Battle of Dien Bien Phu
| Battle of Dien Bien Phu | |||||||||
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| Part of the First Indochina War | |||||||||
 French Union paratroopers dropping from a C-119 transport |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Undeclared  Lao Hmong partisans United States |
Weapons and advisors:  People's Republic of China Soviet Union East Germany
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Christian de Castries  Pierre Langlais
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 Võ Nguyên Giáp Hoàng Văn TháiLê LiêmĐặng Kim Giang Lê Trọng Tấn Vuong Thua Vu Hoang Minh Thao Le Quang Ba
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| Strength | |||||||||
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As of March 13: 14,000; 20,000 overall 37 pilots |
As of March 13: 49,500 combat personnel 15,000 logistical support personnel 64,500 overall |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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2 dead (James B. McGovern and Wallace A. Buford) declassified in 2004
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Vietnamese figures: 4,020 dead 9,118 wounded 792 missing French estimate: 8,000 dead and 15,000 wounded |
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Decisive Viet Minh victory
Undeclared
1,571–2,293 dead
5,195–6,650 wounded
1,729 missing
11,721 captured (of which 4,436 wounded)
8,290 POW dead after battle
62 aircraft and 10 tanks lost
167 aircraft damaged
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (French: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu; Vietnamese: Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ, "Campaign of Dien Bien Phu") was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. It was, from the French view before the event, a set piece battle to draw out the Vietnamese and destroy them with superior firepower. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations underway at Geneva among several nations over the future of Indochina.
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