![]() ![]() On March 13, a massive bombardment signaled the start of the attack. While the French amassed around 15,000 troops at Dien Bien Phu, they were outnumbered by nearly 50,000 Viet Minh who had encircled the base. Many artillery pieces were secretly dragged up the hills surrounding the base, until they could fire down from concealed positions on to the French. Slowly but surely, he amassed huge quantities of supplies and weaponry, including heavy artillery and anti-aircraft weapons. The French occupied the valley area, while Giáp built his strength in the hills around them. In November 1953, the French moved to occupy the valley and begin fortifying their position, while the Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp methodically built up their strength as well. Navarre began preparing a strategy whereby the French would establish a fortified airfield near the village of Điện Biên Phủ along the Laotian border, with the hope of impeding Viet Ming supply routes and luring the communist forces into attacking the well-defended French position. ![]() French Union forces had been engaging Viet Minh forces for nearly a decade when General Henri Navarre took command of the Indochina War in May 1953. ally, also made a port call in Vietnam last week with its largest destroyer, Izumo, following exercises in the South China Sea with the Reagan and other American ships.Ĭhina has also been reaching out in an effort to mend fences, sending a navy training ship to make its own port call in Da Nang a month ago as part of what it called a goodwill tour that also took it to Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines.March 13 - – While fought years before American troops would be involved in Vietnam in any significant way, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu would have a profound effect on American involvement in Vietnam. Washington sees Hanoi as a key part of its strategy for the region and has sought to leverage Vietnam’s traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor China to expand U.S. “A few Reagan sailors call Vietnam home, but for most it will be their first time visiting,” Cardone said in a release from the U.S. Daryle Cardone, the Ronald Reagan’s commanding officer, said some of the more than 5,000 sailors from the ship will volunteer at several community relations events, play sports with local athletes and take part in other cultural and professional exchanges during the visit through June 30. ![]()
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