26. A Brainstorm That Morphed Into a Debacle
Things quickly turned sour for the French at Dien Bien Phu, and they discovered that many of their assumptions were mistaken. The French plan had assumed that the guerrillas lacked anti-aircraft capabilities, but the hills that ringed the airstrip were soon studded with flak guns. They formed a deadly gauntlet, through which aircraft had to fly when they took off from or landed at the airstrip. So many planes were shot down that the French were soon forced to rely on airdrops for supply. Many of the airdrops missed their targets and landed within enemy lines, instead. Another mistaken French assumption was that the Viet Minh would have no artillery. The Vietnamese commander, general Giap, organized tens of thousands of porters into a supply line to ensure that his men would have plenty of guns and shells.
With sheer manpower, the porters hauled disassembled howitzers over rough terrain to the hills that overlooked the French. There, they were ingeniously dug in to render them immune from counter-battery fire, and were kept adequately supplied with ammunition. The besieged French were bombarded nonstop and began to run low and supplies and munitions. Relentless attacks reduced fortified positions one after another, and the defensive perimeter shrank steadily. Within two months, the French were forced to surrender. After they lost 4000 dead and missing, and nearly 7000 wounded, about 12,000 survivors were herded into Viet Minh captivity. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the French soon threw in the towel and exited Indochina.