Word: fortresses
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...rain, and the occasional crack of a Communist rifle way off somewhere in the hills. That night, De Castries summoned his staff to Junon, his command post, for one last chivalric rite of battle: he decorated Lieut. Geneviéve de Galard Terraube, the only woman nurse in the fortress, with the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre. That night too, less than 500 yards from Junon, the Communist infantrymen burrowed close in through the mire. "Everywhere they are in close contact," Dienbienphu radioed GHQ. "Everywhere they are within grenade range. When they attack, the fortress will...
...verge of falling, could be saved only by heavy air support either from the U.S. or Britain. Dulles again rejected the appeal both because it would be "war," which Congress would have to approve, and because U.S. military experts doubted that air strikes could now save the fortress. Bidault seemed to have got the idea from Dulles that congressional approval might still be obtained if only Britain would agree to some form of "united action." Eden told Bidault that the British considered that air strikes would be impractical and might prejudice hope of a Geneva settlement, but that he would...
...resulting decorations reminded a modern critic of illustrations from an old edition of Bulfinch's Mythology. With all the subtle reserve of Victorian design, one medallion contains a Roman corselet, a sword and a helmet, shields, sprays of laurel leaves, Roman faces, spear heads, part of a fortress, and, topping all, an American eagle bearing a thunderbolt...
...About a thousand wounded are waiting in Dienbienphu. waiting for the end of their nightmare. Every day anxious telegrams are sent out from the fortress asking for blood plasma and drugs . . . Only 25 beds were set up in the underground hospital, because it was believed that the wounded would be brought to Hanoi by plane. The beds have increased to 400, and four surgeons have to cut away arms and legs which are threatened by gangrene, which they could have saved under normal conditions...
...could be pointed out that when the life of a fortress depends upon an airlift, the first need is to ensure the protection of the landing strip and to build it outside the reach of enemy artillery. But they wanted to install themselves in a basin without occupying the surrounding hills, and the terrain was neutralized from the first day of the battle. And our artillery proved so powerless to locate the enemy guns that the colonel responsible committed suicide in his bunker on March 14th, by blowing himself up with a hand grenade...