Word: battalion
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...successive days, the Red guerrillas in the delta had been strong enough to dig trenches and lay mines across vital Route Coloniale 5-Hanoi's only main road link with its supply port, Haiphong. Last week some 2,000 Communists stormed a French battalion position 36 miles from Hanoi and a Vietnamese outpost less than seven miles from the city...
...regiments came in leapfrog from four directions, battalion by battalion. They had rehearsed their attack for days against replicas of the French strongpoints. Each Red packed unusual firepower: belts of high-explosive containers, a submachine gun, a dozen grenades, a rifle or pistol, and a long-bladed knife. This time there was no screaming. After midnight the Reds stormed three outposts, and General de Castries' tired men could not get them back. The Reds dug in less than 600 yards from the French command post. Successively in French, Vietnamese, Arabic and German, Red loudspeakers blared: "Surrender...
...Morale is still high, but one battalion of Thai tribesmen has been kept in reserve since one of its companies panicked in the battle's opening phase. ¶Dienbienphu's most critical problem during the first two Red offensives: ammunition shortage. Red Chinese-directed flak forced French transport aircraft to come in so high that a sizable portion of parachuted equipment drifted into" the Red lines and helped supply the enemy. Fifteen to 20 French planes have been lost. Last week good flying weather enabled the French to conquer their supply crisis...
...headed for a wooded hill overlooking the village of Gathuini. They were forbidden by the truce agreement to enter the Kikuyu reserve, but assembling after dark, Gatamuki's men pitched their camp about 350 yards inside the tribal boundary. They were spotted there by elements of the 7th Battalion, King's African Rifles, commanded by Brigadier John Reginald...
...week's end the colonel himself restarted the fighting. De Castries threw out a battalion, with light tanks in support, against a cluster of Red outposts to the northeast. Three and a half hours later, the Communists withdrew. Red General Giap put in five counterattacks, but the colonel held his gains...