Diên Biên Phu (film)
- For other uses see, Dien Bien Phu
| Diên Biên Phu | |
|---|---|
| File:Dienbienphuposter.jpg | |
| Directed by | Pierre Schoendoerffer |
| Written by | Pierre Schoendoerffer |
| Produced by | Jacques Kirsner |
| Starring | Donald Pleasence Patrick Catalifo Jean-François Balmer |
| Cinematography | Bernard Lutic |
| Edited by | Armand Psenny |
| Music by | Georges Delerue |
| Distributed by | AMLF |
Release dates | March 4th, 1992 (France) |
Running time | 146 min. |
| Language | French |
| Budget | $30 million |
Diên Biên Phu (Điện Biên Phủ) is a 1992 film written and directed by French veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer (aka Pierre Schöndörffer). With its huge budget, four digits cast, realistic war scenes and the cooperation of the French and Vietnamese armies, Dîen Bîen Phu, is regarded by many as one of the more important war movie produced by the French cinema. It documents on the fifty seven days siege of Dien Bien Phu (1954), which was the last battle led by the French Union's colonial army and the last days of French Indochina, soon divided into North and South Vietnam. This First Indochina War was a prelude to the Second Indochina War also known as "Vietnam War".
The film was nominated for "Best Music Written for a Film" ("Meilleure musique") at the 1993 French César Award. The Điện Biên Phủ original soundtrack composed and partially performed by pianist Georges Delerue, featuring Japanese vocalist Marie Kobayashi, is available for purchase. In 1994, as a 40th Dien Bien Phu siege commemoration, director Schoendoerffer published a behind the scenes book which was named "Diên Biên Phu - De la Bataille au Film" (Dien Bien Phu: From the Battle to the Movie). 2004 was the 50th commemoration, Schoendoerffer then released a full-lenght version of his movie into DVD format.
Plot
The movie describes the chronological events of the battle. Some of them are shown in situ, from the heart of the battle, at Dien Bien Phu, while others are reported by civilians at Hanoi city or by paratroopers at Hanoi's civilian airport.
The Hanoi action is mostly focused on British-born, American writer reporter, Howard Simpson (Donald Pleasence). Simpson uses all channels from unofficial discussion with French Union military men (Patrick Catalifo, Eric Do), to Agence France Presse correspondant (Jean-François Balmer), to influent Vietnamese nationalist (Long Nguyen-Khac), to Chinese contrabander (Thé Anh) or Eurasian opium dealer (Maïté Nahyr), in order to buy, sell, exchange and deal confidential informations. Scoop-worthy news are sent to the San Francisco Chronicle daily newspaper, through a Hong Kong biased agency, in order to elude the French military censorship ruling Hanoi and the whole Indochina at this time.
War scenes are seen through the eyes of several character archetypes, illustrating the human nature. At Dien Bien Phu, there were two kind of men, the cowards and the braves. The first are, mainly, illustrated by the, unnamed, "Nam Yum rat" (Fathy Abdi), while a good exemple for the second ones is the philosoph-friendly artillery Lieutenant (Maxime Leroux) refusing retreat orders and eventually dying for the sake of honor. Since they are archetypes, these characters have no name. In other hand, the main characters got fictious names, but are members of real units, like the 5th Bawouan Vietnamese para Lieutenant Ky (Eric Do) or Captain de Kerveguen (Patrick Catalifo)'s Foreign Legion company.
Schoendoerffer's movie contains some autobiographic elements sometimes appearing in dialogues (when compared to interview quotes) and particularly illustrated by the military cameraman character. Actor Ludovic Schoendoerffer plays the role of a young Army Cinematographic Service cameraman using the same camera type of his own father, Corporal Pierre Schoendoerffer back in 1954.
Docudrama
(Dien Bien Phu, 14.03.1954)
Unlike many Hollywood Vietnam War blockbusters, Dîen Bîen Phu is more a docudrama based on real events -in the like of Tora! Tora! Tora!- which is written and directed by a battle veteran, Corporal Schoendoerffer. In 1952, volunteer Pierre Schoendoerffer joined the Service Cinématographique des Armées (French Army Cinematographic Service) as a cameraman.
The 11th March, 1954, Schoendoerffer was injured at Dien Bien Phu, on an ordinary skirmish (coast 781 attack) before the great battle, and he was sent to the southern base located in Saigon through a DC-3 military version (aka C-47). As there were no more cameraman remaining on the battlefield, Schoendoerffer insisted to join Dien Bien Phu in order to do his testify duty. Finally, on March 18th, he was allowed to take off from the northern base Hanoi, located at 1H15 (252 km) from Dien Bien Phu, on a Dakota and to jump with the 5th Bawouan (Vietnamese Parachute Battalion) over Dien Bien Phu.
Schoendoerffer was still injured and wore bandages when he chose to return to the battlefield. Officers told him "it's wasted, don't go!" ("c'est foutu, n'y va pas!"), but he insisted as "[he] had to be there to testify" as he planned to give his film to the pilots, after the battle, as an homage. Nobody saw these footages as he had destroyed his own camera and all his 60-second-films on May 7th, except six of them which were confiscated by the Viet Minh on an aborted jailbreak and ended on Soviet cameraman Roman Karmen's hands. As a twenty-five years old Corporal cameraman, Schoendoerffer wasn't actually a journalist, but the French Army did not interfered and let him shot everything he wanted. His films were supposed to be sent to the backline on March 28th, through the Dakota bringing back the unique woman in Dien Bien Phu, a military nurse named Geneviève de Galard, but as her C-47 was damaged beyond repair, since the Viet Minh artillery even fired on Red Cross sanitary aircrafts, and that the airstrip was finally destroyed, it was not made possible the following days.
Schoendoerffer used a Bell & Howell 35mm Black-and-white camera with three teleobjectives mounted on a turel. This model is known for it's highly flamable film but also for "it's remarkable black and grey picture quality never seen again since" dixit Pierre Schoendoerffer.
The 7th May 1954, with the French cease fire (except on CR Isabelle fighting until the 8th 1:00AM) he became a Viet Minh POW. Once free, he was war reporter-photograph for American magazines.
In 1967 he won the Oscar award with its Vietnam War B&W documentary named, The Anderson Platoon (La Section Anderson).
Later he was named Vice-President of the French Académie des Beaux Arts (Academy of Fine Arts).
Free World forces
French Union colonial army
The Dien Bien Phu garrison was made of volunteers from the French Expeditionary Corps in Far Asia (Corps Expéditionnaire Français en Extrême-Orient). French Metropolitan divisions were not allowed to be sent in Indochina by law.
Several waves of paratroopers were dropped over Dien Bien Phu as additional force. The most famous battalions are Commandant Bigeard's 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion (6e BPC), the 8th Shock Parachute Battalion (8e BPC/CHOC) and the 5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion (Bawouan).
The C.E.F. (Expeditionary French Corps) was made of various nationalities fighting altogether under the French Union's 4th Republic banner. The Dien Bien Phu infantry was made of AEF -Equatorial French Africa- Gabonese (1 detachment), Algerians (2 bataillons & 1 march bataillon), Morrocans (1 bataillon & 1 tabor), Thai (2 bataillons), Laotians (2 bataillons), Vietnamese (1 bataillon) and various European nationalities serving in the Foreign Legion (2 regiments, 1 company and 1 demi-brigade).
In the latest days, unexperienced volunteers from all divisions based in Indochina were converted to paratroopers without any training at all. These young men, came from the Infantry, the Cavalry or the Artillery -some secretaries joined them too- and they were dropped over the camp by Dakotas to fight with their comrades. This jump was the first and the last one for seven hundreds of them.
National armies
- tbc (Laos, Vietnam, Thai)
- tbc (US training for paratroopers)
Anti-communist US backup
US Airforce General Chester E. McCarty was in charge of the French Airforce (Armée de l'Air) assistance. He commanded the supply operations at Dien Bien Phu. A hundred of aircrafts, transport (C-119 Flying Box, Dakota DC-3) and fighters (F8F Bearcat) used few months earlier in the Korean war campaign, were leased to the French and used at Dien Bien Phu. Also, Admiral Arthur Radford gave orders for training national armies paratroopers battalions and sending hundreds of airborne maintenance personels in a Cold War Lend-Lease program. In november 1953, USAF General McCarty, loaned twelve C-119 to make the French aeronaval Operation Beaver and the take of Dien Bien Phu possible.
Thirty seven American pilots flew over Dien Bien Phu with Civil Air Transport company Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, taking off from Haiphong's civilian airport (Cat Bi Airport) and supplying their French allies with artillery pieces, ammunitions, barbed wire, medics, foods et cætera. During the siege, 682 airdrops were completed under heavy artillery fire including Soviet-made Katyusha rockets, famed in World War II as Stalin Organs. Ten days before, the siege's beginning, a contract was signed with the CAT for twenty pilots operating twelve C-119 loaned and maintained by the USAF but flown under the French tricolore insignia. The 13th March 1954, as the Dien Bien Phu airstrips were destroyed by the outnumbering and outgunning Viet Minh artillery, the contract terms were ignored and more American pilots joined the French crews, taking part of supply missions. Two fo them, Lieutenant James McGovern, and his co-pilot Lieutenant Wallace Buford were shot down by the Viet Minh artillery and MIA the 6th May 1954. They were trying to drop a cannon to the bessieged artillery (declassified in 1982 [1]. Retired WWII veteran (Flying Tigers) Major-General Claire Lee Chennault's CAT (Civil Air Transport aka Air America) airline was secretly owned by the American Central Intelligence Agency until it was declassified after the Cold War in the 90's (source Associated Press). The 25th February 2005, fifty years after the events, seven remaining American CAT pilots officially received the chivalry order Knights of the Legion of Honor in the name of the Vth French Republic President Jacques Chirac to recognize services rendered to France, on the basis of personal merit (source: Ambassy of France in the USA).
In the last days of the siege, the US Navy USS Saipan supplied Napalm tanks-equipped Chance Vought AU-1 Corsair figthers, moved from Yokosuka to Tourane (aka Da Nang), to support the 14.F Aéronavale Flotilla. The French Aeronaval Arromanches carrier located in the Tonkin Gulf assisted Dien Bien Phu troops with napalm dropping (Hellcat raids) and heavy bombing (Privateer) over Viet Minh positions. The aeronaval fleet was made of diving bombers Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver (3.F Flotilla "Crescent & Star"), fighters Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat (11.F Flotilla "The Seahorse"), heavy bombers Consolidated PB4Y Privateer (28.F Flotilla "The Black Wolf Head") and fighters Chance Vought F4U-7 Corsair (14.F Aeronaval Flotilla "The One-eyed Corsair").
Communist forces
The Patriot
Vietnamese nationalist independentist movement and communist revolutionary army Viet Minh (later named Viet Cong) leader Hồ Chí Minh (Nguyễn Sinh Cung from his real name), aka "Nguyễn The Patriot", was born in a village near Hanoi, northern Vietnam, in 1890. He became Prime Minister of Vietnam from 1946 to 1955, during the First Indochina War. After the French departure from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in 1955, he became President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (aka communist North Vietnam) until his death in 1969. Former Cochinchine (French Indochina) and reunited Vietnamese capital Saigon (southern Vietnam) was named Ho Chi Minh City (Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) by the communist government in 1975.
During his youth, Nguyễn Sinh Cung, studied at a French high-school located in Huế (central Vietnam, near Da Nang aka Tourane) capital of the Annam (French Indochina) ruled by Emperor Bảo Đại.
- tbc (French Communist Party cofounder)
- tbc (Vietnamese Communist Party founder)
Việt Minh General Giáp
- tbc (Võ Nguyên Giáp bio)
By the end of January 1954, eighteen days before the battle, General Giap had ordered the construction of a camouflaged track inside the jungle, that could be used to secretly ferry Chinese and Soviet supplied heavy artillery pieces and anti-aircaft cannons. Troops and coolies used the road to transport tons of rice, ammunitions and artillery shells using thousands of bicycles and a hundred of Soviet trucks. Giap's original plan was not a siege, but instead a two-day and three-night blitzkrieg attack.
The Dien Bien Phu camp's artillery Chief Commander, French Lieutenant-Colonel Piroth, had estimated and certified, the Viet Minh could not possibly bring heavy artillery through the jungle to the top of the surrounding hills. On the second night of the siege, he realized how much he had underestimated his ennemy's will and tacticians, and learned that his comrade Lieutenant-Colonel Gaucher was killed by a artillery salvo on Béatrice few hours ago. Piroth repeated the tactics mistake done fourteen years ago, in World War II, when the French Chief-Staff certified Hitler could not possibly sent his Wehrmacht troops through the Ardennes dense forest, which was precisely what the ennemy did (La Percée de Sedan), allowing him a surprising attack and a quick victory. This night, officer Gaucher commited suicide by throwing a handgrande in his own bunker.
Communist & Soviet backup
- tbc (Chinese supply destroyed by paratroopers)
- tbc (Chinese training)
- tbc (molotova)
- tbc (katyusha)
Characters
Dien Bien Phu garrison
Military men (on screen)
- Commandant Marcel Bigeard (Dien Bien Phu) credited as "Commandant"
- 6e BPC: Bataillon de Parachutistes Coloniaux (6th Colonial Parachute Battalion)
- His 6th BPC took Dien Bien Phu to the Viet Minhs in 1953 (Operation Beaver). During the 1954 siege he launched victorious counterattacks at one versus ten, but because of a lack of backup, these positions were finally evacuated. He was made prisoner by the Viet Minh.
- Captain Morvan (Hanoi)
- 3e Bureau de l'État-Major (3rd Chief-Staff Bureau)
- Captain Victorien Jégu de Kérveguen aka Vic (Hanoi, Dien Bien Phu)
- Légion Étrangère (Foreign Legion)
- Lieutenant Ki (Hanoi/Dien Bien Phu)
- 5th BPV (Bawouan): Bataillon Parachutiste Vietnamien (Vietnamese Parachute Battalion)
- Lieutenant Duroc (Hanoi/Dien Bien Phu)
- Légion Étrangère (Foreign Legion, DC-3 pilot)
- WWII veteran he fought in Russia and won Corporal merit award. His DC-3 was MIA on the 6th of May 1954.
- Sergeant (Dien Bien Phu)
- Bataillon Thaïlandais (Thai Battalion)
- Corporal (Dien Bien Phu)
- Aéronavale / Détachement du Train (Train Detachment, temporary affectation)
- The young man was previously in service in the Black River as part of the French Aeronaval before being sent to Dien Bien Phu by Hanoi. He assists of the Viet Minh artillery test shooting the 13th March with his comrade Sergeant from the Thai Battalion. He will temporary joined an African Artillery company until its commanding officer Lieutenant was killed. Then he joins some Morrocans deserters and become a Nam Yum rat. One night he while hunting for food he his rejected by the Morrocans and is finally hit by a Viet Minh artillery salvo. Coolies finds him and transports him to the ACP (Surgical Unit). There he met his friend Sergeant and confess he was a rat to the Priest Wamberger. He ends up prisoner of the Viet Minh.
- Maréchal des Logis / Maréchal des Logis-chef Thade Korzeniowski (Hanoi/Dien Bien Phu)
- 1e Régiment de Chasseur à Cheval (1st Regiment of Chasing Cavalry)
- A Polish young man who saved Captain de Kerveguen's life few days before the Dien Bien Phu siege. He has a child, François and planned to marry his Vietnamese fiancee but he will be made prisoner by the Viet Minh.
- Private Koulibali (Dien Bien Phu)
- African Artillery Regiment
- A Gabonese soldier, who considered his Lieutenant (Maxime Leroux) as his father. He will be injured at Dien Bien Phu.
Military men (off screen)
- General Henri Navarre (Hanoi)
- Général de Corps d'Armée & Chief-Commander in Indochina
- General René Cogny (Hanoi) aka "le Grand Patron" (the Big Boss)
- Général de Division & Commander of the FTNV Forces Terrestres du Nord Viêtnam (North Vietnam Ground Forces)
- Colonel Christian de la Croix de Castries (Dien Bien Phu)
- GONO Groupement Opérationnel du Nord-Ouest (Operational North-West Group)
- Lieutenant-Colonel Piroth (Dien Bien Phu)
- Commander of the Fortified Camp Artillery
- He has promised he will be able to destroy the Viet Minh artillery but failed. He commited suicide by throwing a grenade in his bunker in the night of 14/15th March 1954.
- Lieutenant-Colonel Pierre Langlais (Dien Bien Phu)
- 2e GAP Groupement Aéroporté (2nd Airborne Group)
- Lieutenant-Colonel Jules Gaucher (Dien Bien Phu)
- GM 9 Groupement Mobile n°9 (9th Mobile Group)
- He is killed the 13th March at Dien Bien Phu, on the PA Béatrice, by a Viet Minh artillery salvo during the siege's first attack.
Auxiliaries
- Sergeant cameraman (Hanoi / Dien Bien Phu)
- Service Cinématographique des Armées (Cinematographic Service of the French Army)
- Corporal-Chef photograph (Hanoi / Dien Bien Phu)
- Service Cinématographique des Armées (Cinematographic Service of the French Army)
- Priest father Wamberger (Hanoi / Dien Bien Phu)
"Nám Yum rats"
During the Dien Bien Phu battle, some units lost their officers and soon deserted their attacked Resistance Centers. Instead of fighting and waiting for paratroopers backup, or to join a composite CM Compagnie de Marche (March Company) in order to continue the battle with new camarads, many men, lost, abandonned, ran away and took shelter in trench holes located across the Nam Yum river. These deserters remained hidden inside bunkers during daytime, only going out at night, hunting for food supply dropped in the camp by supporting Dakotas.
After the dead of the African Artillery Regiment Lieutenant (Maxime Leroux), the young unaffected Corporal (previously affacted to the Train Detachment) joins some Moroccan deserters and become a Nam Yum rat himself.
When Dien Bien Phu fortified camp's Commanding Officer, Colonel de Castries, learned that forbidden acts were practiced in his own ranks, he designated the cowards with a scorny animal name, "les rats de la Nam-Youm" (Nam Yum rats).
Coolies
Autochton personel was used in both armies to accomplish ungrateful tasks when regular soldiers weren't sufficient.
In the French army they were mainly deployed to remove the deads from the trenches and to bury them in ravines. They were also in charge of the dropped supply's secure and transport. This task became increasingly perillous day after day, as the drop zones perimeters were shrinkened by the Viet Minh's heavy artillery, forcing the Dakota pilots to drop the cargo directly over the Resistance Points, and risking the lives of their ground camarades, specially on night ops.
Coolies were used in mass by the Viet Minh to transport heavy artillery pieces and shells. The Viet Minh propaganda has insited on the use of upgraded Peugeot bicycles by barefoot coolies, to valorize the popular effort -a central theme in the Communist propaganda- however a lesser-known fact by that time was the Viet Minh also used hundreds of Soviet-built Molotova truck -offered to Ho Chi Minh by the Mao Zedong- as stated by Schoendoerffer in a 1999 interview with Claude Grunspan ¹ and reported by survivors of the POW camps ².
Coolies were not military men, they didn't have any weapon, nor uniform or helmet. Instead the coolies were dressed with peasant clothes and the traditional conical leaf hat, some of them serving the French, used the colonial hat though.
Viet Minh
Military men (on screen)
- 316th Division
Military men (off screen)
- General Võ Nguyên Giáp (Muong Thanh forest)
Battle warfare
Dien Bien Phu force
-
One of the three remaining F8F-1 fighter dropping bombs on Éliane 1
(DBP 08.04.1954)
By the beginning of the battle, the Dien Bien Phu force was:
- Troops: 12,000
- Artillery pieces:
- Cannons: 50 (HM2 105mm, 75mm SR w/o recoil)
- Heavy mortars: 100 (120mm/4.72i)
- Light Tanks: 10 M24 Chaffee (1st RCC Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval)
- Offensive aircrafts:
- Fighter: +3 Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat (GC Groupe de Chasse 1/22 "Saintonge")
- Bomber: 10 Douglas B-26C Invader (GB Groupe de Bombardement 1/25 "Tunisie" & GB 1/19 "Gascogne")
- Personel: 200 USAF airmen (maintenance at Tourane)
- Transport aircrafts:
- Douglas C-47B Dakota : 3 destroyed the 13.03.1954 (Dien Bien Phu-Gia Liam airport)
- Bristol 170 Freighter
- Junker JU52
- Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar: 12 (parked at Haiphong and piloted by CIA crews)
- Curtiss C-46E: 1 destroyed on ground by mortar the 13.03.1954 (civilian plane owned by Aigle Azur Maroc)
- Transport Helicopters:
- Heavy tranports:
- Truck GMC CCKW-352/353 (US-built, 6x6 truck TM 9-801)
- Light transports:
- Jeep Willys MB
- Motorbike (Aeronaval transportable)
- Small arms:
- Pistol Luger P08 (German-built, 7.65mm parabellum)
- Sub machinegun Manufacture d'Armes de Tulle MAT-49 (9mm Luger)
- Light machinegun Manufacture d'Armes de Chatellerault MAC FM-24/29 (7.5mm)
- Machinegun Browning M1919 (.30, 7.62/8mm)
- Semi-automatic rifle Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne MAS-49 (7.8mm, equipped w/48mm grenade launcher)
- Rifle Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne MAS-36/CR 39 (w/metallic retractable butt, 7.35mm)
- Carbine US M1A1 (US-built, w/metallic retractable butt, .30)
- Carbine US M2 (US-built, full-auto .30)
- Explosives
- Grenade launcher
- Grenade DF 37 (French-built, defensive grenade)
- Grenade MK 2 (US-built)
- Land mines
- Flamethrower
- Blades
- Machete Collins M-1942 (US-built, 18-inch edge)
- Bayonet M4
- Communication devices:
- Transceiver Galvin TM-11235 SCR536-A-F BC611 (US-built, radio TSF)
- Radio PRC 10
- Camera Bell & Howell (35mm, B&W)
- Defensive artefacts
- Barbwire: tons
- Chirurgical unit:
- up to 300 person (ACP)
Viet Minh force
-
Soviet Lend-Lease Stalin organs were used the latest days, as heard in the movie.
-
Viet Minh propaganda leaflet found on a French trench at Dien Bien Phu.
- Artillery pieces:
- Cannons: 105mm (US-built captured to Chiang Kai-shek troops and offered by Mao Zedong)
- Katyusha (Soviet-built, only operative the latest days, probably mounted on GAZ trucks)
- Anti-aerial battery
- Heavy transports:
- Truck GAZ imeni Molotova: +100 (Soviet-built)
- Light transports:
- Bicycle Peugeot +1000 (French-built, upgraded to support heavy charge)
- Psychological pression:
- Propaganda leaflets (written in French, Thai dialects and Vietnamese)
- Pacifist messages looped through loudspeakers (naming the French officers by their actual names in their native language)
Viet Minh propaganda leaflet translation
- Legionaries★Comrads!
- The letter, on the backside, asks you to think and to decide.
- Refuse to serve the colonialist predatories.
- Join our ranks and go join your comrades already waiting for you in the Foster Home.
- TO JOIN OUR RANKS:
- Set your rifle in shoulder-belt with its butt in the air;
- Use a white rag at the end of your cannon;
- Cross your arms on the chest;
- Stop walking as you heard us shouting: freeze.
- (a Vietnamese written message dedicated to the loyalists follows the French one)
Battle timeline
(Dien Bien Phu, 31.03.1954)
Geopolitical background
27.07.1953: US-backed South Korea signs a peace treaty with Soviet Union/Communist China-backed North Korea, ending the Korean War.
In order to defend the French Union Laos from an invasion of Communist Viet Minh General Giap, French General Navarre choose the Dien Bien Phu basin to become a major strategical stronghold. Dien Bien Phu is located in northern Vietnam near the Laotian and Chinese boarders.
Dien Bien Phu take (1953)
20.11.1953: a fleet of eighty French Dakota and ten US C-199 Fairchild (CIA covert pilots) were gathered at Hanoi's aerodrome in northern Vietnam. General Gilles (1st RCP Parachute Chaser Regiment) launched the large scale aeronaval Operation Castor (Beaver Ops) planned by, French Expeditionary Corps Commander, General Navarre. Six parachute battalions (including Commandant Bigeard's famous 6th BPC) were dropped with the objectives to take the Dien Bien Phu village, take back the Viet Minh-occupied former post and to secure the airstrip. More paratroopers and additional units consisting of Tirailleurs (sharpshooter aka skirmisher), Artillery and Foreign Legion will join one after the other. As a result Dien Bien Phu will soon become one of the main fortified camps in the whole Indochina consisting of Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia.
Since the 8th December 1953, Colonel Christian de Castries commands the Dien Bien Phu garrison under the high commandment of General Cogny commandant les Forces terrestres du Nord-Vietnam (in command of the North Vietnamese Ground Forces) based at Hanoi.
Dien Bien Phu siege (1954)
The movie starts with the very first skirmiches and ends on the ceased fire:
- Saturday 13th March, 1954 05:00 PM (in Dien Bien Phu fortified camps' immediate surroundings)
- Saturday 13th March, 1954 05:00 PM (Hanoi)
- Saturday 13th March, 1954 05:15 PM (in Dien Bien Phu fortified camps' immediate surroundings)
- Brigadier's three hits.
- Saturday 13th March, 1954 05:30 PM (in Dien Bien Phu fortified camps' immediate surroundings)
- Viet Minhs artillery fires on the air strip, ground planes are destroyed, those landing are attacked
- 31th March, 1954 10:30AM
- Lieutenant-Colonel Bigeard's 6th BPC Battaillon de Parachutiste Coloniaux (Colonial Parachute Bataillon) supported by two (US Navy-lent) F8F Bearcat and Lieutenant Ki's 5th BAWAOAN (Vietnamese Parachute Battalion) launches a counterattack on Éliane 1.
- Friday 7th May, 1954 17:30 PM
- All remaining Dien Bien Phu fighters are ordered to cease fire and to destruct their own weapons. Radiomen have to shut all communications. Photographers and cameramen must destruct their cameras and films. Most of the troops removes their helmet too, as a such device is no use for an unarmed soldier. The surrending White flag will not be used at Dien Bien Phu.
- Friday 7th May, 1954 past 17:30PM
- Entire Viet Minh divisions engulfes in the now empty Dien Bien Phu camp heading to the Command Post where is waiting General de Castries to be taken prisoner. As they are walking by, the Viet Minhs launches grenades in the trenches and are shouting hold up to the unarmed French survivors.
Dien Bien Phu positions
The Colonel de Castries' Head Quarter was defended by PR Points de Résistance located on hills and divided into PA Point d'Appuis (strongpoint), all positions were named after a woman name. General Giap's Viet Minh artillery first attacked Béatrice, on the 13th of march 1954 around 17:30, then during a fifty seven days battle siege, the remaining PR have fallen one after another. After Béatrice it was Gabrielle's turn, next Isabelle, finally Dominique and then it was the end.
Peripheral Resistance Centers (northern)
- NORTH
- Gabrielle (Doclap hill)
- ATK: attacked by the 312th Dai Doan (Viet Minh Divisions - 9 battalions)
- WEST
- Anne-Marie (Ban Keo)
- 16/17.03 DST: deserted by the BT Bataillon Thai (Battalion Thai)
- EAST
- Béatrice (Him Lam hill)
- 13/14.03 ATK: attacked by the 351th Dai Doan (Viet Minh Division - artillery)
- 13/14.03 ATK: attacked by the 128th Dai Doan (Viet Minh Division)
- DFN: defended by the 9/10/11/12th Company & P.C.
Central Resistance Centers
- NORTH WEST
- Huguette 1
- Huguette 2
- Huguette 3
- Huguette 4
- Huguette 5
- Huguette 6
- Huguette 7
- ATK: attacked by the 308th Dai Doan (Viet Minh Division - 9 battalions)
- DFN: Defended by Commandant Guiraud
- DFN: Defended by 500 légionaires BMEP (made from remaining 2nd BEP & 1st BEP)
- DFN: Defended by 140 Marocains (from Capitaine Nicod).
- NORTH EAST
- Épervier
- Opéra
- DFN: Defended by Capitaine Pierre Touret's 8e BPC Bataillon de Parachutistes Coloniaux (Colonial Parachute Battalion)
- WEST
- Françoise
- Lily 1 (aka Liliane)
- Lily 2
- DFN: Defended by 250 Marocains (Moroccan)
- EAST
- Dominique 1
- Dominique 2
- Dominique 3
- CENTER
- PC: Poste de Commandement (Command Post) HQ: Colonel de Castries' bunker
- Le Drain: (piste d'envol principale, main air strip)
- ACP: Antenne Chirurgicale Parachutiste (Parachute Surgical Unit)
- SOUTH
- Junon
- SOUTH WEST
- Les Claudines
- ATK: attacked by the 308th Dai Doan (Viet Minh Division)
- SOUTH EAST
- Éliane 10
- Éliane 1
- Éliane 2
- Éliane 3
- Éliane 4
- ATK: attacked by the 316th Dai Doan (Viet Minh Divisions - 6 battalions)
Peripheral Resistance Centers (southern)
- SOUTH
- Isabelle (contains some artillery pieces and four tanks in order to cover the CRC)
- ATK: attacked by the 51st Trung Doan (Viet Minh Regiment)
- ATK: attacked by the 304th Dai Doan (Viet Minh Divisions - 3 battalions)
Fighting units
French Union
- Airforce
| Group/Squadron | Company | Aircraft | Base |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Group | 1/22 Saintonge | F8F-1 Bearcat | Dien Bien Phu |
| Bombing Group | 1/19 Gascogne | B-26C Invader | Dien Bien Phu |
| Bombing Group | 1/25 Tunisie | B-26C Invader | Dien Bien Phu |
| Transport Group | Anjou | Dakota DC-3 | - |
| Transport Group | Béarn | Dakota DC-3 | - |
| Transport Group | Franche-Comté | Dakota DC-3 | - |
| Transport Group | Sénégal | Dakota DC-3 | - |
| Sub-Group MMTA (Military Means Aerial Transport) |
- | - | - |
| ELA (Aerial Links Squadron) |
52th | Sikorsky H-19 S-55 | Bien Hoa |
| ELA (Aerial Links Squadron) |
53th | Sikorsky H-19 S-55 | Hanoi |
| EROM (Overseas Reconnaissance Squadron) |
80th | RF-8F Bearcat (reco), B-26C Invader (reco) | Hanoi (Bac Mai) |
- Aeronaval
| Group | Flotilla | Aircraft | Carrier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aerial Group | 3.F | SB2C-5 Helldiver | Arromanches (Tourane) |
| Aerial Group | 11.F | F6F-5 Hellcat | Arromanches (Tourane) |
| Aerial Group | 14.F | F4U-7 Corsair, AU-1 Corsair | Arromanches (Tourane) |
| Aerial Group | 28.F | PB4Y Privateer | Arromanches (Tourane) |
- Airborne
| Battalion/Regiment | Company | Commander | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEP (Foreign Parachute Battalion) |
1st | - | - |
| BEP (Foreign Parachute Battalion) |
2nd | Cdt. Liesenfelt | - |
| BPV (Vietnamese Parachute Battalion) |
5th | - | - |
| BPL (Laotian Parachute Battalion) |
1st | - | - |
| BPC (Colonial Parachute Battalion) |
1st | - | - |
| BPC (Colonial Parachute Battalion) |
6th | Cdt. Bigeard | - |
| BPC (Shock Parachute Battalion) |
8th | - | - |
| RCP (Chaser Parachute Regiment) |
1st | - | - |
- Armoured Cavalry
| Regiment | Company | Tank | Commander |
|---|---|---|---|
| RCC (Horse Chaser Regiment |
1st | M-24 Chaffee | - |
- Artillery
- Infantry
US Central Intelligence Agency
- Airforce
| Squadron | Pilots/Co-Pilots | Aircraft | Base |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAT (Civil Air Transport) |
27 | Dakota DC-3, C-119 Flying Boxcar | Hai Phong (Cat Bi) |
Viet Minh
- Infantry
| Division/Regiment | Dai Doan | Commander | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division | 304th | Gen. Hoang Minh Thao | - |
| Division | 308th | Gen. Vuong Thua Vu | - |
| Division | 312th | Gen. Le Trong Tan | - |
| Division | 316th | - | - |
| Regiment | 57th | - | - |
- Artillery
| Division | Dai Doan | Commander | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division | 351th | Gen. Vu Hien | - |
Casualties
Chart
- tbc
Extermination camps
- tbc
International release
- THEATER
-
France (1992)
-
Japan (1995)
- VHS
-
Germany (1993)
-
Italy
-
Japan (1996)
France Diên Biên Phu
Germany Die Schlacht von Dien Bien Phu (The Battle of Dien Bien Phu), United Video (1993)
Italy Die Bien Phu
Japan スカイミッション 空挺要塞DC-3/Skymission Koutei Yousai DC-3 (Sky Mission: Airborne Fortified Camp DC-3), Albatross & Nippon Columbia (1996)
- DVD
-
France (2004)
-
Germany (2004)
-
Vietnam (2005)
- France Diên Biên Phu, TF1 Vidéo (2004)
- Germany Die Hōlle von Dien Bien Phu (The hell of Dien Bien Phu), Laser Paradise (2004)
Vietnam Điện Biên Phủ, SecoFilm & Modfilm (2005)
Movie quotes
- French Foreign Legion Para Captain de Kerveguen to his friend, American writer, reporter, Howard Simpson (Hanoi aerodrome, in the latest days of the battle)
- Cpt. de Kerveguen: - Look, those are the very bottom of the barrel, the rapatriables and all the convalescents of the para units already at Dien Bien Phu. Pieces of bread for the ducks!
- How. Simpson: - What?! That's true...
- Cdk: - Pieces of bread for the ducks!
- HS: - Is that all your remaining troops?
- CdK: - Oh no, we still have three parachute battalions in Indochina. Maybe they will send them afterall... one by one... too late..! Those idiots!
- HS: - But... er...
- Cdk: - Stop it, just stop it! I didn't brought you here for doing the Commandment's critics! Just look, this is all I ask you.
- Cdk: - I'm gonna tell you, a soldier agrees to be killed for the sake of his mission, this is the deal, on its own (?), this is our honor. The problem is, a soldier hates to be send to death for peanuts, for bullshits, by incompetence, by cowardness. It disguts us! A professional's reaction, we don't like being wasted. Do you see what I mean?
- Cdk: - Look! All of these guys are gonna be wasted. Pieces of bread for the ducks. They all know about this. All of them. However they are all volunteers to be wasted a last time. They don't want to miss it.
- Cdk: - This was what I wanted you to see. Tell about this! It must be told! Even if you are too idiot to understand it. Tell about this!
- Cdk: - Howard! Don't bother there is... there is absolutely nothing to understand!
Historical quotes
- Comandant Bigeard's cease fire written order to Lieutenant Allaire, 7th May, 1954, Eliane 3 (Dien Bien Phu)
- Cdt. Bigeard: - Cease fire at 5:30PM. Stop shooting. No White Flag. See you in a little while. Poor 6[th BPC]. Poor paras.
- General Cogny (Saigon)'s cease fire -"let die the affair by itself"- radio message to, air-mail-General-upranked, Colonel de Castries (Dien Bien Phu), 7th May, 1954. Note: "my ol'" for mon vieux is a common affectious militar slang used only by high rank officers talking to another officer in the French Army.
- Gen. Cogny: - Hello, Hello Castries? Hello Castries?
- Gen. de Castries - My General?
- GC: - Tell me my ol', it's time to finish by now of course. All you have done so far is magnificent.
- GdC: - Er... Good, my General? The only thing is, I would like to preserve the injured.
- GC: - Yes, it's nice. So do it right by letting the affair die of its own, in serenity.
- GC: - What you have done is too beautiful for us to do this. Do you understand my ol'?
- GdC: - Good my General.
- GC: - So, good bye my ol'. So long.
- Gdc: - My General?
- GC: - Hello yes?
- Gdc: - You'll be kind to see my wife.
- GC: - Yes, my ol'.
- Gdc: - Thank you.
- GC: - Good bye my ol'.
Trivia
- Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola's famed Apocalypse Now Redux (1979/2001) includes a reference to Schoendoerffer's The 317th Platoon (and de facto to the Battle of Dien Bien Phu) in the French Plantation chapter. French actress Aurore Clément plays a role in both movies.
- The Japanese theater version is running 140 minutes and the VHS 132 minutes. The Italian VHS version and Getman DVD are 115 minutes long. The French DVD version is 146 minutes.
Cast
| Actor/Actress | Role | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Donald Pleasence | Howard Simpson (writer, journalist) | British, American |
| Patrick Catalifo | Captain Victorien Jégu de Kerveguen (Foreign Legion) | French (Briton) |
| Jean-François Balmer | AFP employee (Agence France Presse) | French |
| Ludmila Mikaël | Béatrice Vergnes (violonist, Cpt. de Kerveguen's cousin) | French (Briton) |
| François Négret | Corporal (Train Detachment, temporary affectation) | French |
| Maxime Leroux | Artillery Lieutenant (African regiment) | French |
| Raoul Billerey | Father Wamberger (priest) | French (Alsatian) |
| Thé Anh | Ong Cop aka Mr. Tiger (gambler) | Chinese (Hong Kong) |
| Christopher Buchholz | Captain Morvan (3rd Bureau Chief-Staff) | French |
| Patrick Chauvel | Lieutenant Duroc (DC-3 pilot, French Air Force) | French |
| Eric Do | Lieutenant Ky (5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion "Bawouan") | Vietnamese |
| Igor Hossein | Caporal-Chief photograph (Service Cinématographique des Armées) | French |
| Luc Lavandier | Sergeant (Thai unit) | French |
| Joseph Momo | Koulibali (African Artillery Regiment) | Gabonese |
| Lê Vân Nghia | Simpson's cycloman | Vietnamese |
| Sava Lolov | Thade Korzeniowski (Foreign Legion, Tank Chief) | Polish |
| Thu Ha | Cuc (Thade Korzeniowski's fiancee) | Vietnamese |
| Long Nguyen-Khac | Mr. Vinh (printer, nationalist) | Vietnamese |
| Maïté Nahyr | The Eurasian (opium dealer) | French-Vietnamese |
| André Peron | Lt. Ky's adjoint (5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion "Bawouan") | French |
| Ludovic Schoendoerffer | Sergeant cameraman (Service Cinématographique des Armées) | French |
| Hoa Debris | Betty ("Normandie Chez Betty" bar's patron) | Vietnamese |
| "Charles" Fathy Abdi | Nam Yum rat (infantry deserter) | Morrocan |
| Pierre Schoendoerffer | Narrator (voice) | n/a |
See also
Media Links
- rare Operation Beaver/Dien Bien Phu siege 1953/1954 archive footage (WindowsMedia) "The Sacrifice" by Bernard Orcel, 35mm Service Cinématographique des Armées (ECPA) - archive footages (mms protocol not http)
- Gao Rang (aka Grilled Rice) - Documentary teaser directed by Claude Grunspan, 2001
Source links
- DienBienPhu.org
- DienBienPhu.info
- Report - some manipulated images - (fr)
- Accounts - handled images - (systran en)
- Air Force Magazine US involvement in the 1st Indochina War
- Diên Biên Phu 1954 par Dr. Jean-Philippe Liardet
- Dien Bien Phu, le Verdun indochinois Frère Michel de l’Immaculée triomphante
- Source for Airplane crash at Dien Bien Phu Aviation-Safety.net
- 2e Régiment Étranger de Parachutistes Foreign Legion Paratrooper 2th REP website
- French National Assembly Law N°1443 National Hommage Day for the French Dead in Indochina proposition
- CAT pilots remaining found in Laos US secret involvement, AP
- Knights of the Legion of Honor to seven CAT pilots at Dien Bien Phu US secret involvement made official (French ambassy in USA)
- Bataillon Bigeard à Tu Lê 1952 by Alain Candy ISBN:2258040337
- CNN Cold War
- TroupesDeMarine.org
- 45 years later, defeat of French still resonates in Vietnam CNN
- Dien Bien Phu 1954-2004 50 years in Vietnamese (VietNamNet.vn)
- Commentary: Dienbienphu's historic battle Washington Times
- Triumphal Return to Hanoi (Vietnam)
- US Army in Vietnam Introduction commenting on Dien Bien Phu