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Summary: Last Siege of the Eastern Empire
Review: The French capitulation at Dien Bien Phu meant the end forever of colonian domination in South East Asia and closed out Round One of the Vietnam War. As Fall explains, however, events were not inevitable. American air support might have broken the Viet Minh siege; British diplomatic support might have made all the difference. More fundamentally, the French commanders might NOT have made the ludicrous decision to use their best troops as "bait" for a drawn out battle in a far-flung, strategically questionable pocket of the north-western jungle. Be that as it may, Fall's narrative of the initial assault, and the gradual cutting-off of the French strongpoints, with their tragic girls' names (Isabelle, Beatrice, Gabrielle) is unparalleled. Not only one of the classics of Vietnam literature, also one of the best siege histories of all time.
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Summary: The best book about the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, bar none.
Review: The late Bernard Fall is without a doubt still the best historian and writer of the First IndoChina War (the French Indochina War). Ideally, this book should be read along with Fall's other great book "Street Without Joy". These two books will provide any student of the French IndoChina War with an in-depth knowledge of this period of history. They are an indispensble part of any serious students library.
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Summary: End of an era
Review: This book can be broken down into two categories. The historical aspect as well as the tactical perspective. Not only do we recieve the who and when but also the why. Fall's book sums up the end of the french colonialization period in indochina and also the beginning of the american involvement. This is a must read for those interested in American foreign policy as well as the determination and struggle of a besieged peoples.
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Summary: Hell in a Very Small Place
Review: This book should be required reading for any politician considering sending good men to die in a war for any cause.
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Summary: The definitive account of the siege of Dien Bien Phu
Review: This is an immensly enjoyable book which relates the siege from both sides in immense detail. The sort of book you can open to any page and find rivetting. If your interested in the Vietnam war you should read this.
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Summary: Definitive Work on one of History's Pivotal Battles
Review: This is it! This is the book that should be in the library of every seriou student of the Indo-China War. While this book concerns itself with primarily one battle in the war that occupied France from 1946 through 1954, what a battle it was! The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (March 13-May 8, 1954) was not as long as some, but it played such an important role in what was to follow that years after the fact, the name Dien Bien Phu is still met with equal amounts of disdain for French folly and admiration for the resolve of the Viet Minh, who ultimately defeated the best of the French Expeditionary Corps. The late Bernard B. Fall has provided history students with a masterpiece of research, writing and scholarship. He first came to the attention of American military, political and diplomatic leaders in the early 1960s with his quintessential look at the French war effort in STREET WITHOUT JOY. He followed that success with HELL IN A VERY SMALL PLACE, which ironically was first released in early 1967, just weeks after the author was killed on Highway 1 (the old RC 1 - the Street Without Joy) while on patrol with United States Marines. When the reader first opens this one volume history, he encounters the reasons for the French seizure of a valley 175 miles from their headquarters and main source of supply. The French High Command in Tonkin decided that controlling this valley would deny the Viet Minh access to the highlands of neighboring Laos and the mountain peoples who were more loyal to the French than they were to the Vietnamese. After the airborne assault on the valley on 20 November 1953, the French consolidated their position and began to fortify the valley floor. A short time later, the field commander for Viet Minh forces, Vo Nguyen Giap decided that in order to ensure Viet Minh victory at the negotiating table, he must first inflict such a stunning defeat on French colonial forces that they will have no choice but to accede to Vietnamese nationalism and quit the "crown jewel" of their overseas empire. Fall does an exceptionally fine job of describing French and Communist preparations for the cataclysmic battle. While he goes into great depth and technical detail, he never forgets that armies are composed of men and he also delivers to the reader all of the key French and Viet Minh personalities. There are the names good students of this battle all know: there are Giap and Ho Chi Minh, Henri Navarre and Rene Cogny; we get to meet and know Colonel (later Brigadier General) Ferdinand Marie de la Croix de Castries, the aristocratic cavalry officer who commands French forces at Dien Bien Phu (and who is so totally unsuitable for the job). There is the paratroop "mafia" of young airborne officers who effectively take control of the fortress (Langlais, Bigeard, Botella, Brechignac, de Seguin-Pazzis, et al) and hold the Viet Minh at bay for 57 days. But the French Colonial Paratroops were not alone at Dien Bien Phu. There were also Foreign Legionnaires, Algerian and Moroccan rifles, Tunisians, Senegalese, Moroccan artillerymen, grounded air force pilots and maintenance crews, Vietnamese paratroopers and local mountain troops of the Red and White T'ai. Fall forgets nothing and leaves no one out. His detailed descriptions of the battles and the travails of the garrison are on a daily basis and no details are missed. Fall wrote this book with the help of the French Ministry of Defense, the North Vietnamese and after thousands of interviews with survivors of the battle (French, Communist Viet Minh, Vietnamese nationalist troops, Legionaires and the junior officers who learned bitter lessons in Indo-China and later applied them as they later attempted to keep Algeria French). This is a battle that has fascinated two generations of students and teachers alike. It is hard to imagine a better single volume discourse on the subject, especially as time moves us further away from the battle. It was a battle that changed the outcome of France's war and ultimately led to American involvement. For it was LBJ who denied the French the aerial assistance of the B-29 bombers at Clark Field in the Philippines and it was this same LBJ, who 11 years later committed American troops to the endless quagmire that ended his presidency and tore the United States apart. As a primer for the later American involvement, this book is mandatory reading for if for no other reason, it lays out the roadmap of French defeat and the limitless hubris of the United States as it stepped into the breach and tried to do what France could not. This is "the" book on the subject and it explains in vivid detail how one of the most modern armies of Europe could lose to a guerrilla force. It is about arrogance and hubris and anti-colonialist national aspirations. Although the main position at Dien Bien Phu fell on 7 May and Strongpoint Isabelle a day later on May 8th, France did not sign the Geneva Accords on Indo-China until July 22, 1954. As the Vietnamese saw the end of 85 years of colonial rule by Paris and as France pulled out in defeated shame, little did anyone know that the shadow of Dien Bien Phu would continue to haunt a world superpower for years to come. If you are not a student of this battle, I still recommend this book, because it is a natural starting point for anyone interested in finding out how America became embroiled in its longest and most divisive war.
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Summary: Excellent, though biased
Review: This is military history at its best, packed full of information yet never lacking in the human dimension. My only gripe is the racist slant of the author, wherein all white soldiers were heros, and Southeast Asian and Africa mercemaries of the French Expedionary Force, other than the Foreign Legion, were lesser mortals and shirkers(other than a brief mention of some German deserters from the Foreign Legion, it seems that no one white soldier had surrendered or been captured before the very end). Also the author whilst glorifying the heroics and self sacrifice of the para/legion officer mafia, had chosen to omit the fact that most of the para/legion officers never fought in the trenches, but opted to stay in the HQ bunker, and most of them were captured alive and unwounded, as attested by period photos. Most of the officer casaulties (and those who suffered most were from the infantry and tank branches, rather than the elites like paras and legionnaires) were self inflicted (suicide) or caused by some well aimed artillery hits on top of a dug out/bunker.
Whilst not denying the bravery of the ordinary soldiers there, I will hesitate to eulogise the French officers, whose negligence, cowardice and incompetence were just too obvious to ignore.
I will also like more reserach on the "Rats of Nam Yum", those shirkers and deserters who refused to put up a fight. Who were they? Fall implied that they were the Vietnamese, Algerians. Sengelese and Morrocans. But who can be sure?
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Summary: This book is one of the finest I have read!
Review: This was an excellent and detailed history, both of the battle and the politics behind it. I would recomend this book to everyone.
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Summary: Indispensable
Review: Together with Fall's earlier book 'Street Without Joy' (Rue Sans Joie), 'Hell In A Very Small Place' is indispensable to understanding the Indochina wars of the twentieth century. Even the general historian should not be without this book. On the subject of the Indochina wars there is only one shame in the world: that, owing to their slavishly politicizing everything they recount, former Viet Minh and the Peoples Army of Vietnam have not produced a single book measuring up to Fall's two superb volumes. Fall's two books are the best accounts of the 1946-54 French experience in Indochina. Indeed they're among the best accounts of warfare in any epoch.
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