Word: ghq
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...twilight at Dienbienphu. Narrow-eyed with loss of sleep, the French sentries peered through the monsoon haze towards the Communist trenches less than roo yards away. All was quiet, and the tired 10,000-man garrison hoped for a fair night's rest. At GHQ in Hanoi, an officer reported: "Lull at Dienbienphu...
...were so tired that their performance was losing effect. One night last week the Communists quickly isolated and overran a Foreign Legion outpost in the airstrip sector, and the French could not get it back. This was the third outpost the Communists had captured in seven days, and GHQ was despondent. Unless some way could be found to draw off Red General Giap's 40,000 men, said one top French commander, "General de Castries has only one chance in ten of holding...
From besieged Dienbienphu one day last week came a three-letter message: "R.A.S." The letters stood for "Rien à signaler"-French army for "nothing to report"-and this was the first time GHQ had received such a message since the battle started five weeks before. Dienbienphu's tired but resting defenders still had to keep their heads down: Red artillery and mortar observers could note every movement along the shell-pocked valley. There was some heavy skirmishing: a Red commando detachment infiltrated the northern end of the airstrip disused since March 28, and the French could not winkle them...
...slim woman in a blue linen suit spoke into the radiotelephone at French GHQ: "This is Mme. de Castries calling Dienbienphu. Is that you, darling?" In the fortress command post 175 miles away, Colonel de Castries came to the set. Asked Mme. de Castries: "Are you all right, Christian?" Said the colonel: "Never better." Mme. de Castries warned of the coming monsoon: "I hope your raincoat has not been destroyed." The colonel later messaged his wife for razor blades and shaving cream. "He is extremely confident," Mme. de Castries told a London Daily Express reporter. "I know...
Back at Hanoi, French GHQ optimistically noted that Giap's fourth counterattack showed "definite lack of conviction," and the tired, outnumbered French garrison is still given a 50-50 chance to hold Dienbienphu...