Dien Bien Phu

Dien Bien Phu was doomed from the start, because the French thought they were going to replicate the Battle of Nà Sản. At Nà Sản, the French repeatedly beat back the Viet Minh, inflicting very heavy losses at minor cost to their own. However, the French critically neglected to note the differences between the chosen field of battle at Dien Bien Phu compared to that at Nà Sản. First and foremost, at Nà Sản the French commanded most of the high ground (insert "Revenge of the Sith" joke here) with overwhelming artillery support. At Dien Bien Phu, however, they ceded control of much of the high ground around the valley to the Viet Minh, thinking that the VM wouldn't be able to transport heavy artillery to threaten their positions. As it is, Giap compared Dien Bien Phu to a "rice bowl," where this time his troops occupied the edge and the French the bottom. Second, Giap made a mistake in Nà Sản by committing his forces to reckless frontal attacks before being fully prepared. The French didn't think that he'd learn his lesson from that, but he did: at Dien Bien Phu, Giap spent months meticulously stockpiling ammunition and emplacing heavy artillery and antiaircraft guns around the French before making his move. Third, the aerial resupply lines at Nà Sản were never severed, despite Viet Minh antiaircraft fire. At Dien Bien Phu, the VM amassed antiaircraft batteries that quickly shut down the runway, and made it extremely difficult and costly for the French to reinforce and resupply it the same way they had at Nà Sản.
 
internal deserters from the French force, eventually numbered as many as one-third the garrison, with the implication that, had they fought, the outcome would have been different.
On what food and ammunition? These troops fighting would not change the fact that they are getting constantly shelled, that Vietminh AA guns have forced the planes to drop supplies from altitude where most of it lands in enemy territory, that the enemy trenches are encroaching their positions... At best they would extend the battle by few days.
 
They probably should have picked a different position for a base or maybe had more troops for an offensive. Which was out of the question.
 
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