AGAINST THE ODDS 16: LA VALLEE DE LA MORT - english edition

By the beginning of 1954, both the French and Viet Minh realized that the war in Indochina was nearing an end. Both sides felt a "big win" on the battlefield would secure at the peace table what they had been unable to obtain in six and a half years of war. The site of this battle would be in a distant valley of north western Vietnam near the Laotian border, The French high command, under General Henri Navarre, reasoned that such a remote location could not be successfully attacked. General Vo Nguyen Giap thought the position was nearly impossible to defend. The siege of Dien Bien Phu would be the result.