2012 Dien Bien Phu Part 3 : Dien Bien Phu. Vietnam (2nd day)
April 7th, 2012
1 Victory Monument & Museum @ D 1 Hill
2 Local market
3 French Colonel de Castries' bunker
4.Hill A1 - Eliane,
5 War Cemetery
6.General Vo Nguyen Giap's Headquarters, Muong Phang, 10 km West of Dien Bien Phu
N.W. Vietnam: The French Were Defeated At Dien Bien Phu
Sad to say, but I knew zilch about the decisive battle between the French and Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu where Colonel de Castries surrendered to Viet Minh forces. The museum, film, bunkers and what was left of the battlefield changed that.
Other than that, poisonous snakes are what I'll always remember about Dien Bien Phu. Don't listen to what people tell you. Poisonous snakes were all over the place. Sidewalks...grass...on the roads... Watch your step!
2012 B. Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam Tour
April 7, 2012. 2nd day in Dien Bien Phu.
1 Victory Monument & Museum @ D 1 Hill
2 Local market near # 1
3 French Colonel de Castries' bunker
4.Hill A1 - Eliane,
5 War Cemetery
6.General Vo Nguyen Giap's Headquarters, Muong Phang, 10 km West of Dien Bien Phu
General De Castries (1954)
Indo-China.
Man pinning on medals, man scattering food for birds, man ploughing field, making a brick wall, man walking in front of sheep along tree lined avenue (unclear if this is part of UN 2617 D, it cannot be identified as another canister no.).
Documentation on file states the shots are of the ill fated General Christian de Castries who Commanded the garrison at Dien Bien Phu, taken from 'our' Library, with his officers and in the early days of the building up of Dien Bien Phu fortress, inspecting the work made on landing tracks.
(F.G. B/W)
Note: poor quality.
FILM ID:2769.09
A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRITISH PATHÉ TV. IT'S FULL OF GREAT DOCUMENTARIES, FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSIC MOVIES.
FOR LICENSING ENQUIRIES VISIT
British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 136,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1984. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website.
Veterans, tourists, comment on anniversary
1. Dien Bien Phu valley shrouded in mist
2. Wide top shot of Dien Bien Phu town
3. Locals on street with banners commemorating 50th anniversary of battle of Dien Bien Phu
4. Ethnic Thai women wheeling bicycles with children past commemorative banner
5. Street with banners
6. Commemorative T-shirt being held by vendor
7. Tourists visiting A1 Hill (known as 'Helene' by French), site of battle
8. Vietnamese in front of commemorative monument at A1 Hill
9. Tourists, including veteran Vuquy Hoanh, climbing up hill
10. SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese) Vuquy Hoanh, Dien Bien Phu veteran
Today is the day of the historical victory of the Vietnamese nation and military, to which I contributed my part. I am 80 years-old now and still try to come back to visit my former battlefield.
11. Stone monument with relief depicting French commander Colonel Christian de Castries' bunker - pans to real-life bunker being visited by tourists
12. Vietnamese veterans
13. Set-up shot of Nguyen Tuong Muu, Dien Bien Phu veteran
14. SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese) Nguyen Tuong Muu, Dien Bien Phu veteran
When I come back home I can tell my offspring about how hard I tried to fight to achieve this glorious victory.
15. Various of monument to French soldiers killed at Dien Bien Phu
16. Close-up of inscription on monument - tilts down to incense at base
17.SOUNDBITE: (French) Jean Daniel Guerregenton, 58 year-old, French tourist
I recall, 50 years on, that the day of eighth birthday was the day of the defeat at Dien Bien Phu - so I had a very, very, very unhappy birthday.
18. Wide top shot of Vietnamese military cemetery
19. Pan across graves
20. Set-up shot of Michele Marszalek
21. SOUNDBITE: (French) former pilot and Dien Bien Phu French veteran
The government decides to go to war, and the soldiers obey. Then wars finish and there is a winner and a loser and then we shake our hands and after, perhaps, we start again.
17. French tourists with Vietnamese veteran standing in front of tank to pose for photograph
STORYLINE:
The mist-shrouded mountains surrounding the tiny Vietnamese border town of Dien Bien Phu served as the backdrop for a siege 50 years ago that that is still being studied by military historians.
Today, tourists and veterans alike have returned to the site of the battle which ended the French colonial war in Indochina on May 7, 1954.
The town of Dien Bien Phu, now home to 70-thousand people, sprawls out below the hills, a patchwork of colourful blocks surrounded by emerald rice paddies.
The main boulevard is named 7th of May.
Over the decades, the bomb craters and trenches have been filled in and flattened into farmland.
On Friday, veterans returned to the site where the 56-day siege of the French troops by the Vietnamese ended.
They climbed up A1 Hill (known as 'Helene' by the French) - the last hill captured by the Vietnamese during the fighting.
Trenches and barbed wire have been left here for tourists.
Clad in their original uniforms, former Vietnamese soldiers laughed and cried during their reunions.
Thin, small men with feathery whiskers dangling from their chins, some walked with limps or missing limbs. Their bodies may be weak their spirit remains strong.
Visitors - including many French - swarmed to the bunker where Colonel Christian de Castries, the French commander, surrendered.
The Vietnamese flag was raised above this site, ending the colonial war and setting the stage for a conflict with the Americans.
The human price was terrible: the French suffered more than two-thousand deaths in battle and countless others died during a forced prison march.
The Vietnamese suffered at least three times as many deaths during the fighting, plus tens of thousands wounded.
You can license this story through AP Archive:
Find out more about AP Archive:
VOICED Look at battle site where French defeated 50 years ago
VOICED BY VERA FRANKL
Dien Bien Phu, File (November 1953)
0000 Various of fighting between French and communists
Dien Bien Phu, April 18, 2004
0015 Wide shot of Dien Bien Phu Valley
0019 Tourists visiting preserved trenches used in Dien Bien Phu battle
0021 Bunker that was headquarters of French commander Colonel Christian de Castries during battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, with tourists taking photographs
0025 Artillery and tank at museum to Dien Bien Phu battle
Dien Bien Phu, April 18, 2004
0029 Young women from ethnic Thai minority group applauding arrival at cemetery of Dien Bien Phu veterans
0031 Dien Bien Phu veterans standing in line
0035 Troops entering heroes cemetery carrying wreath for General Vo Nguyen Giap, commander of Vietnamese troops at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, walking behind
0040 Veteran of Dien Bien Phu and ethnic minority people watching
0045 General Vo Nguyen Giap going to plant tree in heroes cemetery
Hanoi, April 30, 2004
26. SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese) General Vo Nguyen Giap, commander of Vietnamese troops at battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954:
(Responding to journalist's request for him to outline differences between the US war in Vietnam and the current Iraq conflict) Any forces, no matter how powerful they are, wishing to impose their will on other nations will certainly face failure. Every nation fighting for its own legitimate rights and sovereignty will certainly be victorious.
Dien Bien Phu, April 18, 2004
0105 Wide shot of heroes cemetery
0108 Veterans of Dien Bien Phu battle standing in cemetery
0114 Veteran offering incense at cemetery
0121 VISION ENDS
LEAD-IN:
Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the battle of Dien Bien Phu - Vietnam's historic victory over the French - a triumph for communism that set the stage for the American war in Indochina a decade later.
Veterans, including the general who led Vietnamese forces, have been gathering in the small border town in a remote valley 260 miles (420 kilometres) northwest of Hanoi to remember the dead.
The human price of the battle was terrible: the French suffered more than two-thousand deaths in battle and countless others died during a forced prison march, while the Vietnamese suffered at least three times as many deaths during the fighting, plus tens of thousands wounded.
VOICE-OVER:
0002
The battle of Dien Bien Phu was one of the turning points in post-colonial history.
Vietnam's peasant army triumphed over the French after a 56-day siege - their victory sparking other anti-colonial uprisings.
0016
Today, this now peaceful valley attracts visitors from Vietnam and abroad, eager to learn more about one of the most decisive periods in the country's history.
But these relics of war say little of the human cost of battle.
0027
That's something the veterans of Dien Bien Phu know all too well.
They're here to mark the anniversary, but also to remember fallen comrades.
0039
The general who led Vietnamese forces to victory says the world still has much to learn from the unbreakable will of his troops.
0047
Any forces, he says, no matter how powerful they are, wishing to impose their will on other nations will certainly face failure.
Every nation fighting for its own legitimate rights and sovereignty will certainly be victorious.
0105
It was a lesson that America later learned, as another generation of Vietnamese fought off an invading power -
a lesson these veterans hope might give leaders around the world further cause for contemplation.
0121
VISION ENDS
You can license this story through AP Archive:
Find out more about AP Archive:
Anniversary of 50 years since battle to end French war
1. Participants carrying banner in parade inside soccer stadium to commemorate 50th anniversary of battle of Dien Bien Phu
2. Vietnamese Vice-President Truong My Hoa (woman on left of shot), Nong Duc Manh (to right of Truong), Secretary-General of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Pham Gia Khiem (to right of Nong) Deputy Prime Minister and Pham Van Tra (in military uniform on right of shot), Defence Minister, waving to participants in parade
3. Soldiers in parade
4. Officials clapping
5. Low-angle shot with rows of soldiers in parade marching past camera
6. Feet of woman dressed in ethnic costume - tilts up to woman carrying AK-47 rifle
7. Close-up of banner depicting the moment in 1954 when Vietnamese soldiers stood on top of the French commander Colonel Christian de Castries'' bunker and raised the Viet Minh army flag, bringing an end to battle
8. Red flags being carried in parade
9. Female soldiers in various regional costumes marching past
10. Spectators watching
11. Officials marching
12. SOUNDBITE: (Vietnamese) Quang Van Binh, Chairman Dien Bien Phu People''s Committee
It (the parade) reflected the atmosphere of fear and courage, openness - and it also showed Vietnam and the people of Dien Bien Phu want to make friends with the people of the five continents.
13. Wide shot of crowds and performers inside soccer stadium
14. Wide shot of mass dance performance
15. Women dancing - rack focus to men performing in background
16. Scenery representing French bunker and Dien Bien Phu hilltop being wheeled into centre of stadium for re-enactment of battle
17. Actor playing French commander Colonel Christian de Castries
18. Close-up of medals on chest of veteran watching performance - tilts up to face
19. Performers re-enacting digging of trenches by Vietnamese troops - pans
20. Close-up of stage cannons firing with smoke
21. Actors holding white flags re-enacting French surrender
22. Performers representing Vietnamese troops waving flag in victory - pulls out as other performers run past, waving
23. Various of women in costume dancing
24. Wide shot of performance
25. Actor dressed as Ho Chi Minh, father of modern Vietnam, waving to crowds - pulls out to performers holding banners
STORYLINE:
Thousands of Vietnamese paraded on Friday on the 50th anniversary of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, celebrating a victory that ended France''s colonial ambitions in Indochina and set the stage for America''s ill-fated involvement in the conflict.
Performers dressed as the father of modern Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, and General Vo Nguyen Giap - the commander of Vietnam''s rebel forces - were the stars of a grand show that included two-thousand-500 participants re-enacting the story of how the better-equipped French soldiers were defeated by a ragtag Vietnamese army with an unbreakable will.
The celebration brought out Vietnam''s top leader, Nong Duc Manh, who heads the Communist Party.
Defence Minister Pham Van Tra also made the 500-kilometre (310-mile) trip from Hanoi, visiting a war cemetery where nearly 650 Dien Bien Phu veterans rest.
Inside the town''s small soccer stadium, hundreds of gold star-on-red flags flew as young men and women in green and white uniforms goose-stepped around the field during a victory parade.
A steady drizzle failed to dampen the spirits of some 15-thousand spectators who packed into the stands.
The beat of revolutionary songs pounded, the drums symbolising an unstoppable march of soldiers and civilians who played a part in the defeat that spurred the collapse of colonialism in Indochina and sparked anti-colonial uprisings around the world.
Other performers represented the digging of kilometres (miles) of trenches over steep mountain passes until the enemy was surrounded.
You can license this story through AP Archive:
Find out more about AP Archive:
dien bien phu dernière conversation
Le Général Cogny et le Général de Castries dans une ultime conversation radio avant la chute de Dien Bien Phu
Indochina Battle Of Na San (1952)
Unissued / Unused material.
Battle of Na San. Indochina.
Aerial shot Na San battle area. CU parachutes being pushed out of aircraft. MS's parachutes being pushed out of aircraft. Various shots aircraft flying over battle area and troops. LS no-man's land, troops in foreground. MS troops digging in. CU's man digging trench. MS men erecting barbed wire. Various shots making machine gun post.
MS soldier digging in. MS's General Salan and General De Linares, with Colonel Gilles looking on. Various shots soldiers digging in as aircraft passes. MS VIP's riding in jeep. MS soldier throwing earth on bunker as aircraft takes off. MS Generals leaving dugout. LS pan VIP walking towards jeep. LS airfield. CU breech of gun firing. Various shots through barbed wire of aircraft taking off. MS men completing bunker. MS machine gun mounted in bunker. Various shots activity on airfield.
FILM ID:2636.31
A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRITISH PATHÉ TV. IT'S FULL OF GREAT DOCUMENTARIES, FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSIC MOVIES.
FOR LICENSING ENQUIRIES VISIT
British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 136,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1984. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website.
First Indochina War | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
First Indochina War
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina on 19 December 1946, and lasted until 20 July 1954. Fighting between French forces and their Việt Minh opponents in the south dated from September 1945. The conflict pitted a range of forces, including the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps, led by France and supported by Bảo Đại's Vietnamese National Army against the Việt Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh and the People's Army of Vietnam led by Võ Nguyên Giáp. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia.
At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the Combined Chiefs of Staff decided that Indochina south of latitude 16° north was to be included in the Southeast Asia Command under British Admiral Mountbatten. Japanese forces located south of that line surrendered to him and those to the north surrendered to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. In September 1945, Chinese forces entered Tonkin, and a small British task force landed at Saigon. The Chinese accepted the Vietnamese government under Ho Chi Minh, then in power in Hanoi. The British refused to do likewise in Saigon, and deferred to the French there from the outset, against the ostensible support of the Việt Minh authorities by American OSS representatives. On V-J Day, September 2, Ho Chi Minh had proclaimed in Hanoi the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). The DRV ruled as the only civil government in all of Vietnam for a period of about 20 days, after the abdication of Emperor Bảo Đại, who had governed under Japanese rule. On 23 September 1945, with the knowledge of the British commander in Saigon, French forces overthrew the local DRV government, and declared French authority restored in Cochinchina. Guerrilla warfare began around Saigon immediately, but the French gradually retook control of the South and North of Indochina. Hô Chi Minh agreed to negotiate the future status of Vietnam, but the talks, held in France, failed to produce a solution. After over one year of latent conflict, all-out war broke out in December 1946 between French and Việt Minh forces as Hô and his government went underground. The French tried to stabilize Indochina by reorganizing it as a Federation of Associated States. In 1949, they put former Emperor Bảo Đại back in power, as the ruler of a newly established State of Vietnam.
The first few years of the war involved a low-level rural insurgency against the French. In 1949 the conflict turned into a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons supplied by the United States, China and the Soviet Union. French Union forces included colonial troops from the whole former empire (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese ethnic minorities), French professional troops and units of the French Foreign Legion. The use of metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming even more unpopular at home. It was called the dirty war (la sale guerre) by leftists in France.The strategy of pushing the Việt Minh into attacking well-defended bases in remote parts of the country at the end of their logistical trails was validated at the Battle of Nà Sản. However, this base was relatively weak because of a lack of concrete and steel. French efforts were made more difficult due to the limited usefulness of armored tanks in a jungle environment, lack of strong air forces for air cover and carpet bombing, and use of foreign recruits from other French colonies (mainly from Algeria, Morocco and even Vietnam). Võ Nguyên Giáp, however, used efficient and novel tactics of direct fire artillery, convoy ambushes and ma ...