✦ History

Part of First Indochina War

Battle of Dien Bien Phu

March 13 – May 7, 1954 · Dien Bien Phu

Result Viet Minh victory

Decisive battle of the First Indochina War, in which Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap besieged and took the French base at Dien Bien Phu. The defeat led France to leave Indochina under the Geneva Accords of 1954.

On the map Contemporaries

France

Viet Minh

France
United States
State of Vietnam
North Vietnam
People's Republic of China
Viet Minh
Henri Navarre military commander, Planned the French base at Dien Bien Phu Christian de Castries military commander Jules Gaucher military commander
Ho Chi Minh belligerent leader Võ Nguyên Giáp Commander, People's Army of Vietnam, Besieged and took the French base Hoàng Minh Thảo military commander Hoàng Văn Thái military commander Lê Trọng Tấn military commander

Strength and losses

Tanks
10
Aircraft
c. 600

United States Deaths 2 · Aircraft 37

France Killed 1,142–2,293 · Captured 11,721 · Missing 1,606

North Vietnam Strength c. 80,000

Units

1st Foreign Parachute Regiment
308th Infantry Division (Vietnam) PAVN 304th Division

Before and after

Led to
Vietnam War November 1, 1955 – April 30, 1975

Related events 1 degree away • 2 degrees away

1947
1951
1955
1959
1963
1967
1971
1975
1979
1983
1987
1991
 
First Indochina War
 
Cold War
 
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
 
Vietnam War
 
Laotian Civil War
 
Gulf of Tonkin incident
 
Cambodian Civil War
 
Mayaguez incident

Also involved 1