Valley of the shadow: the siege of Dien Bien Phu

Following the end of World War II, France attempted to reassert control over its colonies in Indochina.

In Vietnam, this was resisted by the Viet Minh leading to the First Indochina War.

By 1954, the French army was on the defensive and determined to force the Viet Minh into a decisive set-piece battle at Dien Bien Phu.

Over the past five decades, Western authors have generally followed a standard narrative of the siege of Dien Bien Phu, depicting the Viet Minh besiegers as a faceless horde which overwhelmed the intrepid garrison by sheer weight of numbers, superior firepower, and logistics.