The fall of the entrenched camp of Diên Bien Phu on May 7, 1954, during the Indochina War (1946-1954) had an immense impact at the time. It inspired other liberation movements against colonization elsewhere in the world.
See Vietnam: 70 years ago, the defeat of Diên Bien Phu
Inviting France to participate in this anniversary is a “sign of the desire to build a relationship for the future”indicates the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. “There is a shared desire to look at this history of the Indochina War in a lucid and open manner”.
The myth of the heroism of the French soldier
This invitation has symbolic value because this battle has marked the French collective memory, in particular thanks to two films, “Les Centurions”, inspired by the eponymous book by Jean Lartéguy and “La 317e section” by Pierre Schoendoerffer. They helped create this myth, transfiguring this bloody defeat into an exaltation of the heroic sacrifice of the French soldier.
Because the battle left in France the memory of a military humiliation, while it remains a symbol of immense pride for the People’s Army of Vietnam.
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The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, will visit on May 7 “at the Vietnamese ceremony, then at the tribute to the dead in a Vietnamese military cemetery”. He will pay a distinct tribute to the French soldiers at the Dien Bien Phu memorial.
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu
Dien Bien Phu is located 250 km from Hanoi, in the Thai high country, on the border with Laos. It is a valley measuring 16 by 9 km, surrounded by hills.
The French began development of the area at the end of November 1953, by building eleven fortified positions on the hills overlooking the village. They all have feminine first names: Claudine, Huguette, Beatrice….
In December 1953, the French garrison numbered nearly 10,000 men. Opposite, the commander of the Viet Minh, General Giap, gathered 70,000 soldiers.
The fighting intensified from March 13, 1954. The Viet Minh took control of “Béatrice” and “Gabrielle” mainly held by legionnaires and Algerian riflemen.
Thanks to airdrops, French forces reached up to 15,000 men. From March 27, while the rain fell continuously, no plane could land or take off from the entrenched camp. The besieged are no longer relieved. The wounded on both sides were treated on site. General Giap can count on 70,000 combatants who are regularly relieved, and 60,000 auxiliaries – civilians – whose missions are to build roads and transport supplies and equipment.
It is in this context that the legend of supplying the Viet Minh army was born. This delivery was carried out by approximately 21,000 bicycles weighted with a mass of 200 kilos of weapons and food.
1er May, the Viet Minh launches its general offensive at 10 p.m. On May 7, “Claudine”, “Éliane” and the PC were lost. The ceasefire is announced at 6 p.m.
(Source The Paths of MemoryFrench Ministry of the Armed Forces)
The last veterans’ trip to Vietnam
Three last French survivors were invited to the celebrations. All in their nineties, Jean-Yves Guinard, William Schilardi, and André Mayer have forgotten nothing about Dien Bien Phu.
“This country seduced us”, launches Jean-Yves Guinard, 92 years old, “but this does not cause us to forget. I come in the name of my fallen comrades.”
The colonel, a former member of the 8th battalion of colonial paratroopers, insisted on walking to the top of Béatrice Hill on May 6, despite the downpours which made the path muddy and slippery.
In the trenches, I had seen limbs, corpses… I can’t tell you more. William Schilardi, 90-year-old French veteran
At his side, William Schilardi, 90, recalls the knife and bayonet fights in the kilometers of trenches dug in the plain, on the Laos border. During the ascent, “I had flashes (…) In the trenches, I saw limbs, corpses… I can’t tell you more”, he blurted out, his throat tight with emotion.
French people from mainland France and former colonies
The battle of Dien Bien Phu cost the French Far East Expeditionary Force (CEFEO) more than 3,000 men, 1,700 dead and 1,600 missing. 4,400 French soldiers were wounded and were among the 10,300 prisoners. On the Vietnamese side, losses numbered at least 8,000 men and more than 15,000 wounded.
Tens of thousands of French people from Africa, North Africa and other colonies fought for France in Indochina. Between 1947 and 1954, more than 120,000 North Africans, half of whom came from Morocco, not yet independent, filled the ranks of the French army in Indochina.
They were on the other side, but it was during the war. Today, they are welcome in Vietnam. Le Tien Bo, a 64-year-old former Vietnamese soldier
Only 3,300 prisoners are returned to their families. The others, often left without care, exhausted, hungry, sometimes summarily executed, lost their lives on the roads which led them to their place of detention and to the Viet Minh camps.
70 years later, reconciliation
In front of the Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum, local residents and tourists offered an unexpected crowd bath to the three nonagenarians on May 5.
Le Tien Bo, a 64-year-old former Vietnamese soldier, shakes hands with another veteran: “It’s a sign of friendship. They were on the other side, but that was during the war. Today, they are welcome in Vietnam.”
The two veterans interviewed by AFP look favorably on reconciliation with a land to which they remain attached. They themselves worked in associations which built bridges between the youth of the two countries in their afterlife.
This May 6, Sébastien Lecornu speaks with his counterpart Phan Van Giang and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Paris wants to develop its strategic cooperation with Hanoi, based on the model of that established in particular with Indonesia and the Philippines.
