Join me in discussing the epic story of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, one of the craziest battles of all time and the final showdown of the French Indochina War. In part one, we dig into why General Navarre chose a remote valley near the Laotian border for his air-land fortress, meet the men who would answer for it, and jump in with the paratroopers who seized the valley in November 1953.
Recommended reading: Hell in a Very Small Place by Bernard B. Fall
Chapters:
00:00 Intro and welcome back
01:45 A "Train Wreck" cold open: Navarre, the evening news, and the lacquered box
04:44 Who's to blame? The French inquiry (declassified in 1994)
06:38 How bad did it get? Accounts from the hospital, the trenches, and both sides
09:53 The siege by the numbers: dates and casualties
13:50 Why Dien Bien Phu? The political case: the Thai Federation and Laos
16:23 A quick catch-up: Giap's 1953 invasion of Laos
19:11 The strategic case: supply routes, rice, and poppy
21:16 The Na San precedent
23:11 The tactical case: the valley, the hills, and the airstrip
25:04 The fatal assumption: "They're not going to bring in enough artillery"
27:23 Navarre's grand strategy and Giap's countermove
30:00 Navarre vs. Cogny: the start of a feud
31:38 The valley and the nine strong points
35:51 The rumor: strong points named after de Castries' lovers
36:35 Key leaders: Colonel Christian de Castries
38:59 Key leaders: General Henri Navarre
41:32 Responsibility, the objections, and Bernard B. Fall's Hell in a Very Small Place
43:31 Housekeeping: what's next for the series and the show
45:07 November 20, 1953: the paratroopers drop into the valley
48:30 Day three: Brigitte Friang jumps, and the hedgehog takes shape
50:24 Giap marches on Dien Bien Phu, and the Viet Minh consolidate power
52:43 Wrap-up and next episode
