The Last Valley - Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam

Stalingrad in the jungle: the battle that doomed the French Empire and led America into Vietnam

In winter 1953-54 the French army in Vietnam challenged its elusive enemy, General Giap''s Viet Minh, to pitched battle. Ten thousand French paras and l-onnaires, with artillery and tanks, were flown to the remote valley of Dien Bien Phu to build a fortress upon which Giap could smash his inexperienced regiments. The siege which followed became a Stalingrad in the jungle, and its outcome shocked the world.