9. French Catastrophe at Dien Bien Phu
The French had also assumed the Viet Minh would have no artillery. Their commander, Vo Nguyen Giap, organized tens of thousands of porters into a supply line that hauled disassembled howitzers over rough terrain to the hills overlooking the French. There, they were ingenuously in to render them immune from counter-battery fire, and kept adequately supplied with shells. The besieged French were bombarded nonstop, and began to run low and supplies and munitions. Relentless attacks reduced fortified positions one after another, and the defensive perimeter shrank steadily. Within two months, the French were forced to surrender. After losing 4000 dead and missing, and nearly 7000 wounded, the survivors, numbering nearly 12,000, were herded into Viet Minh captivity.
