The Epic Battle of Dien Bien Phu: A Descriptive Look at the Devastating Siege

Hello You: Étant LA référence de DBP, essentiel de le lire. Par contre, il n'est pas si bein écrit que d'autre livre en anglais sur le même sujet. Martin Windrow, par exemple - qui a eu 30 ans plus pour en preparer. B Fall se concentre sur la bataille, et inclu beaucoup plus de detailles que les autres ecrivains n'arrive pas a comprendre ou croire.

France on May 07, 2023

Bruce: Excellent book full of timeless lessons.

Canada on Dec 27, 2022

MisterWizard: ottimo

Italy on Jul 18, 2019

J. Marlin: I spent a fair span of my life as a professional soldier (I did not serve in Vietnam, but I am of that era), and I'm now an academic, and my judgement from both ends of my life commends this volume. There have been more recent works, perhaps corrective of this one, on the battle of Dien Bien Phu, and some of them are, for the beginner, more accessible than this one. But no one interested in this famous, horribly wasteful encounter should pass this book by.

I'll start by commenting on the virtues and difficulties of this book, and then I'll make some remarks about the battle.

The first and most obvious strength of this text is its immediacy. Fall was able to interview many of the surviving participants of the battle, to include those in the Viet Minh, and was well acquainted with the larger issues and personalities of French Indochina due to his work as a reporter there (see his important work, "Street Without Joy."). It's clear he had access to unit and communications logs surrounding this battle. To have such access, as well as the opportunity to speak with those involved and engaged, gets us as close to what happened as one is likely to discern; hence, this book,...

United States on Mar 11, 2013

Robin L. Stacpoole: The story of the fall of Dien Bien Phu is expertly told by Bernard Fall. But the journey is a difficult one and you should know what you are getting into before you start it. Before deciding to read this there are four things you should consider.

Firstly Fall wrote this in 1966 at a time when the USA is increasing its commitment to Vietnam, and he is desperate that his country understand the consequences of this action. Consequently, Fall does not let an opportunity go by to point out the desperation of foreign troops fighting an unwinnable war in a foreign land. His work is littered with final paragraph sentences along the lines of "the situation was bad ... but it was about to get worse". Indeed the whole book follows this structure. It is profoundly depressing.

The style is also 1960s. Yes this is a story, but it is told through detail and facts, and lots of both. It is interesting to compare this story with the style of "Stalingrad". Bernard Fall does not impose his interpretation of the conflict on the reader, simply describing what happened, where, when. Fall understands that the story is more important than the teller whereas in reading Starlingad, I got the...

United Kingdom on Feb 23, 2011

Frank Huebner: Der Autor, Bernard Fall, hat den Erfolg seines Buches nicht mehr erlebt. Er starb 1967, ein Jahr nach der Veröffentlichung in Vietnam als Kriegsreporter.

Mit viel Akrebie und ZUgriff auf die damals vorhandenen Quellen hat er ein wirklich interessantes Werk geschaffen, welches nur mit "The Last Valley" einen wirklichen Mitkonkurrenten hat, was die Informationsfülle sowie die Schlachtbeschreibung betrifft.
Wobei man das 1966-Buch "Hell in a very small Place" nicht mit dem 2004-Buch "Last Valley" vergleichen kann. Beide ergänzen sich so gut, dass beide zusammen die definitive Informationsfülle ergeben. Ich wüsste nciht, was noch an neuen Erkenntnissen zum Ablauf der Schalcht kommen sollten!

Falls "Hell.." beschränkt sich dabei zu 90% auf die reine Schlacht mit Beginn der Viet-Minh-Offensive ab dem 13.03.54, während Windrow in "Last Valley" die gesamten Hintergründe des Konfliktes ab den 40er Jahren genaue beschreibt. Was Gliederungen, Karten und Gefechtsabläufe in Dien Bien Phu betrifft sidn beide auf gleicher Höhe, nur dass Windrow anhand der neueren, besseren Quellenlage weitaus genauer in Zahlen und Abläufe gehen kann. Fall hatte damals aber zugriff auf...

Germany on Jan 22, 2010

Utah Blaine: I knew virtually nothing about Dien Bien Phu other than the standard types of things that it was the pivotal battle of the First Indochina War, effectively ended French colonialsim in SE Asia, etc. and decided to buy this book to learn more. In short, if you have any interest in military history, French or US history, or are just looking for a good read, don't hesitate to buy this book. There is an ENORMOUS amount of detail about the battle in this book, but it is wonderfully written with a deft prose. This is not some dry scholarly work that will require discipline to finish. You will feel the agony of the French soldiers as they continue to hold on while the Viet Minh are slowly squeezing them. I literally could not put this book down.

The book starts with a description of the initial parachute drop into Dien Bien Phu, then backtracks a bit to set the stage and introduce the players. Fall then describes the build-up by the Viet Minh through a horrendous jungle supply line, and the preparation of the position by the French. The bulk of the book describes in great detail the siege. Outlying positions are reduced and pressure is slowly but steadly put on the central position...

United States on Apr 29, 2007