Discussion english 3 topic the battle dien bien phu

The Dien Bien Phu campaign was a fierce confrontation between two sides: on one side was the French colonial army equipped with modern weapons, strongly supported by the US, on the othe

Ministry of Education & Training THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY

DISCUSSION ENGLISH 3 Topic: The battle Dien Bien Phu Teacher: Pham Thi To Loan Class code section: 232_ENTH1611_32

Group: 5

Hanoi, March 30 2024

MEMBER OF GROUP

Ordinal number | Student code Full name Task Score

21 22D109042 | Ngo Xuan Sang 1

22 22D109043 | Phan Ngo Tuan 2

Son

23 22D100272 Nguyen Dang 4

Thanh

24 22D210209 Nguyen Thi 3

Thom

25 22D100292 | Mai Van Thuan 5

PPT

26 22D210213 Bui Thi Thuy Conclusion

Introduction

Word

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION |i 4 CONTENT 114 5

1 Introduction to the Dien Bien Phu campain - 5 cece ceteeeteeenaees 5 pPÑ; uc 8n 5

3 Developmen(ts in Dien Bien Phu - - G0 222112211111 15211 15 1115182211118 52 7

4 Specifc developmenfs Á Q0 2 1121111211 112111111 1111111111 1111 ng kk ng khe 9

5 The sipgnificance of Dien Bien Phụu - 0 1222212223211 1522111522115 521112 te 10 CONCLUSION | 12 REFERENCER 2.00 .e 13

INTRODUCTION

In the spring of 1954, on the land of northwestern Vietnam, a resounding epic

was written by our army and people That was the Dien Bien Phu campaign, a glorious

feat of arms, a shining milestone in the history of our nation's fight against foreign invaders

The Dien Bien Phu campaign was a fierce confrontation between two sides: on

one side was the French colonial army equipped with modern weapons, strongly supported by the US, on the other side was our army and people with courageous

spirit, perseverance, and determination to win independence and freedom

CONTENT

1 Introduction to the Dien Bien Phu campain

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, also known as the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, was a

pivotal military engagement during the First Indochina War It took place in the heart

of the Muong Thanh valley, in Dien Bien Province (now part of Lai Chau Province) in

Vietnam

Under the visionary leadership of the Central Party and the great President Ho

Chi Minh, the Vietnamese people, both civilians and soldiers, achieved a historic

victory On May 7, 1954, they shattered the formidable French stronghold at Dien

Bien Phu, which was the most powerful bastion in Indochina, held by the French

colonialists and influenced by US intervention This victory resounded across five continents and shook the world

The historic triumph at Dien Bien Phu marked the pinnacle of military art and the tnovative strategy of the Vietnamese resistance against French colonial

aggression It shattered the French hope and thwarted the US - backed Navarre Plan,

significantly altering the course of the Indochina War Moreover, it became a

momentous turning point in Vietnam’s revolutionary history, leading to the signing of the Geneva Accords, which restored peace in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

This historic victory not only elevated Vietnam’s international standing but also compelled France to participate in the Geneva Conference, leading to the complete liberation of Northern Vietnam The Geneva Accords laid the groundwork for our subsequent struggle against the US and the salvation of our nation (1954 - 1975)

2 Background

Hanoi (TTXVN May 6, 2023) French colontalists, supported by imperialist forces, have returned to invade our country On December 19, 1946, with the spirit of

"rather sacrifice everything, than definitely not lose the country, definitely not willing

to be a slave", the entire Party, the entire people, and the entire army unanimously responded to the All-Union Call President Ho Chi Minh's resistance nation heroically entered the long and arduous resistance war against the invading enemy

Implementing the policy of all-people, comprehensive, long-term resistance,

relying primarily on one's own strength, with rudimentary weapons and the spirit of

"Determining death for the Fatherland to survive", our army and people have successively defeated the invaders military strategy of the French colonialists The more our troops fought, the stronger they became, the more they won, the French

expeditionary force sank deeper and deeper into a passive and confused position The liberated area expanded and the people's democratic government was consolidated By

1953, our people and army had mastery on the battlefield, creating a comparison of forces in our favor

To save the situation, in the Fall and Winter of 1953, the French colonialists and the US intervened to launch the Nava Plan to greatly increase military strength and war costs, planning to destroy the rest of the country within 18 months majority of our main force, controlling the territory of Vietnam and pacifying the whole of Southern

Indochina The Nava Plan is the general plan, the final effort of the French colonialists

and the US intervention to regain the decisive military initiative on the battlefield, serving as the basis for a political solution beneficial to Vietnam To achieve that goal,

France and the United States planned that by 1954 the French main force would have

7 strategic mobile divisions with 27 iron fist troops

On our side, in September 1953, the Politburo met to discuss and decided to

launch the strategic Winter-Spring offensive with the motto: active, proactive, mobile, flexible, destroying enemy forces, training our forces, choose where the enemy is vulnerable and are relatively weak to attack, choose directions where the enemy can attack deep into the free zone, step up guerrilla warfare, maintain the initiative and resolutely force the enemy to disperse Our army and people have coordinated with the

army and people of Laos and Cambodia to continuously launch campaigns and win

victories in Lai Chau, Central Laos, Lower Laos, Eastern Cambodia, Central

Highlands and Upper Laos, destroying many enemy forces, opening expanding the

liberated area, bankrupting the enemy's plot to concentrate forces, forcing the French

army to disperse its forces to deal with the entire Indochina battlefield, pushing them

Into a passive strategic situation When discovering our strategic direction of attack into the Northwest, Lat Chau and Upper Laos, the French Expeditionary Force Command sent paratroopers to occupy Dien Bien Phu

Dien Bien Phu ts a strategically important base that controls a large area of the Northwest and Upper Laos Although the plan was outside the initial expectations of the French and American Nava Plan, the French and American generals continuously

reinforced their forces, building Dien Bien Phu into the strongest stronghold in

Indochina The enemy has gathered here 16,200 troops including 21 battalions, including, 17 infantry battalions, 3 artillery battalions, 1 engineering battalion, 1 tank company, | air force squadron, 1 transport company motorized load The Dien Bien Phu base group is arranged into 3 subdivisions: North, Central, and South with 49 bases, mobilizing all paratroopers and 40% of France's most elite mobile forces in Indochina; The ground firepower system is quite strong with 2 battalions of 105mm artillery, 1 company of 155mm artillery, 1 company of 120mm mortars located in

Muong Thanh and Hong Cum; Muong Thanh and Hong Cum airports with nearly 100 boardings and landings each day can transport about 200 to 300 tons of goods and parachute from 100 to 150 enemies, ensuring reinforcements for the French army during, the operation war The Dien Bien Phu stronghold group was the strongest French defense stronghold group in Indochina at that time Nava considered Dien Bien Phu as "an unassailable fortress", an attractive place to destroy our main army Dien Bien Phu became the decisive battle point of the Nava Plan

Faced with that situation, on December 6, 1953, the Politburo met and determined that Dien Bien Phu was a strong base but the enemy’s basic weakness was

isolation On our side, Dien Bien Phu was the biggest siege ever; Taking place in

rugged mountainous areas, maneuvering routes for artillery are difficult, and preparation time for the campaign 1s urgent But the Dien Bien Phu campaign had very important military, political and diplomatic significance; Our biggest difficulty is the logistics supply problem, but we can overcome it The Politburo decided to open the Dien Bien Phu Campaign and approved the combat plan, establishing the Campaign Command and the Front Party Committee with General Vo Nguyen Giap as Commander and Secretary of the Campaign Party Committee The Government decided to establish a Front Supply Council with Mr Pham Van Dong as Chairman

With the particularly important significance of the campaign, the Politburo and the General Military Commission decided to concentrate 4 infantry companies and 1

artillery company with a total number of over 40,000 troops Complying with the

decision of the Politburo, all preparations for the campaign were carried out promptly; The whole country gathered strength for the Dien Bien Phu front with the slogan "All

for the front line, all for victory", the main army units quickly gathered, day and night

raiding forests, cutting open mountains roads, towing artillery, building battlefields, ready to attack the enemy; 261,451 civil servants and young volunteers braved bombs

and bullets towards Dien Bien to ensure logistics for the campaign

3 Developments in Dien Bien Phu

Campaign commander Vo Nguyen Giap

There were French forces in Dien Bien Phu: 12 battalions and 7 infantry

companies, 3 artillery battalion, 1 aircraft squadron (during the campaign, 4 battalions

and 2 parachute companies were reinforced), organize defense into 3 subdivision, 8

resistance centers, including 49 strong points equipped with strong firepower, 2 fire

bases and 2 airports in Muong Thanh and Hong Cum

The campaign was scheduled to begin on January 25, 1954 (the first plan was

January 20, 1954), according to the motto “fight quickly, resolve quickly”, but

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because the enemy had increased their troops and strengthened their defense system, at the same time, on our side, the introduction of artillery into the battlefield and the organization of coordinated infantry - artillery combat have not been completed, so the Campaign Command decided to amend the plan and continue to prepare all aspects Switched to implementing the motto “firm attack, steady progress”, using the method

of siege, attack, and successive breakthroughs to destroy the stronghold group

On the afternoon of March 13, 1954, the Dien Bien Phu campaign opened, progressing through 3 phases

Phase I (March 13 - 17), we smashed the enemy’s outer defense in the North and Northeast, starting with the Him Lam battle (March 13, 1954), followed by destroying the Doc Lap Hill stronghold cluster (see Battle of Doc Lap Hill, March 15, 1954), surrounded and forced the Ban Keo stronghold group (March 16, 1954), defeating many enemy counterattacks

Phase 2 (March 30 - April 30), after more than 10 days of building an attack and

siege battlefield with hundreds of kilometers of communication trenche, thousands of fortifications and gun emplacements of all kinds, we attacked and destroyed bases E,

D1, D2, C1 on the eastern hills and 106, 311 on the northwest direction of Muong Thanh airport, but attacking base Al (see battle of hill Al, March 30 - 7, 1954) and bases C2, 105 were unsuccessful The enemy counter - attacked and took back half of

hill C1

From April 16, we developed a siege battlefield, attacked, invaded and destroyed bases 105 (April 18), 206 (see the battle of base 206, April 17 - 23, 1954), dug trenches to cut Muong Thanh airport in half, and attacked repelled many enemy

counterattacks to regain the airport (see the battle of Muong Thanh airport, April 21 -

23, 1954), combined with sniping and sending anti - aircraft artillery into the Muong Thanh field to control and completely eliminate air supply of the enemy

Phase 3 (May 1 - 7), we 1n turn captured the remaining high points in the east (C1, C2 and A1), destroyed a number of strongholds in the west, increased the siege and pressure of the Hong Cum sub - division, surrounded and threatened the central

command post, extinguishing the enemy’s hope of retreat; at 15:00 May 7, there was a

general attack on the center of Muong Thanh, capturing General De Castrie and the

entire staff of the stronghold group, forcing the remaining enemies in the central sector

to surrender, pursuing and capturing them The enemy element in Hong Cum retreated

The Dien Bien Phu campaign was a complete victory

The Dien Bien Phu campaign won a complete victory, destroying and capturing more than 16,200 enemies (including 1 major general, 369 officers from colonels to lieutenants), confiscating all weapons and equipment, and shooting down 62 aircraft

4 Specific developments

Specific moves

7 AM:

- General De Castries summoned the observers and ordered them to draft a surrender document

- After the surrender document was drafted, De Castries called for Colonel Langlais, his assistant officer, to come and give Langlais the task of bringing the surrender document to General Vo Nguyen GIap

SAM:

- Colonel Langlais and a number of French officers brought white flags to meet

General Vo Nguyen Giap at the General's command bunker

- Langlais presented to General Vo Nguyen Giap the surrender document of the

French army at Dien Bien Phu

9AM:

- General Vo Nguyen Giap read the surrender document of the French army

- After reading the surrender document, General Vo Nguyen Giap ordered Vietnamese units to move in and take over the Dien Bien Phu stronghold

LOAM:

- Vietnamese units entered the Dien Bien Phu stronghold and began

management

- The French army loaded, disarmed and safely secured weapons, equipment and military supplies for the Vietnamese army

LLAM:

- The first document signing ceremony took place at General De Castries’ command bunker

- General Vo Nguyen Giap and General De Castries signed the surrender document

The first event of the French army at Dien Bien Phu is a pure child in the history

of the Vietnamese nation The Dien Bien Phu victory marked the complete defeat of the French colonialists in Vietnam and opened a new era for the country, a period of independence, freedom and unification

In addition, some other interesting details about the surrender event of the French army at Dien Bien Phu:

- When Colonel Langlais came to meet General Vo Nguyen Giap to present the surrender document, Langlais asked to meet the General privately However, General

Vo Nguyen Giap accepted and requested Langlais to present the surrender document 1n front of all of the General's staff officers

- After signing the surrender document, General De Castries asked to meet

General Vo Nguyen Giap to say goodbye General Vo Nguyen Giap agreed and the

two generals had a brief meeting at the General's command bunker

- The Dien Bien Phu victory made a big splash around the world Many major announcements around the world have published news of this victory and praised the courage of the Vietnamese army and people

The Dien Bien Phu victory is the pride of the Vietnamese people We will forever remember the merits of generations of ancestors who sacrificed their lives to gain independence and freedom for the country

5 The significance of Dien Bien Phu

For the Vietnamese revolutionary cause:

- Encourage our people to be determined to successfully carry out the national revolution and people's democracy in the South, unify the country and bring the whole country to socialism

- Forced the French colonialists to sign the Geneva Agreement (on ending the

war and restoring peace in Indochina countries At the same time, ending the century- long French colonial rule, opening up development new for the revolutions of

Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

- This victory affirmed the correct and creative resistance policy of the Party and the growth of the Vietnam People's Army

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