June 21st, 1943
Around Dien-Bien-Phu, 03:00 - French soldiers infiltrate the hills held by the Japanese. It is a forceful exit, with three companies of the 10th RIC. The first enemy patrol encountered is eliminated without a hitch, but the first contact with Japanese positions is rough.
03:20 - The Japanese artillerymen fire a few flares to try to understand what is happening and to help their infantry who suffered severe losses, but they unleash a brutal response from their French colleagues. The men of the 10th RIC stand still, pinned down by the torches hung on parachutes which spread on the sector a moving fabric of fleeting lights and deadly shadows. The Japanese, now awake, but still surprised, open fire, without being able to coordinate yet.
03:40 - The Franco-Vietnamese guns, supported by the Lysanders of the "Louvre", take the advantage over the enemy artillery. The companies of the 10th RIC take advantage of the return of darkness to withdraw.
04:30 - The forces that had made the sortie return to the French lines. In less than one hour of fighting, the French (and allies) lost nearly 150 dead and wounded, against more than 200 for the Japanese.
06:00 - The planes of the "Louvre" are settled in their caches, after their night work, when the 76th FS launches its first patrol of the day. Four P-40s will roam at 25,000 feet. They are followed half an hour later by four H-87s from II/40.
Ready to reinforce them, four NA-73s from I/40 stand by on the runway.
07:15 - In a very overcast sky, twenty Japanese bombers escorted by fifteen fighters escape the vigilance of the French patrol by slipping through the clouds at 20,000 feet. But if the clouds facilitate the approach of the attackers, they hamper the aiming. Most of the bombs, dropped in an ephemeral gap, are content to cut trees into toothpicks. Only a few do slight damage. The flak shoots without results on invisible adversaries, while the P-40s, alerted by radio, search the clouds for any sign of enemy presence.
"We were desperately scanning the dirt for the slightest wingtip, when a rift between two clouds opened, we spotted the red of some meatballs*. Fighters - we dove straight for them. But the layers of stratus really made it difficult for us. In fact, I lost my wingman in a cloud and was unable to find my target, but in return, I unexpectedly ran into a group of Sally, at least three of them, tightly packed so as not to get lost! The Japs were probably as surprised as I was, but I was the first to react. I managed to set fire to the right engine oof one of them and saw its wing break off before the damn machine guns of the others hit me. I felt their bullets hit the left side of my P-40 and my leg and arm began to throb painfully, but I could still use it and the plane was flying well. I swooped down on them and went back to land without asking for anything else.
My wingman landed while my scratches were being treated. Embarrassed, he came to apologize for having lost me. But since he had managed to shoot one of the Sallys who had gunned for me, I decided to forgive him." (Account by Colonel Robert L. Scott, 23rd FG)
In such filth, the engagement turns into a deadly blindfold, where everyone fears collision as much as friendly fire.
"We were all like blind men looking for each other in a tunnel. I was more afraid than anything else of shooting one of my teammates by mistake. For a few seconds, I crossed paths with a stocky snout adorned with menacing teeth and pulled the triggers of my weapons, knocking out a few debris and sparks from the enemy. Had I shot him? Was he only slightly hit? He disappeared into the clouds before I could see the effect of my shot." (Diary of sho-i Urashima)
When the Japanese had just turned around to go back, some of their fighters still persist in fighting the P-40s.
"After an eternity of playing hide-and-seek, a lonely Oscar dares a frontal pass.
Probably a rookie, who has not yet understood that his plane is less robust and less well armed than ours. A long burst of my six 12.7 mm shots takes away all possibility of learning from his mistakes." (Captain Jean Assollant's account, GC II/40)
All things considered, the Japanese lose three Ki-21s and two Ki-43s in exchange for two P-40s (one of the two pilots was able to parachute over the bowl).
08:45 - Once again, the runway is cleared, just in time for the arrival of II/62.
Their eight companions from the 74th FS circle the sky for a moment, on the lookout, before landing in turn.
10:00 - Eight B-25s from III/62 and four H-87s from II/40 take off in an easterly direction. The reports from the ground describe the Japanese deployment around the allied positions, but Epervier's command is most concerned about the field pieces the enemy could set up on the steep slopes of the high hills. The B-25 attacks, which make opportunity bombing as if they were fighter-bombers every time they see or think they see a gun, are followed from the ground by numerous binoculars.
The Mitchells smash a 75mm Type 38 AA battery to smithereens that was just beginning to fire. The bombs cause the sympathetic detonation of the waiting shells, the explosion of which could be heard for miles around. Further on, the formation sweeps the guns of a column that has been dragging itself through the landscape devastated by the deliberate fires around Dien-Bien-Phu.
.........
On the side of the French artillery, a strange calm reigns. Many of the artillerymen had never seen cannons only a few months ago. And today, they will give their first real "performance".
Their hits are an amazing mix of models and even nationalities. The ubiquitous French 75 mm mod 97 is of course present, in the hands of the survivors of the colonial artillery regiments. But the Vietnamese mostly use Italian pieces seized from Mussolini's armies, in Libya, Ethiopia or Greece, most of which have made a long detour through China. The small 65 mm mountain gun mod 1911 is the most common. The cannone da 65/17 (or cannone da 65 A montagna) was a relatively modern gun when it was introduced in the Italian army, thirty-two years earlier. But even though it is a mountain gun, its too flat shooting trajectory makes it almost unusable in rough terrain ! To try to remedy this defect, the shells were equipped with Malandrin plaques in order to obtain a more curved trajectory. A questionable initiative, since the device decreased the accuracy of the shots, which is a major drawback for such a small caliber piece. After a few tests, the French artillerymen advised the Vietminh to dispense with the plaques and to bury the gun stock to avoid having to place the weapon on an embankment where it would be too exposed to counter-battery fire.
.........
11:00 - When the planes return to the field, the gunners go wild. The roll of explosions that fall on the Japanese positions do little damage, given the small calibre of the tubes used and the inaccuracy of the shots. But the psychological impact is much greater. With the ghost guns created by this illusionist Giap and duly spotted by the aerial reconnaissance, the Japanese had the impression that the basin was defended by a very large artillery force. For General Nishihara, this rain of shells, coming after a precise aerial bombardment, is like a cold shower. It proves that the "few wooden pillboxes" that he had mocked a few weeks earlier are in fact a solid line of defense that would have to be taken by force. But his troops are already tested, while food and ammunition are running out.
11:45 - The 74th's aircraft take the road to Kunming. At the same time, the alarm sounds, the Japanese are announced within fifteen minutes. The leader of the 74th decides that he could return to Kunming at the end of the day. On alert at five minutes, four Curtiss and four Mustangs take off to reinforce the aircraft already in the air.
12:00 - The crews of fifty Japanese bombers and fighters are stunned by the size of the welcoming committee that is waiting for them impatiently. In addition to the sixteen aircraft, eight from the patrol and eight that were on alert (eight NA-73 from I/40, four H-87 from the II/40 and four P-40s from the 76th), were joined by eight P-40s from the 74th.
Believing Epervier's forces to be depleted by the previous engagement, the Japanese added to fifteen Ki-21 "Sonia" as many single-engine Ki-30 "Ann", which will have the dubious privilege to play the role of target... Indeed, the Nakajima fighters (a dozen Ki-43 and as many Ki-44) are quickly overwhelmed and the bombers must unload their bombs to have a chance to get out of it. This does not prevent two Ki-30s from colliding with each other while trying to escape from a Mustang and several other bombers from being shot down. The melee is so fierce that a P-40 comes in with the antenna cable of a Sally attached to its tail!
Disgusted, the Nipponese turn back, losing eight bombers and three fighters against three Allied aircraft.
15:15 - Covered by six P-40 of the 76th FS, ten B-25 of the II/62 take off to announce to the Imperials the return of the group to Indochina. In view of the III/62's exploits, three of the ten aircraft were converted to full-nose versions**.
17:00 - The B-25s return, after having treated with energy everything they saw on the Japanese side. Thus, an unlucky battery saw its guns laboriously set up tumbled to the last by the 250 and 500 GP. The commander of the battery will prefer seppuku to the dishonor of having lost his command. A supply convoy of twenty trucks and horse-drawn vehicles (with their pack animals, buffaloes or horses) is chopped up by the Browning. The sight of the food being dumped on the trail caused a veritable stampede of the Japanese soldiers present, that their officers have the greatest difficulty to control (some hungry soldiers even fight to get the meat from the carcasses, even though it is stuffed with lead).
Hit by flak, a bomber has to land on its belly, there is one dead and two wounded on board and the plane is damaged beyond repair.
At the debriefing, the crews who had pushed on to Son La give some very interesting information. On the one hand, the observations over Tuan Giao seem to indicate a suspension, even a stop of the work of the airfield. On the other hand, from Son La, apart from a few small units or isolated machines, no significant land formations are visible.
This information allows General Martin's staff to breathe a little easier.
On the Japanese side, the airmen of the Rising Sun arepleased to receive some reinforcements.
"It wasn't much, but we'd be happy with it, for lack of anything better. The pundits in Tokyo, in their great kindness, had sent us about fifteen new planes, in addition to the spare parts that the chief mechanic no longer dared to hope for. For me, there was no doubt that the planes, announced the day before, would all be Hayabusa, but, what a joy! We discovered that six of the planes were Shoki, and the unheard-of luxury was that they were the Ib variant with four 12.7 mm Ho-103s! Infinitely preferable to face our enemies, Saejima even praised the kami for their benevolence towards us. Personally, I felt like a child on the day of Setsubun***. With their mouths full of teeth, the Curtiss made realistic onis but it would take more than soy beans to chase them away. As for the Mustangs...
The day before, our bomber comrades had also received about fifteen aircraft, all Ki-21s, but they were not the much hoped-for Ki-21 IIb, with their 12.7 turret and their increased autonomy. They were second-hand IIa models. It must be admitted that their defensive armament had been reinforced by the addition of double mounts for the 7.7 mm (only one was only good enough to chip the paint of the Yankee airplanes...), or even by replacing them by 12.7 mm mounts.
This modification prompted our gunsmiths to do the same on overhauled Shoki. One of them, a handyman, succeeded in adapting Ho-103s in place of Type 89s, inspired by the engine cover of the Hayabusa, able to accommodate 2 x 7.7 mm, but also 1 x 7.7 mm and 1 x 12.7 mm or 2 x 12.7 mm. Of course, this change reduces the amount of ammunition, but given the total lack of efficiency of the 7.7 mm, it is still preferable.
This appetite for the 12.7 mm caused friction between the chu-sa and his bomber colleague, because both felt that they needed these weapons as a priority, and there are not enough of them for everyone." (sho-i Urashima's diary)
* Meatball is the nickname given to the hinomaru by American pilots.
** Based on feedback from various theaters of operation, North American engineers will design a variant of the B-25J with an eight-gun solid nose. With the four guns mounted on the sides of the fuselage, this would give 12 Browning 12.7 mm guns in the centerline - a frightening amount of firepower!
*** A festival celebrating the approach of spring on February 3. Children throw soybeans to chase away evil spirits and demons (onis) and to attract good luck.
