocarrascosa6060
    @antoniocarrascosa6060 2 місяці тому +2

    Gran trabajo. Enhorabuena desde España

  • @mehornyasfk
    @mehornyasfk 2 місяці тому +10

    Who will win?
    A. A professionally trained, technologically superior army led by a battle-hardened general from a militarily distinguished aristocratic family.
    B. A bunch of rice famers led by a history teacher.

  •  2 місяці тому +2

    12:16 They really used Ju-52/3m as bombers? wow

  • @thaibuidinh5577
    @thaibuidinh5577 2 місяці тому +2

    Cảm ơn bạn đã làm video về lịch sử quân đội của chúng tôi, vào dịp chúng tôi ky niệm 70 năm chiến thắng Điện Biên phủ

  • @silist001
    @silist001 2 місяці тому

    Hello @Historygraph, which app do you use for all your animations? It’s very clean.

  • @coyote4237
    @coyote4237 2 місяці тому

    Thank you.

  • @redjacc7581
    @redjacc7581 2 місяці тому +1

    a book called "the last valley" by martin windrow is an excellent read.

  • @bigsarge2085
    @bigsarge2085 2 місяці тому +1

    Always learn!

  • @ethanpf449
    @ethanpf449 2 місяці тому

    Great video well worth the wait, hope you do Ap Bac.

  • @imjustthere9343
    @imjustthere9343 2 місяці тому

    Who would had thought building a base in a valley surrounded by mountains would be a bad idea.

  • @Mika-ph6ku
    @Mika-ph6ku 2 місяці тому

    *MOAR*

  • @kdg54e-sport62
    @kdg54e-sport62 2 місяці тому +15

    I hope you will do more video about Indochina War and Vietnam war
    Always support you from Vietnam
    🇻🇳❤️

  • @tedsheldon11
    @tedsheldon11 2 місяці тому +5

    So general's play war in the middle of no where with young men's lives for the sake of bartering a better award on the wall.

  • @Mindbonkya
    @Mindbonkya 2 місяці тому

    I just started reading The Wretched of the Earth and this came up, thank you for explaining this.

  • @khactamdo7800
    @khactamdo7800 Місяць тому

    Peace is so precious 😢

  • @luvrofbacon
    @luvrofbacon 2 місяці тому +3

    Be sure to read Bernard Fall's book about this battle. It is a gem. One of my all time favorite military history titles, and I've read quite a few.

  • @redjacc7581
    @redjacc7581 2 місяці тому

    The 3 main reason for the loss at dien bien phu are 1/ the defensive perimeter was to large unlike at na san so it took far too long for reinforcements to travel to endangered sectors. 2/ french intelligence had failed to understand that the viet min had received 105mm artillery. 3/ french intelligence also failed to understand that far better and more numerous AA had been supplied.

    • @bamboo9666
      @bamboo9666 2 місяці тому

      So.. No credit for the Vietnamese?

    • @smithjohn7855
      @smithjohn7855 Місяць тому

      @@bamboo9666The US: They didn't win we just left :(
      France: They didn't win we just lost :(

    • @markgarrett3647
      @markgarrett3647 Місяць тому

      @@smithjohn7855 This comment keeps getting deleted on our convo so I'll just paste this here:
      Doesn't mean that historical truths are to be buried up especially in this day and age where ignorant anti-Western and anti-Christian demagoguery among leftists the World over is in vogue.

    • @markgarrett3647
      @markgarrett3647 Місяць тому

      @@smithjohn7855 Doesn't mean that historical truths are to be buried up especially in this day and age where ignorant anti-Western and anti-Christian demagoguery among leftists the World over is in vogue.

  • @richardstone5552
    @richardstone5552 2 місяці тому

    Cool

  • @bradykool6184
    @bradykool6184 2 місяці тому

    can you do a video about HMS Dasher and her loss as an aircraft carrier in ww2?

  • @quocnguyenngoc9272
    @quocnguyenngoc9272 Місяць тому

    Nearly all the elite French battalions, paratroopers, Foreign Legion, present in Vietnam were annihilated at Điện Biên Phủ. However, this was not the last major battle of the French Indochina war. End of June 1954, France's Groupe Mobile 100 with the elite French Korea battalion was totally destroyed in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

  • @ibstrd
    @ibstrd 2 місяці тому

    420k subs, nice

  • @jona.scholt4362
    @jona.scholt4362 2 місяці тому +15

    As LBJ said about American forces at Khe Sanh, "I don't want no Din Bin Foo"

    • @looinrims
      @looinrims 2 місяці тому +6

      I wish we had a recording of a response: “Mr President, is that food?”

  • @charliebarcelona1531
    @charliebarcelona1531 Місяць тому +1

    Historigraph, you should make a video about the Battle of Tsushima , as it was considered to be the most important naval battle since Trafalgar.

  • @michaelmccabe3079
    @michaelmccabe3079 2 місяці тому +5

    Dien Bien Phu was in 1954. The United States didn't intervene until 1965.
    A lot happened in the 11 years between the two events. Mark Moyar's book "Triumph Forsaken" covers the period of 1954-1965 very well (spoiler: the 1963 assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem was the most direct cause of intervention; prior to this the USA was looking to intervene in Laos).

    • @Viet_Nam_Ball
      @Viet_Nam_Ball 2 місяці тому +1

      The US intervened way before 1965, just with money and weapons.

  • @thelandofnod123
    @thelandofnod123 2 місяці тому +7

    It’s always fascinated me that these European countries, pretty much as soon as they themselves were no longer occupied, continued their own occupation of other countries.

    • @hedgehog3180
      @hedgehog3180 2 місяці тому +2

      It's something a lot of contemporary commentators also noted.

  • @divinewind6313
    @divinewind6313 2 місяці тому +4

    AFAIK, there was a sizable former SS soldiers also among the Foreign Legion.

    • @phanson6698
      @phanson6698 2 місяці тому

      And fun fact that there are few are in Vietminh too :))))

    • @divinewind6313
      @divinewind6313 2 місяці тому

      @@phanson6698 How they ended up with Vietminh

    • @phanson6698
      @phanson6698 2 місяці тому

      @@divinewind6313 Some Germans just did not want to serve the French, some saw that the war was unjust and wanted to help Vietminh win. There are a few high-ranking officials in Vietminh who are German, their job is to propagate propaganda, manage peaceful prison camps and lead foreigners to fight for Vietminh.

  • @Krasnoye158
    @Krasnoye158 2 місяці тому +1

    This video, like so many other videos, is too focused on the tactical approach of the battle and failed to see the strategical movements made before the battle. For example, there is a reason that Cogny couldn't supply more troops to the battle despite understanding how important it is.
    For those who are interested in the strategical aspect, general Giap initially had the cluster surrounded, ready to attack, but then pulled back. Answering this question would reveal interesting details.

    • @tartzmir7934
      @tartzmir7934 2 місяці тому

      Cogny hesitated to commit more elite legionnare paras to the battle because french forces in indochina is limited, since it's an undeclared war and more of an insurgency, all military forces in Indochina is predominantly from the Foreign Legion or the State of Vietnam, and these small contingents are being stretched thin against a massive guerilla army all over indochina. Basically Cogny got his hands tied, if he commit more troops, then he risk compromising the integrity of the Red river delta defense perimeter or the De Lattre Line, as to the second point you raised, Giap hesitated because his men were battered by the dogged resistance mounted by french legionnaires and vietnamese paras so Giap has to resort to siege tactics to just dislodge the French defense by literally blowing every single strongpoint kingdom come, until the french are too battered to even mount a adequate defense, I mean it works because french defense at dien bien phu was so stretched out not to mention they lack sufficient heavy weapons to provide sufficient support for the strongpoints to holdout the vietminh assaults or counter fire the Vietminh artillery

  • @timesathousand
    @timesathousand 2 місяці тому +2

    6:40 "It was the first time in the entire war that a French battalion in prepared positions had been overrun by the communists."
    I agree with the other comments that the whole premise of the base and the terrible supply situation looks like French arrogance. But if your forces had never lost a hill--I can see why the French ended up overextending so badly.

  • @PhamQuang-kn6fg
    @PhamQuang-kn6fg Місяць тому

    I'm watching until 6:53, it seems that France overestimated the ability to damage the Viet Minh at the height of Beatrice (Him Lam), because in this battle the Viet Minh only lost 300 troops but 600- 700 French troops had lost, and damaged about 300 reinforcements early the next morning without significant damage. If the Viet Minh's damage is called "heavy", so the French army's damage at this location must be called "destroyed".

  • @PHDarren
    @PHDarren 2 місяці тому +1

    They didn't defend the River?

  • @af-secret
    @af-secret 2 місяці тому

    1至少三分之一兵力用于防守南北两端。
    2防线收缩以利于炮兵有时间准备和火力无顾虑输出。
    3投降太早。
    1 A third of the army should be disposed in north and south side at least.
    2 Shrinking the defence line for artillery battalion blows with no worries and obtain sufficient reaction time.
    3 Surrender too soon.

  • @codyandrex152
    @codyandrex152 2 місяці тому

    This video was quick compare to the 1-hour version on BBC Battlefield series. 😂

    • @samarkand1585
      @samarkand1585 2 місяці тому +1

      Yeah, but it skips several important points of the battle that shaped it sadly

  • @notjhill
    @notjhill 2 місяці тому

    Does the warthunder thing work for already existing accounts

  • @MrScientifictutor
    @MrScientifictutor 2 місяці тому +9

    They got dien bien fooled.

  • @Ganhaque89
    @Ganhaque89 2 місяці тому +1

    Toàn bộ Việt Minh tham gia trận đánh là 53000 người nếu tất cả thương vong là 25000 thì còn lại khoảng 28000, ko đủ để gọi hàng 16000 quân Pháp. Tổng số quân Pháp chết là 11000 người tính cả sau khi bị bắt do đói ăn và hành quân bộ hàng trăm km

  • @NguyenJulia-ks4wr
    @NguyenJulia-ks4wr 2 місяці тому +7

    Vietnam at that time was a country whose chance of winning against the French was 0% if compared to the strength of France. However, thanks to the determination and unity, that country managed to defeat France, and later on, even the United States.

    • @ptaing8
      @ptaing8 Місяць тому +1

      Without Chinese and Russia support, viet minh have zero chance of winning. Chinese created viet minh to kick the French and vietnamese didn't win by themselves.

    • @ptaing8
      @ptaing8 Місяць тому +1

      The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union similarly provided vital support to the Viet Minh, including most of their artillery and ammunition. the planned Viet Minh attack was based on the Chinese "Fast Strike, Fast Victory" model.

    • @ptaing8
      @ptaing8 Місяць тому +1

      Viet Minh, organization that led the struggle for Vietnamese independence from French rule. The Viet Minh was formed in China in May 1941. It is Chinese's creation and it's not true vietnamese. Viet Minh calls 越南獨立同盟

    • @aceflaviuskaizokuaugustusc8427
      @aceflaviuskaizokuaugustusc8427 22 дні тому

      @@ptaing8 At the time many intellectuals and independence leaders formed their parties or organization outside of their colonial home for obvious reasons. The French would have suppressed or destroyed the Viet Minh if it tried to form in Colonial Vietnam. Another famous example would be the Kuomintang it was founded by Sun Yat-Sen in Hawaii so would it be considered an American creation?
      Many of these intellectuals have interacted with each other like many Kuomintang military leaders having been trained or studied in Japan and engaging in political organizations there too.

  • @nemosgaze
    @nemosgaze 2 місяці тому +2

    You don't mention at the end what happened to Laos and Cambodia, just that the French exited. It would've been interesting to mention at least what kind of governments they got. Big question mark there.

  • @gerpsu1772
    @gerpsu1772 2 місяці тому +4

    Can you do video about finish and Russia's war. the cold war

  • @NerfButWithoutHasbro
    @NerfButWithoutHasbro 2 місяці тому

    is it bad that i thought france was just decolonizing and left indochina without a war because they didn't wanna risk it 😭😭

  • @haraffael7821
    @haraffael7821 Місяць тому

    The French really have a history of "They wont attack there using this" and then getting attacked by this from there.

  • @julianshepherd2038
    @julianshepherd2038 2 місяці тому +20

    "Dragged" 😂

    • @davidlewis5312
      @davidlewis5312 2 місяці тому +10

      Foolhardy jumped in more like it

    • @jacobcave1587
      @jacobcave1587 2 місяці тому +1

      Oh burn

    • @Bandog23
      @Bandog23 2 місяці тому

      yes correct. dragged

    • @About37Hobos
      @About37Hobos 2 місяці тому

      @@Bandog23 we weren’t dragged at all we leapt headfirst into it

  • @markgarrett3647
    @markgarrett3647 2 місяці тому

    I really thought you were going to cover Operation Lorraine and the heroic battle of Muong Khuoa that saved the politically relevant Laotian city of Luang Prabang and the monarch of Laos from the Vietminh and also the disastrous rout of the Franco-Laotian garrison in Sam Noua.
    What a disappointment.

  • @HatredOfMephisto
    @HatredOfMephisto 2 місяці тому

    lol wheres the air force?

  • @mizunotogaming8853
    @mizunotogaming8853 2 місяці тому +1

    As a Vietnamese, thank you for including this historical moment in Vietnamese history!

  • @annpeerkat2020
    @annpeerkat2020 2 місяці тому +1

    Title is bollocks.... US jumped where no one wanted them to go. But interesting content.

  • @davhot4107
    @davhot4107 2 дні тому

    Ainsi bas la vida! Ainsi bas la vida! 💀💀

  • @hanaluong2672
    @hanaluong2672 Місяць тому

    It is funny to hear French names for Vietnamese locations. In Vietnam, there is a saying "Navarre Plan", meaning a failed plan. Once the mother of my classmate visited my mother. They were talking about the parents' association, then about their private lives. I overheard my classmate's mother telling my mother "it is a Navarre plan, you know" ( about something that she had not succeeded).

  • @chrischarman8707
    @chrischarman8707 2 місяці тому +1

    Wow your Vietnamese pronunciation is pants

  • @jona.scholt4362
    @jona.scholt4362 2 місяці тому +1

    @1:46 Wait, is that an old Ju-52 being used as a bomber? By the French?!? In Vietnam?!??!

    • @MrNicoJac
      @MrNicoJac 2 місяці тому +5

      Did you think they'd let the Germans keep their planes after WW2? 😅

    • @Tekisasubakani
      @Tekisasubakani 2 місяці тому +5

      There were a decent number of ex-Wehrmacht and [supposedly] even SS soldiers in the Legion at Dien Bien Phu.

  • @baochau8837
    @baochau8837 2 місяці тому +1

    Mong bạn làm về đề tài điện biên phủ trên ko ,mỹ ném bom Hà Nội 1972

  • @larryalvares1369
    @larryalvares1369 Місяць тому

    Watching this on the 70th anniversary of the battle

  • @johnd2058
    @johnd2058 2 місяці тому +4

    How the hell did this "drag" the USA anywhere?

    • @1604Sylvain
      @1604Sylvain 2 місяці тому +1

      Expand of communism

    • @poshboy4749
      @poshboy4749 2 місяці тому +1

      Comment when you have finished the video buddy.

    • @1604Sylvain
      @1604Sylvain 2 місяці тому +2

      ​@@poshboy4749 I did, and was well aware of what happened there before this video.
      In case you didn't know, as their are specialist in that matter, USA helps the communist vietnamese to fight back at japanese during world war 2. Ironic right ? Just as they help talibans against USSR, creating Ben Laden.
      But in the end, it all comes to that : US vietnam war was an attempt to contain the communism expand.

    • @johnd2058
      @johnd2058 2 місяці тому

      Replay when you learn the complex history of the 10 years between DBP and the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, @@poshboy4749 .

    • @johnd2058
      @johnd2058 2 місяці тому +1

      @@1604Sylvain So did the Russian Civil War. And?

  • @zetectic7968
    @zetectic7968 2 місяці тому +4

    It was French hubris after the humiliation of WW2 they thought they could retain their colonies & prestige.
    To choose a place in a valley surround by hills & severely underestimate your enemy:foolhardy
    I heard a radio documentary about this many years ago. French soldiers were dropping dead because the stress & lack of sleep depleted their endocrine system.

    • @andrearel3703
      @andrearel3703 2 місяці тому

      They needed the money that Indochina could produce from the exportation of rice and rubber.

    • @angkhoanguyen6114
      @angkhoanguyen6114 2 місяці тому +1

      ​@@andrearel3703Only too lose more money by wasting them in Vietnam

    • @andrearel3703
      @andrearel3703 2 місяці тому +1

      @@angkhoanguyen6114 But they still got to boom boom with Vietnamese women. Women cry when they leave.

    • @angkhoanguyen6114
      @angkhoanguyen6114 2 місяці тому +1

      @@andrearel3703 women cried for themselves being idiots

  • @geordiedog1749
    @geordiedog1749 2 місяці тому +9

    Great video. One wee point. The French are called French and the Vietnamese are called communist. Sounds odd.

    • @jdotoz
      @jdotoz 2 місяці тому +10

      There were Vietnamese on both sides.

    • @poshboy4749
      @poshboy4749 2 місяці тому +5

      He Seems to use communist and Vietnamese interchangeably to me.

    • @gabe7745
      @gabe7745 2 місяці тому +8

      Vietnamese are The Communists, but the French aren't The Colonialists?

    • @hedgehog3180
      @hedgehog3180 2 місяці тому

      @@jdotoz There were also French people on both sides and the Foreign Legion isn't even made up of French people.

    • @markgarrett3647
      @markgarrett3647 24 дні тому

      Because they are exactly that.

  • @morefiction3264
    @morefiction3264 2 місяці тому

    Not a great plan by the French.

  • @tempest9691
    @tempest9691 2 місяці тому +1

    Please.... PLEASE add time stamps for ads. I get that you need them for funding to make new videoes, doesn't mean we want to watch them.

    • @cjl1w4g27
      @cjl1w4g27 2 місяці тому

      First world problems

    • @tempest9691
      @tempest9691 2 місяці тому

      @@cjl1w4g27 pretty much

    • @xanderanderson6673
      @xanderanderson6673 2 місяці тому

      Double tap the right hand side of your screen

  • @7macfly2
    @7macfly2 2 місяці тому +6

    respect to those french para who jumped their to join their friends while they knew it was already over....

  • @MarquisVincentBissetdeGramont
    @MarquisVincentBissetdeGramont 2 місяці тому +2

    "When in doubt, blame the French".

  • @melvinjohnson2074
    @melvinjohnson2074 Місяць тому

    The French colonial master's were physiologically unprepared for a mass slave uprising.

  • @namdo5550
    @namdo5550 2 місяці тому

    A bit short and lack of many crucial details about this battle. The moutain in North West of Vietnam is really high up, so the French didn't believe that Viet Minh can bring heavy arty up hill. And unlike Na San when Viet Minh took human waves attack and failed, General Giap learned from it and took a slowly advance by making trench warfare.

    • @namdo5550
      @namdo5550 2 місяці тому

      @@tartzmir7934 check map of Dien Bien Phu mate. It’s a valley without any cover . Sheer number is a factor, but just human wave like ww1 infront of MG is stupid like Nasan. And do you think that it’s ez to transfer arty shells up to the moutains in dirt roads, from China, under air raid? A report shows that there is 200km of trench made by Viet Minh

    • @tartzmir7934
      @tartzmir7934 2 місяці тому +1

      @@namdo5550 The trench wasn't design to keep the vietminh in, they use it as a mean to creep closer to french position as well as blow them up using underground mines, that's called siege warfare. when I said vietnamese forces use sheer numbers, I meant they use their numbers to overrun french position before reinforcement could arrive, as to artillery, what on earth are you talking about, if you haven't read any vietnamese or western account of the battle, let me tell you that vietnamese porters cut 500km of road through the thick jungles to support the hundreds of vietminh guns bearing down on the Dien Bien Phu garrisons, not to mention the guns were position strategically at higher elevation and are protected by jungle foilage and the underground position that they're hauled into, that's why french close air support elements were unable to even distrupt or barely hinder vietminh offensives because they were unable to spot let alone destroy these illusive vietminh roads and artillery which is well hidden, you're making it like the french and vietminh forces were fighting on equal terms when in fact the french already doomed themselves by showing up in Dien Bien Phu

  • @johnforrester9120
    @johnforrester9120 2 місяці тому +3

    The yanks and French were both taught a lesson they should have never gone back in

  • @AlexaRobin21
    @AlexaRobin21 2 місяці тому +2

    The battle that broke the Indochinese French Empire, and soon, the African French Empire.

    • @johnbox271
      @johnbox271 2 місяці тому +3

      African French Empire simply altered to look more palatable, but it went on. Well, until recently when the Russians took advantage.